La Brea Resting On Its Inspiration
The Family of Series A Pedals
A clean boost, thick fuzz or flexible tape saturator, La Brea was inspired by one of the company’s own classic designs
The fact that it’s based on tape means that it never gets harsh, never gets strident, and mates really well with all different types of amplifiers.”— Sean Halley, Head of Marketing
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, UNITED STATES — September 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Strymon Engineering (www.strymon.net), the well‑known creator of premium gear for creative musicians, has introduced a new analog tape drive pedal named La Brea. The design was originally sparked by a white paper co‑founder Pete Celi wrote detailing the development of Strymon’s iconic Deco pedal; analog engineer Josh Forbes set out to achieve genuine tape behavior in a fully analog circuit.
Through multiple analog gain stages informed by the study of vintage tape machines, La Brea provides a wide spectrum of saturation from an uncomplicated interface. Even at extreme settings the pedal never turns harsh; piling on gain only makes things fatter and more saturated without becoming crispy or unpleasant, just like a real mastering tape deck.
Beyond the tape saturation circuit, La Brea includes a fully discrete, variable dry path that gives the pedal two distinct sonic personalities. The dry path always stays in phase with the saturated output, so players can blend in any amount without comb filtering or other artifacts. The discrete design also allows it to function as a pure clean boost, or a clean boost that lets users add as much or as little saturation as desired to thicken single notes and chords.
Because tape tends to saturate high frequencies first (making them less prominent as gain increases), La Brea features a three‑position Shift switch that lets players reintroduce some of those highs into the output. One position boosts only the high frequencies, while the other adds upper midrange frequencies to the high boost, helping notes cut through the mix. This is a powerful tool for brightening dark humbuckers, adding bite to older strings, or simplifying rig setup.
“It’s crazy to think that Josh read Pete’s whitepaper on the making of Deco over twelve years ago, which was before he even worked here”, said CEO and chief analog guru Gregg Stock. “He’s been thinking about how to recreate tape behavior purely in the analog domain ever since, so it’s great that we now have the Series A line of analog pedals to showcase these great ideas our guys come up with. La Brea is a pedal with a unique voice and response, so it fits really well with the other pedals in Series A.”
“It’s quickly become the favorite drive pedal for a bunch of people at the office”, said Sean Halley, Strymon’s marketing guy. “The fact that it’s based on tape means that it never gets harsh, never gets strident, and mates really well with all different types of amplifiers. I’ve had one on my gigging board since the beginning of the year in disguise, so I’m excited to take the tape off and finally let people see what it is!”
La Brea is currently available for $199 US, directly from Strymon’s website and through authorized Strymon dealers worldwide.
Launch videos and audio samples can be found on the product’s webpage and on Strymon’s YouTube channel. For more details, visit the La Brea product page; for media or press inquiries, contact marketing@strymon.net.
About Strymon:
Headquartered in Westlake Village, California, Strymon Engineering produces an award‑winning lineup of guitar effects pedals, Eurorack modules, processing plugins, direct boxes, MIDI interfaces, and extremely rugged power supplies. These products are staples in the setups of leading recording and touring professionals around the globe, enabling musicians to shape their unique tones with innovative, powerful, and durable equipment that delivers a distinctive sonic character.
Jack Heine
Strymon
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