Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive

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Seller's description

Miniature Marvel Fairfax isn’t really a distortion pedal. Instead, it’s a complete miniature amplifier in 100% analog form, based upon a little-known device from the 60’s that powered a number of classic rock anthems.  The sound and feel is extremely tube-like, with added harmonics and saturation coming from a clever circuit that emulates the critical behavior of a tube amp’s output transformer. It’s a drive pedal that feels completely natural to play, retains the natural sound of your guitar, and glues notes together in a truly organic way. More Than A Drive Pedal Fairfax began as an engineering experiment, initially inspired by the original Garnet Amplifiers Herzog® tube drive unit designed for Randy Bachman in 1965. Our analog guys decided to try and recreate all of the critical elements of a custom Champ-like tube amp circuit fully in the analog domain, but small enough to fit into a pedal enclosure (so it couldn’t use real tubes or an output transformer).  The final design features a cleverly miniaturized tube preamp, Class A power amp and an ingenious custom circuit that emulates the saturation characteristics of the output transformer (which is absolutely vital to get the sound right). There’s even a variable Sag circuit that behaves just like a real tube amp does. At low Sag values the behavior is mild and only slightly compressed, and at max values the JFETs can go crazy and unbias — which gates the signal — leading to spitting and chortling sounds more commonly associated with fuzzes. In order for Fairfax to behave like a real amplifier it needed a massive amount of operating voltage, so a transformer-based power supply converts the 9VDC input voltage to 40V internally. This gives Fairfax the power that it needs for high headroom and amp-like feel, allowing for a wide range of tones.  At lower Gain settings Fairfax can be sweet, gently pushing the input to your amp with additional harmonic richness, a touch of saturation and a flat frequency respon