In an interesting departure from their usual approach, Strymon have announced the launch of the first pedal in a new line of all-analogue effects. Inspired by a little-known valve device from the 1960s, the Fairfax is said to take an altogether different approach to overdrive, and marks the introduction of a new Series a line-up that contrasts the company’s DSP-based offerings.
Strymon say that the new arrival began as an engineering experiment, and was initially inspired by the original Garnet Amplifiers Herzog drive unit designed for Randy Bachman in 1965. The resulting pedal promises to authentically recreate the entire signal path of a valve amp, and features a ‘miniaturised’ preamp, Class-A power amp and a custom circuit that emulates the saturation characteristics of the output transformer found in the original design.
The pedal’s 9V DC input is stepped up to 40V internally, a move which the company say provides the Fairfax with the power required to deliver high headroom and offer a true, amp-like feel. a wide gain range offers everything from subtle saturation to all-out overdrive, and a Sag control allows the circuitry to behave in a similar fashion to a real valve amp, with lower values resulting in slight compression and higher settings leading to “spitting and chortling sounds” that are more commonly associated with fuzz pedals.
While Strymon have built their reputation on DSP-based effects, they say that their pedals are only able to achieve the sound they do because of the work of their analogue design team. The new Series a range has been created as an outlet for the teams new designs and ideas, and will offer something a little different to their existing line-up with no MIDI, USB, firmware or digital processing in sight.
Key Features
- Complete valve amp circuit fully recreated in 100% analogue.
- Custom analogue circuits recreate multiple valve stages and the critical output transformer.
- Input voltage converted to 40V internally via galvanically isolated power supply.
- Controls for Drive, Level and a variable Sag control.
- Bright switch allows fine-tuning of the high frequency response.
- Wide range of natural sounding and valve amp-like gain for maximum versatility.
- Sag circuit allows mild Sag effects at lower settings and spitting and gated sounds at max.
Pricing & Availability
The Fairfax is available now, priced at $199.
