Designed for recording engineers who want an updated take on 312A-style gain, the Black Lion Audio B12A Quad is a four-channel preamp with a punchy, rock'n'roll tone. It's suitable for recording drums, guitars, basses, or even aggressive vocals.

This preamp gives you four channels in a 1-RU package. XLR connections on the rear of the unit correspond nicely with your microphones, while you can plug any electric bass or electric guitar into the two 1/4" DI inputs located on the front panel. 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 switcher for condenser microphones, as well as a polarity-reverse selector and an 18 dB pad switch. A Hi-Z switch on channels one and two 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 B12A Quad employs Cinemag transformers on both the input and output stages, ensuring a rock-solid, meaty tone that lovers of classic 312-series preamps will enjoy. Output metering is made possible via four 7-segment light meters. These shine green most of the time, go yellow just before clipping, and of course, give you the red light when you're pumping too much signal through the unit.