ZVex Vexter Fuzz Factory Guitar Effect Pedal

I think I can relate my interest in fuzz pedals with the amount of coffee I have in me. The less amount of coffee.. the more interested I’m into searching for fuzz pedals to talk about. So, here I am with my first cup of joe for the day, and I found the Zvex Vexter Fuzz Factory. I’ve always been interested in ZVex pedals. I like how they look, and of course, how they sound. I wasn’t too familiar with their flag ship fuzz factory, so I started to do some research.

Here is the official description:

The Vexter Fuzz Factory from ZVex is a 5-knob fuzz pedal with 2 NOS ’60s germanium transistors, and it comes in a hand-polished aluminum chassis with hand-silkscreened, 2-color text. Though the circuit isn’t modeled after any one specific classic fuzz, it delivers tones straight out of the 1960s. These 5 knobs control the Fuzz Factory’s parameters at various operating levels, letting you shape your own personalized fuzz effect. ZVex designed the Fuzz Factory to consume less energy than other effects pedals. When on, the Fuzz Factory’s current is less than 3 mA. This fuzz pedal is hand-painted and assembled, and each is unique.

Fuzz Factory Controls

Volume: Output level
Gate: Squelches noise after end of sustain. Turn to the right to eliminate squeals, hiss, and buzz, stopping just as they disappear, or use to tune in exact feedback pitch. Turning to the left opens gate.
Compress: Adds attack characteristic when turned to the left, which gets softer to right, and suddenly pinches tone when all the way right. Also tunes in fat, feedbacky fuzz. Lower the Stability and see what happens to this control.
Drive: Increases distortion when used as a “normal” fuzz and adjusts feedback pitch and tonal thickness.
Stability: Use to control feedback pitch. This is one of the more finicky controls, so it will take some experimentation to get it right.

I found this great video, and was quite impressed with the diversity of this pedal from traditional fuzz face tone to craziness. I’ve always like the option to be able to tweak things and get crazy sounds, but I definitely find myself using the more ‘practical’ settings in the end. I thought the tone of the fuzz was good and the ability to add gate was interesting as well.

The ZVex Vexter Fuzz Factory Guitar Effect Pedal is currently available at Musician’s Friend for $179.00.