There are lots of mic preamps available these days. What makes the Black Lion Audio Auteur 500 Microphone Preamplifier so special? For one, it's a design that's somewhat unique in its approach. Being admirers of the fully balanced transformerless circuits found in highly acclaimed recording consoles, BLA chose to use a similar topology. They began with a high speed input stage that would pick up lots of detail and nuance, and then followed it with a high current output stage. Circuit headroom is plentiful, and the input stage is very difficult to clip. Because of its fully balanced design, it can handle large input signals with ease.

Also BLA likes classic transformer-based designs because of the characteristic they lend to the audio signal. Because of this, they added a 600 ohm M-6 silicon steel output transformer to give the audio a thick quality that's reminiscent of a prized vintage preamp. It's the best of both worlds. The preamp is 500 series format and features instrument input, phase, +48vdc phantom power, and 10dB output signal pad.