We will be closed from February 18th-25th.  Orders may still be placed on the webstore and will begin shipping on the 26th in the order they were received. 

The Dark Storm has been nominated for the Sound On Sound 2023 Awards in the category of mic preamps.  It's on page 3, but you'll need to cast a vote on each page to get there.  Please vote for the Dark Storm.  I know our chances are slim, but it would be sooo cool to have a little badge of honor to present.  Thanks for your support. 
Vote here.

"For a box with so few user controls, the Dark Storm offers impressive tonal versatility, and with both the mic and instrument inputs feeding the same circuit, operation is trivially easy."
"So simple, but so addictive. And what character there is on offer here!"
"So much more than ‘just’ a mic preamp, the Dark Storm is as much about colour and character as it is about gain. It practically begs you to play and experiment!"

To read the full review, please visit the Sound On Sound website.  Click here for the review at SOS.

I can't say a whole lot until the new products are ready for release, but here's what I can share.  There are currently 2 products in the R&D phase.  One is a 500 Series companion to the Super Storm - this one being a multi-tool with the DI section of the Dark Storm integrated into it.  The other is a bit of an oddity and it is turning out to be a pedal. 

The current pedal prototype is called the "Magnetar."  It started as something rather different from what it is now, but that's how development goes.  At first, I was trying to develop a crappy audio transformer.  Seriously.  The 2020S has been a popular product, but the naysayers think it isn't colorful enough.  Technically speaking, the more "colorful" a transformer is, the lower the quality of the transformer.  Sonic coloration is something transformer designers often try to avoid because it's considered a flaw.  What I attempted to do was make a transformer that cost a little as possible to produce and one that could be made as quickly as possible.  I created the 23Fe.  It's an iron core, bifilar wound, Hi-Z 1:1 transformer with no shielding can.  Super dead simple to assemble and with a very low cost core (Iron is cheap compared to some of the more esoteric high-nickel alloys).  While this transformer technically works and is absolutely very colorful, it's frequency response is rather poor in my opinion, which is why I felt it isn't good enough to be a product.  There is a low cut at 20Hz, which isn't a bad thing, but there is a low shelf attenuation of a few dB that spans from 20Hz all the way up to 1kHz.  Between 1-3kHz there is a sizeable frequency boost (bell curve).  The frequency span above this point is relatively flat and about 2dB louder than the low shelf.  Overall insertion loss is hard to put a number on due to the non linearity of the frequency response, but it's about a couple dB.

Next, I created an iron-core inductor as a "frequency-pass" for low frequencies.  I put this in parallel with the 23Fe transformer to cancel out the low frequency attenuation.   This worked to some degree, but the 1-3kHz boost seemed strong enough to make the bass issue rather insignificant.  For the extra cost of the inductor, it didn't really add all that much.  I couldn't justify putting these two magnetic devices together in a larger passive box.  It certainly was colorful, but that frequency response would require the user to use an EQ pedal to straighten things out a bit.  I don't think that will be a popular product.  

And now we move on to an active design - the Magnetar.  This has been in development for a few weeks and it now sounds quite impressive to both me and my assistant, Paul.  It has a sound that reminds me of vacuum tubes and old-school studio gear (colorful transformers).  What is it?  It's a crazy device that can radically shape your tone with one single knob... depending on where the knob is set.  Let me try to explain this wild contraption.  It uses one single active component - a lonely little JFET transistor, which in this circuit is being manipulated a lot of different ways at the same time.  The device is powered by an external 9V DC adapter and boosts that internally to 48V DC.  That creates the tube-like headroom.  Your instrument signal enters the pedal and the very first thing it hits is the 23Fe transformer.  From there it goes to the JFET where it gets bounced around many special ways.  One of those ways is by routing part of the JFET's output from the bias section through the aforementioned iron-core inductor to create a substantial bass boost.  In parallel with that is a capacitor to create a high frequency boost.  These components are tuned in the circuit to balance out the frequency response across the mid-range and somewhat the treble, while creating a boost in the lows.  I won't elaborate on the exact details of how the knob works at this time, but it does several things.  The knob changes the amount of bass and treble boost, increasing both with the knob's clockwise rotation, but also distortion and volume are increased as the knob gets turned up.  Fully counter-clockwise is unity gain with more of a sub-bass boost going on and a reduction of highs, the tone is otherwise clean.  Distortion is slowly introduced as the knob gets turned up, but... and I mean a big BUT, the pedal is designed to be like a vacuum tube preamp in both sound and feel.  That means the distortion will decrease as you lower the input signal feeding into the pedal.  Another way to say it is if you want a scooped sort of sound with clarity/no distortion, you turn the knob up all the way and then turn down the volume knob on your instrument.  It reacts highly to the level of the input signal.  Touch sensitivity like a tube amp.  If you want it to sound like a raging beast, try using humbuckers instead of single coils or drive it with a booster.  There are very different and useful tones across the entire rotation of the knob and due to the interactive nature of the pedal with the instrument plugged in, you can get an endless amount of tonal variation.  It has tons of tone and tons of headroom.  It's too early to say how much the Magnetar will sell for or even if it will be called that.  Initial testing has found it works very well with both bass and guitar, but it was initially designed with bass in mind.  I think it will probably be around $299 USD. 

My 3D printer died.  It's one of the most expensive options on the market.  The manufacturer said this mechanical failure can't be fixed and the entire printer will need to be replaced.  It was purchased new from them in January of 2021 and is no longer under the 1-year warranty.  It's still one of the highest resolution SLA resin printers on the market.  There are a lot of cheap, sub $400 printers on the market, albeit with less features and lower resolution.  For me, the resolution is the most important thing and at 25 microns, it's pretty darn good. I explained to the manufacturer that I have been considering switching to a different brand considering the huge price difference and small resolution difference (28 microns).  They offered me 1/2 off a new machine, which is still 4 times the price of the competition.  Considering all the options are made in China, this isn't about where it's made.  It's about security for the investment first of all, but also a higher level of quality in printing and in longevity.  With such a hefty price tag I need a better warranty.  That's exactly what I told the manufacturer of my broken machine.  The agent gave me a phone number to call their sales team so I could learn about their warranty options.  I'm going to call, but I'm not paying for a greater warranty!  I expect a greater warranty for something as expensive as that.  I don't believe I'm wrong to expect that.  If they can't afford to deal with 2 years of warranty coverage it means they know their products will fail.  Doesn't it make sense to improve your build quality?  That's how you stay relevant when the competition is 1/8th the price!

This experience had me thinking about my own warranty more seriously.  I'm going to expand the warranty duration for the Dark Storm from 1-year to 3-years.  I have actually been making a lot of advances lately, which help this to make sense.

Over the past couple months I've been working with Trav to design a new enclosure for the Dark Storm.  The idea is to keep the look similar and the dimensions the same, but to significantly improve its structural integrity.  I was concerned about potential breakage from Artists touring with them.  The design is now complete and the first prototype is getting powder coated on Wednesday.  The metal was thickened on the top/bottom and additional bending and hardware were added to increase the number and types of internal supports.  The side panels now have a bit of a contour to them, which adds to the look, but doesn't affect the overall dimensions.

I made a minor, but good change on the motherboard of the Dark Storm a while back.  I found that on occasion during shipping the LBA opamp, Dark Yeller, would sometimes pop out of its socket.  It would be rolling around the inside of the Dark Storm and would require the customer to open it up and remount the Dark Yeller on its socket.  As a result, I'm no longer using sockets and instead solder the Dark Yeller directly to the circuit board.  Problem fixed.

With build quality improvements it becomes easier to offer a better warranty.  Once the new enclosure is in production, the price of the Dark Storm will need to go up by $50 and the warranty will be 3-years instead of one. 

Youtube channel, @KohleAudioKult did a shootout of several DI Boxes, including the DI feature of the Dark Storm.  It's an unbiased review.  My favorite part is the last few minutes where he takes the Dark Storm for a walk.  Check it out and let me know your thoughts in the comments of this blog.

By popular demand, I'm bringing back the 2020S this year.  This new production run will be 100 units.  If they sell quickly, I'll produce another run after that and we'll take it from there.   I'm planning to begin producing them in mid-August of this year, or roughly 1 month from now.  They'll be available for sale at that time.  Now that I have some extra help here at LBA, it's finally possible to bring these back.  The new selling price will be $119 USD plus shipping.  These will be exactly the same as before, but with a UV Printed top instead of the sticker decal that was originally used.   If you know, you know.  If you don't, visit 2020S to learn more.

Sign up here for the mailing list at eepurl.com/dbd6j5 to get the free download code.

Trav's growing place with LBA will only mean better things for our company.  I for one am excited to have him as part of our team and I'm looking forward to the day he'll be full time.  I hope that day comes sooner than expected!  Thanks for kickin' ass, Trav!