Fairchild

Also known as: Fairchild Recording Equipment, Fairchild Recording Equipment Corporation

Unclaimed

6 Products · Used by 22 Artists

Fairchild 670 Compressor-Limiter Effects Processors

$29,500.00 - $300,000.00

4 available stores

5.0 (1)

14 artists using

Fairchild RCA Victor EMI Tube Console Mixers

5.0 (1)

Fairchild 660 Compressor Effects Processors

$19,500.00 - $24,290.00

3 available stores

9 artists using

Fairchild Recording Equipment 670 (Reissue) Effects Processors

$29,500.00 - $32,990.00

3 available stores

Fairchild 666 Compressor Effects Processors

1 artist using

Fairchild Recording Equipment 660 Tube Limiter/Compressor (Reissue) Effects Processors

$19,500.00 - $24,290.00

3 available stores

Fairchild Recording Equipment was an American manufacturer of professional audio equipment founded by Sherman Fairchild and based in Whitestone, New York. The company became famous in the late 1950s for its all-tube compressor/limiters: the mono Fairchild 660, introduced in 1959, and the dual-channel stereo Fairchild 670, released in 1960. Designed by Estonian engineer Rein Narma, the 670 uses 20 vacuum tubes, 11 transformers, and weighs around 65 pounds — an imposing piece of hardware that became a fixture in major recording studios and is widely regarded as one of the most musical variable-mu compressors ever built.

Only several hundred original 670 units were produced, and surviving examples trade for extraordinarily high prices on the vintage market. The compressor's characteristic sound — gentle variable-mu gain reduction with a warm harmonic signature — made it a staple on vocals, drum buses, and mastering chains at landmark facilities such as Abbey Road and Capitol Studios, and its sonic fingerprint appears on a vast catalog of classic rock, pop, and jazz records from the 1960s and 1970s.

The Fairchild name was revived through Fairchild Recording Equipment LLC under the direction of TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik's Toni Fishman, working with builders in Estonia to produce the Fairchild 670 mkII reissue. The mkII aims to faithfully replicate the original's audio path while updating internal circuits with a discrete 200W control-voltage amplifier, parallel mix outputs, and relay-operated bypass, and is distributed through high-end professional audio dealers.

Fairchild has 6 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Effects Processors and Mixers. Their gear is featured by 22 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock, Pop, and Folk, World, & Country. Notable users include Paul McCartney, Jonathan Wilson, and John Frusciante.