Amped Review: Foxx Electronics Tone Machine

A look at the retro stomp   06-Jun-12

The Foxx Electronics Tone Machine is quite simply mad, it's a fuzz
pedal with its own fur coat. It sounds like a chainsaw in leather
jacket.
 
The pedal was first released in the 70s, and was only available for a
short period. It was almost too 'heavy' at the time, but the likes of
ZZ Top and Peter Frampton found a use for it.

Now The Foxx Electronics Tone Machine is available again, and I was
lucky enough to stumble across mine in a guitar shop in Santa Monica.
Covered in purple velvet it was singing my name!

It is also available in equally tasteless finishes such as yellow
velvet... ooh er.

Open up the back plate and you will find simple and stunning circuitry
at its best, that's why this pedal resonates with gear heads.

Your controls are fairly simple, you've got 'volume', 'tone' and
'sustain' on dials, and then a switch for 'sustain/octave'. It's on
the octave setting that this pedal earns its money.

Flip it on and send the harmonics into overload. Power chords sound
like Satan's choir of Motorcycle riding demons, and simple melodies
are transformed into iconic riffs.

But as with any good fuzz pedal, there's not an ounce of feedback
(unless you coax it on purpose). Flexibility is somewhat limited, but
smoother sounds are available without the octave setting.

With the octave setting on, if you turn the 'tone' anti-clockwise you
can get a more synthesized sound, good for Jack White soundalikes.

Turn the tone clockwise and you get a snarling mess of gravel and
dirt, perfect for anything garage rock, to err, garage rock.

Quite simply, my favourite pedal of all time. I started a new band
just to facilitate it.

More Information

• Foxxpedals.com