Cranborne Audio Camden 500 Series Microphone Preamp

500 Series Preamp Delivers the Best of Both Worlds

The Cranborne Audio Camden 500 is a mic, line, and instrument preamplifier with truly impressive low-noise and low-distortion performance as well as frequency and phase linearity at all gain settings. The net result is a stunningly clean, pristine, and natural-sounding 500 Series preamp module that delivers every source as a neutral canvas you can paint with your choice of analog and digital processing. But when you want vintage British tonal character, that’s where Cranborne’s Mojo circuit comes in.

Pump it up with Mojo

When vintage British tonal character is required, rather than using a transformer and having to live with its drawbacks, Cranborne developed their Mojo circuit, which lets you dial in your choice of two discrete analog saturation types (Thump and Cream) that can turn the Camden 500 into the warmest, fattest, and most characterful preamp in your studio — all at the twist of a knob. Mojo can be smooth and subtle, punchy and in-your-face — or completely out of the circuit. With the Cranborne Audio Camden 500, the choice is yours.

Custom transformerless topology

With the Mojo circuit bypassed, Camden 500 is one of the cleanest, most linear, transparent, and natural-sounding preamps we’ve put to the test at Marshall Music. Featuring a custom transformerless front-end topology with 68.5dB of gain, the Camden 500 achieves amazing low-noise and low-distortion specs and also raises the bar for frequency and phase linearity: ±0.7dB frequency response from 5Hz to 200kHz at maximum gain and <2° phase shift @ 50Hz to 20kHz. The Camden 500’s tailored input impedance and headroom for Mic, Line, and hi-Z sources give you punchy, full-range line recording with +26.5dBu of input headroom as well as vibrant, natural-sounding DI instruments.

Cranborne Audio Camden 500 Microphone Preamp Features:

• Ultra-clean mic/line/instrument preamp with variable coloration
• 3-way input type switch optimizes impedance/headroom for Mic, Line, and hi-Z source
• Bypassable Mojo circuit with Thump/Cream analog saturation types
• Maximum Gain: Mic = 68dB, Line = 60dB, hi-Z = 63dB
• 48V phantom power switch
• 80Hz highpass filter, 12dB/oct
• Polarity reverse switch
• 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, <5Hz to >200kHz (35dB gain); <±1dB, <5 Hz to >200 kHz (max gain)
• Phase Shift: <2.25°, 40dB gain, 20Hz–20kHz; <4°, max gain, 20Hz–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
• Designed and engineered in the UK

Learn more about Cranborne Audio

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