Fairfield Circuitry - THE CLUB

[AxisBoldAsLove]

Don’t know if i posted this before but there was a mystery enclosure that had some letters stamped on it that was teased a while back in a Q&A on IG. All I can make out is “rate”, It can’t be the SW cause you can see the ending letters of “Fairfield Circuitry” by the switch and the SW has it to the left, opposite of the switch.

 

[Ponciponci]

Testing the modele b, it's amazing (although it behaves differently than demos I saw). It recreates perfectly the sound and the feeling of a tube amp. Cables are a bit of a mess, will tide em up once the board is (almost) complete.

 

[GrowlerBox]

View attachment 6971616
Testing the modele b, it's amazing (although it behaves differently than demos I saw). It recreates perfectly the sound and the feeling of a tube amp. Cables are a bit of a mess, will tide em up once the board is (almost) complete.

There's a theme here, but I can't quite put my finger on it ...
Nice setup; I have a Modele B on the way and looking forward to it.

 

[butterfingers1]

I just got the Accountant and Barbershop this morning, been trying with passive precision and jazz bass, comparing with the Broughton Scorpion Overdrive. The chain is guitar>Broughton Buffer>compressor>drive>Broughton HPF/LPF>Traynor amplifiers/cabinets.

The Scorpion has a lot of tones to it, very interactive dials. The Fairfields are much simpler, each has sort of a baked in tone. But that’s the tone I want, the dark, dirty, gritty, punchy vintage tone. The Scorpion goes to a lot of places but has trouble getting to this one.

The Accountant can be clean, even both switches at two is very useable. I like its tones a lot. The Barbershop I ran at 9V and 18V. The effect is subtle at 9V, even more so at 18V even with Drive dimed and Sag dialled off. The Tone switch is very, very useful. When pushed to their limits, the Accountant sounds nicer, sort of.

Some have suggested the Accountant makes the Barbershop redundant, which makes sense in theory. But in practice, the Barbershop adds something to the Accountant, sort of rounds it out or fills it out, hard to describe, they sort of blend together.

For this vintage tone, I also use the SolidGoldFX BetaV (with its stablemate the Diamond Bass Comp/EQ) which can be very dark but punchy and articulate, with or without drive tones.

 

[butterfingers1]

Hard to describe with words, but I will add both the Accountant and Barbershop bring in dark grit. However the Accountant is more tilted toward the grit part, and coarse grit. The Barbershop is tilted more to darkness, and its grit is finer.

The Accountant, being a compressor, tidies things up and makes notes more articulate and precise and prominent. Grit doesn’t muddle, it textures those sounds. The Barbershop sort of adds a warm fluid or smokey filling that smoothes things out. I like the two together, the Accountant by itself can sound a little harsh and crunchy.

 

[cnltb]

Hard to describe with words, but I will add both the Accountant and Barbershop bring in dark grit. However the Accountant is more tilted toward the grit part, and coarse grit. The Barbershop is tilted more to darkness, and its grit is finer.

The Accountant, being a compressor, tidies things up and makes notes more articulate and precise and prominent. Grit doesn’t muddle, it textures those sounds. The Barbershop sort of adds a warm fluid or smokey filling that smoothes things out. I like the two together, the Accountant by itself can sound a little harsh and crunchy.

Got favorite settings yet?

 

[butterfingers1]

They all sound good and the simple controls are really fun to play with. For now in a mix I’ve settled on everything at noon. So Pad and Ratio switches at 1, Drive and Sag dials at noon, Tone switch in middle, Barbershop at 9V.

Barbershop at 18V has no grit even with Drive dimed and Sag choked off. But it’s always warm and coloured, and the Tone switch just gets warmer from there.

If I could have only one, I would choose the Accountant because it’s a 2-in-1 compressor and drive. The Barbershop adds that subtle warmth and dirt that’s just right to sand away the harshness of raw bass guitar and make it blend in and sound good. For my vintage tastes anyway, and I’m lucky enough to have other transparent compressors.

 

[Ponciponci]

Taken from an instagram story of an employee of fc. New pedal? Was thinking maybe a modded shallow water but the foot switch and the light positions don’t match.

 

[cnltb]

View attachment 6975398
Taken from an instagram story of an employee of fc. New pedal? Was thinking maybe a modded shallow water but the foot switch and the light positions don’t match.

Vastly extended unpleasant surprise ?

 

[Ponciponci]

Vastly extended unpleasant surprise ?

Could be. They may retire the old version and put out this one.

 

[cnltb]

Could be. They may retire the old version and put out this one.

In that case I'll need a second one before it goes

...the one on teh right is 4 eyes with a larger freq knob, I recon?

 

[Ponciponci]

In that case I'll need a second one before it goes

...the one on teh right is 4 eyes with a larger freq knob, I recon?

Yes I think so. Before in the video there was also a meet maude without 2 knobs.

 

[johnk_10]

still loving my fairfield about 900.

 

[cnltb]

still loving my fairfield about 900.

...and I am still on teh fence as to whether to get the 900ish or the roger , first...or to hold out until something I REALLY want, comes along from them.

 

[cnltb]

still loving my fairfield about 900.

Would you say, 900ish makes sense to someone who uses 4 eyes and unpleasant surprise,
or might it be redundant, maybe?
- how much overlap would you say there is?

 

[johnk_10]

Would you say, 900ish makes sense to someone who uses 4 eyes and unpleasant surprise,
or might it be redundant, maybe?
- how much overlap would you say there is?

i never tried the 4 eyes or unpleasant surprise so i can't say, but the 900 is a great and very versatile OD/fuzz.

 

[cnltb]

i never tried the 4 eyes or unpleasant surprise so i can't say, but the 900 is a great and very versatile OD/fuzz.

Thanks!

...and there was I...thinking you've tried all pedals under the sun...and over it

 

[Ponciponci]

I have US and 900, they cover a lot of what the other can't. US excels at getting more crazy while I feel 900 shines at being more disciplined. You can get 900 to sound crazy but in my setup I found out that I want full on fuzz with US and light distortion to fuzzy distortion with 900. But it may vary depending on personal setup/bass/preference.

4 eyes I never tried, is it capable of low gain sounds? Because 900 is great with that (as well as high gain).

 

[cnltb]

I have US and 900, they cover a lot of what the other can't. US excels at getting more crazy while I feel 900 shines at being more disciplined. You can get 900 to sound crazy but in my setup I found out that I want full on fuzz with US and light distortion to fuzzy distortion with 900. But it may vary depending on personal setup/bass/preference.

4 eyes I never tried, is it capable of low gain sounds? Because 900 is great with that (as well as high gain).

Yes. 4 eyes does do low gain.

 

[Ponciponci]

Yes. 4 eyes does do low gain.

Then maybe they cover the same ground. It depends of what you want out of 900, maybe the 4 eyes can do it as well.