It has been a very difficult past few weeks for me due to a personal injury.  Bulging discs in my back and neck.  I had to take about 10 days off of work.  If you're not aware, LBA is my full time job.  Just before this incident started I got very far ahead on my workload.  Now I'm right in line and just getting back to work.  I'm not 100% healed and worried about not meeting deadlines.   The 23Fe+ batch that has been pre-order is scheduled for January 8th.  I still believe this deadline is realistic since I had the project mostly complete before my injury.  I have multiple custom jobs on the bench, with more incoming.  Those are the things I'm most worried about meeting deadlines with.  I'm going to do my best.  One in particular has been pushed back and will probably be  pushed back further.  That one is a custom stereo optical tube compressor for a very cool French customer.  I want to develop this thing to the max and make it my greatest product ever.  It is the next product in the Storm Series... the Sun Storm.  I want this to be my greatest creation.  The Trinity tube channel strip almost was that, but it ended up never becoming a product due to multiple factors.  This I think will surpass it in complexity and awesomeness.  The Sun Storm is what I really want to talk about because I have been putting a ridiculous amount of time and effort into it since starting in October. 

When I'm not injured, I'm working 5-6 days per week and no less than 48 hours.  Since October 2024, 4 of those days per week are devoted to the development of the Sun Storm.  My daily personal journal confirms that for me.  You probably want to know what the Sun Storm is and what inspired it.  It's not based on anything.  The whole purpose is to create a unique compressor design that is highly flexible and offers a tube tone with components that are currently manufactured today.  A vari-mu compressor is a cool thing, but nobody makes variable-mu vacuum tubes anymore... at least within realistic prices.  I heard some company is offering a very specific vari-mu tube in new-production form for an absolutely obscene price.  That's a no-go.  I love my extremely modified (LBA) Altec 438-C variable-mu tube compressor, although it's way too colorful for most situations.  I also love my home-brew ultra-Hi-Fi variation on the Teletronix LA-2A vacuum tube optical compressor, but it is extremely limited in use due to it's fixed attack and release controls.   I absolutely love my 1176 compressor, but I don't want to make a clone.  Clones are not cool in my book.  To be honest, the 1176 is not ideal for every situation, nor is any compressor.  That's why we have options! 

This whole "build a unique studio compressor" thing began with a lot of people asking me if I would bring my Op-2 Compressor pedal back.  I'm not interested in doing pedals because I see that market as over saturated.  Too much competition is why I got out.  Many who know a little bit about electronics start making pedals because it can be easy.  That ease floods the market.  However, I recognize that particular pedal is a step above the norm and people really want that revision B version of the Op-2.  I pondered over it for more than a couple years.  My next move has been to make a professional studio version with more features and a much higher quality of sound (and with no limitations or design restrictions).  After getting as far along as I am with the R&D I can say that is an understatement.  The current prototype stage of the Sun Storm absolutely blows away the Op-2.

I started a new thing for me, which is keeping a daily journal in the development of the Sun Storm compressor.  It may seem like an obvious thing to do for some, and regretfully I should have done this for every product before.  It has made it easier and faster to develop by having an easy way at looking back at previous design ideas.  Every day I write down on paper with time and date stamps each development good or bad and I draw schematics of ideas and successes.  This has helped me to speed things up.  Also I have developed over many years some building block circuit boards which also help to speed things up.  Getting older sucks in the sense of injuries and healing time, but it's not so bad when I think about how much smarter I'm getting.  I'm excited about this compressor.  I think it's cool and If you keep reading I'll share why.

The Sun Storm is a hybrid device.  It has a 100% vacuum tube signal path.  That is, your audio will only flow through my LBA transformers (input and output), 2 vacuum tubes, and some resistors and very high-quality film capacitors.  There are currently 2 tubes in the design.  One is a 12DW7 and the other a 12AX7.  The 12DW7 is a nifty tube in that 1/2 of it is a 12AU7 and the other 1/2 is a 12AX7.  Did you know the 12AX7 (and many other tubes) are actually 2 separate triodes in the same glass envelope?  You probably would if you work with vacuum tubes.    In the Sun Storm, the first tube stage is a 12DW7 and the first triode is a 12AU7, which is used as a phase splitter.  1/2 the signal goes to the audio path, the other half goes to the control voltage, which I'll refer to henceforth as the CV.  The audio signal from the 12AU7 stage travels to the next vacuum tube (not the next triode in the envelope), which is a 12AX7.  This second vacuum tube is arranged in a circuit designed to drive a custom wound LBA output transformer... the FS21.  The second stage of the first tube is a 12AX7, but this triode is part of the CV.  It uses the compression knob on the front panel as a volume control for the input of this triode.  This triode is necessary to boost the signal voltage enough to be somewhat usable.  It's still not fully usable, so a second stage is required to boost it more.  The second stage is transistor based.  It is to be noted we are talking about the control voltage for the compressor here, not the direct audio path.   This second stage of the CV is essential to providing enough power to effectively operate the proceeding controls...  The attack and release functions.  The attack and release controls have their own independent transistors to control what I call a "timing capacitor".  I'm literally making this stuff all up in real life.  It may have been done before for some different application that I'm unaware of, but for a compressor I think it's probably unique.  The CV post attack and release goes to an LED light source that is reacted upon by high-speed photo resistors.  The photo resistors are there to manipulate the VU meter and the output volume.  This is a feed-forward design.  There are trimmer controls to calibrate the meter and I have found it to be fairly accurate... especially comparing to compressors like the 1176.   

The compressor speeds have not yet been accurately measured, but I can say initial in-studio testing implies it's very flexible.  The attack time seems to vary from super fast (maybe a ms or 2 to rather slow... like a second or two, with the release being similar).  It seems like the fastest release is slightly longer than the fastest attack.  It's practically impossible to measure with ears, so I'll need to do some proper lab testing in the future. 

The compressor is capable of boosting the signal over unity under max compression a substantial amount at this current state in time.  Max compression seems to be well over -20dB.  The THD according to circuit simulations should be super low.  In real life it sounds very transparent.  Testing of THD has not been done yet.  The headroom is obviously high with a noise floor that is not perceivable.  Noise measurements will come later as well. 

The only issue I currently face with this design is the compression ratio.  It seems to be extremely high.  I have 3 separate ideas for how to remedy this.  Further testing is necessary.  This is a work in progress, but I expect this will be resolved next week. 

I just completed a fresh batch of eight 23Fe+'s.  The 23Fe+ is still on sale for the rest of November or until sold out.  With the current demand and the limited quantity of just 8, I expect them to sell out quickly.  I was unable to garner up enough time and resources to build more than 8.  Most of my available resources have been devoted to the R&D of my new compressor.  Anyway, if you want to grab a 23Fe+ while the price is still low, hurry over to the store and snatch one up.

The biggest sale of the year starts now.  Head over to the store section of this website for the deepest discounts never before seen on LBA gear.  The sale lasts until the end of November or until supplies runs out.  Check out the used section of the store too.  There's a bunch of cool things for sale in order to raise funds for the development of the Op-2HD compressor.

This is related to the Op-2HD Compressor and the Dark Storm.  I have settled on powering the compressor with a 15V DC line-lump power supply.  In order to tie it in to the Storm Series I decided to develop a Storm Series power supply that offers both 48V DC for the Dark Storm (and any other solid-state devices I develop for the storm series) and 15V for the compressor or any other tube gear I may develop for the product line.  What you see in the photos above is the first prototype.  I need to develop it more before it's ready to be a product.  I expect it will get released at the same time as the compressor.  The power handling capabilities of this supply dwarf any line-lump adapters.  This is intended to be for those who either want the best or who have a Storm rig. 

Here's prototype number 2 in the development of a Storm Series compressor.  The first prototype had a lot of issues, distortion being the biggest one.  This one doesn't have any issues and sounds great.  I think at this point its ready to move forward with refining the design and look.  I'll have to sell this prototype in order to fund the advancement of the design.  It'll be available in the store section of this website under the used gear section later tonight. 

So what is it then?  2 tubes (12AT7, 12AX7) running at high voltage and 3 audio transformers are inside of this compressor.  It is based on my Op-2 Compressor pedal from a few years back, but this is radically better in every way.  More features, more headroom, more tone.  It is essentially an optical compressor, but different from usual in that a vacuum tube is responsible for creating the ratio by means of tube compression (distortion).  The compression knob is both the threshold adjustment and the ratio adjustment in one knob and it acts directly on the compression tube.  As you turn up the compression knob you increase the ratio and increase the amount of signal allowed to pass over the threshold.  There are controls for attack and release times, but they are a little interdependent.  A slower attack setting will result in a slower release time, but the release time switch has no affect on the attack time.  You can get a medium fast release with a slow attack, or a slow release.  You can also get a very fast attack and a fast release, or a slow release.  There is a side-chain low frequency bypass for the detection circuit.  There's more gain available in the tube makeup gain control than you'll likely ever need.  Your input signal level is not adjustable.  A hotter input signal will pass the threshold easier and compress more. 

This device runs on a 12V DC external line-lump power adapter (740mA draw). 

Production of the 2020S will cease with the release of the final batch on September 20th.  Pre-ordering is over and the quota is met.  The final one produced will be number will be 323.  Instrument transformers will continue to be produced... just not the 2020S.  If you really want a 2020S, you can make one yourself with the 20SX transformer that I will continue to offer as a product.  Thank you for supporting my endeavors!

Everyone seems to love the wide range of color offered by the Dark Storm, even some focusing on how it can get very distorted.  The Dark Storm can be very clean too and we set out to demonstrate that by recording piano.  Pianist and piano tech, Kevin Urso laid down a jazzy jam at LBA Studios in the video below.  Don't forget to buy 7 Dark Storms! :D

Finally, I've been able to work out all the issues with equipment failures and supply chains.  We're back on production and working 7-days per week to catch up.   Already, there's a lot of product back in stock.  Simultaneously, I'm working to develop several new products  (slowly working on developing a new compressor, I have an interesting idea for a ribbon mic signal booster, and a couple of nifty transformer designs).  This week, Paul is coming back to work now that things are looking better.  His first job is to edit the 5th and final video in the Big Flippers Youtube series.  The mixing board was sold to Adam Horwitz of New Jersey, so I no longer have it to shoot anymore videos with.  However, I may follow up with some more related videos in the future, but on my AMEK Big 44, which had far more extensive upgrades and mods done to it.  For now, Paul's next mission after Big Flippers is to focus on a Dark Storm ad/video, an Eye of Jupiter demo, and then possibly on a new video series.  His job is now exclusively video production and some minor photography stuff. 

Due to multiple big problems with equipment and supplies, small signal transformer production is halted.  Limited stock on hand for the time being.  This directly impacts all LBA products.  Whatever is in stock is all we can sell until the issues get resolved.  I expect things to get back on track in under 2 weeks.  I'm sorry for any inconvenience.  This is a terribly frustrating time for me.  I'm working as fast as I can to get back on track. The huge expenses involved are killing me.   Your support is appreciated during this time.  Thank you.

-Mike