Brett Kingman | 7 months ago
https://rockettpedals.com/airchild-660/
If you're familiar with classic studio gear you'll have heard of or perhaps even used the Fairchild 660 studio compressor. They fetch sizeable prices on today's used market if you can actually find one. From Rockett's site: "The original Six Sixty Compressor was designed by Rein Narma, who had worked with Les Paul to build a recording mixer to use with Les Paul's Ampex 8-track. Les Paul asked Narma if he would build a compressor/limiter. Sherman Fairchild, who was friends with Les Paul, learned of the compressor and licensed Narma's compressor design, hiring Narma to be chief engineer at Fairchild Recording Equipment Corporation. The first 10 Fairchild 660’s were built by Narma himself. The first unit was sold to Rudy Van Gelder who used it to cut lacquer masters for Blue Note Recordsand Vox Records. The second unit went to Olmsted Sound Studios in New York City and the third 660 built went to Mary Ford and Les Paul."
The Airchild Six Sixty is J.Rockett's homage to the Fairchild masterpiece. It features four fundamental controls that let the user run it as a 2:1 compressor right up to a 30:1 limiter. It injects a warmth and richness to your tone reminiscent of the original and can be used as a boost right through to a brickwall compressor - without the divisive 'bloom'. I'll say on the record that the Airchild Six Sixty is easily one of the top five compressors I've had the pleasure to demo, but that's not surprising coming from this company.
This video is a no-chat affair that runs through some different settings in a jam context with a very clean Vibrolux sim and a backing track courtesy of Elevated Jam Tracks. An alternative, chatty demo can be viewed at (TBA).
Today's tools:
Guitar: Partscaster with Murray Guitar Pickups '54 Pickup Set (https://murrayguitarpickups.com/strat-pickups/)
Amp: Axe-FX III Turbo running Cygnus X3 FW 25.00. Vibrolux model.
Cables: BOSS
Strings: Ernie Ball 10-46
Pick: Signature Honey Pick https://www.honey-picks.com/collections/all/brett-kingman
Mic: Audix USA PDX720 - https://audixusa.com/products/pdx720-signature-edition/
Camera: GoPro HERO10 + Sony ZV-1M2 x 2
Soundcard: PreSonus Quantum 26x32 (No longer available)
Desktop Monitors: PreSonus R80 R-Series Active AMT Studio Monitors - https://www.presonus.com
Monitor Control: SPL 2Control - https://spl.audio/en/spl-produkt/2control/
Headphones: Audix A150 - https://audixusa.com/products/a150/
All Stands: Gravity Stands - https://www.gravitystands.com/en/
Computer: 2017 Apple iMac Pro, 2.5 GHz 14-Core Intel Xeon W, 64 GB 2666 MHz DDR4, Radeon Pro Vega 64X 16 GB
Backing track courtesy Elevated Jam Tracks.
