Simply put, the Cranborne Audio Camden 500 is the cleanest, most linear and transparent preamp you've ever heard. Designed from the ground up as the ultimate front-end for the modern studio and engineer, Camden 500 meets the demands of modern workflow and production techniques. The preamp features a completely new, specially designed Camden preamp topology that delivers stunning low-noise, low-distortion performance and frequency and phase linearity at all gain settings. The sum result is -129.8dB ON (150 Ohm, unweighted), THD+N up to 0.0002%, frequency response ±0.7 dB from 5 Hz to 200 kHz at maximum gain and <2° phase shift @ 20 Hz - 20 kHz.
For moments when an extra piece of British character is needed instead of using a transformer and living with its drawbacks, Cranborne Audio has developed Mojo - two discrete analog saturation styles that turn the Camden 500 into the fattest, warmest and most characterful preamp in your arsenal - all at the touch of a button. Best of all, unlike transformers and other older designs, Mojo can be used subtly or exaggeratedly, or even deactivated completely.
While the preamp specifications often give fantastic values for certain gain values, these values often change radically when the gain is increased. Camden 500 is designed to maintain all its impressive features in all gain positions from 8 dB to 68 dB. This means that even if the preamp is running at maximum gain, the phase and frequency response remains linear and THD is always inaudible - so all gain positions can be used for any source and microphone combination.
Camden 500 features mojo - a novel saturation circuit consisting of a series of filters and discrete second-/third order harmonic generators that allow precise emulation of the saturation and gain characteristics of old transformers and valve-based devices. The key to Mojo is that it can be dialed in at will; use subtle amounts for smooth saturation or select it far beyond the point where destructive clipping would normally occur on transformer-based systems. Perhaps the best thing about Mojo is that it can be bypassed to reveal the pure tone of the Camden 500.
Thump is a style that works best on low frequency instruments - but is not limited to that. Thump stimulates low-end content by amplifying harmonics in the ~100 Hz to 20 Hz range and below without increasing fundamental frequencies - resulting in a fuller low-end on all playback media. Since Thump is not based on EQ, the additional harmonic content is shaped by the source and the existing low-end frequency content, resulting in a natural addition of additional "Thump". Similar sounding EQ movements lead to extreme washiness as the entire sound energy is amplified - even unwanted sound between hits.
Cream introduces a vintage smoothness that allows tracks to sit deep in a complex mix in a way that cannot be replicated with EQs. The cream setting dramatically increases the THD while smoothing the low-mids. As with Thump, Cream is not EQ based and is achieved purely by mixing 2 saturation levels with the dry signal and additional overtones. Cream varies completely depending on the harmonic signature of the incoming source. It will increase the high-end preview and create unique harmonic-based tonal shaping effects for mid-range instruments, as well as adding full-range low-end sources and a unique compression-style effect for transients.