Please give a warm welcome to all 70dB of Black Lion Audio’s latest iteration of 1073-style gain, the B173 Quad! Rather than “just another clone,” the B173 Quad seamlessly combines vintage character with modern sensibilities in a stylish 2U chassis with a feature set to satisfy the most demanding of audio engineers. A revamped gain stage and lower noise floor pave the way to a cleaner, lower distortion sound, while Cinemag input and output transformers keep things smooth and warm. Two front panel D.I.’s impart a harmonically rich tone to guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers, and stepped input gain and variable output attenuation allow for perfect control over transformer saturation. Metering on all 4 channels displays how hot your output signal is hitting the parallel TRS/XLR outputs, and an external power supply keeps noise out of your tracks! At under $375/channel, there’s no reason not to add a B173 Quad to your front end arsenal, or two!