Ever since our 2013 review of their dual-channel valve preamp, the Creamer, Sonic Farm have consistently impressed. Their brand new product, Excalibur, is a dual tube pentode-based preamp with 68 dB of gain. What sets it apart is the addition of a separate tube to create distortion in two stages with the ability to blend with the clean sound. It can also be used as a distortion unit by just dialling back the clean signal level. Beside two DI inputs there are two line inputs so it can be used as a tube summing box as well.
Each channel also has a high-pass filter (80 /160 Hz) and two passive EQs (Fat and Air). Boris Drazic, co-founder of Sonic Farm talks us through the details of the Xcalibur, a unit which was completed only one day before the Summer NAMM show began.
