The Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 is a desktop-friendly, half-rack unit that combines three powerful tools into one portable chassis. It delivers the award-winning Camden preamp design with up to 68.5dB of pristine gain, a Mojo analogue saturation circuit that provides two distinct tonal styles, and a reference-quality headphone amplifier with a discrete line mixer for zero-latency monitoring. This combination makes the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 the ultimate performer’s front end, perfectly suited for musicians, recording engineers, podcasters, and voice-over artists.
At the heart of the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 is the award-winning Camden preamp topology. Designed to operate at the near-theoretical limits of noise, distortion, and phase/frequency linearity, the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 achieves exceptionally transparent performance across all gain settings.
When used in its clean mode with Mojo bypassed, it provides elite-level detail and accuracy, making it ideal for capturing microphones, line-level sources, and instruments without adding colouration. With up to 68.5dB of gain, it is especially well suited to pairing with low-output dynamic and ribbon microphones, ensuring clean headroom even in demanding recording scenarios.
The Mojo control transforms the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 into three preamps in one. By engaging Mojo, users can select between two styles of analogue saturation: Thump and Cream. Thump excites low-end content by boosting lower odd and even harmonics across a range extending from 160Hz down to below 20Hz, creating transformer-style warmth and weight.
Cream generates odd and even harmonics while also reducing the amplitude of the fundamental frequency and taming transients in a way reminiscent of vintage tube circuits. This flexibility allows users to dial in subtle harmonic richness or more pronounced saturation, giving the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 the ability to capture sources with either pristine transparency or vintage character.
The Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 also integrates a high-powered, reference-quality headphone amplifier with a discrete mixer. This amplifier delivers mastering-grade monitoring directly from the preamp, enabling musicians and engineers to monitor in true zero latency during tracking. External playback from a digital audio workstation can be blended with the live preamp signal using the rear-panel stereo Aux inputs, creating flexible artist cue mixes or allowing engineers to critically assess preamp performance with complete accuracy.
With up to 1.21W of power per channel into 100 Ohms and a frequency response extending from below 1Hz to above 70kHz, the headphone amplifier drives any professional headphones with ease and clarity, making it equally suitable for mixing and mastering applications.
Connectivity options make the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 a versatile centrepiece in any studio or live rig. It provides balanced XLR and impedance-balanced 1/4” outputs, a switchable –10dB pad for preventing clipping on low-headroom interfaces, and a dedicated Link output for true DI functionality and re-amping workflows.
The C.A.S.T. port allows seamless integration with Cranborne Audio’s 500R8 and 500ADAT systems, enabling preamp and external inputs to be transmitted directly into 500 series module inputs and stereo mixes to be returned for headphone monitoring via a single Cat 5e, Cat 6, or Cat 7 cable.
Housed in a half-rack chassis with an optional rackmount kit, the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 is highly portable, making it easy to take from studio to studio or onto the stage. Free of software dependencies and USB standards, it provides timeless analogue performance that will remain reliable even as other studio components change. With its combination of cutting-edge transparency, flexible saturation, zero-latency monitoring, and robust connectivity, the Cranborne Audio Camden EC1 is one of the most versatile and high-performing preamps available.
Features
- Award-winning Camden preamp topology with up to 68.5dB of gain
- Mojo analogue saturation with two distinct modes: Thump (transformer-style) and Cream (tube-style)
- Three tonal options in one preamp: transparent, Thump, or Cream
- Reference-grade headphone amplifier with true zero-latency monitoring
- Discrete line mixer for blending DAW playback with preamp monitoring
- Dedicated Link output for DI and re-amping workflows
- Balanced XLR and impedance-balanced 1/4” outputs with switchable –10dB pad
- C.A.S.T. port for integration with Cranborne Audio 500R8 and 500ADAT systems
- Portable half-rack desktop chassis with optional rackmount kit
- External high-current 24V power supply with latching connector