Little Loco Mk2

About the Little Loco Mk2

The Sutherland Engineering Little LOCO Mk2 is a solid-state, transimpedance (current-input) phono preamplifier for stereo moving-coil cartridges. Rather than applying a conventional resistive load and amplifying cartridge voltage, it presents the cartridge with a virtual short and amplifies the signal current. The Mk2 redesign uses single-ended RCA inputs with the RCA shells at ground potential, eliminating the special tonearm-cable/cartridge floating-connection requirements associated with the earlier Little LOCO. It is intended particularly for low-output, low-internal-impedance MC cartridges; it is not compatible with moving-magnet, moving-iron, high-output moving-coil cartridges, or step-up transformers. Gain is internally configurable around the factory medium setting, while cartridge loading is not adjustable because of the transimpedance input topology. The unit provides separate RCA left/right inputs and outputs plus a turntable ground connection.