Cranborne Audio - Camden EC1

Microphone preamp

The Camden EC1 is one of the cleanest, most transparent preamps on the market in a self-contained, user-friendly chassis that can be integrated into any audio system. Capture your source transparently; amplify low-sensitivity microphones without adding noise or coloration and capture instantaneous, coherent transients without phase shifts that cause summing anomalies. Camden EC1 has a performance specification that exceeds the most revered 'transparent' preamps on the market. Its 12-way rotary gain switch makes it easy to recall the preamp's gain, while its dedicated mic, line and hi-z input modes allow the Camden EC1 to become not only your mic preamp of choice, but also a line-level saturator and DI instrument thanks to the dedicated 1/4" Link outputs for each channel.

Preamps with Mojo!
To get more character out of your mic preamplification, Cranborne Audio has developed Mojo: two analogue saturation styles that give the Camden even more width, warmth and sonic originality, all in the twinkling of an eye. And unlike the use of transformers and other legacy designs, Mojo can be subtle. It can also be overdone, but it can also be bypassed when total transparency is required for the session.

Vintage, warm and colourful - thanks to Mojo
Mojo is a new type of saturation circuit consisting of a set of filters and discrete second/third-order harmonic generators. It allows precise emulation of the saturation and low-frequency boosting behaviour of vintage transformers and tube-based equipment.

Thump
Thump is a style that works best on, but is not limited to, low-frequency based instruments. Thump excites the bass content by increasing the harmonics in the range 100 to 20 Hz and below, without increasing the fundamental frequencies, resulting in a fuller bass on all reproduction media. As Thump is not an equaliser, the additional harmonic content is shaped by the source and its existing low frequency content, resulting in a natural addition.

Cream
Cream introduces a vintage softness that allows tracks to sit deep in a complex mix, in a way that cannot be reproduced with an EQ. The Cream setting dramatically increases distortion while smoothing out the low-mids. As with Thump, Cream is not based on an equaliser and is obtained purely by mixing 2 stages of saturation with the dry signal and additional harmonics. The Cream function varies entirely according to the harmonic signature of the incoming source. It will add quality and create unique tonal shaping effects based on the medium harmonics of instruments, but it will also add bass on full-band sources as well as a unique 'compression style' effect on transients.