Transformer
Harmonic generator & color box
- Transformer saturation circuit that adds low-end harmonics and a low-end bump.
- Passive saturation circuit that adds a lot of odd and even harmonics.
- Active germanium stage with a vintage sound and a mix of harmonics.
- Class-A stage with a pleasant British 70’s sound.
- M/S function for separate processing of the mid and side channels.
- Illuminated switches and detented potentiometers for easy recall.
The Transformer is a recording and mixing tool that transform your sound by using several different harmonic stages.
The unit is divided into two sections, a harmonic generating section and a transformer coupled class-A stage with a punchy, vintage tone.
If you’re working mostly in the box this is the perfect tool to add some analog warmth, punch and color to your sound/mix.
The first section contains three different harmonic stages; a transformer saturation stage, a passive saturation/clipping stage and an active germanium circuit.
These three stages does not only generate different kinds of harmonics, they also shape the tone curve in different ways.
With a blend function you can blend in the desired amount of harmonics. You can also choose to process the mid and side channels separately by activating the M/S function.
The second section is a selectable vintage transformer coupled class-A stage.
TX Drive is the first harmonics stage which is a transformer saturation circuit. With a single control you can vary the amount of transformer saturation and still keep the level constant.
The circuit generates around 1% of harmonics (distortion) in the low-end and a gentle amount of higher harmonics. It also adds a 2dB bump in the low-end around 30Hz. By turning the drive control the bump level and higher harmonics decreases, the low-end harmonics stays around 1%.
(Left pictures show harmonic distortion curve, right picture show frequency curve.)
Gain
The TX drive is followed by a gain control so you can drive the following Sat and Ge stages harder for more harmonics.
Sat
The second stage is a passive saturation circuit which adds a lot of odd harmonics and by engaging the Even switch it also adds even harmonics. The harmonic amount depends on how hard the stage is driven.
(Left picture, Saturation active and mostly odd harmonics added. Right picture Even engaged adds even harmonics.)
Ge
The third stage is an active germanium stage that adds more even than odd harmonics. It has a pleasant vintage sound with it’s mix of harmonics and a soft high-end. Like the previous stage the amount of harmonics depend on how hard it’s driven.
(Left picture shows germanium stage frequency curve, right picture shows germanium stage harmonics.)
Output trim
The Sat and Ge stages are followed by an output trim to fine adjust the level before it enters the blend control.
Blend
With the Blend control you can blend the harmonics stages signal with the dry signal.
M/S
An M/S function is provided so you can process the mid and side channels separately with different harmonic circuits. As an example you can use the TX drive on the mid channel for more low-end harmonics and the Sat and Ge stages for more harmonics on the side channel.
The class-A stage can’t be used in M/S as it’s placed after the M/S encoder/decoder!
Class-A
The blend control and M/S function are followed by a selectable transformer coupled class-A stage that adds a fat and punchy sound with mid-character and a silky top end associated with the British class-A from the early 70’s.
This stage also has a HF boost function that adds a small amount of air to the sound when activated.
(Right picture shows class-A stage frequency curve with and without the HF function activated.)
Specifications
Input impedance: 20kohm
Max input level: +26dB
Max output level: +26dBu
S/N ratio @ 0dBu: 89dB, depends on which stages that are activated
Dynamic range: 115dB
Power consumption: 13VA
Power requirement: 115v or 230v internally selectable
Features
TX Drive control
TX Drive in/out
Gain, up to +20dB
Channel in/out
Saturation in/out
Even in/out (adds even harmonics to the saturation circuit)
Output trim, -20dB to 0dB
Ge stage in/out
Class-A in/out
HF in/out, (class-A stage HF boost)
Blend control, between harmonics stages and dry signal
M/S in/out
Detent potentiometers with 41 clicks
All switches are illuminated
Specifications and components may be changed or updated without further notice.
Downloads
Manual:
Download pdf
Recall sheet:
Download pdf
Pictures:
Frontpanel Transformer (eps), (png)
Download ZIP
