LBA will be at the NAMM convention in January in Anaheim, CA.  LBA pedals will be featured on a pedalboard, hooked up and ready to demo at a shared booth, thanks to the Deli Magazine/StompBox Exhibit.  The Stompbox Exhibit will be supplying a headphone/amp sim rig for testing.  Not an ideal demo scenario, but better than none!  Stomp on by to check out the Op-2 Comp, the Thunder Knob, and hopefully something new and very special!  Hint hint.  ;-)  

Seems like most people simply don't understand how and when electricity can actually kill you or not.  I put warnings on my pedals to let people know there is high voltage inside, but rest assured, it can't actually kill you.  High amperage alternating current is what kills.  That simply does not exist in my pedals or anything I build.  My tube gear runs on low current DC.  Sure the voltage is high, but the voltage is not what kills.  For instance, the Thunder Knob runs at about 200 volts DC internally, but there's only 100mA of that hanging out.  I've been shocked by it and I'm still alive and well. In fact, I had the misfortune of getting shocked by 400 volts at 250 mA.  That was a bad day.  Once again, still alive.  There's a lot of misconceptions about high voltage tube gear on the internet.  I've probably been shocked by high voltage DC a couple dozen times in my life and even AC from the wall outlet a few times.  Still alive.  I have to put the warnings on things because I don't want anyone to go poking around with the power on.  A shock is not pleasant.  Very high voltage, high amperage DC could potentially cause burns or worse, but that's just not possible with the stuff I build.  The warnings you see at power substations and on high voltage power lines is very real.  That's high voltage, high current AC... a very different beast altogether.  Remember those stories of Edison trying to discredit Tesla's AC electricity by publicly electrocuting animals?  Edison was touting his DC as a safe form of electricity, which it is for the most part.        

Shane from intheblues youtube channel demoed around 500 pedals this year.  This video is of his favorites from 2017.  Looks like the Thunder Knob made the cut!  

 I've been taking my time on the design on Trinity.  I want to make sure its absolutely perfect through and through.  Its really something I see as my greatest endeavor.  I certainly have vastly more money and time tied up into the R&D of this than anything I've done before.  It has to be as perfect as I can make something or it can't be released.  The image above is the latest prototype... #008.  Please bear in mind there are many more than 8 revisions.  This is just the 8th completed unit.  Upon building this I decided I want to make some changes to the front and rear panel layouts with the next build.  In this particular build I massively fine tuned the electronics.  In previous builds there was some (inaudible) subharmonic noise when the EQ was engaged.  I redesigned the EQ amplifier stage and added an extra transformer to the EQ stage (interstage transformer).  This eliminated all the noise issues.  This is the first Trinity with a printed circuit board incorporated.  Hold on!  The PCB is 100% related to the onboard power supply section.  All of the audio is still point to point wired!  With the next Trinity, the power supply will have a discrete time delay circuit added to power on the high voltage B+ after the tube filaments heat up.  Its been breadboarded and designed in the computer already.  I'm feeling very confident the next build will be the first production model.  I'm also very excited for when that moment arrives!  You can check the fine details of this product on the Trinity product page or you can hear its sounds in action by checking out my recent productions for hire over at http://www.lbastudios.com

There are as of right now 7 videos on youtube demoing the Thunder Knob pedal.  I compiled them in one playlist that will surely grow over time.  The permanent link to said playlist is here for your intrigue:  
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCgXQ3cjBYDsxqOzqV359S_4GR0NwqdJY

I'm recovering from an extensive sinus surgery and plan to get back to work on Monday.  I'm super anxious to get back to work.  So much so that I have been working from home designing a PCB for the Trinity channel strip.  I'm building another one for LBA Studios and at the same time I'm perfecting the product as I inch closer to an official release.  Trinity is by far the longest, most expensive, and most extensive product R&D in the history of LBA.  Its been years in the making.  The design itself was finalized a few months back.  Now I'm at the stage of fine tuning the looks and streamlining the build process to get the price down as far as possible without compromising sound or quality.

Truth be told, Trinity has been on the shelf for most of the past year as I worked to develop an LBA-worthy overdrive pedal.  Now that the Thunder Knob is out I feel like its time to get back to my hearts truest desire.  Its truly a massive undertaking both financially and mentally to get Trinity from concept to product.  But, I'm back on track and determined!  I believe it will be my greatest achievement for a long time to come.   

The PCB I designed for Trinity during my recovery from surgery is for the onboard power supply, which is rather elaborate.  This new onboard supply was developed a few months back.  It helps reduce noise, cost, and build time.  It takes a 12VDC input and spits out 250v @ 200mA, 250v @ 100mA, 48v @ 250mA, and 6v @ 300mA... all of which are highly regulated for superior low noise operation.  I'm planning to build an external power supply unit that will distribute 12VDC to 2 Trinity channels.  I'm also thinking about building a larger power supply unit for powering 8 channels.

I'm not sure when Trinity will officially be ready, but I'm not concerned with that either.  Its done when its perfect.  Its very close to done.  I think the next build after this one will be "the one."  

Good news is I have been preparing for this all month.  Lots of inventory is built up, boxed, and ready to ship.  I'll be out of commission for about 2 weeks (best case scenario) due to an extensive surgery on the 31st of October.  I have a game plan in place for orders that may happen during this period.  They will ship normally.  In the unlikely event that inventory runs out, you will be notified by email within a few hours.  If that were the case, your order would be fulfilled within a couple weeks.  I just wanted to put this out there so there are no surprises.

EffectsBay just published a testimonial from one of their subscribers and its all about the Thunder Knob.  You can check it out here.  

So sorry for the delay!  I never intended to create a delay.  It was supposed to be a compressor.  Lol, sorry for the Dad joke!  I'm practicing for my newborn son.  In all seriousness, we have plenty of pedals in stock again and they're ready to ship.  Visit the store page to place your order.