Z.Vex Fuzz Factory
Encyclopedia
Z.Vex Effects
Z.Vex Effects is a boutique effects pedal company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their name derives from the name of founder Zachary Vex. The company's most famous product is the Fuzz Factory. All of their pedals are hand painted at their factory in Minnesota...
company.
The Fuzz Factory is based on, yet vastly expands the tonal palette of, classic fuzztone designs from the 1960s. Invented in the mid 1990s, the pedals are mostly handbuilt and painted in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with a budget line being manufactured in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Overview
The basis for the Fuzz Factory is a traditional fuzz effect circuit using New old stockNew old stock
New old stock refers to obsolete equipment, or original parts for obsolete equipment, that have never been sold at retail.The term refers to merchandise being offered for sale which was manufactured long ago but that has never been used...
Germanium Transistors, as used on the Fuzz Face
Fuzz Face
The Fuzz Face is an effects pedal used mainly by electric guitarists, and by some bass players. It is a stompbox designed to produce a distorted sound from an electric guitar. This "fuzz" sound is sometimes compared to the sound of a damaged speaker...
, the seminal device used by Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and many others during the late 1960s/early 1970s. The Fuzz Factory innovates by use of internal feedback loops and component-level bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
adjustments to achieve unprecedented control, or deliberate lack thereof, of the distorted signal. Designed by electronic trial-and-error, closely tied to circuit bending
Circuit bending
Circuit bending is the creative customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and small digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators....
, the controls of the Fuzz Factory are highly interactive, and represent a wide spectrum of tonal ability, often extending into self-oscillation and noise. Many musicians find the promise of near-infinite new sounds and textures inherent to the device to be inspiring to their music, and the Fuzz Factory has a well-known following among professional guitarists.
The Factory has 5 knobs, 2 of which are only suggestions of what parameter(s) they actually control. From left to right:
- "Volume" (output level)
- "Gate" (transistor bias)
- "Compression" (transistor bias)
- "Drive" (input level)
- "Stability" (supply voltage)
Custom Finishes
Each unit is handpainted, and while there is a stock design that adorns most models of the pedal, there have been several variations released in limited quantity, including sparkle finishes, kanjiKanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
finishes (writing and labelling of controls are in Japanese
Japanese writing system
The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:*Kanji, adopted Chinese characters*Kana, a pair of syllabaries , consisting of:...
kanji characters), Korean finishes (all controls labelled in Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
), and so on. These limited runs of custom paintjobs underscore the handmade, one-of-a-kind nature of the devices. From the earliest incarnations of the device in the mid 1990s, Jason Myrold painted all Fuzz Factories leaving the Z.Vex shop. Briefly during the mid 2000s the artist Laura Bennett assumed painting duties.
Vexter Series Fuzz Factory
Screen-printing
Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate...
ed enclosure and a shorter warranty period. This effectively lowers the price point, and makes both production easier for Z.Vex and allows the effect to become more accessible to musicians. The Vexter Fuzz Factory contains the same circuit as the original Fuzz Factory pedals, with the inclusion of modern touches such as an indicator LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
and DC power jack for powering the fuzz with an adapter. As of August 2006, Vexter series Z.Vex pedal subassemblies are completed in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, but a large portion is still done in Minnesota.
Variations and Followers
Soon after the rise in popularity of the original Fuzz Factory, the Fuzz Probe was introduced. This version kept most of the circuitry the same, but added a voltage-sensitive copper plate affixed to, and extending downward from the bottom of the unit. This copper plate, hardwired to the 'Stab' control on the pedal, allowed for real time control by use of one's foot or hand. By varying the distance from appendage to plate, the self-oscillation effects of the Fuzz Factory (Probe) circuit could be tempered and played musically, similar to a ThereminTheremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
.
Several newer effects makers, such as Death By Audio
Death By Audio
Death By Audio is a warehouse space on the first floor of an industrial building in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. It is also the name of an effects pedal company based in the space....
, have introduced products which exploit the feedback-loop characteristics pioneered by the Fuzz Factory. Japanese manufacturer Zoom released a self-oscillating/feedback loop-derived fuzz design called the Ultra-Fuzz, which some have likened to be a 'poor-mans' Fuzz Factory. In addition, circuit bending
Circuit bending
Circuit bending is the creative customization of the circuits within electronic devices such as low voltage, battery-powered guitar effects, children's toys and small digital synthesizers to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators....
is now a commonplace technique among experimental electronic musicians, with the principles employed in the Fuzz Factory being extended to include almost any electronic device.
Matt Bellamy of Muse
Muse (band)
Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...
owns guitars with a built-in Fuzz Factory which he came up with the concept and was built by Hugh Manson of Manson Guitars. The guitar was popularly known by fans as the silver Manson but now named Manson Delorean. It was retired after the Absolution (album) era
Fuzz Factory users
Notable musicians who have used the Fuzz Factory include:- Matthew BellamyMatthew BellamyMatthew James Bellamy is an English musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, pianist, and main songwriter of the alternative rock band Muse.-Early life:...
of MuseMuse (band)Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard... - Dan BoecknerDan BoecknerDan Boeckner is a Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist. He currently fronts the indie rock bands Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs and was previously a member of Atlas Strategic.-Overview:...
of Wolf ParadeWolf ParadeWolf Parade is an indie rock band formed in 2003 from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The band is currently on an indefinite hiatus as of May 31, 2011.-History:... - Stephen CarpenterStephen CarpenterStephen Carpenter is an American musician known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative metal band Deftones. His guitar technique makes use of both ringing open strings and dissonant chord voicings, as well as stock power chords in polyrhythms...
of DeftonesDeftonesDeftones are an American alternative metal band from Sacramento, California, founded in 1988. The band consists of Chino Moreno , Stephen Carpenter , Chi Cheng , Frank Delgado , and Abe Cunningham . Currently Sergio Vega is standing in on bass while Cheng recovers from a car accident... - Hugh Harris of The KooksThe KooksThe Kooks are an English indie rock band formed in Brighton, East Sussex, in 2001. Formed by Luke Pritchard , Hugh Harris , Paul Garred , and Max Rafferty , the lineup of the band remained constant until 2008 and the departure of Rafferty...
- BucketheadBucketheadBrian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
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External links
- Zachary Vex's page on the Fuzz Factory, including a demonstration video.
- Harmony Central's review page on the Fuzz Factory
- Z.Vex fansite