If you have tried a fuzz pedal before, you perhaps encountered some bad ones. There can be several reasons as to why the quality is bad. It can be that the fuzz is too fuzzy to use since the circuit has excess gain, or that the circuit networks inside do not properly pass the frequencies of a guitar.

It may also be that it is able to pick up radio stations in the local area because the pedal has so much gain, but is also nonlinear that it produces distortion. Or, it just sounds bad since it is cheaply made.

Whatever the cause, you must avoid this kind of pedal. Thus, good thing that the ZVex Vexter Fuzz Factory Guitar Effect Pedal is nothing like those other products!

Features

Made of two new “old stock” 1960’s germanium transistors

Has gate, compress and volume controls

Drive and stability controls as well

Aluminum chassis that is hand-silkscreened and hand polished

Pros

The ZVex Vexter Fuzz Factory Guitar Effect Pedal contains five knobs with two (2) new old stock (NOS) germanium transistors. It also comes in a hand-polished aluminum chassis, complete with hand-silkscreened and two-color text.

It delivers tones straight out of the 1960s as well, despite that fact that the circuit is not modeled after any one certain classic fuzz. The product’s five knobs control its parameters at several operating levels.

This lets you shape your own personalized fuzz effect. What’s more is that ZVex designed this fuzz pedal to consume less energy compared to other effects pedals, having a current less than 3 mA.

To add, this fuzz pedal is hand-painted and assembled. And though there are squelch noises at the end of sustain, it can be solved by turning the control volume to the right, which also eliminates squeals, buzzes and hisses.

When you turn it to the left, it opens the gate controls. The compress controls add an attack characteristic when turned to the left, and gets softer when turned right.

Going all the way to the right results in a pinched tone. This product tunes in feedback and fat fuzz too. Just lower the stability and see what happens to this kind of control.

Furthermore, some customers attested that what makes this product great compared to similar items is that it is a very warm and driving fuzz that retains a surprising amount of tonal separation and clarity.

And to be clearer regarding the three adjustable parameters (gate, stab and compressor), users reported that the purpose of a gate is to set a minimum volume threshold, requiring a specific amount of input before any signal is output.

That means anything that is very soft will get cut out. Moreover, any background noise is cut out when you are not playing, and any note that is sustained gets cut short once they begin to dip below the set level.

Cons

Customers reported that only a few types of guitars work well with this fuzz pedal. Such guitars even sound better with other pedals that are less expensive. Also, there is not much dynamic quality on the output signal.

The circuit introduces a lot of non-musical artifacts more than the notes that overwhelm the intended sounds, like that of a thin and popping recording that is played through a hissing radio. As a whole, it is noisy.

Others experienced how great this product sounds, until the stomp switch stopped switching to a clean channel after one day of use. And despite its multiple controls, it does not appear to be versatile.

Verdict

There are more positive than negative reviews about this product. Thus, it can be said that the ZVex Vexter Fuzz Factory Guitar Effect Pedal is recommendable. It comes with a lot of controls, with the compressor among others.

It attacks from the other end of the volume as it sets a max threshold, over which any input will be cut by a factor of a compression ratio. All of the controls working together help the product pinch your sound between the gate and the compressor.

When you move the gate high enough, while the compressor is low enough, they fight for control that emulates a good kind of dying pedal. Now add in the stab, and you’ve got yourself an oscillating glitch machine.

It is indeed an incredible and fun fuzz pedal. And with some practice over time, you can learn how it responds, dialing in that glitching so that it becomes predictable and moldable to what you desire it to be.

With this product, you can also use delay and reverbs as they sound good. And it is not an exaggeration when users describe it as something not suitable for those who have weak hearts, because it is designed to produce whacky sound stuff, really insane, that it may be too much for you if you can’t handle something crazy.