Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive Pedal

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Miniature Marvel Unlike many units we associate with gain and overdrive, 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. The Story Fairfax was inspired by the original Garnet Amplifiers Herzog® unit designed for Randy Bachman in 1965. Bachman wanted the sustain of a cello for his electric guitar, so he started running the speaker output of a small combo amplifier into the input of another larger amplifier while chasing that sound. Unfortunately that scenario has a tendency to blow up the combo amplifier (sometimes in dramatic fashion!), so Bachman enlisted Gar Gilles to design a device that would behave in a similar way but not actually catch fire. Gar’s design ended up being a small tube amp based around a 12ax7 and 6v6 tube, with a built-in speaker load so that it wouldn’t blow up. The result is the classic sustaining lead sound from songs like “American Woman” by The GuessWho. More Than A Drive Pedal Fairfax began as an engineering experiment, with the goal being to recreate all of the critical elements of the original circuit fully in the analog domain, but small enough to fit into a pedal enclosure. With JFETs in place of the tube stages and an ingenious custom circuit that emulates the characteristics of the output transformer (which is integral to the sound), Fairfax delivers the real-deal performance of the original unit, without the need for a 250V tube power supply. There’s even a variable Sag circuit that behaves just like a real tube amp does, by dynamically varying the amount of a