Is there any guitar pedal invented in the modern era that has been more influential than the Z . Vex Fuzz Factory ? I ’ m going to go out on a ( pretty damn sturdy ) limb here and say “ no .” With the invention of his most famous and widely adored , feared , and copied stompbox in the mid- ‘ 90s , Zachary Vex not only brought about the era of the boutique guitar pedal , he also unleashed a new golden age of fuzz upon an unsuspecting world . The Z . Vex business model proved to the industry at large that guitarists would happily shell out serious cash for bespoke , hand-painted stompboxes with innovative features , and the Fuzz Factory ’ s unique tones and topology also proved that oddball , ‘ 60s-style fuzz was still relevant , and that in fact , a lot of guitar players had a pretty powerful hankering for the wild , unhinged fuzz tones of our forebears .
So , what is it that made the Z . Vex Fuzz Factory such a groundbreaking design ? Its primary innovations were the amount of control that it gave to the user , and its cultivation of tones that would have previously been considered undesirable by most builders ( as well as a lot of guitarists ) via internal feedback loops . The Fuzz Factory ’ s circuit is actually quite basic , being based heavily on the vintage Fuzz Face , but where it sets itself apart is in allowing the user to adjust all the component-level variables , such as transistor bias , which would normally be dialed in and fixed by the manufacturer , by tweaking the knobs on its face . This gives the user a nearly endless spectrum of sonic possibilities from which to choose , providing they are willing to put in the time to master its uncommonly interactive controls . The
Fuzz Factory ’ s unique control set also lets adventurous users create extreme sounds by dialing in extra compression , gating , oscillation , and other random artifacts . It is these kinds of sounds that lend the pedal its wild reputation .
In the years since Zachary Vex released the Fuzz Factory from his Minneapolis laboratory , its influence has permeated the pedal world in remarkable fashion . Naturally , this influence is easiest to spot when browsing fuzz pedals . Many other builders from all corners of the world have since embraced the wild sonic and visual aesthetic pioneered by Z . Vex , outfitting its products with colorful paint jobs , lots of knobs , and easy user access to varying amounts of oscillation and fuzzy , scuzzy rock-n-roll chaos . This aesthetic elevates the garden variety fuzz box from being a mere tool for making art into a proper piece of art itself , as well as vastly expanding the palette of sounds that such a box can create . Here are a few of our favorite fuzz pedals that have taken inspiration , either directly or indirectly , from the Z . Vex Fuzz Factory .
Is there any guitar pedal invented in the modern era that has been more influential than the Z . Vex Fuzz Factory ? I ’ m going to go out on a ( pretty damn sturdy ) limb here and say “ no .” With the invention of his most famous and widely adored , feared , and copied stompbox in the mid- ‘ 90s , Zachary Vex not only brought about the era of the boutique guitar pedal , he also unleashed a new golden age of fuzz upon an unsuspecting world . The Z . Vex business model proved to the industry at large that guitarists would happily shell out serious cash for bespoke , hand-painted stompboxes with innovative features , and the Fuzz Factory ’ s unique tones and topology also proved that oddball , ‘ 60s-style fuzz was still relevant , and that in fact , a lot of guitar players had a pretty powerful hankering for the wild , unhinged fuzz tones of our forebears .
So , what is it that made the Z . Vex Fuzz Factory such a groundbreaking design ? Its primary innovations were the amount of control that it gave to the user , and its cultivation of tones that would have previously been considered undesirable by most builders ( as well as a lot of guitarists ) via internal feedback loops . The Fuzz Factory ’ s circuit is actually quite basic , being based heavily on the vintage Fuzz Face , but where it sets itself apart is in allowing the user to adjust all the component-level variables , such as transistor bias , which would normally be dialed in and fixed by the manufacturer , by tweaking the knobs on its face . This gives the user a nearly endless spectrum of sonic possibilities from which to choose , providing they are willing to put in the time to master its uncommonly interactive controls . The
Fuzz Factory ’ s unique control set also lets adventurous users create extreme sounds by dialing in extra compression , gating , oscillation , and other random artifacts . It is these kinds of sounds that lend the pedal its wild reputation .
In the years since Zachary Vex released the Fuzz Factory from his Minneapolis laboratory , its influence has permeated the pedal world in remarkable fashion . Naturally , this influence is easiest to spot when browsing fuzz pedals . Many other builders from all corners of the world have since embraced the wild sonic and visual aesthetic pioneered by Z . Vex , outfitting its products with colorful paint jobs , lots of knobs , and easy user access to varying amounts of oscillation and fuzzy , scuzzy rock-n-roll chaos . This aesthetic elevates the garden variety fuzz box from being a mere tool for making art into a proper piece of art itself , as well as vastly expanding the palette of sounds that such a box can create . Here are a few of our favorite fuzz pedals that have taken inspiration , either directly or indirectly , from the Z . Vex Fuzz Factory .
“ the Fuzz Factory ’ s unique tones and topology also proved that oddball , ‘ 60s-style fuzz was still relevant .”