Inside The Fuzz Factory

This year effects maker ZVEX celebrates its 25th anniversary. The company is the creation of Zachary Vex, a Minneapolis sound engineer who got the bug for making effects during the grunge era – becoming a godfather of the indie stompbox scene in the process. Many of Zachary’s designs are rightly regarded as classics, from the brutal Super Hard On booster to the Plexi-style Box Of Rock distortion. His masterpiece, however, is the Fuzz Factory. Intuitive to use but near-infinite in its tone-sculpting potential, the five-knob design of this iconic fuzz pedal still cuts plenty of ice today. In fact, rising maker Chase Bliss Audio and ZVEX have just collaborated on an evolved, digitally controlled version called the Bliss Factory,