TK Audio The Transformer

• 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

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 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
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%.

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 content depends on how hard the stage is pushed.

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.

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.
As the class-A stage is placed after the M/S function it can’t be used in M/S!

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.
The class-A stage also has a HF boost function that adds a small amount of air to the sound when activated.