Mojo
A perfectly clean preamp is great for capturing sources
that need the utmost clarity and detail, however, being
audio engineers and musicians ourselves - we know that
some of the best records ever made had grit, character,
and were recorded on preamps that imparted their own
colour onto the signal - that’s the sound we all hear when
we say the word ‘vintage’.
Transformers are big, bold, and impart a lot of character
onto the sound. Both vintage and modern equipment
feature transformers and they can sound great... but
transformers can often cause issues. Transformers are
noisy, they exhibit huge phase shifts - as much 90° at 50Hz
(which equates to 5ms) - and they impart an EQ onto the
audio.
Also, as transformers are integral to the way that a preamp works - they cannot be bypassed to
reveal the pure signal. Our Mojo circuit is an analogue emulation of the desirable effects of
transformers but without the downsides such as dramatic phase shifts and excess noise.
Unlike transformer-based designs, Mojo’s effects live on a variable control that can be dialed to
taste on some sources, and bypassed for others.
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-based designs for a wider palette of saturation effects.
By manipulating these filters and harmonic generators; we can create two discrete Mojo styles;
Cream and Thump - both turn the impeccably clean and transparent Camden topology into
the fattest, warmest, and most characterful preamp in your arsenal - all at the turn of a dial.
Mojo Control [F1]
The Mojo Control [F1] adjusts the level of the Mojo effect that is being mixed-in with the dry
signal. The pot is variable to enable the best possible blend of the Mojo character to be
dialed-in. When turned fully anti-clockwise, the pot switches off in order to completely bypass
Mojo from the signal path.
Mojo Style Switch [F2]
The Mojo Style Switch [F2] selects which Mojo circuit is currently active; Thump or Cream. Each
Mojo style suits a variety of different instruments in different ways and for different effects.
Camden EC2 User Manual
-Page 23-
©2020 Cranborne Audio Ltd
