at last the word “unique” means something!

OUR UNIQUE NEW PREAMPLIFIER

Chameleon has a versatile motherboard/daughterboard design. The powerful infrastructure, the motherboard allows most of the functionality of any other preamp, but there’s more. It has the RCA jacks emerging from the backside, selector switch nestled closely between the RCAs, muting circuitry(auto-mute at power-on), power supply, coupling caps, etc, but it lacks one thing - the actual amplifier circuitry of the Active Board. The motherboard allows you to set up the preamp with or without global negative feedback. Global feedback can be changed at any time by moving jumpers on a header block located beneath the Active Board.

THE HEART OF CHAMELEON’S ADAPTIVE NATURE

Chameleon PC-1T Active Board with single 6DJ8/6922/6N23P which is operated in Grounded Cathode mode is the standard Active Board for Chameleon. On the PC-1T you can have “degenerative cathode feedback”, know as local feedback, or no local feedback. Other Active Boards include a dual 12AU7 CCGC (Grounded Cathode/Follower) circuit with moderate gain and low output impedance. There is also a 6 Volt heater version with the superb Russian 6N6P tubes. There are currently EIGHT, yes 8 Active Boards for the Chameleon. Active Boards can be delivered in custom form to provide optimum performance with a certain tube. There is even a special board for the highly regarded 5687/6900 tube. Others use the 6H30Pi, 6FQ7, 6N6P, 6N1P and the list grows longer. You can see our Active Board selection below. Who said listening couldn’t be fun! Chameleon makes you the final designer! Chameleon entrances with its sound, empowers with its flexibility. It engages you in a final sound quality that brings a smile every time.

MERELY ROLLING TUBES IS SO ‘YESTERDAY’

Active Boards simply snap in place without tools. Now you can “roll” not only tubes, but circuits too! So you want a different but still great sound then just change the Active Board or try changing the feedback setting. And now you know why we call it the Chameleon. Fun!!

BUILT TO LAST!

The Chameleon preamp has a very heavy-duty build quality. There are no flimsy metal panels here. A substantial shielded toroid power transformer is standard in all versions. More info, pictures to come soon.

Chameleon Preamp: $1495, standard PC-1T 6922 SE Active board installed, Alps ‘Blue Beauty’ volume pot, British Silver-plated selector switch, mil-grade resistors, Special Digital input noise control, Nichicon Muse caps(tube board)

Chameleon Elite Preamp: $2995, PC-1T 6922 SE Active Board installed or you choice of Active Board, Jensen four-pole power supply caps, superb coupling capacitors, British Silver-plated selector switch, superb SiC Schottky rectifiers, great sounding Takman CF resistors

Active Boards: All boards can be purchased for any Chameleon preamp version. As mentioned below all Active Boards are Elite version tube boards. All Active Boards are made to the highest Elite standards. Each board is $149, tubes are not included.

Phono stage Option: Add a twin 6DJ8/6922 passive RIAA phono stage,  click here. Standard version is $895. Elite version is $1195.

Pictured below are five currently available Active Boards: All boards have a 12-pin Gold-plated connector at CN1 to mate with the Chameleon motherboard. All versions use ceramic, silver-plated sockets. No tools are required to change out the Active Boards. All PC-XX boards will be made to the highest version Elite Ultra specifications with Nichicon Muse caps, Mills ,Takman, TKD resistors (pictures to be updated soon)

 

For more descriptive information on various Chameleon Active Boards download this PDF file.

PC-1T: Grounded cathode amplifier for 6V 9-pin mini tubes. Standard tube is 6DJ8/6922/6N23P. 6H30Pi, 6N6P, 6CG7/6FQ7, 6N1P and others can be used with minor adjustments.

PC-2T: Grounded cathode amplifier for the magnificent 5687 or exact equivalent tubes. This superbly linear tube has an unusual pin-out. The Bendix 6900(expensive), 7119/E182CC and 7044 are equivalents providing an alternative sound.

PC-3T: Grounded cathode amplifier for 12V 9-pin mini tubes. Standard tube is 12AU7/ECC82/ECC802S. Many 12V types usable with adjustments.

PC-4T: Grounded Cathode/Follower amplifier for 6V tubes. Standard tube is 6DJ8/6922. 6N6P, 6N1P, 6CG7/6FQ7. Many other 6V types can be used.

PC-5T: Grounded Cathode Amplifier/Follower for 12V tubes. Standard tube is 12AU7/ECC82/ECC802S. Many other 12V types can be used.

Pictures of the following coming soon:

PC-6T: Grounded cathode amplifier for 6V octal tubes. Standard tube is single 6SN7 - equivalents can be used. 6SN7 is one of the greatest dual triode tubes ever designed.

Russian 6H8C is compatible and superb. Do not use with long interconnects unless they are very low capacitance.

PC-7T: Grounded cathode amplifier for 12V 9-pin miniature tubes. Standard tubes are a pair of 12B4/12B4A single triodes. Only exact equivalent tubes can be used. I must add the caveat that 12B4 samples are often microphonic. Don’t let that stop you though, it’s a fine sounding tube. This board and tube pair run very warm.

PC-8T: SRPP amplifier for 6V octal tubes. Standard tube complement is a pair of 6SN7 tubes though others might be usable. Russian 6H8C is compatible.