Strymon launches La Brea analog tape drive pedal

Strymon Engineering has introduced La Brea, a new analog tape drive pedal built to deliver tape-style saturation, clean boost and flexible tone shaping. The $199 pedal is available now worldwide through Strymon and authorized dealers.

Why it matters: - La Brea gives guitar players a single analog pedal that can work as a clean boost, a thick fuzz-like drive or a tape saturator. - The pedal is designed to keep high-gain tones smooth rather than harsh, which matters for players who want saturation without brittle top end. - Strymon is positioning La Brea as part of its Series A analog pedal line, adding another studio-inspired option for live and recording rigs.

What happened: - Strymon Engineering announced La Brea, a new analog tape drive pedal, on September 29, 2026. - The pedal is available now from Strymon online and at official Strymon dealers worldwide. - Strymon set the U.S. price at $199.

The details: - La Brea was inspired by a white paper co-founder Pete Celi wrote during the development of Strymon’s Deco pedal. - Analog engineer Josh Forbes built the pedal to aim for true tape behavior in a fully analog design. - The circuit uses multiple stages of analog gain based on study of vintage tape machines. - Strymon says the pedal offers a wide range of saturation from a simple interface. - The overdrive character stays smooth even at extreme settings, with added gain making the sound fatter and more saturated. - La Brea includes a fully discrete and variable dry path. - The dry path stays in phase with the saturated signal, which avoids comb filtering and other artifacts. - The dry path lets players use the pedal as a pure clean boost or blend in saturation for thicker single notes and chords. - A three-position Shift switch restores some high frequencies as tape-style saturation reduces them. - One Shift position adds high frequencies only. - Another Shift position adds upper midrange frequencies along with the high boost to help notes stand out in a mix. - Strymon says the Shift control can help brighten dark humbuckers and add bite to older strings. - Videos, sound samples and additional product information are available on the product page and on Strymon’s YouTube channel. - Media inquiries go to marketing@strymon.net.

Between the lines: - La Brea reflects Strymon’s effort to translate classic tape-machine behavior into a pedalboard-friendly analog format. - The company is leaning on internal history and product lineage, linking La Brea to the Deco design work that helped establish Strymon’s reputation. - The launch also signals continued investment in analog pedals alongside Strymon’s broader lineup of guitar gear, processing plugins and studio tools.

What's next: - Strymon will likely push demo content and dealer availability as players test La Brea in real rigs. - The pedal’s success will depend on whether guitarists see the tape-inspired gain structure and phase-aligned dry blend as useful enough to replace or complement existing drive pedals. - Strymon’s product page and YouTube channel will remain the main places for launch demos and sound samples.

The bottom line: - La Brea is Strymon’s newest attempt to make tape-style saturation feel musical, flexible and easy to use in a compact analog pedal.