EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz

Pretty easy to use. It may require a bit of tweaking, but only because it's very versatile. The Bias knob is subtle, but very cool.

This is about as good as it gets for distortion pedals... easily one of my favorites. The RF-1 produces very amp-like distortion at all gain settings. The amount of gain available in the RF-1 is pretty amazing. I've managed to find settings that provide tight and heavy tones, without being mushy or buzzy. There's also a healthy amount of bass produced by the pedal as well... enough that it required me to turn down the bass on my amp. Turning the gain knob up past 3 o'clock produces a bit of hiss/noise, but certainly not a displeasing amount.

I've tried it with a Mesa Boogie Single Recto, a SansAmp Trademark 10, a Carvin Legacy, and A Marshall JCM 2000. It sounds great through every amp EXCEPT the Marshall... don't get me wrong, it sounded good with the Marshall. However, with each of the other three amps, I was able to dial in a variety of awesome tones. Since I don't own a Marshall, this really isn't a big deal for me.

The pedal seems very well constructed. I've used it on many gigs and in many rehearsals without a backup, and it's been great every time.

I play mostly rock and metal, and the RF-1 is a great fit for me. I've owned it for about 6 months, and it's been used every day since I got it. It's one of two distortion pedals on my board, and I'm sure it'll stay there for a long time. It's a fairly expensive distortion pedal, but you get what you pay for, and then some. So yes, I'd buy it again if I had to.

Very easy to use pedal and difficult to get a bad sound - reacts well with other pedals

Excellent sound quality, voicing a touch on the bright side but that could be a reflection of the tone settings on my Mesa DC5 - either way it's easy to tame by rolling off some of the top end. Lots of level boost available and a wide range of overdrive. The bias pot is the killer taking the sound from a cranked Marshall to fat AC30esque sound at the twist of a knob. Defintiely one of the best "valve" sounding overdrives I've come across. Gets a touch noisy at higher gain settings but what doesn't

Very solid build, lovely "damped" feel to the pots, nice understated build but.....

Mine developed a modulating background noise when the bias pot was turned fully clockwise, backing off this pot reduced the modulating sound with hiss...the problem seems to be a bit intermittent but at the minute, despite really liking the pedal it just isn't going to stay on my board...see below.

I suspect what's happening is a rarity so I'm still giving a reasonable score for reliability

This is where the biggest problem lies - I've emailed Emma twice about this issue and received zilch response which is really disappointing, so much so that it puts me off buying any of thier other pedals, or even replacing the Reeza

I play rock / fusion / proggy type things and have been at it for 30 years. I would think twice about replacing as I don't believe the customer support is there, which is a great shame as I love the pedal.
Unfortunately due to this problem I am on the way to replacing the pedal with an Xotic BBPre

Easy to use. good sound. still not a tube overdrive though. The difference between the class A and AB sounds is modest. The manual is unnecessary to get the sound you want--just get to know your pedal.

i am using a 60's Supro Model 24 with a US Masters guitar. This pedal worked okay with them, but i ended up trading the pedal for a Bad Cat 2-tone. Not that the pedal was noisy--just a little weak in the areas that i needed a real strong tone. I traded it in because i was low on cash, and the store i bought it from gave me a great resale price. despite all this, when i have the cash i will purchase a new one--i have confidence in the pedal, and will use it for color later.

well made. i dont have to say anything more.

play hard rock/metal/fusion and this pedal is good for coloring a sound. not as strong sounding as some people say, but solid. I had to sell my old one and still plan on buying another when i can, just to have as part of my lineup. and, they are known as good pedals. they hold their resale value. this may not be important to you, but it is noteworthy.

This is basically an overdrive-distorion pedal. So it is very easy to use and get the best out of it. If you are familiar with the effects pedals, you won't have any difficulties using RF-1.the manual is a one page of paper with some sound ideas. But it is better to create your own sounds.

EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz is by far the best distorion pedal I've ever used and heard. I've used Japanese DS1s, Tonebones, Marshalls, T-Rexes but none of them even come close to Reeza while creating both hi gain and crunch tones. I am playing behind an indie rock artist and the clarity of Reeza is extraordinary. It is possible to get drive sounds like modern day bands such as Editors, Mute Math etc; also high gain solo stuff such as Andy Timmons and Guthrie Govan. So this pedal is versatile. I am using a '94 Les Paul and a '72 Fender Mustang with a 14 year old Peavey Classic 30. DD3 is for the delays and an old OD3 is for boosting.

I really think i can depend on it. As long as you respect your equipment, it will last longer. Reeza is a hand made pedal so it is made of high quality products. It has a steel body, 4 retro knobs and a high quality switch. I use it without a back up on tours.

I bought mine directly from the pedal's builder himself. I have his own mail and I believe he will be helpful with my problems.

I play mostly indie and alternative music. Also funk and main stream rock or blues is the kind I'm in. Reeza is a good match for these styles. I've been playing for 17 years now. If it were stolen or lost I would definitely buy it again. Mine is the 109th copy of all Reezas built. It has the builders's hand writing in the box. I love the clarity, versatility and boutique factor of Reeza.

This is an update to my review after about six months of use and a number of gigs. Easy to use. Bias knob is really cool and perfect for what I wanted the pedal to do. Knobs are easy if you know what you want to do with them. I set the level on this pedal to match the amp level, tone around 11 or 12 o clock, Bias all the way clockwise to the Class A setting and gain hovers around 9 -10 o'clock for me.

You can read below for my setup. I wanted this pedal to add pleasing overdrive grit and crunch to my amps clean channel. It nailed it!! Very crunchy with an SG and really pleasing with my tele. I play in a cover band and I needed a good AC30 type clarity OD. I don't use it as a high gain pedal. I have tried some high gain stuff like a Ramones song with it and I did not care for the tone. This may also be an effect of the clean channel EQ setting I use so I will give the pedal a break on that one.

I will give you another example. The song by the Romantics "What I like about you". The guitar intro kind of clean with a little grit. I increase the level on this pedal and drop the gain setting slightly from the above settings and reduce my guitar volume and bingo there is the cranked Fender or VOX gritty clean tone.

No problems. I don't bring backup pedals. Not noisy unless you max the gain.

No contact with EMMA.

I love the pedal. I have only experience with the Boss DS-1 which is terrible compared to this. I have a TS9DX which I use as a solo and gain boost. I prefer this pedal over the tube screamer for adding light to medium distortion. Indie and pop rockers would love this pedal in front of a clean tube amp.

Gotta love the name. Made in Denmark. It's fairly straight forward if you've ever used a distortion pedal The manual is one page and provides some sample settings but i never rely on them anyway. Everyone's setup is always different and changing one of the slightest things will make it differ. ie, change your string type on a guitar and you will obtain different tones so i tend not to look at sample settings. The neat part about this pedal is the bias control. It allows you to obtain a number of different sounds (amp characteristics) . It's like 10 distortion boxes in one.

I don't find the pedal noisy at all. I have played an artillery of distortion/OD pedals in my 16 years of playing and have to say this is one of my fav's to date that i'd never heard of. It is a great high gain distortion without sounding too compressed or tinny in comparison to crap BOSS pedals. Don't get me wrong, BOSS make some wonderful little pedals but should truly give up making OD and Distortion boxes. Why do you think everyone mods them. I firmly believe you could cover a wide variety of genre's with this pedal. I play mainly indie rock, post rock and works flawlessly. You can dial back the gain and have a very wonderful OD or push it up to around 2-3 o'clock and she just sings as a high gain pedal. It meshes well with other pedals also.
Currently my setup is: Gibson 61 reissue SG>Octave>Fulldrive2>Reeza>Boss DD-6>Ernie ball volume>59 Bassman

I find this pedal truly amazing with the Fulltone FD-2 driving the input. I use the FD-2 as my overdrive then kick in the Reeza for some sweet high gain.

You can gig this without a backup for sure. Does anyone really bring extra pedals to a gig? I thought that was only true of guitars and if your back can handle it, an extra amp.

So far i haven't had to deal with them.

I believe this is one of the best boutique, handwired pedals i've come across. People often stray away from Boutique pedals due to their price tag but if it's going to improve your sound and tone, what's an extra $100 to make you sound great and keep you wanting to plug in!
I've been playing and gigging for around 16 years. I would buy another if it were stolen which would suck because it's on my pedal board which means they would probably steal it all!
Here are some of the other Distortions/OD's i've used over the years:

Boss DS-1 = crap unless you have it modded
Boss Metal Zone= the most trebly piece of crap you'll ever come across
Boss Blues Driver = one of Boss's better OD's
Marshall JCM 2000 distortion = pretty decent
Maxon OD-9 = Very nice indeed, better than the reissue TS-9's
Big Muff= a great pedal but too fuzzy for me
Coron Distorion 15= awesome, wish i could find this relic. It's similar to a MXR distortion +
Fulltone FD-2= the best OD ever made in my opinion

I'm going to try and make this review clear and concise, so you don't have to go looking around through a million other ones.

It took me about 2 minutes to find a variety of nice tones, and the knobs all do exactly what they are supposed to. The Bias knob in particular is easy to use and extremely useful.

The manual is a folded piece of paper, but gives you four of the basic sounds this thing can make.

Let me just say this: I play through a Fender Twin Reverb Reissue, and let me tell you, it is EXTREMELY hard to find a pedal that gives really meaty distortion that sounds natural and GOOD. I have spent lots of money on other pedals, but this is the one.

I was looking for a bread and potatoes distortion, one that I could base my sound around. You never really know how much a good distortion is fundamental until you don't have one, and now I have it.

The sound is meaty and FAT, but with enough clarity to warrant its hefty price tag. It is THE distortion for indie, punk, alternative, whatever. I mostly use it for high gain tones, but rolling down the gain knob gives you light distortion. Turn down your volume knob and instant blues tones emerge.

I will say this; this pedal is advertised as a distortion/overdrive pedal, but it is NOT an overdrive. I think why they say overdrive is because it does overdrive your amp BEFORE giving you distortion, yielding a really natural sounding distortion.

So, let me put this straight; if you were EVER looking for an all around great distortion and were recommended Boss Metalzones and the like, forget it. Throw all your other pedals away. I can't stand it when people tell me that DS-1s and Metalzones are great distortions. They are not! Anyone who has been playing for more than a year will tell you that they suck. And, it's true. They do. Stop wasting your money on cheap crap. Save up, and buy this pedal! It seriously is all you need for distortion.

Ever play at low volumes with a metalzone or an MXR distortion and said, "Damn, this is awesome!", but then cranked it loud and heard ALL of the low end dissapear? The ReezaFRATzitz preserves the low end. It preserves everything. It is your clean tone overdriven and distorted perfectly, with nothing else added.

The pedal is handmade, and it shows. Not much frills here, just a red metal plate on a thick, steel box. How strong is steel should be the question. It's pretty small, but I'm sure it wouldn't break unless you took a hammer to the knobs, or something.

Never dealt with them, because this pedal has never let me down. Plus, they're from Denmark.

I play mostly indie/weird crap. I'm only going to explain my set up because it is crucial to this review:

Gibson SG standard or an Epiphone Dot (with Z Vex Machine bulit in) > Z Vex fuzz probe > modded Big Muff Pi > EMMA reezaFRATzitz > Radial Bigshot > 2 Digitech Whammys > Boss RCE-10 > Fender Twin Reverb Reissue.

Although the Fender Twin Reverb has the best clean and overdrive sounds I have ever heard, I missed my meaty distortion from my old Marshall I sold. Most fuzz and distortion pedals sound fizzy through the Twin Reverb, but the EMMA really shines. I have the best of both worlds, and I wouldn't give it up for the world.

Very easy to use, I didn't find it took me very long at all to get great tones out of this little red box.

Manual is one page with some 'suggested settings'

Not exactly the tone I was searching for when I was shopping for this box, but it did help me find a different tone I've been looking for, but never got quite there with my Crowther Hot Cakes.

This pedal has effectivley dropped my Hot Cake from being my 'lead' pedal, to being my 'crunch' pedal!

The Frat is a very cool pedal that gives off tons of high gain sustain and top/mid sizzle that cuts through the mix very nicely. Even with the tone control set to about 2:00 it's still very fat, but clear! Every note comes through with this pedal, even with the high gain and heavy bottom.

The only way to describe the sound is to compare it to a fresh steak being thrown onto the barbacue.

This pedal is currently sitting between my Gibson ES-335 (burstbucker pro in neck, Dirtyfinger reissue in bridge) and my eary '70's Vox AC30TB6.

My specimine of Emma construction was pre-owned, and pretty beat. But it still works great, and my tech claims that it looks as if it was never touched by a repairman. I'm sure I'll get many years out it, as it does sit in a rack being controlled by a GCX.

never delt

I play mostly rock, but our band takes influences from so many diffrent people and genres that we require a huge range of tones to provide us with our signature sound. Thus both myself and the other guitarist employ dual amp setups and many distortion pedals from classic tube screamer sytle boxes (Maxon OD808's to be exact) to crunchy overdrive, to high gain sizzle (but not fuzzy saturation).

This box fits in nicely, and helps provide tones I've been searching for, but almost gave up on (high gain, big bottom, mid/high sizzle, but with amazing clarity), and then a friend recomended the Frat. I'll tell you this... if this is the only pedal my buddy relies on and recomended, and now It's my number one box... well then it's a damn good pedal!

I've rejected almost everything...and now I only own the best:

Emma ReezaFratZitz
Maxon OD808
Dr Scientist Woofer Wailer
Crowther HotCake Bluesberry
Crowther HotCake

It does take a little time to find the tone you are searching for but once you find it it is darn right awesome. Four knobs, level, tone, bias, and gain. There is a one page manual with some suggested settings.

This is why I bought it. My setup guitar (tele, strat, sg, les paul) - Crybaby - TS9DX Tubescreamer - EMMA RF-1 - MXR Phase 90 - EH Small clone - Dan Echo - A/B for silent tuning and guitar switching - Fender Pro Tube Pro Reverb Amp with AVATAR 2-12 Cab Closed Back with Celestion Vintage 30's. I always just used the amps clean and dirty channels and the pedals only added color or solo boost in the case of the Tubescreamer. What I wanted to do was just overdrive the clean channel on my amp for some nice classic rock/rock grit/overdrive. I still wanted to hear note seperation and clarity like I get from the clean channel. I wanted a pedal that could do this and also provide a good distortion sound if needed for heavy stuff. I really like the modern rock sound my amps dirty channel produces but I think it lacks a little clarity for classic rock or semi-clean rock guitar work.

I considered the following, Seymor Duncan Twin Tube, Carl Martin Plexitone, Hermidia Zendrive (can't get one), Menatone Red Snapper, MI Audio Tube Zone, Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet, Pigtronix OFO, and some other tube based pedals like the Radial ToneBone. The only one I actually auditioned was the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube which did not do it for me. Sometimes I think the Guitar magazine awards are based on advertising dollars spent and not actual equipment performance. The other shopping was done online listening to sound samples and reading harmony central opinions. I only use harmony central as a guide. I think everyones opinion is subjective.

OK this review is a one week old honeymoon review. I have been able to crank it at home but the first live test is this weekend. So far the pedal is doing what I have asked it to do. I think the key is the Bias knob. I have it turned all the way to Class A and my amp retains the brightness, sparkle and clarity while adding very pleasing tube sounding overdrive. I have the level set to unity, tone is around 11:00 and the gain is slightly below 9:00. It sounds great. Exactly what I have looked for in tube amps. It sounds like a VOX AC30 grit while retaining the sparkle and good clean tone. I was looking for that Tom Petty "American Girl" kind of sound. I think I am very close and I did not need to buy the Vox AC-30 which saved me $1000 and bringing a third amp to gigs. I also like the crunch sound with the gain up to about 12:00. The bias knob is like adding the cascading gain of stacked tubes. I like this harder rock sound from this pedal also. I don't hear any added noise until I put the gain up to about 3:00.

The tubescreamer pushing the input of this has been delightful. Don't go overboard on the tubecreamer setttings. I have the turbo model tubecreamer and my settings are Hot mode, drive 9:00, level at almost 1:00 and tone at 11:00. Sustain like crazy, lots of good hamonic content. I add a little delay and I think I sound like Steve Vai. I don't really care for vituoso players but a singing lead tone is awfully fun.

Right now I would give this a 10 since I am smiling. I am going to wait for about 2 months of gigging before I give a rating. I will also post a follow up.

To sum up great overdrive sounds, good crunchy tones, and good singing lead qualities when pushed by a tubecreamer. It also has performed well at adding gain to an already overdriven amp.

I have only had it a week. No comment. Switch seems to be a little low quality compared to the same style footswitch on my MXR and EH pedal.

I purhcased from MUSIC 123. No dealing with the manufacturer.

I wanted a pedal to add gain/overdrive to my tube amps clean channel. It has done a great job at adding pleasing tube like overdrive and distortion to my amps clean channel while mainting note clarity and separation. Not digital sounding at all. I have been able to vary the gain via pick attack. A quality I like in tube amps. It has given me the ability to add warm overdrive that is pleasing to the ears. I have a good dirty channel on my amp that can do heavier modern rock. I don't want this pedal to do that for me but I think it could.

Easy to use, but quite noisy towards full gain.

Very good crunch sound, better than most, but not as full as the zen drive that replaced it. Slightly thin sound.

Great

Not tried.

Good rythm sound, not so good for lead in a band.