Strymon La Brea Vintage Analog Tape Drive

Our guy Josh has been thinking about how to accomplish tape-style saturation purely in the analog domain ever since reading Pete’s original whitepaper on our Deco pedal ten years ago, and our new La Brea Tape Drive is the result of his long research into tape behavior.

An all-analog drive that uses multi-stage tape saturation techniques to create driven tones ranging from mild breakup all the way to full fuzz, La Brea also features high frequency filtering and a fully variable Dry path that always stays in phase with the pedal’s output. It’s a seriously flexible drive, equally as adept at adding subtle warmth and a bit of compression as it is at throwing flames without apology. If you’re a fan of Deco’s saturation you’ll feel right at home, and if you’re unfamiliar with what tape-based drives can do for guitar tone, you’re in for a treat.

Product Highlights

• All-analog tape saturation drive initially inspired by our own Deco pedal’s Saturation voice.
• Full analog design - nothing digital in the signal path.
• Gain switch to set the range of the Tape Saturation control.
• Shift switch to enable a dedicated high frequency boost or a high frequency boost with added midrange frequencies for fatness and clarity.
• Variable Dry path is always in phase with the pedal’s output for adding clarity and fatness even with high saturation levels.
• Runs at 24V internally to facilitate high headroom, a wide gain range and quiet operation.
• Requires a 9VDC, center negative pedal power supply with 500mA of current.