Heritage Audio Herchild 660

Heritage Audio Herchild 660

1-channel Tube Limiter/Compressor with Class A Circuitry

The Heritage Audio HERCHILD 660 Tube Compressor is a clean and intelligently designed tube-based compressor featuring a legendary sound finally available to everyone.

After decades of being so rare, hard to come by, and almost considered mystical and nearly impossible to acquire, most people just assumed they ́d never be able to actually use this legend, but don’t worry, the HERCHILD Model 660 is finally here and within reach of everyone.

For years the industry has referred to this tube-based beast as something special, unique, and even magic-like. The original Fairchild has indeed been an essential part of the sound to so many hits during several decades. It certainly has earned its title as the granddaddy of all compressors. Being based around 11 valves and 5 transformers you can be sure the HERCHILD Model 660 will imprint its signature sound all over your tracks providing that familiar tone that everyone has come to love. Although it was originally designed to be used for cutting lacquer masters for vinyl albums it didn’t take long for engineers to realize that it could do much more. It soon became an essential studio tool for many innovative artists, engineers, and producers and could be found in most professional studios.

As there were only about 500 units originally produced there just simply aren’t enough to go around for everybody. Add to that the original requires quite a lot of special maintenance and after nearly 60 years there just simply aren’t many still in good shape. So that ́s where Heritage Audio comes in…

Heritage Audio has been able to successfully follow the original design and trace the necessary components to provide a modern-day alternative. It ́s taken Heritage Audio years, but they finally produced something so special that it’s capable of letting the old grandaddy take a long-deserved rest, and make room for the new blood to take over. While staying true to the original in terms of response and sound, Heritage Audio has been able to add a few things to make it more practical in modern-day studios. First off Heritage Audio has given direct access to the continuously variable slope control. This is something that makes the compressor so much more flexible and was only available on the original via an inconvenient screw adjustment hidden from immediate access. Then there ́s the SC FILTER. Nowadays, it ́s just about impossible to fathom a compressor without this feature as it ́s become so important in everyday use. Here Heritage Audio provided 4 different frequencies to choose from to precisely tailor your compression needs. Heritage Audio has also faithfully reproduced the exact attack and release times in the Time Constant section so you can confidently recreate the feel of its ancestor.

So finally, after so many years of this being unobtainable to mere mortals, the HERCHILD Model 660 is here. Enjoy the sound that has blessed thousands and thousands of hits throughout the years. Feel the warmth as it hugs your tracks and makes them stand out proudly from all the rest.

DC THRESHOLD SETTINGS

The HERCHILD Model 660, just like the original, uses a progressively developing ratio curve so it is not possible to describe the ratio as 2:1, 10:1, or anything so exact.

SC FILTER

This is a side chain filter applied only to the control signal to decide if and where the HERCHILD Model 660 will be less sensitive to certain frequencies. There are 5 choices available: 50, 100, 200, 350 Hz and OFF.

Specifications

• Input Impedance: 2K Ohm
• Output Impedance: 600 Ohm
• Output Level: +30dBu clipping point
• Frequency Response: 40Hz to 15kHz +/- 1db
• Self Noise: Less than -82dBu
• Harmonic Distortion: Less than 1% at any level up to +18dBu output (no limiting)
• Dimensions (W x H x L): 482mm x 134mm (3 Rack units) x 200mm
• Weight: 7.365 Kg