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Camden 500 Preamp and Signal Processor

 

User Manual 

 

Camden 500 User Manual [WIP]

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©2018 Cranborne Audio Ltd

 

Summary of Contents for Camden 500

Page 1: ...Camden 500 Preamp and Signal Processor User Manual Camden 500 User Manual WIP Page 1 2018 Cranborne Audio Ltd ...

Page 2: ...he highest quality and truly innovative new ways of working and achieving that sound that we all desire Cranborne Audio for us means so much more than metal boxes with components in them These are our labours of love that embody and demonstrate our demand for excellence By distilling what matters and putting our soul into these tools we hope to help other people make magic and express themselves a...

Page 3: ...rformance Acoustic guitars and strings sound like they are right next to you vocals sound open natural and intimate drums sound punchier and tighter than you have ever heard before We re musicians and engineers ourselves and we know that there are moments when you want that extra bit of character So to compliment the clean and natural front end of Camden 500 we developed our discrete Mojo analogue...

Page 4: ...9 HPF Switch 9 Mojo Overview 10 Mojo Control 10 Mojo Style Switch 10 Thump 11 Cream 12 Technical Specifications 13 Equivalent Input Noise 14 THD N 15 Frequency Response 16 Phase Shift 17 Application Guides 18 Achieving Ideal Operating Level 18 Reamping Sources Through Mojo 19 Maximising Your Mojo 20 Sources To Try With Mojo 21 Troubleshooting 22 Notices 23 Warranty 23 Repair Service 23 Maintenance ...

Page 5: ...the polarity of the input signal by 180 6 Gain Control 12 position switched pot Adjusts the input sensitivity of the preamp from 8 to 68 5dB in 5 5dB increments 7 48v Switch Engages 48v phantom power for the rear XLR connector onboard the 500 series chassis being used with Camden 500 8 Input Type Switch 3 way switch Adjusts the input Impedance and pad status of the preamp Input to match the desire...

Page 6: ...l not to over tighten Removing Modules First make sure the 500 series chassis is powered off the power supply has been removed and the capacitors have had time to discharge As a precaution touch the metal chassis of your 500 series chassis to discharge any built up static electricity Remove the module fixing screws and store them in a safe place for future use Firmly pull Camden 500 to release the ...

Page 7: ...hones cannot be connected directly to the jack input on the front of Camden 500 Input Type switch The Input type switch configures the front end of Camden 500 to create the best possible environment for mic line and hi z sources Each switch position determines the input impedance active input connector and pad status of the preamp for each input type setting MIC Switches Camden 500 s input impedanc...

Page 8: ... 10 11 Max Gain dB 0 5 5 11 16 5 22 27 5 33 38 5 44 49 5 55 60 5 Hi Z INPUT GAIN RANGE Position Min 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Max Gain dB 3 8 5 14 19 5 25 30 5 36 41 5 47 52 5 58 63 5 Signal Clip Indicators The signal and clip indicators are visual aids to help achieve the best performance and highest possible signal to noise ratio during the recording process Correct gain staging will also get Mojo w...

Page 9: ...up or instances where other instruments also being mic d and recorded are bleeding into the microphone HPF Switch The HPF often called Low Cut switch engages a filter that removes low end rumble from sources that do not require low frequency extension The filter is set to achieve 3dB of attenuation at 80Hz and features a 12dB per octave slope Camden 500 s High Pass Filter has been tuned to achieve a...

Page 10: ...thers We built a brand new type of saturation circuit consisting of an array of different filters some of which are inductive and discrete second and third order harmonic generators that allow precise emulation of the saturation and low end reinforcement behaviours of vintage equipment Mojo can even be dialed in to well beyond the point that destructive clipping would usually occur with transformer...

Page 11: ...nding EQ moves will result in extreme wooliness as all sonic energy is boosted even unwanted audio in between the hits On sources such Kick drum Thump will add the desired amount of low end thickness required to provide the foundation for the rest of the mix to sit on As Thump is NOT EQ based the content added is controlled by the hits unlike EQ On Snare Vocals and Guitar sources that are traditio...

Page 12: ...a delicate amount of Cream will add high end harmonics that will bring the vocals forward whilst also taming the midrange honkiness of an unprocessed vocal track Higher Cream settings will take a clean vocal track through to a warm vintage saturation with subtle overdrive effects that have the effect of smoothing out esses and adding up front warmth On drums you will notice a fattening of transien...

Page 13: ...t 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 35...

Page 14: ... lower numbers but will be less revealing as to what the noise performance will actually be with an input connected Camden 500 has an EIN of 129 5dB unweighted with a 150 ohm load If we use other measurement techniques such as inputs common or A weighting Camden s EIN performance is 135 5dB and 131dB respectively The result is an ultra low noise front end that you would only find on the most elite ...

Page 15: ...good or bad it is adding to the signal When designing Camden 500 we aimed for the smallest possible THD percentage to achieve the most transparent preamp possible Camden 500 s THD N remains inaudible and below 0 02 at all frequencies and gain positions THD N reaches 0 0002 1kHz at 24 5dB gain and remains below 0 0008 1kHz at all gain positions from 8dB to 46 5dB THD N is often measured by other ma...

Page 16: ...band and causing high end smearing and hype A typical preamp can begin rolling off frequencies above 20kHz which makes them susceptible to a harsh and unnatural high end character Preamps also tend to drastically increase frequency roll off as the gain is increased to maximum however Camden 500 only has a maximum roll off of 0 7dB for a consistently linear frequency response at all gain settings r...

Page 17: ...mps it can also be the root cause of alot of undesirable effects when used in multi mic setups and when trying to capture clean and pure audio signals audible effects that cannot be remedied by flipping the polarity or aligning transients in post production Camden 500 s phase shift remains below 2 25 between 20Hz 20kHz up to 57 5dB of gain This allows Camden 500 to produce punchy sharp and tight tr...

Page 18: ... 500 is set correctly If you are sending the output of Camden 500 into an audio interface s line input make sure that the line input is set to 4dBu reference level and any input gain control is set to its minimum setting You should now be receiving a healthy level into Camden 500 and onwards to your audio interface If the preamp begins to clip during the recording process reduce the input gain con...

Page 19: ...en LED is lighting brightly and the Clip indicator only gently lights up when the loudest transients are reached 5 Connect the output of Camden 500 to a spare line Input on your audio interface 6 Using your audio interface monitor Camden 500 by using your speakers or your headphone outputs All systems will do this different by monitoring through the DAW directly or through a custom mixer control p...

Page 20: ...p will target or filter after Mojo to retain Thump s harmonic additions whilst reducing LF rumble CASCADING MOJO Cream and Thump work perfectly in isolation however when used together they can provide even more tonal shaping possibilities to turn raw unprocessed audio files into warm rich and analogue sounding goodness that will sit nicely into the mix and require minimal further processing Cascadin...

Page 21: ...More shell body and smoother highs and less brittleness Richer low end without increasing ring out in between hits Smooth and more intimate low end reduce plosives with HPF Apply Mojo after compression for different results Fuller lows and low mids with impressive amp like depth Stronger undertones and more consistent frequency response throughout the piano s range Improved low end content and dyn...

Page 22: ... to worry about and will become inaudible once the preamp is fully powered up Why can I hear hiss when I turn the gain control to full Hiss can be caused by a number of factors many of which are nothing to do with the preamp and could be entering the signal before Camden 500 Check the microphone itself and see if the noise follows the preamp or mic Ensure that the input connectors of Camden 500 ar...

Page 23: ...Notices Warranty Repair Service Maintenance Important Links Camden 500 User Manual WIP Page 23 2018 Cranborne Audio Ltd ...

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