Ch-ch-ch-changes
Have you ever tried unplugging? Not from your amp, of course, my goodness, but from the digital world? A "digital detox," they call it. Close the laptop, leave the notifications unread, get out in the world, leave your phone in the stack at the dinner table and see which of your friends caves and has to cover the tab.
Of all the brands out there we'd expect to encourage disconnecting in this way, we'd have to admit, Strymon was pretty low on the list – near the very bottom, even. What with their premium digital design being one of their biggest strengths across their whole catalog, you can understand where we'd be coming from with such a belief. Imagine our surprise when the latest Strymon creation crosses our desk and we plug in for a completely streamlined, unencumbered, fully analog, hour with a guitar and an amp. How did we get here? What's the catch? Great questions – let's answer them.
This is the Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive.
Twentieth Century 'Fax
Introducing the Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive
Let's address the JFET-fitted elephant in the room: The Strymon Fairfax is a fully analog circuit. Strymon, masters of the digital domain that they are, have quite the backlog of effect pedals to check out, if you're ever interested. Some of the world's favorite delays, modulations, and reverbs (and even drives) come emblazoned with the Strymon name. Up until now, your chance to come across a Strymon effect with a completely digital design was a certainty. Strymon and digital components are like peas and carrots, to borrow a phrase.
Strymon's reputation with digitally-designed pedals isn't what it is for nothing. It's because of this reputation that the Strymon Fairfax is such a surprise. While Strymon dealt – until now exclusively – in digital-forward devices, they always had a crack team of analog design specialists to contribute to important elements of the brand's pedals. Beating the buzzer on 2025, Strymon introduces the Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive as the first entry in their new "Series A" line of effects centered specifically around analog designs spotlighting their analog team's skills.
Bachman OverdrivenThe Fairfax enters as the first "Series A" entry hearkening to one, somewhat unsung, vintage analog device in particular. Randy Bachman (of The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive) is a lifelong tinkerer. Way back in the 1960s, he spent quite a bit of time experimenting to get more sustain out of his tube amplifiers. The code was eventually cracked with the Garnet Amplifiers Herzog tube drive. Bachman's singing, distorted, tube-based sustain gets put to tape on The Guess Who's "American Woman" and the rest is history.
Today, Strymon's analog team introduces the Fairfax for a device emulating the Herzog with an authentic, JFET-forward sound capturing the response of tube amplifiers.
All's Fair
Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive Design and Tones
Let's talk about a couple things, here. For one: The Strymon Fairfax is, again, a fully analog design centered around JFET transistor-based replication of your proverbial tube amp's pre- and power amp circuitry. The Fairfax sets off to authentically recreate the sounds and response of a tube amplifier in JFET components. Let's talk about these controls.
Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive Controls
The Strymon Fairfax slims it down from your average Strymon experience. With the Fairfax after such an authentic, amp-like experience, this all makes sense. Centrally, the Fairfax is based around a close conversation between its Volume and Drive controls that act as you'd expect – and as you'd understand such a configuration with any amp. Turn the Volume up and the Drive down and cut through the mix with plenty of amplified oomph or do the inverse and get buckets of tube-like breakup at friendlier volumes.
This intuitive drive experience offers quite a bit of tonal negotiation as you sculpt sounds with the smallest of adjustments. The Fairfax's Volume and Drive controls on their own produce many sweet spots and opportunities for tube-style distortions. Where this experience builds up is with its two-way Bright switch and Sag dial.
With the Bright switch, the Fairfax highlights more of its vibe as one of those "extra channel" overdrive pedals. You know the type – the ones that present themselves forwardly as devices to build upon existing amp tones you love*. The Bright switch on the Fairfax works incredibly simply on an on/off basis that accentuates higher-end frequencies and helps along darker amps and guitars. Its capabilities to swap into a brighter voice for an added bit of onboard complexity are also brought to the forefront with the Fairfax's Sag control.
More on this in a minute
The Sag control on the Fairfax introduces a bit more nuance to what is really, a blissfully simple amp-like device. A pretty popular quality among vintage tube amps that online forum posters like to gush, debate, and intellectualize about, (for sake of simplicity) sag refers to a drop in amp output, despite an overwhelming input. Such an interaction produces a unique, "spongey" breakup along the lines of a sputtering fuzz. The Fairfax introduces a Sag dial that allows the gradual mixing of a sag effect that – at its max – entertains the possibility for a spitty, choked, "mosquito" fuzz sound. Couple this maxed Sag setting with the Bright control on and the Drive moving past noon, and you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack: Bluesy, broken-up, and blown-out.
Sonic SmorgasbordSomething worth mentioning about the Fairfax, however, is how it works tonally. The Fairfax is an overdrive pedal, but it is probably best played with an already-driven amplifier. Be it from other drive pedals or existing tube distortion, the Fairfax is at its best playing as an extra “channel” on your dirty amp. The Fairfax can work well with plenty types of amp, but we'd like to call out amplifiers known for their distorted tube tones as particularly friendly to the Fairfax (Your Oranges, your Marshalls, your Mesas – your amps already famous for their distorted DNA). There are no wrong answers here, but it is something to keep in mind!
Do Androids Dream of Analog Sheep?
Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive Further Functions
Now, if you're a regular reader of our reviews, you might recognize this space here as the place where we'd run down a pedal's additional functions: Tap tempo, expression connections, MIDI, input and output routing, that kind of thing. In any other Strymon creation, we'd expect to have plenty to talk about of this sort in this section, but for the Fairfax, we don't – but that's absolutely by design and not a bad thing.
Part of what Strymon has described as central to their "Series A" pedals is a break from the traditional. Usually, Strymon pedals are outfitted with added digital-minded functions like MIDI and expression control connections, but with the Series A Fairfax, as you might expect, that's not the case. Strymon puts its high-fidelity JFET analog design at the helm for a deeply expressive but blissfully simple playing and routing experience. Where this lands us is with a pristine, analog pedal without the digital fixings we've come to know from Strymon. While that's something of a hard pill to swallow from a name like Strymon so revered for their exceptional digital controls, we can't say it's a surprise for something as straightforward as the Fairfax. If anything, it makes sense and is a welcomed break from the everyday.
Strymon Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive Final Thoughts
For a brand like Strymon, the Fairfax is surprising for a number of reasons. For one, of course, the break from the digital. The Fairfax is an incredibly robust analog pedal from everyone's favorite digital wizards – Strymon's analog team really knocked it out of the park. For another, it's a skillfully put together device ready for your tube amps. Where you might not first associate Strymon with your older, weary tube amps always ready to fight another day, the Fairfax sets the record straight. The Fairfax is a marvelous companion for your best amp as it gives a loving push (or shove) to the edge of glorious tube breakup. With a dynamite design from Strymon's analog team, your old tube amp has something to really put a spring in its step. Who said you couldn't teach an old dog new tricks?
