If you are talking about over saturating already thick mids that comes with every similar device. Operator based

yeah, agreed. it's a box with tubes in it. if you're pushing the gain and not paying attention, it might...distort. shocking!

some mixes, you can wind in a bunch of gain and it sounds awesome.

some mixes, you can wind in a bunch of gain AND add a bunch of parallel saturation and it sounds awesome.

some mixes, you can wind in a bunch of gain AND add a bunch of parallel saturation AND have it on the "alt" (more aggressive) setting and it sounds awesome.

other mixes you can't do any of that stuff and more moderate settings are appropriate. hey no problem.

it's been on probably 93.718645% of the records i've done this year. not planning on using it any less next year.

just wanna add...this should make the BBA guys happy....my bass playing BFF was here for a visit recently...we had a band together 20 years ago, our first record was the first record i ever mastered. so i'm showing him my new studio and we're hanging out talking and listening to tunes.

at some point he says "i gotta ask"...*points to HG-2*...."what's THAT?"

i laugh and say "i'm glad you asked! what do you think it is?"

"a big box full of tubes you run mixes through and it makes them awesomer?"

"correct."

"that's what we always wanted isn't it?"

"it is."

Indeed sometimes people judgment can do a lot of harm on a specific gear, and usually it comes from "abusing" the device. The Manley V mu might be the (unfortunately) most controversial piece of gear because of this...

yeah it can definitely sound audibly distorted when hit too hard. isn't all gear like this? part of using it is actually figuring out the right input level for disparate program material. faster, bassier stuff with less crest factor distorts more easily.

i almost always run it as hot as i can before the "audible distortion" creeps in. this is in a parallel path, usually dialed in about 30-40%.

Hi @ blackbox Analog

@ MattGray is correct, there are 2 of us in Australia that have been having a similar issue with crackles on certain elements in bass heavy tracks. We were going to drop you an email, but its just been so busy here. I work exclusive on club music, big basslines, you get the idea.

I will get the BB sounding great, but what we are noticing is that just one kick drum or bass note will be distorting...Will do it every time i play back in that section, and normally in the break down in a track, so less is playing and its very noticeable ....Take the BB out, and there's no distortion....Then it just becomes this fighting match, where I'm trying to keep the vibe i've got with the box, but stop this one note....Hence why I started using it less and less....Time factor, I'm working with very big dance acts, and labels and i fiddling around with it was taking to long.

Will do it on subtle settings as well, and its def track dependent, does not do it on everything, which is why its been hard to pin it down....

It sounds like a gain staging thing and it may simply be that you are coming in too hot. Drop me an email and we’ll figure it out! I use mine on all sorts of material including DnB and trap and have never experienced that so it’s very likely just about finding the sweet spot. Of course, if there is something wrong, we will get that sorted for you ASAP!

I know the plugin isn't the Hardware, obviously, but as I stated before I really get the best out of it by running it gentle, like at least - 10 db on the input. There it really started to shine.

I also master a lot of dance music and usually run the HG2 lightly for vibe. During some breakdowns when mid range gets filtered hard you need to watch the saturation push.

Secret fix:

If it's doing it on one note or small section, load the master into RX and use declipper or declicker on that one spot, then hit the spot with a limiter to touch up overs

That's the brutish way to fix stuff like this. Doesn't always work, but works a lot.

I've been using it on live room drums, pre-heavy compression and gain structure really is everything.

i get better results going into it conservatively rather than hitting it hard.

did a record yesterday with some comically loud tom fills. no cracklies at all.

As a general rule, I tend to gain stage so that the peaks are just going above halfway up the meter. Obviously this is far from exact but being in that range gives me an incredibly large sweet spot where I can get a wide range of tones and levels of saturation. If you come into it a lot hotter, your sweet spot and range is reduced pretty significantly. This is perfectly normal since it’s a multi stage device designed to be able to saturate and leverage that saturation at multiple stages.

One thing that is useful to try is to place a trim plugin before and after the HG-2 and adjust the level going in while compensating at the output with the second trimmer. This will help understand where the sweet spot is for what you’re after.

I've calibrated the output only once in two years and it's dead steady.

No audible changes to the tubes yet. Took about 2 minutes to unscrew the unit from the rack and open it, the output calibration itself took about 10 seconds.

The rest of the calibrations I haven't needed to touch.

I've used the HG-2 almost daily since I got it exactly 2 years ago next Friday. But I do turn it off when I know it's not relevant and I use the standby function when I can. I guess this raises the life expectancy of the tubes.

Never experienced that. Completely smooth, not a crackle or a click, certainly the most low-maintenance and most well-behaved tube unit I've owned.

Of course you can get saturation if you push it really hard, but not in any unexpected way. Sounds like you either have a defective unit/tube or a gain stage issue.

I'm at +20 dBu from my converter and probably have the HG-2 pentode at around 2 o clock and triode at 10 o clock and output at 3 o clock as a starting point.

Then I hit with so the peaks are just above halfway up the meter on the HG-2 in PPM mode. Gives me a good range of options from there.

I'm considering picking this up - it's between this and a CV Mastering Plus unit. Clearly I can tell that the BB is a different beast, meant for thickening up the program and shaping the density of the harmonic material, but I keep seeing that it can get nasty when pushed hard. I may have missed this in my googling, but could someone please post some samples of some serious distortion ranges on drums/drum rooms? I'd love to be able to use this for drum para as well as mixbuss/mastering. Thanks much in advance!

MG

You could probably get a pretty good idea from downloading the plugin demo and loading up some of the presets (which showcase a really good range of sounds you can get from it). Then you can also adjust from each of those to see where it takes you.

If you send over some clips I’ll be happy to run them through the HG-2 for you to see if it’s what you’re looking for.

That's what I did and I was sold in a second.

Very cool of you and I will take you up on that. I’ll print some stems and send them your way this evening. PM a link? Email? Let me know, thanks.

No problem at all! You can email me at

[email protected]

info @ blackboxanalog.com

One thing I should mention is that the cleaner and less saturated the source is, the more you can push the HG-2. If you have something that is clean and dynamic, you can really dig in and do some seriously heavy lifting. If you’ve already got distortion happening, pushing it harder will of course bring up more of that distortion that is already present.

Totally understood, thank you. Just sent you files! Looking forward to hearing the HG-2 at work.

MG

I’m running them for you now

Well, this box sounds absolutely incredible and seems to be able to do it all! I’m sold. Excellent customer service - thanks so much again!

MG

You’re very welcome! I’m glad it does what you were after.

Having you do that for me would be like giving an alcoholic a drink..... it'd lead to unquenchable desire, divorce, and possible loss of employment mixed with euphoria. Madness I tell you! I do lust for one of these....

Seriously tho...The preamp is a great idea, can you speak a little to it? Is it a preamp attached to this, or it's own thing?

Well let's not do that then!

The idea behind the preamp is that it allows you to dramatically shape the sound you are capturing not only in terms of frequency response but also in terms of harmonics, saturation land even full on compression/limiting. It uses different tubes than the HG-2 but it has a similar approach in the sense that it allows you to drive one stage into the next and embraces harmonics. It's also got the air circuit from the HG-2.

The simplest way to explain it is that the Pentode stage is both a gain stage and a way to shape the response. In "normal" mode, the top end of the unit is fixed and as you turn the Pentode up, the response tilts around the top end, increasing the low end as you increase the gain. When you engage the "response" circuit, the top end is no longer fixed and actually rolls off, opening up a new set of responses.

Beyond the Pentode shaping and the response circuit, you also have a very gentle roll off selector that rolls off low end to give you even more response options.

Finally, you have the input impedance selector which gives you dramatically different response curves and the air circuit which gives you a 10k boost.

The combination of these controls allow you to get pretty much any response you could want from a tilt towards the top end, tilt towards the old end, mid bump, mid scoop and all sorts of variations in between.

Once you have the frequency response you like, the next stage is a Triode gain stage. This stage is unique in that it is designed to give you a range from extremely clean gain to full on limiting. It is set up so that it can only output a certain amount of voltage, regardless of what you feed into it and is followed by a passive output attenuation so you can essentially "squeeze" the audio between these two stages to either get an unrestricted response or the ability to control transients and dynamic range without the characteristics of an attack and release.

Finally, there is an instrument DI that shares the exact same signal path and shaping capabilities (minus the input transformer).

Like the HG-2, it's totally different than anything out there but once you get a feel for it, it's really easy to dial in the sweet spot of whatever you want and it allows you to hear your mics like never before. It's also a lot of fun!

Heads-up, I am sending you an email request to run raw Tele 251 E Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and V-Piano files.

I have had my eye on an HG2 and am intrigued by the preamp. I'll explain more via email.

Just wanted to double back here and say that I purchased an HG-2 about two weeks ago and have been extremely pleased with this box. Additionally, I’d like to thank Eric and Robert for being extremely attentive, helpful, and thorough in their customer support and general correspondence with me. Wonderful business and very refreshing.

Other thing for anyone on the fence to note is this: slapping this on near-completed/completed mixes is a great thing, indeed, however mixing through this from start to finish is another league altogether. The results are really stunning - generally less track processing needed, less buss comp needed, extended and more transferrable bass, sweet and tamed highs, punchy and consistent mids, increased width, and beautiful soundstage opening. I’ve been taking things off my mixbuss to just let the HG-2 do its thing because it’s such a joy to listen through. Anyhow, I’m not getting payed for this, just want to let you all know of my satisfaction here.

Cheers,
MG

Congrats on your purchase

Mmm love the idea that this box can give you some kind of "analog sommation sweetness" while mixing through it. That's the beauty of analog,
it make things shine in a pleasant manner, long live analog