Foxrox Festival Overdrive: anyone tried it?

lukedlb

Christmas suggests a new pedal and this has long interested me. Has anyone heard or played one live?

english_bob

No, but I do own a ZIM. It's extremely well built and sounds brilliant. The voice control on the ZIM (an expanded version of the "body" control on the Festival) is a really versatile, musical EQ that made me think of the sorts of sounds Jimmy Page got on Led Zep records by recording with multiple microphones out of phase (which is kind of how it works).

The circuit in the Festival isn't the same as in the ZIM, so it won't sound the same, but it'll be good. 

Big TGP thread with input from Dave Fox himself:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/foxrox-festival.1463275/

lukedlb

english_bob said:

No, but I do own a ZIM. It's extremely well built and sounds brilliant. The voice control on the ZIM (an expanded version of the "body" control on the Festival) is a really versatile, musical EQ that made me think of the sorts of sounds Jimmy Page got on Led Zep records by recording with multiple microphones out of phase (which is kind of how it works).

The circuit in the Festival isn't the same as in the ZIM, so it won't sound the same, but it'll be good. 

Big TGP thread with input from Dave Fox himself:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/foxrox-festival.1463275/

In fact, it was my interest (and losing out on buying one) in a sim loaded with boutique ts9 and a silicon fuzz that led me to the Festival. Luckily, my mate bought it so I'll get to hear it anyway sometime this month.
I imagine the live application of the voice control is great for cutting through the mix as the night wears on and the pub fills up.
I have the foxrox paradox and one its many interesting applications is the comb filter of the 'manual' knob. I wonder if the body control on the aim uses the same principle. and yes, it does sound like an out of phase jimmy page.

Gadget

You can't go far wrong with anything Foxrox IMHO. I have the ZIM, CC2 and Paradox TZF and they're all great.

lukedlb

Even their plectrums are great!

dano

Not tried the festival but I have a Zim and it' a superb sounding and well built piece of kit. I'e currently got a TS9 and Rat sounding cards in it which sound great and get some superb sounds. I'e also got a FF and BM cards too (could do with a second Zim but that's just greedy!)

lukedlb

Thread resurrection time. Anyone had a chance to try one?

english_bob

What did you make of your mate's ZIM?

lukedlb

Disappointing. The fuzz was horrible and the ts9 was very 80s. 

english_bob

Then.... maybe not for you?

lukedlb

Yeah, not for me. I prefer vintage fuzzface and a variety of playing tone rather than switchable tone. IMHO the hamstead odyssey is far superior. 

the_pman28

lukedlb said:

Disappointing. The fuzz was horrible and the ts9 was very 80s. 

How was the ts9 more 80s sounding than a ts9?

Gadget

the_pman28 said:

lukedlb said:

Disappointing. The fuzz was horrible and the ts9 was very 80s. 

How was the ts9 more 80s sounding than a ts9?

I'd been wondering that...

robinbowes

lukedlb said:

Disappointing. The fuzz was horrible and the ts9 was very 80s. 

It's a Tubescreamer circuit, y'know, that 80s overdrive thing? 

R.

the_pman28

I am just a bit sceptical of ‘reviews’ of that type. I’ve not played the ZIM nor the festival but I did own a captain coconut and know that Dave makes top notch stuff. 

I doubt he would get a ts9 so wrong that it was miles away from any other ts type circuit so all that tells me is @lukedlb doesn’t like tubescreamers.

as for preferring fuzz faces...I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet that knows what makes a good fuzz face better than foxrox with his cv?! 

english_bob

the_pman28 said:

I am just a bit sceptical of ‘reviews’ of that type. I’ve not played the ZIM nor the festival but I did own a captain coconut and know that Dave makes top notch stuff. 

I doubt he would get a ts9 so wrong that it was miles away from any other ts type circuit so all that tells me is @lukedlb doesn’t like tubescreamers.

as for preferring fuzz faces...I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet that knows what makes a good fuzz face better than foxrox with his cv?! 

The default ZIMCard Tubescreamer-alike is modified from a stock TS9 (although there is a straight TS9 clone ZIMCard), but I would have thought a modded Tubescreamer would sound like the 2000s, not the 80s.

There are plenty of ways to set the voice control on the ZIM that introduce fairly extreme EQ cut or boost that do sound quite 80s, but they can be dialled out.

The fuzz ZIMCards are either Big Muff or Si fuzzface based- apparently there's an overdrive built in to the fuzzface to better integrate with clean amps, but otherwise it's a Dave Fox fuzzface, which ought to mean it's good. If a fuzzface is what you want, anyway.

It's pretty much all subjective though, so if *your* ears say it's no good, it's no good.

lukedlb

It’s true. I’ve never got on with a ts9. I rather expected the boutique ts to be more open (like the odyssey). The voice settings don’t help as much as I expected but I only had a quick try. The fuzz was really disappointing and nowhere near a fuzzface. Vintage fuzzfaces are the only pedal I can say for certain that I know well having regular access to a collection of 67-73’ ffs as well as my own silicon and 3 excellent modern versions by Sonus and thorpy. 
I have a paradox ztf and rate the Foxrox gear highly and tested it through vintage Marshall superleads. 
My hope is the festival is more open and the body pot will have more application. I often use the paradox as a matrix filter by using the manual pot to set the body of the guitar. 
Last thing: the fuzz is definitely not a ff circuit. 

lukedlb

I heard good things too about the captain coconut. I heard the acquavibe. It’s good but it isn’t a univibe. 

lukedlb

Close, but no first prize. 

english_bob

lukedlb said:

Last thing: the fuzz is definitely not a ff circuit. 

Technically, you could probably make that argument. But from what Foxrox say about it, it's definitely supposed to sound like one.

http://www.foxroxelectronics.com/FFZIMcard.html

Fat Fuzz ZIMcard is a new take on the vintage Dallas Arbiter circuit. It's a stable circuit that delivers the same fat attack and organic sustain of the classic Fuzz Face. Finally you can have a Fuzz that truly cuts through. Apply a Voice to Fat Fuzz and your Jimi leads will never be buried again. It includes a light overdrive stage which smooths out the sound. You won't get that "ice pick" sound that can happen when using a Fuzz through a clean amp. Circuit description - In order to put a FuzzFace circuit into ZIM, I had to change a couple of things. This is due to the values of the DRIVE and VOLUME controls. The Fat Fuzz ZIMcard consists of a medium gain Silicon NPN FuzzFace circuit followed by a mild overdrive stage and a tone control. The overdrive stage smooths out the tone and provides additional gain and clipping when the DRIVE knob is turned up. The tone control is on a blue trimmer. 

On the input side, all the rules that apply to a FuzzFace also apply to the FF ZIMcard. This means that you should avoid putting buffered effects before the Fat Fuzz, it will kill the authentic tone and create a lot of noise. Like a FuzzFace, the Fat Fuzz input wants to see your guitar pickups only. This way you can use your guitar volume knob to get an almost clean sound. Also, most wah pedals will interact just like they do with a FuzzFace - narrow range and oscillation. To learn more about this, look at the Foxrox Wah Retrofit.

robinbowes

lukedlb said:

I heard good things too about the captain coconut. I heard the acquavibe. It’s good but it isn’t a univibe. 

I've got a CC2 if you're interested in trying one.

R.