In this video I’m checking out the Strymon Fairfax Class A Drive, and it’s a really interesting pedal because it’s Strymon stepping into new territory—an all-analog drive in their new “Series A,” instead of the digital world they’re known for. To my ears, Strymon stuff is usually a love letter to classic effects: super articulate, low-noise, and packaged in a way that’s actually usable in the modern era. The Fairfax still has that quality, but tonally it’s way more raw—in a good way. It feels like it just gives your signal more oomph and muscle, like an amp circuit being pushed. The Fairfax is based around a tube amp circuit inspired by the Garnet Herzog, and the big story here is the SAG control. All the way left is more of a typical drive feel, but as you bring SAG up it starts messing with the bias character—eventually getting into that sputtery, gated-fuzz thing that’s killer for riffing. In the middle it can live in that overdrive-meets-fuzz zone (I even got vibes like a Way Huge Red Llama), and at higher settings it can flirt with Tone Bender/Fuzz Face territory. I demo it with a Fender Strat (Gunstreet ’60s pickups) and a Gibson SG (Gunstreet ’50s/PAF-style) into a Fender Twin Reverb with Celestion Neo Creambacks. I also talk about the bright switch—especially how usable it is even into a naturally bright Twin—and I show how the pedal can get surprisingly convincing “Cream” style tones that are close enough for jazz, as they say.