Strymon Fairfax

Unlike many pedals we associate with gain and overdrive, the Fairfax is not actually a true distortion or overdive pedal. Rather, it is a mini-amplifier in full analog form, based on a lesser-known tube unit from the 1960s that was featured on a lot of classic rock songs.

The Fairfax was inspired by Garnet Amplifiers' original Herzog unit, which was designed for Randy Bachman in 1965. Bachman wanted to get the long sustain of a cello on his electric guitar, so he started sending the speaker signal from a small combo amp into the input of a larger amp to emulate that sound.

That only had one major drawback: that setup blew up the combo amp quite often (sometimes in spectacular fashion!). So Bachman asked Gar Gilles to design a device that gave the same effect but didn't catch fire.
Gar's design ended up being a small tube amp with a 12AX7 and 6V6 tube, including a built-in speaker load so it couldn't break down. The result is the classic, long-throw lead sound you hear in songs like "American Woman" from The Guess Who.

The sound and feel of the Fairfax are extremely tube-like, with extra harmonics and saturation thanks to a clever circuit that mimics the real behavior of a tube amp's output transformer. It's a drive pedal that feels super-natural while playing, preserves your guitar's own sound and allows notes to "stick" together organically.

Features:

• Complete tube amp circuit fully recreated, 100% analog
• Special analog circuits recreate multiple tube stages and the essential output transformer
• Input voltage is boosted to 40V via a galvanically isolated internal power supply
• Buttons for Drive, Level and a variable Sag control
• Bright switch to precisely tune the high frequencies
• Wide range of natural, tube-like gain for maximum versatility
• Sag circuit provides subtle sag effects at low settings and spitting, gated sounds at maximum
• Requires 9DVC at 500mA (not included)