Warm Audio Foxy Tone Box

The Warm Audio Foxy Tone Box is an analog octave fuzz pedal that recreates the Foxx Tone Machine, a flocked, velvet-covered fuzz box from the early 1970s. Warm Audio describes it as an accurate reproduction of that vintage circuit, known for what the maker calls "searing saturation and octave-up solo magic"¹. It is covered in thick velvet just like the original pedal, runs a fully discrete analog signal path, and sells for $149¹².

The original Foxx Tone Machine appeared at the height of the early-'70s effects boom and offered a warm, thick-sounding fuzz with a controllable octave-up effect³⁴. Warm Audio's version keeps the same control layout and the same octave toggle, in a hand-built pedal that Performer Mag called "a musical blend of old and new components"⁵.

What it does: fuzz with an octave-up voice

With the octave switch off, the Foxy Tone Box is a straight fuzz. Flip the toggle and it adds an octave-up voice on top of the fuzz, the effect the original Foxx was known for. Warm Audio's own pitch for the pedal is direct: "To get the full experience of Foxy Tone Box, engage the octave effect and proceed to melt faces"¹.

Performer Mag's reviewer, Chris Devine, described the result in his 2021 review: "Kicking in the octave, it gets crazier, and almost synth like"⁵. He also found the pedal works well with hotter pickups: "With humbuckers, the fatness of tone is very noticeable, chords and rhythm parts are massive"⁵. Warm Audio says the tone control is what makes it easy to move between single coils and humbuckers¹.

The controls

The control panel matches the original Foxx Tone Machine: three knobs and a toggle⁷.

Performer Mag noted the layout is easy to get around, with Volume, Sustain (fuzz amount) and the Fuzz knob acting as a mellow-to-brite tone control⁵. The original Foxx carried the same arrangement, including its octave switch, which GuitarPlayer's Dave Hunter points out was misspelled "Octive" on the control panel of the vintage unit⁸.

What's inside

Warm Audio builds the Foxy Tone Box with vintage-style parts:

• NOS N3565 Fairchild transistors¹
• Germanium 1N34A clipping diodes¹
• Carbon resistors and premium film capacitors¹
• Hand-built construction, according to Performer Mag⁵

Power

The pedal runs on a 9V battery or a standard 9V DC pedal adapter with a 2.1mm center negative barrel, and Warm Audio includes the adapter in the box². Power consumption is 1.5mA², low enough that it shares easily with other pedals on a typical supply.

History: a clone of a 70s velvet-covered fuzz

The Foxx Tone Machine was a flocked octave-fuzz box that appeared at the height of the early-'70s effects boom³. Delicious Audio's history of the pedal notes it offered a warm, thick fuzz with a controllable octave-up effect⁴, and GuitarPlayer reports it was used in the early seventies by Billy Gibbons and Peter Frampton, and in the present day by players including Adrian Belew, Nine Inch Nails and Beck².

Warm Audio brought the circuit back in August 2020 as one of its first guitar effects, alongside the Jet Phaser². Gearnews reported at the time that Warm Audio had "entered the world of guitar effects and breathed new life into two legends"⁶. The Foxy Tone Box was the second device in the Warm Audio lineup reviewed by Pedal of the Day in February 2021⁹.

The circuit has since grown into a family at Warm Audio, which has released further Foxy-style fuzz pedals, including the Peach Fuzz.

What reviewers said

Performer Mag's Chris Devine concluded in 2021 that the pedal was a bargain at "$149 street price"⁵. Two years later, the JHS Show devoted an episode to Warm Audio's clone pedals, examining the Foxy Tone Box among them and polling viewers on whether the trade dress goes too far. Josh's verdict on the pedal itself was unambiguous:

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In the same episode, Warm Audio founder Bryce Young appeared in clips discussing the company's approach to its clone pedals¹⁰.

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