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Cranborne Audio Camden 500

4099 kr incl VAT

500 series flexible mic preamp

Available on backorder

Description

Camden 500 is the most astoundingly clean, linear, transparent preamp you’ve ever heard. But it also has “Mojo” – 2 discrete custom analogue saturation circuits that can be applied, exaggerated, and perhaps best of all – bypassed.

Clean, precise and natural
Camden 500 provides the utmost clarity and detail when it is most required. Its custom ‘Camden’ topology achieves stunning low-noise and low-distortion performance: -129.8dB EIN (150ohm, unweighted) and THD+N as low as 0.0002%.  It also sets a new standard for frequency and phase linearity: ±0.7dB frequency response from 5Hz to 200kHz at max gain and <2° phase shift @ 50Hz – 20kHz. The sum result is the most natural sounding preamp you've ever heard.

Vintage, warm and coloured
Camden 500 features “Mojo” – a custom analogue saturation circuit that transforms Camden 500 into the fattest, warmest, most colourful mic preamp in your arsenal. Designed to introduce harmonics and saturation effects that our favourite vintage gear produces, Mojo can be subtle, it can be exaggerated, but best of all it can be bypassed.

Stepped gain control
Camden 500 features a premium, 12-way switch gain control that applies up to 68.5dB of clean, transparent preamp gain in 5.5dB steps. This makes it easy to recall gain settings and easy to match the gain of two Camden 500’s for stereo applications.

Progressive-slope high pass filter
Camden’s high pass filter features a progressive slope where low end is rolled off initially at around 6dB/octave and then increases to 12dB for the lowest octave – preserving the low end you want, and cutting what you don’t.

Stereo matched
With carefully selected modern components, any two Camden preamps are completely stereo matched to within 0.1dB. Every Camden preamp also passes through a rigorous frequency response test at the factory that ensures it performs the same as the last.

3-Way input type switch
Tailored input impedance and headroom for Mic, Line, and Hi-Z sources means punchy and full-range line recording with +26.5dBu of input headroom as well as alive and natural sounding DI’d instruments with it’s unique BJT design and 1.5M Ohm input impedance.

Vintage ‘Mojo’ on tap
For moments when you want that gooey, vintage vibe on your recordings, we developed Mojo – our own custom analogue saturation circuit that adds the familiar tone of transformers, valves, and vintage equipment onto your Camden’s preamps for recording or mixing. Record through Mojo to add that vibe on the way into your DAW, or add the Mojo during the mix phase – Mojo adds tons of analogue saturation to all audio signals.

Thump
Thump excites low-end content by adding harmonics to the signal in the 20Hz – 100Hz range – resulting in fuller low-end on smaller speakers. 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”.

Cream
Cream introduces a vintage smoothness and edge that is similar to how valves and tubes impact the sound of a preamp. Cream drastically increases harmonics and dynamically smooths-out the low mids for increased HF emphasis. Like Thump, Cream is completely dynamic and will vary its effect based on the inputs level and source material.

Variable
Unlike transformer or valve preamps, Mojo is variable and can be dialled in to taste. Transformer and valves are integral parts of certain preamp designs and so cannot be removed from the signal path or altered for different effects. Mojo on the other hand can be dialed-in to taste or crucially, bypassed when you need a clean and pristine recording.

Vintage vibe without compromise
Transformers and valves sound great, but they have a flavour that can’t be removed. The Phase Shift, Noise, and THD added by these designs give them their sound, but that sound sometimes isn’t always suited to a particular source. Camden gives you 3 discrete tonal flavours that allow it to excel on any source or instrument.

Key features:

  • Fully-discrete, transformerless design featuring our custom ‘Camden’ preamp topology designed by our Director of Engineering – Edward Holmes
  • Optimised for and fully-compliant with the 500-series format
    • Camden 500 is not a 19” unit shoe-horned into a 500-series module, it has been designed from the ground-up to perform under the low-voltage power rails and supply current limitations of the 500-series format whilst delivering groundbreaking performance
  • Performs at the near-theoretical limits of noise, distortion, and phase/frequency linearity at all gain settings
    • EIN: <-129.5dBu, 150 ohm source, unweighted, <-135.5dBu, Inputs common, unweighted
    • THD+N: <0.0004%, 1kHz, 35dB gain, 24dBu out
    • Intermodulation Distortion: <0.0008%, 50Hz and 7kHz, 35dB gain, 20dBu out
    • Phase Shift: <2.25°, 40dB gain, 20Hz to 20kHz, <4°, Max gain, 20Hz to 20kHz
    • Freq. Response: <±1dB, <5 Hz to >200 kHz, all gain settings
    • CMRR: >70dB, typ >85dB, 35dB Gain, 10-20kHz, 100mV Common mode
  • Optimised input Impedance and input headroom for Mic, Line, and Hi-z sources
    • Mic Preamp, Instrument Di, and – thanks to Mojo – line-level analogue saturator
  • Custom ‘Mojo’ analogue saturation circuit with variable control, true bypass, and 2 discrete styles – Thump and Cream
    • Reamp tracks from your DAW through Mojo to apply analogue saturation to your stems, VST, and stereo mixes
    • Thump excites low-end content by boosting lower odd/even harmonics from a range of 160Hz to 20Hz and below
    • Cream boosts odd/even harmonics whilst also reducing the amplitude of the fundamental frequencies and applying typical transformer-style transient taming
  • Gold Flashing on backplane contacts for increased conductivity and durability
  • Designed & Engineered in the United Kingdom

Specifications:

  • Minimum Gain: Mic= 8dB, Line = 0dB, Hi-Z = 3dB
  • Maximum Gain: Mic = 68dB, Line = 60dB, Hi-Z = 63dB
  • Input Impedance:
    Mic= 8.9kOhms 48v Off, 5.4kOhms 48v ON,
    Line = 24.3kOhms,
    Hi-Z= 1.5MOhm unbalanced, 3MOhm balanced
  • Max Input Level:
    Mic = 17.6dBu (<0.003% THD), Line = 26.5dBu (<0.02% THD), Hi-Z = 24dBu (<0.02% THD)
  • Output Impedance: 150 Ohms
  • Max Output Level: 27.5dBu (<0.002% THD, 30dB gain)
  • Equivalent Input Noise (EIN):
    <-129.5dBu (150 ohm source, unweighted), <-131dBu (150 ohm source, A-weighted), <-135.5dBu (Inputs common, unweighted)
  • Frequency Response:
    ±0.25dB (<5 Hz to >200 kHz, 35dB gain),
    <±1dB (<5 Hz to >200 kHz, max gain)
  • Phase Shift:
    <2.25° (40dB gain, 20Hz to 20kHz), <4° (max gain, 20Hz to 20kHz)
  • THD+N: <0.0004% (1kHz, 35dB gain, 24dBu out)
  • Intermodulation Distortion:
    <0.0008% (50Hz and 7kHz, 35dB gain, 20dBu out), <0.0006% (50Hz and 7kHz, 35dB gain, 15dBu out)
  • Hi-Pass Filter (HPF): 80Hz, -3dB, 12dB/Oct
  • Current Draw: 120mA per rail – idle, 140mA per rail – typical use case
  • CMRR: >70dB, typ >85dB, 35dB gain, 10-20kHz, 100mV Common mode
  • Slew Rate: 20V/uS, 35dB gain, 25dBu out
  • Dimensions (mm): 31.8/133.35/170.11 (w/h/d)