Thermionic Culture The Earlybird 4
4-channel push-pull Class-A valve mic preamp (limited 'red revival' edition; black edition also available)
PreampPrice not published
Specifications
- Type
- Preamp
- Description
- 4-channel push-pull Class-A valve mic preamp (limited 'red revival' edition; black edition also available)
- Topology
- all-valve/tube, Class-A
- Signal path
- Analog
- Channels
- 4
- Channel format
- 4x independent mono channels
- Form factor
- 19-inch rack
- Powered
- yes (mains powered)
- Frequency response
- ±0.5dB @40dB gain setting, >10Hz–<35kHz
- Impedance (Ω)
- Input 300Ω or 1200Ω switchable (balanced), 2kΩ with Pad in; Output 55Ω (level max) to 500Ω (level min), balanced
Details
Controls: Per-channel: switchable input impedance, switchable 48V phantom, switched gain (40/45/50/55/60dB) with 20dB pad, 2-position HPF, variable output trim with phase inverter; dual VU meters (switchable between ch1/3 and ch2/4), peak overload LEDs (+10dBm)
I/O: 4x 3-pin XLR in/out, wired balanced
Notes: Originally made in black in 1999; this red version is described as a limited 'revival' edition (limited to 49 units) with updated/simplified circuitry raising per-channel specs; the black edition remains available. Max gain 62–64dB; MOL +34dBm; THD 0.0035%/0.008% (1kHz/100Hz @40dB gain); Valve complement 4x 12AX7LPS/ECC803/7025 + 4x 6189/ECC82 (official spec PDF). Country of manufacture not explicitly stated in the fetched product text/spec PDF — left blank despite brand generally being UK-made. year_intro left blank because the CURRENT catalogued unit is a later red revival/limited edition of the original 1999 design, not a clean single intro date. Official site thermionicculture.com is currently unreachable/broken (root returns an empty Apache directory listing, product URLs 404) as of research date 2026-07-19; all data below sourced from Wayback Machine snapshot dated 2025-05-16 (and linked official spec-sheet PDFs) of the live Joomla/VirtueMart catalog, cross-checked against the current Independent Audio (US distributor) product listing, which also shows no USD pricing.