Fuzz Factory Review

This is a five-knob fuzz using two new old-stock sixties germanium transistors. The circuit is not modeled after any classic fuzz design, but should have been around when Leary was still lucid. Although the five knobs are named for the parameters over which they seem to have the most control, please don't hold me to it. They are controls for various operating levels and biases, and basically shape you a personalized fuzz.

Ease of Use:	8.5
Sound:	9.5
Reliability:	10
Impression:	9.8
Overall rating:	9.5
Users rating:	8.8
Comments:	29

overall: 9.8

Featured review by: wannabe jesus, on april 18, 2006

Price paid: $ 217.77

Purchased from: soundsgreatmusic.com

Ease of Use: This is a fuzz unit that uses 2 geranium transistors, you can get a load of great sounds from it and some not so great sounds. The sheet of paper that comes with it tells you what each of the knobs does and tells you 5 settings which is quite handy because you can use these as a start point for getting 'your sound', but of course if you're not one to read the instructions you can dive right in. // 10

Sound: I'm using with a Tanglewood Strat copy and a Behringer GM108 and it can sound great but on some settings it can get very crackly but this is remedied by turning the volume knob on the guitar back just slightly. There are also settings (such as 'velco fuzz') which won't let you hold any notes before it crakles out (in the velcro style it's meant to) and especially when playing high notes you barely get a second before it's gone. I asked Zach about this and it can be helped by turning the 'comp' down a little bit and selecting the rhythm pickup (on my 5 way pickup selector I found that the middle/ neck setting was the best) but it's still pretty irritating, it could be the stock pickups on my guitar though! Once you've learned how to tame crackles and squeeks this pedal makes the greatest sounds! It can be set up to sound like a regular Fuzz Face or you can make extremely bizzare sounds with it. It can be really noisy and it's recommended that you don't put the volume knob past 10 o'clock. I play things like Hendrix and Guns N' Roses and this pedal can do them fantasticly. For hendrix you can set it up as a Fuzz Face or an octavia and for Guns N' Roses you can get some lovely overdriven sounds. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This thing's built like a tank! It's made out of aluminum and feels like it could take a beating! I would without a doubt be able to depend on it at a gig without backup! // 10

Impression: I've been playing for one and a half years and as I said I play mostly rock and this pedal suits me and my playing down to the ground! If it were lost or stolen I'd buy it again! I absolutely love this pedal because of it's versatility and the only thing I don't like is the screeching and crackling some settings have but they can be tweaked. I didn't compare it to any other products, I was linked to the video from the forums here and wanted it! I was also very pleased about there being the vexter model (the one I got) which is exactly the same pedal but cheaper because it's not hand painted! // 10

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: mon_the_fraser, on august 25, 2008

Price paid: £ 120

Purchased from: www.hotroxuk.com

Ease of Use: This Zvex Fuzz Factory may be small but it is an absolute beast. However it is a manageable beast. It is controlled using volume, gate, compression, drive and stability nobs. After about half an hour I was able to control it without making it oscillate all over the shop. // 8

Sound: I used an incredibly cheap and poorly built PRS copy built by Stagg with this guitar and i have to say it makes this piece of plastic with an MDF neck sound amazing. The variety of tones you can get from this tiny box are incredible. The tone I was going for was Matt Bellamy of Muse and it made my poorly crafted "guitar" sound like I was rocking out at Wembley Stadium. The velcro fuzz on it sounds great and if you turn the compression onto maximum you can make your guitar sound like a Gameboy. However the most fun to be had with the Fuzz Factory is making it oscillate like crazy and toying with this. // 10

Reliability & Durability: This is probably one of the most indestructable pedals I have ever seen. The casing is made from aluminum so it is definitely not going to be destroyed by stomping on it too hard. I would definitely use it for gigging and not take a backup A because I cant afford to replace it and B as it will withstand a severe beating. // 10

Impression: I play mainly rock music but I will venture into the realm of the metal and also blues guitar. This pedal accomodates for all these styles. I have been playing for almost five years and although I don't own any expensive guitars I have played a few and it made my guitar which is cheaper than the pedal sound as good as some a Fender deluxe or even a cheaper Gibson LP or SG. I would definetly buy another one as it sounds incredible. The only thing I can fault about this pedal is that you cant just run over to it and stomp it down quickly if you are wearing no shoes as the actual stomper is quite stiff, and also the fact that if you are wearing shoes that if you have size feet bigger than an 11 then you may kick the nobs around. This is definitely a special pedal and although it is expensive it is worth every penny. // 10

Reviewed by: unregistered, on october 30, 2009

Price paid: $ 179.99

Purchased from: Online Retailer

Ease of Use: It is by no means easy to get a good sound out of this little noisebox, but that is half the fun! It has 5 knobs to monkey with the sound, from left to right: Volume, Gate (Noise Gate), Compression, Drive and Stab (Stability.) The volume knob should really never be taken above 12 o'clock, and that is a bit of a stretch, honestly. The other four knobs can all be tweaked to create an absurd amount of different tones. The manual provided is pretty small and brief, providing a few presets for you to get started at figuring out this enigma of a pedal. As I said, this is not an easy pedal to dial-in, but that is part of the advertised charm of the pedal, so I'll rate it accordingly. // 8

Sound: I use it with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard with stock pickups, and an LTD MH-1000 Deluxe with Seymour Duncan JB/59 pickups. I feed it through a Vox Valvetronix AD15VT-XL modeling amp. This pedal is obviously very noisy, it's two old-stock germanium transistors allow for an internal oscillation that you can control using the Stab, Drive, and Comp knobs. This can create very interesting and spacey squeals along and controllable feedback. This pedal is VERY affected by the equipment you use it with. For example, it seems to be very squealy when I use my Epiphone Les Paul through it, sometimes the effect overpowers the actual sound of the guitar. But I find that the MH-1000 with it's hotter pickups keeps the Fuzz Factory at bay. Every knob you turn or Switch you flip on your guitar will greatly affect the way this pedal sounds, so make sure you fiddle around while you're looking for that perfect sound. This pedal is great for thick, harmonically rich fuzzes and distortions. You can dial in an almost perfect Smashing Pumpkins-esque fuzz (think Quiet or Zero), and with the proper amp settings you can get some very Muse-ish sounds. This thing is actually very versatile as an Overdrive pedal and distortion pedal, though with weaker pickups you may experience a bit of trouble with note falloff, as I do on my Les Paul. The MH-1000 experiences much less falloff due to it's hotter pickups. // 9

Reliability & Durability: When you first look at this pedal, your first thought is "tiny." But, when you Pick it up and feel the thick aluminum casing that thought quickly changes to "tank." For being roughly the size of a large box of matches (think industrial matches not cigarette matches) this thing is fairly heavy, due to the 1/8" inch thick solid aluminum casing. The knobs are thick plastic, and the footswitch is very sturdy. I am a big guy, and this thing can easily hold up against the pressure of my stomping. I've gigged this once or twice (I honestly don't use it much outside of practice and writing) and it had no problems. I would never back this up, primarily due to my trust in the construction, but also because this pedal wasn't cheap and I'd rather not buy another one for backup. The battery life is incredible. The creator says that as long as you disconnect the input/output cables when you're not using it, you can get years of battery life out of this. I've had it for about 5 months now, and it still has the stock 9-volt. The vexter series also has a 9VDC power input for those Who don't mind filling up another power outlet. // 10

Impression: I play many ranges of Rock, Metal, Jazz and Blues, and this pedal fits all of them very well with the proper settings. I've been playing for about 5 years toal, but I've only been serious about it for the past 3 years or so. I had tried some other fuzz pedals before buying this one, such as the Big Muff, Big Muff Pi, and Fuzz Face. I found that when using this pedal, you can dial in tones nearly identical to those pedals, so I chose this one for the sake of versatility (and, admittedly, so that I could make high-pitched squealy noises like Matt Bellamy, Haha.) Although I do love this pedal as if it were my child, if it were stolen or lost, I probably wouldn't buy another because in all honestly I don't use a lot of effects, and this pedal is a bit too expensive for me to replace. The only thing I wish it had was some toggle that could completely silence the squeals, because some tones sound great but as soon as you stop playing, the squealing begins. But, you can easily just hit the footswitch and turn it off right after a song, so it's not a huge deal.

A tip to all those who are going to try one out: Try it out on YOUR amp and guitar, as this pedal reportedly doesn't get along with certain types of amps and guitars, and it might poorly influence you. // 9

overall: 9.5

Reviewed by: shea.STATIC, on december 17, 2007

Purchased from: thetubestore.com

Ease of Use: Before purchasing said product, I carried out a process of extensive research and inquiry. I observed that a majority or reviews and buyer testimony would indicate that a predominant aspect of the Zvex Fuzz Factory is the inherent "difficulty in finding 'your' tone." I would tend to refute this, however, as the five knobs (4 control fuzz, 1 volume) each represent a unique function; those Who have done previous research or prerused the manual would in all likelihood be able to put two and two together in no time and use the functions effectively. There is a period of trial and error to fine-tune your sound and eliminate unwanted feedback and squeal, but at most it would take 20 minutes. Furthermore, the ubiquitous nature of FF related forums and reviews can assist you in dialing in your tone, with a plethora of pre-made settings lists. For example, the Muse messageboard is a great one if you want the ever-sought after Matt Bellamy FF tone! // 8

Sound: As aforementioned, the chief user of the Fuzz Factory is Matt Bellamy, the virtuostic and energetic frontman and guitarist of Muse. Although it won't make you believe in global conspiracy, the FF will give you his exact tone with ease (barring amp settings). Also, if you're a Weezer fan or Hendrix or Arctic Monkeys or Smashing Pumpkins, you can get those tones as well. The sound quality of this pedal is peerless, and the manifest ability to fabricate any type of distortion gives it great utilitarian usage on your pedalboard. The FF is capable of clean tones with great attack, scooped mids, and pristine clarity and Pick response. With minor tweaking, that same clean sound can evolve into a full blown saturated oscillating nitrofuzz wall of sound. Also, it is possible to manipulate your pitch of feedback or pinch it completely. Furthermore, while the fuzz is immense, stop playing or mute and there is zero buzz, hiss, feedback, or evidence of fuzz with the pedal still on! I've never seen a stompbox with that capability. (Give me a break, I've never had good pedals.) You get what you pay for, as the FF has the sonic vocabulary of 10 fuzzboxes! // 10

Reliability & Durability: This pedal is indestructible! Solid stainless steel construction, the knobs are secure, no parts are loose or can be easily jostled about or broken. Kick it around a bit. No backup needed. I hear Mr. Vex is very responsive to emails and inquiries if you ever somehow break it. // 10

Impression: Personally, I am involved primarily with the Indie-progressive scene, and dabble in classic/blues rock and the FF fits the bill perfectly for my styles of music. I previously utilized a Big Muff USA for my tone, and this far surpasses it in every regard. It is by far the highest quality pedal I have ever used, is fully interactive and highly adaptive. Works best with tube amps, but sounds better than your other pedals even on a 15 watt solid state/combo. This pedal is also tiny and takes up next to no space on the pedalboard. Runs on a 9volt, or if you get the Vexter you can use an adaptor like I do. I hear they can go on one battery for 3+ years! Essentially, this is the pinnacle pedal for the recording guitarist Who fancies a wide variation of fuzz tones and has a bit of extra money lying around. I highly recommend it! // 10

Comments

[wannabe jesus]

2 things to add onto my review but since I can't edit (or I just don't know how) I'll post here. A lot of the crackling was down to my old strings, once I put new strings on most crackling stopped. Also there aren't that many settings that sound good with chords, it's designed for solo's and single notes at a time.

[ponnightingale]

im getting the pedal for christmas... vexter model too nd btw never mind GnR nd hendrix fuzz factories are for muse songs!

[yoshixxx7]

ARG I want this!!!

[L053R]

Can you get metal stuff out it?? if it could handle that, i'm definetely buying it

[Knightofcydonia]

YEEEEESSS!!! I've bought it today!!
But it's very hard to set it up....

[wannabe jesus]

Hmm, I wish I could rewrite this review. When I wrote it I was still like "OMG :O" and hadn't explored it nearly enough. It isn't easy at all to use, you have to really mess about with it to figure out how to control the qualities of the fuzz and even then you sometimes get some unexpected (but not necessarily bad) noises. It can do a sort of fuzz facey thang but if you want fuzz face fuzz then get a fuzz face. Also TBH looking back over the review it, >95% of the settings don't suit any style of music that doesn't have fuzz factory in it. Damn I wish the reviews had an edit button.

[thev90]

ponnightingale wrote:

im getting the pedal for christmas... vexter model too nd btw never mind GnR nd hendrix fuzz factories are for muse songs!

Yeah if you're curious about the pedal and can't test play one for yourself listen to some Muse, matt bellamy uses it on like every song, he's got a fuzz factory built into 3 or 4 of his custom guitars. But it's a great pedal, i live in MN so it makes me proud that it was invented and is hand made here (except the vexter series, some of it is made in Taiwan, but most of the pedal production is in MN) but when I got my fuzz factory vexter i instantly (within a day or two) realized i had no need for my other disto pedals. I have gotten so many sounds out of this pedal, from nes or sega-like crunchy beeping, to straight fuzz. It also works awesome with both solos and to my amazement chords, with my other disto pedals i never felt like i was getting a noticeable sound change when i changed chords, but i can do it with this. well this was long but i could go on, oh and ash is another great band that use this pedal, maybe not as much as muse, but this pedal is amazing. sorry for the length.

[milhouse56]

GOD i want one! but i want it like matt bellamy's. built into my guitar

[monstooge]

i think its an amzing pedal too its perfect for muse (especially plug in baby) if you dont want to risk breaking the pedal and guitar .. use velcrow to attach it on the base of the pedal and your guitar and a small patch lead to the input and you're away its fantastic

[.*Tom*.]

Got this the other day and iv just about figured it out, its superb!

Best thing i've ever bought!

[CryingAlone]

I really want on of these, it will cost me $288.00 from my local store. Thats a little much for me but i really want one of these babys...

i was wondering if i can get a Muse tone with any other cheaper products.

[f1sk]

nice but i think im going to get the GI fuzz

[neophreak]

frickin awesome fuzz. best fuzz i have ever played. i have the volume at 80, gate at full, comp at 30, drive at full and stab at full. such an amazing pedal. i got mine at guitar center for $180. yeah its the vexter series and was made in taiwan, but so what. as long as zack vex approves and it sounds good, then so what if its made in taiwan or wherever. i plan to eventually buy a zvex box of metal. get this pedal.

[campCKY]

[quote]thev90 wrote:

ponnightingale wrote:

im getting the pedal for christmas... vexter model too nd btw never mind GnR nd hendrix fuzz factories are for muse songs!

Yeah if you're curious about the pedal and can't test play one for yourself listen to some Muse, matt bellamy uses it on like every song,/quote]

That is wrong. He actually use it on very few songs.

[IceFairY]

campCKY wrote:

[quote]thev90 wrote:

ponnightingale wrote:

im getting the pedal for christmas... vexter model too nd btw never mind GnR nd hendrix fuzz factories are for muse songs!

Yeah if you're curious about the pedal and can't test play one for yourself listen to some Muse, matt bellamy uses it on like every song,/quote]

That is wrong. He actually use it on very few songs.

Actually he does use it on most his songs, it's build into most of his guitars. There are few songs that DON'T use the FF

[mon_the_fraser]

I'd just like to point out that i forgot to read through my reveiw and so it doesnt sound that good in places. However please say if it was useful.

[Amitio]

That is wrong. He actually use it on very few songs.

Actually he does use it on most his songs, it's build into most of his guitars. There are few songs that DON'T use the FF

Campcky is correct, he only uses in very few songs, it is built into guitars, but is mainly used for the weird squeals and sounds he produces in between songs.

Plug in baby is one he uses it in!

[smashingpmpkns7]

Actually, he uses the Fuzz to produce most of his distortion. Not just squeals.

[xwearesinking]

if you try to play ****ing aerosmith or some shit, this pedal will not treat you kindly. if you love experimental, noise, drone, doom, or effect-laden ambiant/atmospheric stuff, this pedal is amazing.

[ArctcMnkysRcks!]

Amitio wrote:


That is wrong. He actually use it on very few songs.

Actually he does use it on most his songs, it's build into most of his guitars. There are few songs that DON'T use the FF

Campcky is correct, he only uses in very few songs, it is built into guitars, but is mainly used for the weird squeals and sounds he produces in between songs.

Plug in baby is one he uses it in!

smashingpmpkns7 wrote:

Actually, he uses the Fuzz to produce most of his distortion. Not just squeals.

The Zvex Fuzz Factory is build into his guitars, and he uses it in almost every song as a sort of distortion.

for the weird sounds between songs and weird solo's he mostly uses a korg kaoss pad (also built into a few of his guitars, not all of them)

[mikedirnt96]

You're both right actually. He uses a combination of both. He tends to set the feedback to the pitch of the song with one knob and then have fun with the other (only 2 of the controls are on the guitar). The Kaoss is used for some of the solos like on Supermassive Black Hole.

[drummerhead]

Brilliant. Just brilliant. This is a pedal that is worth every single penny. I got one for £80 and it's WOW. I recomend this to any guitar player especially if you are a Muse fan. BUY BUY BUY BUY!!!

[sponboy666]

Amitio wrote:

That is wrong. He actually use it on very few songs.

Actually he does use it on most his songs, it's build into most of his guitars. There are few songs that DON'T use the FF

Campcky is correct, he only uses in very few songs, it is built into guitars, but is mainly used for the weird squeals and sounds he produces in between songs.

Plug in baby is one he uses it in!

Actually, your both wrong, i have a fuzz factory and he uses it in nearly all songs on origin and quite afew on absol aswell, to name afew,

The Groove, Eternally Missed, The Small Print, Dead Star, New Born, Bliss, Hyper Music, Plug in Baby, Citizen Erased, Micro Cuts and Please, Please, Please.

Trust me i am right, i have used mine to re-create many of these sound.

[Dental Boy]

if anyone wants to buy one, im selling it on craigslist in nashville tennessee for 150

[ArctcMnkysRcks!]

Yes, i got one!
I think Matthew Bellamy uses it in a lot of songs, BUT not as the only pedal, you can clearly hear than the Fuzz Factory can give your sound that muse-fuzz sound, but he uses other distortion as well.

[Notmewtwoguitar]

I'm about to make one of these for around £30

Might build one into my new guitar thats coming in july/ August too - but it's got a quilted maple top and solid mahogany body so I'm more than a little worried about hurting it :S

[HeavyReverb]

His main distortion comes from his Diezel VH4

[Cheesepuff]

I want! But they're waaaaay expensive around here, so I'm gonna make one.

[roundwoundsound]

can you get adam jones like tone from this???
these seem like my dream pedals! i loved people's reviews and descriptions for the machine pedal as well..crazy.