Strymon Fairfax

Unlike many pedals associated with gain and overdrive, Fairfax is not a distortion pedal. Instead, it behaves like a complete miniature amplifier in analog form — based on a little-known tube device from the 60s that powered numerous classic rock anthems. The harmonics, saturation, and feel are strikingly tube-like, thanks to a circuit that emulates the natural behavior of a tube amp’s output transformer. Fairfax responds organically, retaining your guitar’s character and gluing notes together in a way that feels truly alive. 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 response. At higher Gain levels the sound becomes fully saturated, and that large range of gain on tap allows Fairfax to be used in nearly any setup imaginable. Sound Design Because it’s based upon a tube amp design, Fairfax plays well with all different types of amplifiers and amp modelers. The creamy sustain brings something new to both clean and naturally dirty amplifiers. We’ve even included an internal jumper that determines the power up state, so if you plan on using Fairfax with a pedal loop switcher or rack drawer system you can choose to have it turn on automatically when powered up, which is a lifesaver on a dark stage or with a complex setup.