Black Box HG-2 / HG-2MS | High-End Tube Saturation plugin

The Black Box HG-2 copied the famous hardware unit (about $3000) and added a few useful features. It adds saturation, harmonics, natural compression, and increased RMS for mixing and mastering. The extended version of Black Box HG-2MS is a great example of what happens when a developer expands beyond the limits of hardware emulation. To say it right away, The HG-2MS is a Swiss army knife of coloration. In the following, I will mainly focus on the HG-2MS model as this upgrade offers amazing new flexibility.

The pentode and triode gain stages form the HG-2’s core. For musical distortion, the triode tube produces gritty third-order harmonics, while the pentode tube produces even-order harmonics.

By pushing these gain stages against the output and each other, you can create a range of sounds. The pentode feeds the triode. A parallel circuit that is independent of the first pentode stage is also operating off the input. It provides distinctive saturation and harmonics. The frequency content coming back from the circuit can be focused thanks to a three-way frequency selector. Only the low-mids and sub-frequencies are saturated by low, the entire spectrum is saturated by flat, and only the high-mids and highs are affected by high. In this manner, you can power up only the low-end or add a top-end to dull sources, for example. A smooth high-frequency boost is also added by the HG-2’s Air switch. Particularly noteworthy are features such as the shape of the saturation filter and the frequency selection options, mid/side vs. stereo, and the general sound calibration of the plugin.

Special property

What really sets the Black Box plugin apart from other saturation tools is the ability to work in great detail. Most saturation plugins are often difficult to adjust in detail. Often you barely hear anything when you first click, but if you turn it a little further, the sound change is quickly too extreme. When mastering in particular, it is difficult to work properly and precisely with such tools.

The extremely fine controls make experimentation a pleasure and increase the dimensionality of a track, as well as drum buses or individual signals, in an impressive way. I do not doubt that you will want to use this saturation tool on everything because it is so addicting.

Black Box plugin works subtle but present and I adore the additional saturation, warmth, and grit you can get. A mix or other source can be subtly widened without experiencing phase problems when summing to mono.

Practical example

In mastering, I always start with the default preset because you need to use this plugin with clear hearing capacities. I dial in the Pentode & Triode knobs to taste where Pentode gives me the feeling of a stable, cleaner & detailed tightness (especially in the lows) while Triode gives me more of that warmer „tube“ sound full of rich harmonics. The great thing is that you combine both while mastering a track. After that, I check if I need to dial in the saturation knob and by how far to go. Also, try to play with 2 other important knobs: in most cases, the density knob is around 30-50% and the dry/wet is around 40-70%. If your track is getting too many highs with HG-2MS go from normal calibration to dark calibration – it will sound much more balanced.

Improvement request

An automated output increase is what I truly miss. That would have been nice, particularly in the HG-2MS extended software version. This is exactly what many other manufacturers now provide; they automatically adjust the output level to the original signal, preventing you from ever reaching the “louder = better” stage. Unfortunately, using this program requires you to dial down the output manually.

Final Verdict

The Black Box Analog Design HG-2 is among the best saturation tools I’ve ever heard, producing lovely analog sound. Highly recommended!

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Cheers,
Oliver Schmitt aka Sounds of Revolution (SOR)