Thermionic Culture Ltd, 2018 3
1 Introduction
The Kite has been developed by Thermionic Culture in response
to requests and feedback from many of our customers. Familiar
features include the “Attitude” control and broad, effective EQ in
a 2-channel format.
The sound shaping controls are all dual channel controls,
allowing the user to make fast, intuitive changes to the stereo
mix without having to check alignment between channels.
However, there are independent output level controls should any
adjustment need to be made to the left/right balance.
The “Attitude” design is taken from the Fat Bustard and allows
the Kite to be run as a very low distortion device or to be
progressively made richer in 2nd harmonic content as the
“Attitude” control is increased. We should point out that this
“Attitude” circuit is unique to Thermionic Culture Ltd.
The type of valve used is critical to the success of the sound in
adding useable and desirable harmonic content to the signal
without incurring any noise or headroom issues. It was selected
for several electronic properties that it has and also through
many careful listening tests that proved it simply “sounded right”
when used in the “Attitude” circuit.
The effect of adding 2nd harmonic content to the stereo mix bus
is well known to bring extra dimension and character to the
sound. There is also a subtle squeezing of the dynamic range
due to the saturation of loud peaks and transients in the stereo
signal. This can be very beneficial when used judiciously to
achieve a louder overall mix, rather like the effect of running a
mixing console’s stereo mix bus just to the point of saturation.
However, the valve circuitry will inherently give a larger, more
forgiving range within which to utilise the saturation than any
solid-state console could provide.
