Russian take on emulating Z-Vex's Fuzz-Factory

[Peter Snowberg]

Welcome Altros!

I believe Puretube is correct. This thread has been a long series of jokes and the people who have participated in it include some of the brightest commercial and DIY pedal builders in my opinion.

I think there is much respect here for the ZVox schematic. The Fuzz Factory is a mystery circuit but some things are known about it from what Zachery has posted here. The ZVox circuit is VERY different from any schematic I have ever seen that says it is the real Fuzz Factory and different from what Zachery says it contains. Part of my "job" here is to remove schematics that say they are close to real ZVex ones so I think I have seen them all.... at the least all of them that circulate around english language web sites.

The ZVox circuit is the only one I have ever seen that has a passive diode clipper on the input!  :shock: I like that!

I just wish he had a different name for it.  :roll:

Such engineering deserves it's own name.

[EdJ]

Hi Altros and welcome!
Can you please tell us what is in the russian text that goes with the schematic?
Thanks in advance!
Ed

[Ivana]

Hi all!
Радует внимание и конструктивные сообщения и замечания. Насчет неуважительных комментариев могу сказать что у на наших русскоязычных форумах тоже присутствует разная публика, так что всё как обычно  :lol: .

PS DD D (автор ZVox) был вдохновлен with mr. Vex's devices но никогда их в руках не держал и оригинальных схем не видел. Просто he likes transistors more than differential amplifiers.
PPS I am male.

[Marcos - Munky]

Hi all!
Радует внимание и конструктивные сообщения и замечания. Насчет неуважительных комментариев могу сказать что у на наших русскоязычных форумах тоже присутствует разная публика, так что всё как обычно  :lol: .

PS DD D (автор ZVox) был вдохновлен with mr. Vex's devices но никогда их в руках не держал и оригинальных схем не видел. Просто he likes transistors more than differential amplifiers.
PPS I am male.

:?:  :?:  :?:
Hi Ivana.

[Doug_H]

;lkj

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

"Pleases attention and constructive messages and remarks. About disrespectful comments I can tell that at at our Russian-speaking forums too there is a different public so all as is usual.

PS DD D (author ZVox) has been inspired with mr. Vex's devices but never them in hands held also original schemes did not see. Simply he likes transistors more than differential amplifiers"

..those auto translators are getting pretty good!
Welcome aboard Ivana! I'm always hoping to see more circuits from the various parts of the old USSR.

[DDD]

Hello!
I’m that F@CKER COMMIE BASTARD with an enormous H-Bomb in my hands! (thanks Zachary…)

Hi men:
Thank you for your surprising response to my ZVOX circuit. Needless to say I didn’t expect it.
First of all I have to say I’ve never seen any of Mr. Vex’ enigmatic products except of couple photos on his site. Also there is absolutely no any of his schematic on the Net or elsewhere. So please be sure my device is completely original for me and, I hope, it’s original as a matter of fact. To be frank, I didn’t like Fuzz Factory sound samples too much (sorry, Zachary) and had no intentions to emulate its sound.
What about the NAME â€" it’s actually my sincere credit to Z.Vex brand name, inspired with a lot of enthusiastic response on his effects one can find on the Web. I have explained the origin of the name in the initial lines of my article. It seems to me Zachary should be a little bit more grateful for such a respect towards his attempts to create something new :-)   Of course I’m ready to change the name of my device with something more harmonious (“Saddam’s Distortion Brewery” for example) if Mr. Vex is going to insist upon it.

By the way description of the device’s tuning procedure is the most important part of the schematic description. Following it one can get the best sound and vice versa in spite the circuitry is extremely simple and consists of very few well-known building blocks.
That’s why I venture to ask somebody on the present Forum to kindly translate some extracts from the article to English. I’m just afraid of possibility to make a lot of mistakes due to my poor %^&*ney.

And, last but not least. The schematic doesn’t contain any hidden missile launcher or vodka detector design drawings. Actually it’s a cipher instruction describing the best way to completely destroy the Chinese condom industry (imagine consequences…).

Regards,
DDD
Unlucky “Distortion ZVOX” creator.

[zachary vex]

naw, i'm honored.  keep the name.  8^)

[Fret Wire]

Welcome DDD, stop by and post more often. As Peter Snowberg has already said, this has been a light hearted thread. So take none of this too seriously, and take no offense. That is an interesting circuit you have there.

Wouldn't a Chinese condom factory be a very, very small target to hit? :wink:

[Athin]

Wouldn't a Chinese condom factory be a very, very small target to hit? :wink:

Actually I think the factory is quite big, it's just that 99%99 of the the production goes to export :mrgreen:

[Ansil]

zvox!  woohoo!  8^)

hey, wait a second... sh*t!  that's my fuzz factory!  that f*cker!  i've been hiding all of those extra components under the pots and inside the pc board for years, and someone finally figured it out!  I'LL SUE!  I'LL SUE, I TELL YOU!  COMMIE BASTARD!

8^P

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[sir_modulus]

my question: How the hell do you hide components INSIDE the pc board ?!? You gotta give Zvex some credit for that. If it was me, I'd just be too lazy to hide components, I'd just weld the box shut, and put a small battery compartment that is isolated, and I'd split the board into many parts, so If you drilled throught it, or cut it, you'd cut the board!!

BTW, That Zvox circuit is quite good. I like it. (note I also like zVEX effects also.)

[jrc4558]

Wooooooo Hooooooo!!!

We dragged the guy out into the daylight!

Welcome DDD!

Maybe it's the effect of me living abroad and reading this forum for the past two something years, but I really see and understand now who's joking, no matter how "sophisticated" the language form gets. But even if I don't I never try to get defensive and stuff. Ah, it's not even the defensiveness I want to mention, it that attitude to call oneself a ""Unlucky “Distortion ZVOX” creator."" You're not unlucky, man!
I think it's Z Vex who's unlucky to be so popular with pedal hackers. lol God, there must be dosens of so-called Fuzz-Factory schematics floating on the net. I even started collecting them.
Now I imagine that you thought that some people got pissed off and stuff and started mocking the Russian attitude towards things. First of all, as far as I've understood, noone mocked the design. Disrespectful comment, which Ivana mentioned were not aimed towards the cirquit or you, DDD.

N.B. Ivana has claimed to be male. So Mrs. Trump is out of the game.  

As far as Vodka and bears go, well, you know... I see it myself everyday.
There's a classical joke among the Russian immigrants in Toronto here that "...we're all from Moscow. That's what the locals think."
Anyhow, here's the untranslated passage, the first paragraph of the page where the ZVox dwells. DDD wrote this:

"The name of a described effect pedal "Distortion Zvox" is made of the name Distortion Box  and somewhat changed name of the brand of the known American manufacturer of original guitar effects. It is sort of a tribute since the mentioned effect pedal has served as the prototype for the given development, and "Distortion ZVox" contains a number of properties inherent in them."

And just for you, DDD...
PureTube wrote this:

Hi Altros - welcome -
we were just joking around amongst ourselves, and with Mr. Vex...

I think there is much respect here towards Mr. Vex,
as well as towards that Russian "ZVox" pedal.

I think it`s an honour to get that many replies on it in this forum...

Take care man.
И не думай что тут идет холодная война педалестроителей. Всем на самом деле похеру все, просто народ веселится. Удачи, приятель. Рабочих тебе разработок.  

[Ansil]

you know what they say any publicity is good publicity    thanks for joining there DDD keep them coming have you thought about making a miniamp  just joking there z

[gez]

That’s why I venture to ask somebody on the present Forum to kindly translate some extracts from the article to English. I’m just afraid of possibility to make a lot of mistakes due to my poor %^&*ney

DDD, please stop by more often!  I like your style (humour and circuits!).  

Shame about Mrs Trump...man can but dream...sigh...

[Peter Snowberg]

Welcome DDD!

I have not heard your circuit but it looks nice! Thank you for joining us here!


After reading this thread I just had to open up a ZVex pedal and disassemble the pots... inside I find this:



All of that inside a 12mm pot!  :shock:  

[Torchy]

Fibber - thers one of those boards inside each knob of the FF all infrared coupled to the one in the input socket  :wink:

[sir_modulus]

It all comes into perspective: My pedals aren't even as good as Zachary's Potentiometers :shock:  The sad part is, thats no joke......

[Ansil]

whats up with your pots btw zach??? i was going to replace one in the mammoth i was working on. but there were miniature Ethiopians inside there trying to fix the broken pot.

[swt]

can someone please translate how to fine tune this circuit?. i'd like to try it, just for curiosity. Thanks!
PS: welcome DDD. Let us know if you have other interesting designs.