Fairfield Circuitry The Accountant is a small, all-analogue JFET feedback compressor. It’s built to handle the unglamorous but essential job of keeping your dynamics under control without getting in the way.
It’s not trying to add character or colour, but do the job cleanly and predictably.
Despite its size, this isn’t a one-trick pony. Fixed attack and release times (5ms and 500ms respectively) keep the response consistent and musical, while the Pad and Ratio controls give you real range.
It goes from barely-there peak control that just evens out your playing, to full-on squeeze that pushes you into overdrive-adjacent territory.
Set Pad to minimum and Ratio to maximum and you’ve effectively got a limiter, useful if you want a hard ceiling on your volume rather than gentler dynamics control.
It’s at home with guitar bass, vocals, synths – most things really!
Compression
Compression as an effect is a form of dynamics control; that is to say, controlling the difference in volume between loud parts and quiet parts.
Often, the transients (i.e. the attack, the very beginning) of a signal will be the loudest, and that limits how loud you can set your amplifier before there is distortion.
Compression allows you to make the transients less loud, therefore allowing you to raise the volume at the amp, making your signal louder, beefier, and depending on the amount of compression, perhaps quite dirty.
The way this works is that every time your signal is louder than a certain level, called the threshold, the compressor will automatically lower the volume.
The Accountant has a fixed threshold, which cannot be changed. This volume change doesn’t happen instantly, however. The time it takes for the compression to be applied is dictated by the attack and release. These parameters are fixed to 5 ms and 500 ms respectively.
The Accountant Features
- All-analogue JFET feedback compression
- Three controls — PAD, RATIO, VOLUME
- Fixed attack 5ms, fixed release 500ms
- Great with guitar, bass, vocals, synths, and whole mixes
- True Bypass
- Mini enclosure — 93 x 47 x 44mm, 150g
- 9V DC centre-negative, 12mA — no battery
- 2-year warranty
- Handmade in Hull, Québec, Canada
Controls
The PAD and RATIO controls, together, will determine how much compression actually happens.
- PAD, simply attenuates your signal before the compression.
- Remember that the louder the signal, the more compression happens, so in effect with the PAD setting you can change at what level the compression happens.
- Then comes RATIO, which determines how strongly loud parts are compressed. For example, a setting of 6:1 means that, when the signal is above the threshold, it takes 6 dB at the input to make the output change by 1 dB. Remember that parts below the threshold will not be affected.
- Finally, with VOLUME, you can control the level at the output. It doesn’t affect the compression at all, as it is post-effect.
Specification:
- Type: Compressor
- Input: ¼” Jack
- Output: ¼” Jack
- Stereo: No
- Midi: No
- True Bypass: Yes
Power
- Voltage: 9V
- Current Draw: 12 mA
- Plug: 2.1 mm centre negative
- No battery
- Adapter included: No
Dimensions
- Mini pedal: Yes
- Weight: 0.15 kg
- Length: 9.3 cm
- Width: 4.7 cm
- Depth 4.4 cm
Manufacture
- Country of Origin: Canada
- Manufacturers Warranty: 2 Years
Using the Fairfield Circuitry The Accountant Compressor
The Accountant compressor is well suited to a number of tasks.
Here a few typical compressor settings and their uses. These settings serve only as a guide, as your gear and your playing style will greatly affect the end result.
Light Compression (PAD : 0, RATIO : 0) :
This type of compression is sometimes barely noticeable. There is a slight coloration, but nothing overbearing. This setting will help you to get a more consistent sound, to blend in better with other instruments, to ensure your quiet parts don’t go unheard.
Heavy Compression (PAD : 2, RATIO : 2)
You will hear the compression working. The effect will add a noticeable amount of richness and distortion to your sound, and everything you play will be louder than loud, all the time. The attack and release will also be heard, as a kind of pumping will be imparted to your playing. Just roll with it.
Limiter (PAD : 0, RATIO : 2)
A limiter is a kind of compressor that has a high threshold and a high ratio (> 10 :1). You can emulate its function with these settings. Use when you want to set yourself an absolute maximum volume that you cannot exceed no matter how hard you try.
Watch The Fairfield Circuitry The Accountant In Action
FAQs
It’s all-analogue JFET design. Compression is applied via a feedback loop instead of a feedforward circuit. This gives a smoother, more musical feel than many digital or op-amp-based compressors, and is responsive to different playing dynamics.
It attenuates the signal before the compression stage. In effect it determines at what point compression kicks in.
RATIO sets how much loud parts are compressed. A higher ratio means the compressor acts more aggressively on peaks.
Yes, just set PAD to minimum and RATIO to maximum to emulate a limiter.
Yes, it works well on bass (and most sources). The JFET compression suits bass well, adding sustain and evening out finger-style dynamics without killing the feel of the playing.
No
Yes
Generally at the beginning, but depends on what you ant levelling out
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