Who: Boss
What: Z-2 Hyper Fuzz
Price (MSRP/PAID): $NA/Don’t Remember
Battery: Yes
Power Supply: Yes 9V Center Neg (Boss Style)
Size: 4 3/4″ x 2 1/4″ x 2 1/2″ deep (Approx. including Jacks and knobs)
Available from: Used
Bypass:False (Buffered)
Review Date: 1/15/2012
Comments:
This is a pedal I picked up awhile back in a trade and has been lurking around the house for quite a bit. It’s one of those pedals that doesn’t really perform well at retaining the low-end, so it’s sat here being used for size compare photos. The FZ-2 features a mode knob that provides three distinct tone setting, with fuzz 1 and fuzz 2 being ummm… fuzz, and ‘gain boost’ being a dirty boost mode. The fuzz 1 is has a little more grunt, and the fuzz 2 sounds similar to a superfuzz. The dual stack tone knob provides both a boost an cut for either bass or treble, but being designed for guitar the pedal still lacks much punch even with the bass setting cranked. This thing can sustain for days, and if you are looking to annoy the piss out of a guitar player I can think of few better options especially if you like dive into full scale pick slides. Forgot about attack and dynamics though, because those things will be lost the second you turn the pedal on.
I didn’t really test out the gain mode in the video, as it’s volume is extreme (it bypasses the level control) and I was too lazy to walk over to the amp to change it considering the return on investment for doing so. It might prove useful for some people though who are looking to slam the front of a tube amp.
Bottom Line: Many sounds, fun for fooling around, but not really appropriate for the low end.
Photo Gallery and Video:
As always, if you have any questions, leave a comment or let me know Note: A rating of 5 = acceptable and should be considered a ‘good’ basic score
| Sound Description: Modes!, Bass-Shy, Zingy | |
| Versatility: | 7 |
| Sound: | 3 |
| Value: | 4 |
| Overall: | 3 |
While I find the first two fuzz modes worthless, the strength of this pedal lies in the gain boost setting (for my purposes). Through my SVT-CL all tube 300w amp and 4X10 HLF cab, I get a roaring, gritty, front-end overdrive that is sensitive to dynamic playing but retains a lot of low-end definition. NEVER heard anything like this beast before and I’ve tried Russian Muffs, Screaming Pandas, TS-9 Tube Screamers, etc.
I understand you mentioned the pedal for driving a tube amp but I would strongly urge you to reconsider and explore the gain boost setting and possibly review again. There are many players out there who are looking for good over driven tube tone but only for certain sections of a song (hence the use of a pedal). Therefore, I feel that your review of the FZ-2 would be more balanced and comprehensive should you choose to review this setting in the future. Cheers and keep on rocking.
-Luke
I agree. The Boost mode in the key of the pedal. The FZ-2 is a great dirty boost with good fuzz options…