The ZVex Fuzz Factory is already a modern classic, well on its way to the hall of historically iconic pedals. Isn’t this just another fuzz unit, floating amidst a sea of boutique fuzzes that have appeared over the last decade, you ask? While most fuzz boxes plug in, get dialed in and happily filter your signal in whatever niche way the manufacturer advertised, the ZVex Fuzz Factory is more like plugging a living organism into your signal chain. It’s a creature that fights you a little and begs to be taunted, just to see what it will do. The Fuzz Factory isn’t a pedal you just stomp on. It’s a pedal you keep on a leash, playing with the knobs in real time and responding to it with your playing as much as it responds to you. The typical fuzz words fail when it comes to describing the ZVex Fuzz Factory. While it’s capable of being wooly, hairy, velcro-ey, gritty, and even subtle, it earned its fame due to the wild oscillations and noise that mingle with your playing when the Gate and Stab knobs are twiddled.

The ZVex Fuzz Factory is more like plugging a living organism into your signal chain. It’s a creature that fights you a little and begs to be taunted, just to see what it will do.

Zachary Vex started with NOS germanium transistors of the type that powered the original Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face made famous by Hendrix. From this traditional base, he added feedback loops that put the pedal in another category, almost creating an entirely new type of effects template. The Fuzz Factory quickly captured the musical imaginations of many high-profile players, including Jack White, Nels Cline, Trent Reznor, J Mascis, Steven Malkmus, Annie Clark (St. Vincent), and Dom Simper (Tame Impala) to name just a few. Matthew Bellamy of Muse even incorporated ZVex Fuzz Factory circuity into the base of his guitar for a stretch of touring.

The new possibilities opened up by the Fuzz Factory and the popular studio recordings it has appeared on have cemented its legacy among pedalboard icons. Not only will it light up the eyes of people checking out your board, but it will provide you with hours and hours of exploratory fun.

I’m intimidated by all those knobs. Is it hard to use?

There are five knobs, and honestly you won’t be toggling the volume or drive knobs all that much. They are useful to bring it in or out of a mix, but the real fun lies in the interaction between the Gate, Compression and Stability (Stab) knobs. The Compression knobs varies the attacks until far right, when the signal gets crushed and bitted out. The Gate determines how noisy or deadened the sustain becomes. The Stability knobs opens Pandora’s Box of oscillations and squeals if turned too far left. As Zachary Vex himself notes, the names for these knobs are just approximations of what they do. Inside the casing, it’s mainly just level and bias control going on. The short answer is that the Fuzz Factory is not hard to use because it was designed with no proper way of using it in mind. Half the fun is the exploration.

I consider myself an old school player who just wants a plug-and-play fuzz. Why would I buy one?

If it were a one trick pony that was only about making noise, the ZVex Fuzz Factory never would have gained the following it has. The great thing about it is that it provides a station to dial in your favorite fuzz on a very fine-grained level, no matter how classic or extreme. Instead of buying and trying many fuzzes, you can shape your own and change it whenever you feel like it with the Fuzz Factory.

It seems kind of pricey. Aren’t there other more affordable fuzz boxes that can do the same thing?

Not really. The Fuzz Factory has spawned a DIY market, and there are a few clone attempts out there, but the original ZVex Fuzz Factory is still your best bet. It is an investment, but it is fuzz you will keep on your board for decades. The used market is already filling with affordable specimens, and it will only move more in that direction in the coming years.