New Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive Guitar Effects Pedal

This item is new, in box!

From Strymon:

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 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. 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; 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 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 response. At higher Gain levels the sound becomes fully saturated.

Sound Design

LEVEL — Sets the output level for the pedal. Lower settings send less total output signal to your amplifier.

DRIVE — Determines the amount of drive and saturation. Working with the Level control, dial in crunch and saturation, a clean boost, or anything in between.

SAG — Fine-tunes the behavior of the Sag circuit. At max, the sound can chortle and sputter, with the effect more or less apparent depending on Drive and Level settings.

BRIGHT — Determines the high frequency contour. ‘Off’ attenuates highs for a smoother response; ‘On’ leaves highs untouched for a brighter, more treble response.

Features

• Complete tube amp circuit fully recreated in 100% analog.
• Custom analog circuits recreate multiple tube 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, tube amp-like gain for maximum versatility.

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, minimum 500mA (power supply not included).