Black Lion Audio’s PBR 8 was an interesting option in the world of 500-series racks, offering a flexible approach to routing between modules thanks to a built-in patchbay. Although it is now discontinued, the company have announced that pre-orders are now being taken on its successor, the PBR 8-500.
The company say that the new unit takes everything that people loved about the original version and improves upon it, without increasing the price! The core functionality remains the same: it’s an eight-slot 500-series rack with a built-in power supply, and allows users to quickly and conveniently experiment with different routing configurations and signal chains using an onboard front-panel TT/Bantam patchbay — it's a high-quality affair that's built using the same components as BLA’s PBR-series bays. Patchpoints are provided for each module slot’s input and output, and there’s also a pair of mults that make it possible to split signals and route them to two different destinations.
A set of rear-panel buttons allow adjacent slots beginning with an odd number (1+2, 3+4 and so on) to be linked for running modules in stereo pairs — providing a pair of compressors with a shared detector circuit voltage, for example. It’s also possible to link pairs starting with an even slot number (or to link more than two modules) by using some internal jumpers.
The PBR 8-500 makes it simple to try out different routing configurations thanks to a front-panel TT/Bantam patchbay.
The unit’s power supply design has been informed by the company’s extensive experience in modifying audio hardware to achieve lower noise figures, and promises to provide stable and reliable power that outperforms many rival units. Per-channel power regulation helps to help minimise noise and crosstalk between modules, and each slot is supplied with 400mA of current, with an overall per-rail rating of 1.6A (or 1.8A non-continuous).
Pricing & Availability
The PBR 8-500 is available to pre-order now for $899€1199, and is expected to be shipping by the middle of November 2024.
