ZVex Fuzz Factory Settings Guide

For Classic Fuzz (Vintage): Volume 6/10, Gate 2/10, Comp 4/10, Drive 7/10, Stab 10/10. Stab fully clockwise, low Gate, moderate Comp, high Drive — the Fuzz Factory as a classic silicon fuzz without instability. Gate low enough to allow natural note decay; Comp at 4 produces a less compressed, more dynamic response.

For Gated / Velcro Fuzz: Volume 7/10, Gate 7/10, Comp 5/10, Drive 9/10, Stab 10/10. High Gate produces the "velcro" gated fuzz — notes chop off sharply after the attack transient with almost no sustain. This is the sound on Jack White's Seven Nation Army and Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground. At high Gate, single notes have a percussive, staccato quality that makes riff figures extremely rhythmic.

Volume: Output level. The Fuzz Factory can be extremely loud at full Volume — start lower than you think you need. Unlike gain-lossy Big Muff types, the Factory maintains output volume well across Drive settings. (Silent to Loud). Gate: Controls how the gate circuit clips the decay of each note. Counterclockwise: open gate — notes sustain and bloom. Clockwise: increasingly aggressive gating — notes chop off sharply after the attack, producing the characteristic staccato "velcro" gated fuzz. At maximum Gate the circuit barely outputs signal between pick attacks. (Open (Sustain) to Gated (Chop)). Comp: Changes the bias point of the first transistor stage, affecting compression and attack character. Counterclockwise: smooth, rounded attack. Clockwise: harder compression with a spiky pronounced attack transient. Interacts significantly with Gate — changes to Comp affect how Gate responds. (Smooth to Compressed). Drive: Gain control — but not conventionally. Low Drive: brighter, cleaner fuzz character. As Drive increases, saturation deepens and tone darkens. Maximum Drive produces heavy square-wave saturation with heavy compression. (Bright / Less Fuzz to Saturated). Stab: Adjusts the power supply filtering. Counterclockwise: starved power supply — the circuit becomes unstable and eventually self-oscillates (continuous tone without any guitar input). Clockwise: stable operation. Leave at maximum for all normal use. (Unstable (Self-Osc) to Stable)

Every control in the Fuzz Factory interacts with every other — don't adjust one dial in isolation. When you change Gate, you'll often need to re-adjust Comp to maintain the same overall character. Treat it as an interconnected system, not a conventional pedal. The Stab control is the master stability knob — leave it fully clockwise for all normal use. Only dial it back when you specifically want self-oscillation or instability effects. Even small Stab reductions can dramatically affect tone. The Fuzz Factory is highly input-impedance-sensitive — even a buffer pedal before it changes its character significantly. Run it first in the signal chain directly from guitar, with no buffer or tuner before it, for the most authentic response. The Gate control is temperature-sensitive — the pedal's gating behaviour changes as the circuit warms up. Give the Fuzz Factory 10–15 minutes to thermally stabilize before settling on a final Gate setting. This is especially noticeable in cold environments. Self-oscillation as a musical tool: with Stab dialed back to the oscillation threshold, the Fuzz Factory produces a continuous drone pitch that can be bent by adjusting Stab in real time. ZVex designed this behaviour intentionally — it is not malfunction. The Fuzz Factory is available in a vexter series (screen-printed) and a hand-painted series — the circuit is identical. The vexter version delivers the same tone at roughly half the cost.

Jack White settings: Volume 7/10, Gate 6/10, Comp 5/10, Drive 9/10, Stab 10/10. White's foundational Fuzz Factory setting combines high Drive and moderate Gate for the gated velcro fuzz that defines The White Stripes. Gate at 6 chops off note sustain sharply enough to produce rhythmic staccato without completely eliminating sustain on longer held notes. Into a pushed Silvertone or Marshall, this is the Seven Nation Army sound.