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Alysum

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Jaicen got shut down for ripping off fuzz factorys,

The End.

 

Oh well there was a huge flame war about downloading mp3's and how some guy was gay with jaicen.

 

Then all of the guys wanting to buy FF's and FP's off jaicen in the first place started bullshitting about how jaicen was stealing from zvex.

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There was one post about jaicens price being way too high i.e. buying the parts for 20 and selling them on for 40.

 

I'm sure zvex can produce their pedals even cheaper and more efficiently than this as they probably buy their components in bulk dirt cheap. They use cheap ass standard casing and no digital components, the only thing remotely hard to find are the transistors. Im sure Boss pedals would cost a lot more than zvex pedals to produce with the far more complex circuitry and casings.

Zvex still charge £200 and nobody complains?!

I know that the design is original and all that but surely zvex charging £200 is stealing from the consumer more than Jaicen is "stealing" from zvex.

 

Look at the Behringer rip-offs of Boss pedals. Nobody complains about them...

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There was one post about jaicens price being way too high i.e. buying the parts for 20 and selling them on for 40.

 

I'm sure zvex can produce their pedals even cheaper and more efficiently than this as they probably buy their components in bulk dirt cheap. They use cheap ass standard casing and no digital components, the only thing remotely hard to find are the transistors. Im sure Boss pedals would cost a lot more than zvex pedals to produce with the far more complex circuitry and casings.

Zvex still charge £200 and nobody complains?!

I know that the design is original and all that but surely zvex charging £200 is stealing from the consumer more than Jaicen is "stealing" from zvex.

 

Look at the Behringer rip-offs of Boss pedals. Nobody complains about them...

 

:LOL:

 

Zvex pedals are hand made, hand painted. The production costs of that would be comparatively expensive compared to a Boss pedal.

Also, Zvex has to live off the money he makes from these things.

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Zvex still charge £200 and nobody complains?!

I know that the design is original and all that but surely zvex charging £200 is stealing from the consumer more than Jaicen is "stealing" from zvex.

 

that's why i never understand why so many people on here buy these pedals.

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As do the guys who own Boss, surely? :)

 

The guys who own Boss are Roland, which stretches further than guitar pedals, so in theory, they don't need as much profit from pedal compared to boutique pedal manufacturers (Which don't really cost any less than Zvex's stuff).

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There was one post about jaicens price being way too high i.e. buying the parts for 20 and selling them on for 40.

 

I'm sure zvex can produce their pedals even cheaper and more efficiently than this as they probably buy their components in bulk dirt cheap. They use cheap ass standard casing and no digital components, the only thing remotely hard to find are the transistors. Im sure Boss pedals would cost a lot more than zvex pedals to produce with the far more complex circuitry and casings.

Zvex still charge £200 and nobody complains?!

I know that the design is original and all that but surely zvex charging £200 is stealing from the consumer more than Jaicen is "stealing" from zvex.

 

Look at the Behringer rip-offs of Boss pedals. Nobody complains about them...

 

i assure you i don't charge £200 for anything i sell. i sell only to dealers and distributors at prices far below that. the pricing you see overseas reflects something that may have been "stepped on" four or five times before you get it, meaning that the shipping company takes their share, the government takes their share (import duty, customs), the distributor takes his cut, and the dealer marks it up from there (and probably charges tax again, so the government gets another slice.)

 

i wish i could handle direct orders, but it would overwhelm my little business at this point, especially overseas. look at fulltone.com, even he will not sell anything direct outside the connected 48 states.

 

and as far as "nobody complains about Behringer and Boss"... as a matter of fact, Roland has initiated a lawsuit against Behringer in the past days. here's a link:

 

http://www.rolandus.com/news/pressdetails.asp?PressID=399

 

For Immediate Release

 

Lawrence Y. Iser, Esq.

Greenberg Glusker (310) 201-7411

 

BEHRINGER SUED FOR CLONING RENOWNED BOSS GUITAR EFFECTS PEDALS

 

(Los Angeles, February 24, 2005)- Leading electronic musical instrument and equipment manufacturer Roland Corporation ("Roland") has sued Behringer International GmbH and its subsidiaries ("Behringer") to enforce Roland's trade dress, trademark, and other intellectual property rights in and to the famous guitar effects pedals manufactured, distributed and sold by Roland's division, BOSS, as well as other Roland products.

 

BOSS has long been an industry leader in the design and manufacture of guitar effects pedals, recording equipment and other musical instrument accessories. In addition to their unparalleled sound, the BOSS pedals feature a unique combination of aesthetic design elements which have served to establish BOSS as an instantly-recognizable brand and to distinguish BOSS pedals from pedals manufactured by others.

 

The Complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that at the January, 2005 National Association of Music Merchants ("NAMM") industry trade show, Behringer announced the launch of a line of guitar effects pedals which replicate the distinctive design features of the BOSS pedals with such painstaking detail that the Behringer pedals are nearly indistinguishable from the BOSS pedals. Roland contends that this is no coincidence, and that the overall look and feel of the Behringer pedals is intentionally designed to confuse consumers as to the origin, sponsorship or affiliation of the Behringer Pedals, and to capitalize and profit from Roland's success, its impeccable reputation and the goodwill that it has developed over years of hard work.

 

The Complaint alleges that in an effort to gain industry acceptance of the cloned pedals, Behringer falsely assured industry retailers that the Behringer line of pedals was approved and endorsed by Roland.

 

Roland's subsidiary and exclusive United States distributor Roland Corporation U.S. has joined the suit as plaintiff. Plaintiffs are suing Behringer for trademark and trade dress infringement, unfair competition and a number of other causes of action aimed at protecting plaintiff's intellectual property rights.

 

Dennis Houlihan, President of Roland Corporation U.S. commented: "Imitation is not flattery, and is far from sincere, when the subject is Roland's valuable trade dress. Roland has expended monumental effort and substantial amounts to create and promote the design elements of its BOSS line of guitar effects pedals. Behringer's replication of the famous BOSS trade dress has caused extensive damage to Roland and its reputation, and Behringer's false claim that Roland has endorsed Behringer's unadulterated infringement is unconscionable."

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I've went through a few pages of this thread and compiled it into something hopefully useful to people who want to know stuff. Please help. :LOL:

 

Fuzz Factory or Fuzz Probe?

 

Well, personally I don't buy until I've tried (although with the fuzz factory i made an exception nice contridiction huh?). Find out, talk to people who have both, go to the zvex website look at the videos, go to harmony central and read reviews they've made. And think, do I want to twiddle with my figners or my foot?

Sure one option is to tape the Fuzz Factory to your guitar or something similar or get it in built, but when you come around to getting a new guitar you're going to be left with a circuit board and a whole lot of wood shavings. Also bare in mind that the FF knobs can be easily knocked and adjusted accidently, so having it taped to your guitar could lead to it getting in the way of your strumming hand.

 

I have a FF i have it on the floor of my set up, the times I use the squeals I'm usually on the floor anyway creating feedback and messing with the effects as the song dictates. I used to have it taped to the strap of my guitar but once the novelty of making screaming noises off it went to the floor.

 

What are the differences between the Factory and the Fuzz?

 

The Fuzz factory is just like a 'normal' effects pedal in that it has a lot of pots (like a student dorm) while the Probe has a copper plate that acts in the same way as the stab control on the Fuzz Factory. Only to adjust the stab on the Probe you do so with your foot moving it over the copperplate. You might have seen something similar on Matt's Black Manson?

 

Stockholme Syndrome at Earl's Court if you looked at the big screens you would have seen him wave his hand over the copperplate (which goes to a Wah Probe) as he played the main riff to cause that warble effect. Yup, that's what it does. warble warble warble weeee

 

Kuz explains it a little better: with the probe, its the same as the fuzz factory except when you put your foot closer to the probe it increases the stab. you can have the stab set at 2:00, stomp on it, keep it at 2:00, then slowly move your foot closer to the probe part to increase it up to 5:00, move your foot away to return to 2:00. if you have the stabset at 5:00 the probe part does nothing at all, its set as high as it can.

hope that makes a little sense

 

So, While we're on the subject of the probe, how to you turn it on with your foot without putting your foot in the way of the probey bit and making a sound with it? Do you have to stand sideways on to it or something?

 

Haze015: Not necessarily, you can change how high the antenna reaches, so it can go from varying weight on the copper plate to I don't know, probably reaching into space judging by Zvex products.

 

Where can I buy one?

 

There's alist of retailers across the globe on the zvex site, and of course you can always get them off the internet. Some people seem them for OK prices on Ebay, but your best bet is Musictoy.com

 

What songs does Matt use the FF in?

 

The solo for Blackout. Recorded it was directly recorded into the mixing board and live he twats about with the stab (technical term).

 

What settings does he use on those songs?

 

Blackout:

Plug in Baby: Radio Fuzz setting (7:00 10:00 12:00 12:00)

New Born:

Deadstar:

 

How does Matt do those feedback oscilating notes on Plug In Baby?

 

 

I want to be just like Matt! What hair gel does he use and how do I install the FF into my guitar?!

 

First, he doesn't use hair gel he uses 100% natural beeswax freshly squeezed out of 1000 honey bees, secondly installing a Fuzz factory is something I know nothing about. Mansons do it, but you have to take your guitar to the shop to have it done. I'm sure there's other people out there who know, but they live in remote locations on top of mountains and listen to Beck all day.

 

What two Knobs are showing?

 

That'll be Chris and Dom...

 

On his guitar.

 

That'll be the Stab & Compression

 

Where does this thing go in my effects chain?

 

Basically this is down to personally preference. Yeah some people have it first, some people have it afterwards, one thing is for sure the sounds you get change and react differently to where you place it. Putting into the effects loop of your amp can sometimes stop the 'squeal' of the Fuzz Factory. So this is down to trail and error as to where you have it. It's a toy play with it find out what you want!

 

I can't get harmonics using the Fuzz factory what can I do?

 

Personally I find this odd, as with the fuzz factory I can get the best harmonics I've ever been able to get.

 

One of the settings I use where I can get good harmonics is this:

1:00

10:30

7:00

5:00

 

While this might not be the fuzziest of fuzz its still a nice overdrive sound. Of course you have to remember what setting your gate & comp is on as these are limiters and will null peaks and ebbs of sound waves. Example a setting like:

3:00

2:00

12:00

2:00

 

only the strongest Harmonics remain (those on the 12th , 7th and the 3rd fret). If you're having troubles trying picking the note as close to the bridge as you can.

 

Im having a bit o trouble with my fuzz. ive tried a million different types of fuzz but it still sounds like its farting!!!!!! when i play chords it sounds like when u play chords with a whammy, the notes are all unclear and muffled... what am i doing wrong!?

 

Ah, well maybes you've got just too much fuzz? Then again you did say you've tried all settings... erm... run away! Try adjusting the main volume on your guitar as well as on your FF. The FF reacts amazingly with the main volume on your guitar, it's possible with the right settings and a little volume tweeking to get an almost crystal like sound. Try messing about with the volume (and tone) switches of your guitar when it's squealing as well, it goes mental. I'm sorry if this didn't help you, try some beechams. Or try this:

 

haze015 - Try maxing out the Stab, lose some Comp and Gate

 

My battery ran out after 2 weeks, yet they reckon it should last 3 years.

 

Well, you're either being abducting by aliens at night which is draining all the life out of all the batteries in your house or you're leaving your Fuzz Factory turned on when not in use and leaving your cables plugged into it. Remove cables and turn it off. TADA! or wrap it in tin foil it stop the aliens....

 

 

Erm, I'm picking up Radio Hamburg, what the fuck?

 

No, Germans don't live in your head, but its the Fuzz Factory amplifying radio signals that all around you wheeeeee. Basically your guitar's pickups are picking up alot of things other then just the strings. Hold your guitar next to a printer when its printer you'll pick up a strange siren or bleep sound. It'll fuzz as it picks up whatever your computer does, they pick up alot. The Fuzz Factory is just a beast and amplifies it all so you can hear it.

 

All that shit you've written, didn't help...

 

Then email vex, he's the most helpful person in the world after Jimmy Saville.

 

Useful sites:

http://www.zvex.com/videos.html - videos of all zvex pedals (well most)

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trail and error

 

is that like when someone's really bad at orienteering and gets lost in the woods and mauled by tigers???

 

 

and yes, i have that little to do :)

 

with the behringer lawsuit thingy, does anyone know if it's only roland taking them to court, or will all the other companies they've copied* jump on the bandwagon?? i wonder how close you have to be to someone elses design to be done for that sort of thing (don't worry, i'm not thinking of trying, i'd probably solder something to my eye if i attempted to build a pedal)

 

Xxx

 

*allegedly of course.....

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To be honest, I suspect that Behringer never had any intention of marketing those pedals, It was merely a PR stunt.

I don't believe that the head bods would ever have allowed it to get beyond the planning stage. I guess that's why there were only CG representations on show, they never bothered making the boxes as the knew they'd never be able to sell them.

What will happen now is that Behringer will market a new line of pedals toward the end of this year with custom cases, but clone circuits. Besides, they haven't sold anything yet, so they can't be sued. Clever, free marketing boost.

*j

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Not really, they've been quite clever in picking circuits that are commonly copied. For example, virtually everybody builds guitar comps the same way as a Dynacomp, using an OTA. It's quite a tradition in the far east to just re-package original designs, for example the Ross line of Phasers were identical in operation to a small stone, but they used a pot in place of the color switch. Hey presto, new product! Also, the venerable DS-1 is identical to the TS9 (or whatever) apart from the bypass circuitry (which is better in the Ibanez if you want my opinion). Pot, kettle...

Anyway, you can't actually copyright a circuit, just a name or a product as a whole.

*j

 

edit: See what I mean about the CG pictures. For what it's worth, the digitech is a whole other beast than a DD-5. It uses real DSP, in a similar manner to the POD et all, whereas the DD-5 just samples and repeats the signal. Strange that it's also white though..

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