Strymon La Brea Analog Tape Drive Pedal

Sometimes, Inspiration Comes From Within.

It’s not often that your own gear inspires something completely different, but that’s just what happened with Strymon's new La Brea Analog Tape Drive.

An all-analog drive pedal that uses multi-stage tape saturation techniques to create driven tones ranging from mild breakup all the way to full fuzz, La Brea also features high frequency filtering and a fully variable dry output that always stays in phase with the original signal.

Your New Favorite Drive

Twelve years ago, our analog engineer Josh read the original white paper that Pete Celi wrote on the development of our popular Deco pedal. The paper inspired him to begin experimenting with some of the tape-centric techniques used in Deco in a full analog drive pedal design, and over ten years of tinkering later La Brea is the result.

La Brea feels completely natural to play, as the tape techniques create some pleasing natural compression along with the saturation and gain. Whether you’re looking to punch up some crispy open-string arpeggios or throw up a full wall of unique fuzz, La Brea can achieve it.

The inclusion of the phase-accurate dry path yields benefits that may not be immediately obvious, as it can help create an even bigger soundstage than saturation alone. The dry path can keep things clear and articulate if desired, and it can really help other drive pedals that are further down in the chain too, as some pedals need a strong transient to get the right sound.

La Brea’s operating voltage is internally boosted to 24 volts using a custom internal power supply, providing ample clarity and headroom. As a result the pedal can operate as a vibey clean boost if you prefer, or an all-out fuzz depending on where your amp and the Tape Sat knob on La Brea are set to.

Like all the other members of Series A, La Brea also features an internal jumper that determines the power-up state (moving the jumper to the second position will cause the pedal to turn itself on automatically when it sees power). This can really help if La Brea is buried under the second deck of a complex pedalboard, or in a rack drawer in a rack system.

Twelve years ago, our analog engineer Josh read the original white paper that Pete Celi wrote on the development of our popular Deco pedal. The paper inspired him to begin experimenting with some of the tape-centric techniques used in Deco in a full analog drive pedal design, and over ten years of tinkering later La Brea is the result.

- strymon.net

Series A

Killer code only sounds killer when it’s hosted inside of an ideal analog environment, and even though we’re primarily known for our DSP prowess, our stuff wouldn’t sound the way that it does without our strong analog team.

The analog guys are always coming up with interesting designs, so we’ve launched the ‘Series A’ line of pure analog pedals to give them an outlet, with Fairfax being the first in the line.

The designs you’ll be seeing in ‘Series A’ are intended to offer something different from traditional Strymon offerings, with no MIDI, USB, firmware or digital processing. These will be pedals that are unabashedly analog, which means it could get really interesting! Keep an eye out for more ‘Series A’ pedals as we go forward.

Sound Design

Tape & Warmth Feel
Because it uses pre-emphasis and de-emphasis techniques similar to a magnetic tape deck, La Brea imparts a warm smoothness to anything you run through it (much like our beloved Deco pedal). Notes in plucked chords are glued together nicely, and lead lines poke through the mix with authority that feels great under your fingers.

Tape Saturation
This is the main drive control for the pedal, and determines how much tape saturation gain is applied to the input signal. With the Gain switch set to "high" and Tape Sat set to max, La Brea morphs into saturated fuzz territory -
notes get smoother the harder you push them, NOT harsh or abrasive.

Shift
This three position switch enables the use of two different high frequency contour filters. The "high" setting acts as a smooth high frequency boost to open up the top end a little bit, while the "mid" setting adds midrange to the high frequency boost to help notes poke through the mix more prominently.

Dry Signal
La Brea features a variable control that determines the level of Dry signal that appears at the pedal output. The Dry signal always remains in-phase with the wet signal, and the juxtaposition between the Dry signal and the softer saturated signal can really make things sound big. It's a far more powerful control than it appears to be at first glance.

Level
A master Level control sets the output of the Saturation side of the pedal. You can choose to set it so that the level is nearly at unity when La Brea is engaged, or you can crank this control to the max to pummel the input to your amplifier and create otherworldly levels of fuzzy gain.

Gain
La Brea's Gain switch determines the gain range for the Tape Sat control. The "high" setting generates significantly more gain than "norm".

Features

• All-analog tape saturation drive initially inspired by our classic Deco pedal’s Saturation voices.
• Full analog design – nothing digital in the signal path.
• Gain switch to set the range of the Tape Saturation control.
• Shift switch to enable a dedicated high frequency boost or a high frequency boost with added midrange frequencies for fatness and clarity.
• Variable clean Dry path that is always in phase with the pedal’s saturated audio for adding clarity and fatness even with high saturation levels.
• Runs at 24V internally to facilitate high headroom, a wide gain range and quiet operation.

Specs

• Fully analog circuit.
• True bypass.
• Mono in/out.
• Dimensions: 4.53″ deep x 2.83″ wide x 2.33″ tall (11.51 cm x 7.19 cm x 5.92 cm)
• Power requirements — maximum 9 volts DC center-negative, with a minimum of 500mA (power supply not included).