Nocturne The FEZ User manual

THE FEZ
This drive box pays homage to the venerable Grey Box 250 Overdrive Preamp
In being faithful to the original circuit design and signal path, but
Then I completely toss out all the lame crap the original was
Constructed with and replaced it with all kinds of good components.
Metal film, polystyrene fast caps and tantalum capacitors, carbon comp and metal film resistors
even a NOS metal can 741 opamp in my little boutique tone stew. Smells soooo
good I can taste it (and I have)!
The sum of all These hi-fi analog goodies result in a superior version of the
original in my own ears. Plus finding a vintage original is tough and costs upwards of
over $200+ and they don’t even have an LED or True bypass let alone a socket chip
so you can swap in other variations of the LM741.
Okay I’m done blowing the horn, you bought one so I’m sure you
Want to know what the function of the controls are about….
Lets get dirty:
On the left side of the pedal is the “output gain” control
All the way to the left is off of course and all the way to the right is fully open.
This control interacts tonally with the drive control on the right. The control on
The right is the output gain or overdrive level.
Let me explain the interaction between the two. As the overdrive knob starts moving past
12 oclock, the pedals tone will begin to sound brighter and anything above 2 oclock causes
the low end of the pedal to start thinning out. This is the Nature of the 250 overdrive and
to compensate you will have to bring the output volume of the pedal up past 12 oclock and 1 oclock
is optimal in my opinion wit the overdrive control about 2 oclock for a good rocking tubey overdrive
effect. For using it as a reverb tank driver I like the overdrive knob at 10 oclock
and the output level knob at 2 oclock. YA.. it kicks ASS as a dirty
tube spring reverb tank driver. Garage Surf heaven in my book. (yes a solid state reverb tank will
response nicely too, I’ve got that in my roland space echo)
There is no black and white settings on the FEZ pedal in my opinion because each knob affects
The other and all are yet still texturally affected by the amps settings.
FWIW, the louder and cleaner the amp The better sounding the FEZStomp. There are some example
Settings on the last page of this manual for those that are more visually orientated
Or bored out of their minds reading what I’ve written thus far! 

Okay.. lets talk about the switches. The bottom right stomp switch is simply
The true bypass “on-off” control for the pedal. Fully hardwire bypassed
For your tonal transparency and with one of the best on off stomp switches
On the market mind you. The stomp switch on the bottom left is what
I’m calling the “Fur” stomp and it comes to life when the overdrive
Control sits at or above 12 oclock.
This Fur stomp switch makes two things happen at once. The Low mids EQ shifts to a fatter gear
And the gain texture cleans up slightly, this allows you to get a beefier low end from say a bright
Single coil plank guitar like my own maple neck Stratocaster and by slightly cutting the gain saturation, that
beefy character gets an increase in note clarity (I’m obsessed with that bit).
It matters to me especially
If you want to keep the output level down and have the overdrive control cranked up.
AND.. if you DO have the overdrive gain cranked up, it may be too dang bright for your
Guitar and amp SO… that’s why I put that nifty little two way panel switch up
At the top of the pedal above the LED. When this switch is flipped toward the input
Jack, the treble of the circuit is completely stock.
When its flipped toward the
Output jack, the treble “CUT” is engaged which warms up the high end
Just enough to smooth out the shard like nature of the pedal
When you’ve got everything at 11!!
Inside the pedal on the circuit board there is a socket for the Opamp
You will notice the swank and rare metal can opamp version
Of the infamous LM741. It is socketed for you to
Swap in variants of this chip, just remember that the notch in the
Socket it to be matched with the tap on the metal can opamp or circle
Divot on the plastic opamps. If you put it in backwards, you probably
Will kill it. These chips are sensitive to static charge.
If you remove the chip and damage it, I cant replace it
With another Metal can 741 but don’t fear, the
More common but not cheap LM741 or TL071 will not be too
Different in response.
Just not so clear and vintage cool.
You may contact me at anytime
via Email here:
[email protected]
Or by phone Mon. –Fri. 11am-
5pm
951-551-0222 - Tavo Vega

Fur Control
When this stomp
switch is engaged
there is a low mids
boost when the
overdrive control is
Above 12 noon-ish.
At the same time
this fur/fat control
boosts, the gain
cleans up slightly
distortion control,
controls the
amount of
clipping. Set low
for warmer clean
boost. Up past
12noon the dirt
ramps up with
more upper mids
bite. Perfect for
pushing your amps
spring reverb for
wetter response
with a filthy grind.
LED
on/off
Tru-
bypass
OUTPUT jack
Mono output only.
Heavy duty 9v power input (-) tip, standard high quality audio boss PSA style adaptor only
Note: Using a non regulated non audio quality 9 volt (-) tip 2.1mm power adaptor will void the
one yr warrantee (original owner only)
INPUT Jack
Mono in only
Output volume
Control – works
in conjuction
with your amps
volume.
Hint: Set above
1-2 oclock for
punchiness w/
dist low. For
driving your
reverb tank 4
more drip