Anyone with a ZVEX Fuzz Factory

[groselicain]

A few years back, I eBay'd one of these things. Long story short, the previous owner had modded it to run from a 9v adapter (it's not your normal 9v/120w, it's a weird wattage) rather than the battery. So, I love the pedal and all, but it's uber-fussy about being used with any other pedals. I've tried using it first, last, in between, and everything else you can imagine. So, anyone else know where it needs to go in a line to get it to run well, or is it the adapter mod?

Edited May 26, 2006 by groselicain

[AWOL]

A few years back, I eBay'd one of these things. Long story short, the previous owner had modded it to run from a 9v adapter (it's not your normal 9v/120w, it's a weird wattage) rather than the battery. So, I love the pedal and all, but it's uber-fussy about being used with any other pedals. I've tried using it first, last, in between, and everything else you can imagine. So, anyone else know where it needs to go in a line to get it to run well, or is it the adapter mod?

 

the folk on the effects forum over at harmonycentral.com are yr best bet. the owner/inventor of zvex - zachary vex is a regular poster as well

Edited May 26, 2006 by AWOL

[groselicain]

I talked to Zachary when I first bought the pedal, and he wasn't too helpful. He was more worried about finding out if someone was producing knock-offs of the originals. All I could get from him was, "Just send it in and I'd be happy to take a look at it, to see if it's real or not."

[jhc]

What specific problems are you having, and what else is in your signal chain? (and what other pedal(s), if any, are you trying to use with the FF simultaneously?)

[groselicain]

In no particular order, the pedals in the chain were a Small Clone, a Fuzz Face, a Digitech GNX3, the Fuzz Factory, into a Hot Rod Deluxe.

 

If I used the Hot Rod's dirty channel, or tried to use anything else at the same time, I had a fairly audible hum whenever notes weren't played. When the Fuzz Factory is the only thing on, certain knob setting will produce a hum, too. Vex said that was normal, but I'm not so sure about the other buzzes I'm getting. I personally think it's the adapter. Radio Shack didn't have an adapter tip that actually fit the jack, so there's probably two or three millimeters of exposed tip. Also, don't wallwarts and adapters tend to create a cycle hum if there's too many in a chain?

[jhc]

The power supply could easily be a problem. Did the guy who modded it make it so it cannot be run on battery?

 

FWIW, a lot of fuzzes are real finicky about how they are powered which is why you'll see a lot of them that only run on battery (and they typicaly prefer the cheap carbon batteries)

 

If the battery is impossible, you might need a power conditioner, or just send it back to Zachary and get him to restore it to original specs.

[ginandcigarettes]

Yeah, that's weird. I have a ZVex Vexter Fuzz Factory (supposedly, it's the same internally as the non-Vexter version but it has an adapter jack and a status LED and has a silk screened paint job and not the hand painted job). Anyway, I don't really have a problem where I put it (sometimes before my overdrive sometimes after -- and always after a buffered effect, i.e. my tuner).

 

I will point out that the Fuzz Factory is designed to produce all kinds of buzzes and noises, self occilations and other things that most folks will not think are musical (hence, factory). Try turning the gate up and the fuzz, volume, and compression down.

 

If it's still a problem, and you don't think it's the natural noise of multiple high-gain devices (seriously, fuzz, fuzz, overdriven amp = noise), I'd guess it's the adapter mod.

[groselicain]

Oh, no, this is a completely different buzz. I can have gate all the way up and still get weird buzzes on certain settings. And, yes, the guy who had it before me did it completely different from the way the vexter's work, with the adapter plate and whatnot. I don't see how it can be fixed back--at least not by me.

[aver]

Zach says the pedal HAS to go first in your signal chain.

[ginandcigarettes]

Zach says the pedal HAS to go first in your signal chain.

 

I dunno. I mean, I'm sure he says that, but I don't know how much you have to listen to that. My Vexter doesn't seem to care where it goes in the chain (though it sounds different after different things as we would expect any pedal to do), unlike my Fulltone '70 which really misbehaves (mostly unholy screeching) when it is placed after something (though this isn't a problem so much now that I power everything with a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2+, hmmm...). Anyway, it doesn't seem like Nels puts his Fuzz Factory first. Though, it's not immediately clear to me what exactly does come first.

 

Anyhoo, it's worth a shot if you haven't tried it out already.

 

Other things worth a shot:

(1) New adapter (though, I wouldn't worry about the 2 or 3 mm of exposed barrel)

(2) Verify adapter voltage, amperage, and polarity are right for your pedal

(3) Try it with nothing in the chain (guitar -> Fuzz Factory -> amp)

(4) Prayer

(5) Wish it into the corn field

(6) Declare it an evil-doer, bomb it, realize that it still doesn't work, declare that it is working.

 

If you still have the battery clip and insist on an adapter, you can try the One-Spot or Godlyke power supplies with the 9v battery clip thingee.

Edited June 7, 2006 by ginandcigarettes

[jhc]

Anyway, it doesn't seem like Nels puts his Fuzz Factory first. Though, it's not immediately clear to me what exactly does come first.

 

It looks like POG-> Tuner -> Fuzz Factory -> Whammy, but I can't be 100% certain.

[groselicain]

(3) Try it with nothing in the chain (guitar -> Fuzz Factory -> amp)

(4) Prayer

(5) Wish it into the corn field

(6) Declare it an evil-doer, bomb it, realize that it still doesn't work, declare that it is working.

 

3- Tried that, and if I raise my amp's volume to certain levels, I can hear the buzz.

4, 5, 6- Hilarious, but sadly, my only choices left