You all know Strymon. It’s one of the market leaders in digital guitar effects pedals, fully featured, MIDI-compatible beasts such as the modern classic Timeline delay pedal and the BigSky reverb pedal. But lately we are seeing another side to the company.
Its adventures in analogue stompbox design are gathering pace with the launch of the Canoga, a two-knob fuzz pedal with a silicon circuit inspired by a vintage Fuzz Face and designed by Strymon CEO and analogue engineer Gregg Stock.
There’s no MIDI here. No presets. Just, y’know, an old-fashioned pedal circuit, and it was borne out of a passion project.
Article continues belowThe Canoga was actually of three custom fuzzboxes he breadboarded for recreation purposes. Stock, like Brian Wampler, must similarly be the kind of guy who will put a pedal together just to unwind after a long day as, well, CEO of a pedal company.
The Canoga did the job, taking Stock’s mind off things, and that was that. It was forgotten about, at least until Strymon launched its UltraViolet Uni-Vibe-inspired modulation in 2022, when the idea of a Fuzz Face-style pedal to complement it came up.
A Fuzz Face, a Uni-Vibe-inspired pedal… Just add a Fender Stratocaster for that Jimi Hendrix flavour.
Strymon’s Series A lineup was officially inaugurated in December 2025 with the launch of the MusicRadar-approved Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive, a pedal inspired by the vintage Garnet Amplifiers’ Herzog tube drive. And now this FuzzFace variant, an even more primordial design, like Stock’s original only “tweaked,” with top-mounted jacks, controls for Drive and Level, but also with more versatility than the super-clean control surface might suggest.
“Full up it works as a fuzz or distortion, but if you back the guitar’s volume down there’s a world of varied tones on tap for all different styles of music,” says Strymon.
As with the original units, you can really this for all things gain, and Strymon promises that the circuit is dynamic and responsive to your playing dynamics and the all-important volume knob on your guitar.
“Canoga works brilliantly plugged into an amp with a bit of hair on the tone already, similar to how Jimi Hendrix and other guitar greats of the ‘60s and ‘70s ran their rigs,” says Strymon. “Additional versatility comes from the interaction between your guitar’s volume knob and the pedal’s input… rolling back the volume on the guitar opens up a new world of semi-clean blues, rock, Americana and pop sounds.”
And that’s pretty much that, folks. No, there’s no USB connections, and no app. Put your smartphone away. This is Strymon producing one of life’s simple pleasures, the two-knob fuzz, and you can pick one up for £/$199.
For more details, head over to Strymon.
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