J Rockett Airchild 660

[airbud]

I fell in love with this compressor using first the Waves Puigchild plugin and then graduating to Universal Audio's version. It's so great for adding a little bit of excitement to a track. I love color stages in my chain, and this is a very classic one that I never imagined could be in a pedal.

 

[airbud]

forgot the link

Airchild 660 – J. Rockett Audio Designs

 

[therhodeo]

Given their history I mostly want to know what its based on.

 

[airbud]

Given their history I mostly want to know what its based on.

Fairchild 660 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

it has like 18 tubes in it or something. just a little gain reduction sounds great.

 

[music6000]

The Controls on the Rockett Airchild don't seem to match what is pictured above???

 

[airbud]

Short version, it's an interpretation of the Fairchild.

Long version, a lot of the release times don't really make sense for guitar (see below, from the Universal Audio site) because they're tailored towards broadcasting and other applications. So they took that out, added a mix control (if you want to do parallel compression, which is worth exploring especially for bass) and a tone control (not really sure this was necessary, I'm sure it sounds good I just wouldn't have suggested it as a feature). Honestly I don't know what the zero/bal control does.

I've used the plugin on a lot of different instruments, but it does really sound great on vocals when you experiment with the different release times.

 

[Robert]

Fairchild 660 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I think what @therhodeo means is which compressor pedal circuit it's based on, because it's almost certainly a modified Ross/Dyna/Squeezer with Fairchild aesthetics ...

If I'm wrong... well, it wouldn't be the first time.

 

[airbud]

Oh! I got so excited to talk compressors that didn't occur to me. my 2nd build was a ross clone... it would be sad if that's all it is ;(

i was hoping for a little more in terms of emulating tube tone, maybe a bunch of jfets? there's some other gear from that era i'd like to bring into pedal form (Pultec EQP1A and Altec 1566a specifically) that have tubes, so i'm curious how to approach getting that type of sound.

 

[therhodeo]

Fairchild 660 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

it has like 18 tubes in it or something. just a little gain reduction sounds great.

I'll eat my hat if this is actually anything like a 660.

 

[airbud]

I'll eat my hat if this is actually anything like a 660.

ikr lol

 

[music6000]

Rockett doesn't do Klones of other released pedals does he!???

 

[jesuscrisp]

Rockett doesn't do Klones of other released pedals does he!???

Their best selling pedal is probably the Archer, which is literally a Klone. Many of their dirt pedals are Timmy variants and some like the dude are 2 pedals stacked into eachother (ODR1+Timmy in case of the Dude). They are never far off existing designs.

 

[therhodeo]

Also the story of how their klone came to be is snaky as can be on their part.

 

[airbud]

Also the story of how their klone came to be is snaky as can be on their part.

ah I shall look into that...

 

[music6000]

I heard the first batch of KLON KTR's were built by Rockett then they parted ways!???

 

[pingpongcomputer]

Drip Electronics makes a pcb set for an actual rack 660 clone. Orders of magnitude difference in price and space between that and a pedal, but I bet it sounds better too. I think he's also active on GroupDIY.

 

[airbud]

Drip Electronics makes a pcb set for an actual rack 660 clone. Orders of magnitude difference in price and space between that and a pedal, but I bet it sounds better too. I think he's also active on GroupDIY.

I've seen that, definitely a goal for me in the future.

 

[Robert]

 

[airbud]

View attachment 72743

pumped.

 

[Here I Go]

Is this still on the pedalpcb menu ?