Blackbird Studio in Nashville recently acquired one of the first new re-creations of the Fairchild 670 vacuum tube compressor/limiter, and it joins owner John McBride’s sizeable collection of vintage microphones and outboard gear that includes a pristine vintage 670.
The new Fairchild Recording Equipment LLC was launched last year by Toni Fishman, founder and CEO of microphone designer/manufacturer TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik. After five years of extensive R&D and testing, the authentic re-creation of the Fairchild 670 compressor is now available in very limited numbers, and it will be on display at the upcoming 2024 NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Center at booth 14104, joined by the new 660 compressor/limiter.
“This new 670 is the most accurate re-creation of the original that I’ve come across, and it’s significant that this milestone re-creation also provides modern bulletproof reliability,” says McBride. The unit utilizes the same tubes and custom-wound transformers, and is built to the original specs. The architecture, point-to-point soldering and turret-style construction make it the only authentic recreation of the original 670 designed and built by Rein Narma at the request of recording innovator Les Paul in 1959.
The original Fairchild 670 has a reputation as one of the best sounding and most versatile compressors ever made. Used on numerous hit recordings over the years, its unique combination of tube driven amplification and gain reduction gives the 670 a wide range of compression effects, from subtle and transparent to heavy and pumping.
Key features include dual mono operation, six selectable time constants, threshold, compression, makeup gain controls, VU metering, hand-wired point-to-point construction, custom-designed transformers, and tube-driven amplification. Applications: vocals, drums, bass, guitars, strings, piano, brass, orchestral instruments, mix bus/mastering.
Sweetwater Sound and Vintage King Audio have been named initial U.S. dealers. European dealers include Klemm in Austria, Germany and Switzerland; Funky Junk in France, Italy and Spain; Cyber Farm in Denmark and Sweden; SX Pro in the UK. Asian dealers include MID in Japan; Gearlounge in South Korea, and Budee in China.
