ZVEX Machine: 51-60

The ZVEX Machine, 51-60 is a fuzz pedal from ZVEX Effects, offered as a one-of-a-kind hand painted edition of the Machine, painted by Lisa McGrath (LJM). ZVEX describes the Machine's sound as a "noisy oscillation of triple-frequency triangle waves that will cut through any amount of distortion in any pedal or amp with a sweeping, industrial grind," making it, in the maker's words, "a truly unique fuzz."¹

What it does

The Machine sits in ZVEX's fuzz line alongside pedals like the Fuzz Factory and Woolly Mammoth, but it is its own circuit rather than a variation on either. Where those pedals are built around transistor fuzz stages, the Machine's character comes from an oscillation that ZVEX describes as triple-frequency triangle waves, a synth-like grind intended to stay audible through heavy distortion anywhere in the signal chain.¹

The 51-60 designation marks this particular hand painted unit. ZVEX lists a companion edition, the Machine, 51-66, as a separate one-of-a-kind pedal, and states of that variant that "the parts are otherwise identical to the Machine."²¹ The same applies to the 51-60: the circuit is the standard Machine, and what sets the pedal apart is the artwork and its individual numbering.¹

The Machine circuit

Independent technical writing on the Machine gives a picture of how its controls shape the sound. On Tagboard Effects, the writer mirosol noted the behavior of the Machine's Limit control: "The Limit control sort of lifts the diodes off the signal path when turned clockwise."³ In practical terms, that means the Limit knob changes how the circuit's clipping diodes (the components that create the fuzz distortion) interact with the guitar's signal, moving from heavier clipping toward a more open sound as the control is turned up.³

Questions