Blackbird Studio Nabs New Fairchild 670John McBride, owner of famed Blackbird Studio in Nashville, has acquired one of the first new recreations of the legendary Fairchild 670 compressor/limiter. McBride's sizeable collection of vintage microphones and prized outboard gear includes a pristine vintage 670.

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Toni Fishman, founder and CEO of microphone designer/manufacturer TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, in 2023 launched the new company, Fairchild Recording Equipment LLC. After five years of extensive R&D and precision testing, the authentic recreation of the legendary Fairchild 670 vacuum tube compressor is now available in very limited numbers.

After evaluation of the new unit in side-by-side testing with his vintage 670, Blackbird founder John McBride purchased it and remarked, "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."

Unlike other attempted Fairchild 670 re-creations, 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 make this 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 the best sounding and most versatile compressor ever made. Used on countless 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. 

Fishman's new vacuum tube Fairchild 670 compressor is faithfully recreated to provide modern producers and audio engineers with the classic sound of the first intelligent automatic volume control limiter. With its dual-channel design and unique compression characteristics, the Fairchild 670 is capable of adding warmth, depth, and character to virtually any audio signal. The vacuum tube technology used in the 670 adds a natural, organic quality to the compressed signal, providing that distinctive classic analog sound to both digital and analog productions.

Key Features: Dual mono operation, six selectable time constants, threshold, compression, makeup gain controls, VU metering, hand-wired point-to-point construction, custom-designed transformers, tube-driven amplification.

Applications: vocals, drums, bass, guitars, strings, piano, brass, orchestral instruments, mix buss/mastering.

Sweetwater Sound, Inc. 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.