Strymon LA BREA Analog Tape Saturation Drive Inspired by DECO
The Strymon La Brea Analog Tape Drive is a fully analog drive pedal built around multi-stage tape saturation techniques, delivering everything from subtle warmth and natural compression through to heavy overdrive, distortion and fuzz. Inspired by the tape-based saturation concepts behind Strymon’s Deco, La Brea takes those ideas into a dedicated all-analog drive circuit designed to feel responsive, dynamic and natural under the fingers.
At lower Tape Sat settings, La Brea adds warmth, harmonic richness and gentle transient compression, making it ideal for thickening clean tones or pushing an amplifier just beyond the edge of breakup. Increase the saturation and it progressively moves into compressed overdrive and aggressive distortion, while the High Gain setting provides enough range to take the circuit into smooth, saturated fuzz territory.
One of La Brea’s most powerful features is its independently adjustable Dry signal path. The clean signal remains phase-aligned with the saturated signal, allowing you to blend back definition, attack and dynamics without sacrificing the character of the drive circuit. The Dry control can also provide up to +6dB of clean boost, while the Saturation Level can be reduced independently for more unconventional parallel-drive and clean-boost applications.
The three-position Shift switch provides additional control over the pedal’s upper-frequency response. Flat maintains a full-range response, High adds extra top-end sparkle, while Mid introduces additional upper-mid presence to help the guitar cut through a dense mix. Combined with the Gain switch and wide-ranging Tape Sat control, La Brea can move easily between smooth vintage-style saturation and much more aggressive modern textures.
Internally, La Brea boosts its operating voltage to 24V, providing increased headroom, low noise and a broad dynamic range while still running from a standard pedalboard-friendly 9V DC supply. As part of Strymon’s Series A range, La Brea is completely analog with no DSP, MIDI, USB or firmware involved — just a focused analog circuit designed for players who want the feel and harmonic behaviour of tape saturation in a compact drive pedal.
- Fully analog tape saturation drive
- Inspired by the saturation techniques developed for Strymon Deco
- Wide gain range from subtle tape warmth to saturated fuzz
- Tape Sat control for tape-style soft clipping and saturation
- Gain switch with Normal and High gain ranges
- Independently adjustable Dry signal path
- Dry signal remains phase-aligned with the saturated signal
- Up to +6dB clean boost from the Dry control
- Shift switch with High, Flat and Mid voicings
- Natural compression and transient smoothing
- Internal 24V operation for increased headroom and low noise
- High-impedance JFET-buffered input
- Low-impedance mono output
- True bypass
- Internal jumper for selectable power-up state
- Designed and built in the USA
Controls
- Tape Sat: Adjusts the amount of tape-style saturation, from mild overdrive through heavy distortion and fuzz
- Level: Controls the output level of the saturation circuit
- Dry: Adjusts the clean signal level from fully off to +6dB boost
- Gain: Selects Normal or High saturation gain range
- Shift: Selects High, Flat or Mid frequency response
Specifications
- Circuit: Fully analog
- Bypass: True bypass
- Input: High-impedance JFET-buffered mono input
- Output: Low-impedance mono output
- Internal operating voltage: 24V
- Power: 9V DC, centre-negative
- Minimum current: 500mA
- Power supply: Not included
- Dimensions: 115.1mm D × 71.9mm W × 59.2mm H
- Designed and built in the USA