Description

Put simply, Camden 500 is the most astoundingly clean, linear, and transparent preamp
you’ve ever heard. But it can also be the most colourful and characterful at the turn of a dial.

Camden 500 was designed from the ground-up to be the ultimate front-end for the
modern studio and engineer and to withstand the rigours of modern workflow and
production techniques. It features a completely original, custom-designed preamp
topology that achieves stunning low-noise and low-distortion performance as well as
frequency and phase linearity at all gain settings. The sum result is -129.5dB EIN (150ohm,
unweighted), THD+N as low as 0.0002%, frequency response of ±0.7dB from 5Hz to 200kHz
at max gain and <2° phase shift @ 20Hz – 20kHz.

For moments when that extra bit of preamp character is required, rather than use a
transformer and learn to live with its sonic drawbacks, Cranborne Audio developed Mojo –
two discrete analogue saturation styles that transform Camden 500 into the fattest,
warmest, and most characterful preamp in your arsenal – all at the turn of a dial. Perhaps
best of all and unlike transformer and other legacy designs, Mojo can be subtle, it can also
be exaggerated, but it can also be bypassed when complete transparency is required for
the session.

Clean, Precise, and Natural – at all gain positions
Whilst preamp specifications often quote fantastic figures at specific gain values, when the
gain is increased, those figures often change radically. Camden 500 was designed to retain
all of its impressive performance specifications at all gain positions from 8dB to 68dB. This
means that even when the preamp is running at maximum gain, the Phase and Frequency
response remains linear and THD always remains inaudible – enabling all gain positions to
be usable for any source and mic combination.

Vintage, Warm, and Coloured – thanks to Mojo
Mojo is a new type of saturation circuit that consists of an array of filters and discrete
second/third order harmonic generators that allow precise emulation of the saturation and
low-end reinforcement behaviours of vintage transformer and valve-based equipment. The
key to Mojo is that it can be dialled in to taste; use subtle amounts for gentle saturation, or
dial it in to well beyond the point that destructive clipping would usually occur in
transformer-based preamps. Perhaps the very best part of Mojo is that it can be bypassed
to reveal the pristine base sound of the Camden 500.

Thump
Thump is a style that works best on – but is not limited to – low-frequency based
instruments. Thump excites low-end content by boosting harmonics in the range of ~100Hz
to 20Hz and below without increasing the fundamental frequencies – resulting in fuller
low-end on all reproduction mediums. As Thump is not EQ-based, the additional harmonic
content is shaped by the source and it’s existing low-end frequency content resulting in a
natural addition of extra “Thump”. Similar-sounding EQ moves will result in extreme
wooliness as all sonic energy is boosted – even unwanted audio in-between the hits.

Cream
Cream introduces a vintage smoothness that enables tracks to sit deep within a complex
mix in a way that cannot be replicated with EQ. The Cream setting drastically increases THD
whilst smoothing-out the low-mids. As with Thump, Cream is not EQ based and is purely
achieved by blending 2 saturation stages with the dry signal and additional harmonics.
Cream varies entirely on the harmonic signature of the incoming source. It will increase
high-end forwardness and create unique harmonic-based tonal shaping effects on
mid-range instruments, but it will also add low-end on full range sources as well as unique
“compression-style” effect on transients.

Key Features:

• Fully-discrete, transformerless design featuring custom ‘Camden’ preamp topology
  designed by Cranborne Audio’s Director of Engineering – Edward Holmes
• Optimised Input Impedance and input headroom for Mic, Line, and HI-Z sources
• Optimised for and fully-compliant with the 500-series format
• Audio performance at the near-theoretical limits of noise, distortion, and phase/frequency
  linearity at all gain settings
• RGB Signal Level LED with integrated Clip indicator
• Unique 48v status LED
• Mojo analogue saturation circuits with variable control, true bypass, and 2 discrete styles –
  Thump and Cream
• Reamp line-level tracks from your DAW through Mojo to apply analogue saturation to your
  stems, VST, and stereo mixes
• Gold Flashing on backplane contacts for increased conductivity and durability
• Designed and Engineered in the UK