Strymon La Brea Analog Tape Drive: Inspired by the Deco
Latest in Series A pedals, new analog tape drive stompbox
5,0 / 5,0 | 
The Strymon La Brea is an analog tape-drive pedal inspired by the Deco; it is 100% analog and can go from overdriven to full-blown fuzz if pushed hard.
Contents – Strymon La Brea
La Brea First Thoughts
This new Strymon La Brea will be perfect for fans of Strymon’s Series A pedals (Canoga and Fairfax), the all-analog line of stompboxes, each with its own dedicated voice. I think it should be well-built, but at $200, it faces a lot of competition from other pedal builders. If you liked the Deco, then you should like this one.
This pedal mimics tape-style saturation and is completely analog, so it should be a lot of fun. The simplicity of the controls, and having no MIDI, no USB, no firmware updates, etc., could make this a popular drive/fuzz pedal.
Simple Controls
Taking a page from the beloved saturation side of Strymon’s Deco, it delivers a sweet tape-saturation drive that can instantly take your sound from subtle, cozy warmth to a full-bodied, gritty roar.
When you want to really take control of that grit, the handy Gain switch (with High and Norm settings) is ready to play. It lets you tailor the saturation range, making it easy to dial in anything from a polite, low-gain crunch to wildly aggressive, fuzz-like textures.
Need to cut through the band? Just flip the Shift switch to unlock extra voicing options. You can add a laser-focused treble boost, or beef things up with extra mids and enhanced highs for ultimate clarity and punch.
Set Level and Tape Saturation to taste, then blend in some dry signal.
Of course, things can get pretty hairy when you crank the drive to the max, but the Variable Dry path control saves the day. It lets you seamlessly mix your clean signal back into the tape drive, keeping your snappy articulation and thumping low-end definition intact.
To top it all off, the La Brea runs internally at 24V. This gives the pedal massive headroom, a ridiculously wide gain range, and ultra-low noise performance, no matter how hard you decide to push it, all from a standard 9V power supply, so nice and pedalboard-friendly.
Availability
The new Strymon La Brea is available to order at Thomann and Sweetwater.
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