Nashville, TN, (January 11, 2024)—John McBride, owner of Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, has acquired one of the first of Telefunken Elektroakustik founder/CEO Toni Fishman’s recreation of the legendary Fairchild 670 compressor/limiter.
After five years of R&D and testing, the recreation of the Fairchild 670 vacuum tube compressor is now available in very limited numbers. Fishman, founder and CEO of microphone designer/manufacturer Telefunken Elektroakustik, launched a new company, Fairchild Recording Equipment, in 2023.
McBride purchased the new recreation after evaluation of the new unit in side-by-side testing with his pristine vintage 670. “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,” he said.
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Fishman’s new 670 utilizes the same tubes, custom-wound transformers and is built to the original specs. The architecture, point-to-point soldering and turret-style construction reportedly recreate the original 670 designed and built by Rein Narma at the request of recording innovator Les Paul in 1959.
Fairchild 670 Tube Compressor Goes Back into Production
The original Fairchild 670 has a reputation as one of the best-sounding and most versatile compressor ever made. Used on countless hit recordings over the years, its 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.
Fishman’s new vacuum tube Fairchild 670 compressor is intended to be a faithful recreation to provide modern producers and audio engineers with the sound of the first intelligent automatic volume control limiter. With its dual-channel design and compression characteristics, the Fairchild 670 can add character to an audio signal. The vacuum tube technology used in the 670 provides a classic analog sound to both digital and analog productions.
Sweetwater Sound and Vintage King Audio have been named initial domestic 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.
The company will show the Fairchild 670 and also exhibit the new Fairchild 660 compressor/limiter at the 2024 NAMM Show.
