Designed for recording engineers who want an updated take on the classic '73-style unit, the Black Lion Audio B173 Quad is a four-channel preamp with a warm, creamy, 1970s tone. It's suitable for recording vocals, keyboards, guitars, basses, and more.

This preamp gives you four channels in a 2-RU package. XLR connections on the rear of the unit correspond nicely with your microphones, while you can plug any electric bass, guitar, or keyboard into one of its two 1/4" DI jacks. To better correspond with a variety of downstream gear, both XLR and 1/4" outputs are provided. Each output can be run in parallel, should you need to divert a single output to two different sonic destinations.

All four channels offer up to 70 dB of gain. Each channel sports its own phantom power switch for condenser microphones, as well as a polarity-reverse selector. A Hi-Z switch on two channels lets you choose between the mic and DI input. Gain and output knobs allow you to fine tune the level of each instrument; if you wished, you could drive the signal hard with the gain knob for a harmonically rich tone, then lower the output knob to avoid clipping your digital converter downstream.

The B173 Quad employs Cinemag transformers on both the input and output stages, ensuring a warm, meaty tone. Output metering is made possible via four meters. A power supply is included.

For Engineers Who Prefer the '73 Sound    Warm, Creamy Sound    4 x Mic Inputs, 2 x 1/4" DI Inputs    Up to 70 dB of Gain    Input & Output Gain Attenuators    48V Power & Polarity Switches    XLR & TRS Outputs Wired in Parallel    Cinemag Transformers Used Throughout    Meters on Every Each Channel

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. What is a recommended Thunderbolt 2 Expansion chassis for this PCIe card?

A: For the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad 2, Sonnet recommends the Sonnet Echo Express SE IIIe (thunderbolt 3): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1506346-REG/sonnet_echo_ex_se3e_t3_echo_express_se_iiie.html

Q: 2. Why so the connections look so small. Are the connections not for SDI?

A: The connections are miniature BNC's called 1.0/2.3 DIN. It allows more connections per card. Clever actually. You do need adapters if going to a conventional size cable. Please see below.

Q: 3. Would this device work to take a call on whatsapp? To make a live broadcast by reporters/journalists? Thanks!

A: That would depend on if WhatsApp allows real-time audio monitoring through Lightning. It should, but you might want to contact WhatsApp's support to verify.

Q: 4. Hello, I'm wondering if this card can input and record 8 1080p cameras feeds at the same time? if not, is there any available (a single card or 2 cards). was looking to go 4k recording of 6-8 cameras at the same time but 1080p is okay for now because of the 10k budget.

A: The Decklink Quad 2 is capable of recording up to 8 3G SDI signals at one time. You would need to run 8 instances of Media Express or use 3rd party software. You would also need a proper computer capable of this level of performance.

Q: 5. Does the card support Resolume Arena software?

A: According to Resolume, their Area software will work with the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad 2 8-Channel 3G-SDI Capture & Playback Card B&H # BLDLQ2.

Q: 6. do you need power for the mixer to work?

A: Yes it comes with a power supply.

Q: 7. Does this process/Encode video. would this be less of a burden on a computer if it had to separate capture cards for each video. Does the board do any processing of the video. or does the computer GPU and CPU still have to process the video? I want to use this for live streaming I have a 10th gen I7 with 80+ gbs of ram with 6gb graphics card Nvidia p1000 Laptop. Just want to make sure it can Work. I use OBS

A: The Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad 2 is a capture card and it does have some processing capability. which is listed below. Processing Colorspace Conversion Hardware based real time. HD Down Conversion Built in, high quality software down converter on playback and capture. Down converted SD selectable between letterbox and anamorphic 16:9 styles. HD Up Conversion Built in, high quality software up conversion from SD to 720HD or 1080HD on capture. Selectable between 4:3 pillarbox, 14:9 zoom and 16:9 zoom. Cross Conversion Built in, high quality hardware cross conversion from 720HD to 1080HD on playback, 1080HD to 720HD on playback. Real Time Effects DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro X internal effects. Adobe Premiere Pro CC Mercury Playback Engine effects. Avid Media Composer internal effects.

Q: 8. What is the connector? It looks smaller than a standard BNC

A: Its called a DIN 1.0/2.3 Male connector. Also known as Micro SDI connector. They make pigtails that go from DIN 1.0/2.3 Male to regular BNC connector.

Q: 9. How to connect to laptop for USB power?

A: I am not aware of an option to provide this with USB power. This comes with a power supply for use with wall plugin power only.

Q: 10. do you have a solid model of this card?(igs. step. solidworks)

A: Sorry No.