Strymon’s reputation was built on their digital knowhow, so many were surprised (and intrigued) when they announced the launch of the Series A, a new collection of all-analogue pedals. The latest member of the new family has just arrived, and was apparently inspired by a white paper written by Strymon’s co-founder Pete Celi on the development of their popular Deco pedal. 

The La Brea features multiple gain stages that have been designed to replicate the behaviour of vintage tape machines, and is said to be capable of delivering a wide range of sounds from its simple set of controls. Strymon say that even at more extreme settings, the pedal never sounds too harsh, and driving the gain hard makes things sound ‘fatter’ and more saturated without getting ‘crispy’ or painful to listen to!

A discrete dry path makes it possible for users to blend in some of their clean signal, and the path remains in phase with the main signal to avoid the control introducing any comb filtering — the design also means that it’s possible to use the La Brea as a clean boost. Given tape’s tendency to saturate high frequencies first as the gain increases, the pedal comes equipped with a three-position Shift switch that allows users to add some high-frequency content back into the output. One position concentrates on adding high frequencies exclusively, while the other also adds some upper midrange in an effort to help notes cut through a mix. 

“The La Brea quickly become the favourite drive pedal for a bunch of people at the office. The fact that it’s based on tape means that it never gets harsh, never gets strident, and it mates really well with all different types of amplifiers. I’ve had one on my gigging board since the beginning of the year in disguise, so I’m excited to take the tape off and finally let people see what it is!” — Sean Halley, Head of Marketing, Strymon

The La Brea is available now, priced at $199.

www.strymon.net/product/la-brea