ZVEX Effects Box of Rock Distortion 25th Anniversary Vexter Series

A boost and a distortion in one box

The Box of Rock puts two independent circuits in a single enclosure: a clean boost and a distortion¹. Each side has its own footswitch, so you can run the boost alone as a volume lift, the distortion alone, or both stacked².

The boost is the simpler of the two. It is a high-headroom, low-noise design with nominal input impedance, and it gives you anywhere from unity gain up to 50x². Delicious Audio's reviewer, Paolo De Gregorio, noted that 50x from unity "that's A LOT of" gain, and that the boost has a single volume knob of its own³. In practice, a boost with that much range can push an amp into breakup on its own, or drive the Box of Rock's distortion side harder.

The distortion side carries three controls: Volume, Tone and Drive, which Pedal of the Day describes as delivering "wide-ranging overdriven and distorted tones in an instant"². The Tone control adjusts brightness⁴. The character of the dirt side comes from its amp model: ZVEX says the pedal "simulates Zachary's favorite amp turned up all the way, a 1966 Marshall® JTM45"⁵⁴⁶, and elsewhere describes it as accurately modeling the Marshall JTM45 amps. That puts it in cranked-Plexi territory rather than modern high-gain territory, closer to an overdrive-into-a-cooking-amp sound than a saturated fuzz or metal distortion.

Controlling the distortion from the guitar

One design choice worth knowing: the Box of Rock is set up so you can fix the Drive control where you need it and then control the amount of distortion with your guitar's Volume knob². Rolling the guitar volume back cleans the pedal up; opening it up brings the distortion back in. De Gregorio's review singles out this behavior, calling the Drive knob's interaction with the guitar's volume control part of the pedal's mojo³. Players who like to ride their guitar's volume knob will get two usable sounds from one switch setting.

What the Vexter Series changed

ZVEX has sold the Box of Rock in three versions: hand-painted, Vexter, and vertical³. The hand-painted versions are made in the USA, while the Vexter versions are the more affordable line¹. The Vexter Series pedals are initially assembled in Taiwan, with final assembly done in the United States².

The 25th Anniversary Vexter Series Box of Rock changed only the outside. The internal circuitry remains the same as the original, and the enclosure carries UV painted graphics commemorating 25 years in the effects industry². Pedal of the Day described the same treatment in 2021: "While the internal circuitry remains the same, the outer shell features UV painted graphics, commemorating 25 years in the effects industry"².

For a player comparing versions, the choice is between cosmetics and price rather than sound: the circuit in the anniversary Vexter is the same one ZVEX has used since the pedal's introduction. The Box of Rock Vertical, released in 2018, offers the same two modes, Boost and Rock, in a pedalboard-friendly vertical enclosure⁸, and later editions such as the Yvette Young artwork version carried the same control set: Boost, Volume, Tone, Drive, and two footswitches⁷.

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