Malcolm Toft is a legendary recording engineer and console designer with over 50 years experience in the recording industry. As a recording engineer, he recorded David Bowie’s Space Oddity album and mixed The Beatles’ single ‘Hey Jude’. He also recorded James Taylor’s first album, and 3 albums with T-Rex. As a console designer, he founded renowned console manufacturer Trident Audio Developments which became a leading company in the recording industry supplying top recording studios across the world. Creating the sound for Queen, David Bowie, Genesis, Elton John and countless other artists. His consoles are still widely used and are highly regarded for their depth of sound and warmth. He is particularly known for the sound of his equalizers, born from his experience as a recording engineer.

Malcolm is still manufacturing professional audio equipment and in 2008 he was made a visiting professor at Leeds College of Music. In 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by West London University in recognition of his contribution to the recording industry.

The Malcolm Toft signature GCA Inherit cartridge is a complete producer channel with advanced sound processing features.

It composed of 3 stages:

• A full 66dB mic/line/instrument DI preamp controlled by the host rack.
• An equalizer from Malcolm’s Trident consoles, with numerous improvements, particularly in terms of signal-to-noise ratio:

HF 8Khz +/-15dB.

LF 80Hz +/-15dB.

MLF 100Hz to 1.5Khz +/-15dB.

MHF 1Khz to 15Khz +/-15dB.

LP Filter 30Hz to 350Hz

HP Filter 22Khz to 1.5Khz

• A custom saturator with drive / mix setting and two possible colors: A silicium diode bridge mode for a modern, precise, and sharp sound, and a germanium diode bridge mode for a vintage and warmth sound.

This cartridge is the perfect tool for musicians and producers who want a sound with a lot of personality without compromising on audio quality.

From Malcolm:

“I am very pleased to be collaborating with GC Audio in the creation of the ‘Malcolm Toft’ Signature Cartridge.

I know that they are meticulous in recreating the sound of the original product and that it will therefore be true to its heritage.

The Inherit cartridge Equate X design come from my legacy equalizers with improvements thanks to modern components.

The first stage is a full mic/line/DI preamp controlled by the host rack.

The second stage is a 6 bands equalizer with swept high and low pass filters to increase versatility.

This unique system allows a large number of curves.

Also, we added an exclusive output saturator stage to bring color and personality to your sound.

I put all my knowledge into designing this product with the support of GC Audio, I really hope this cartridge could help to grace your productions.”