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EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz

Summary
Price New EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz @ Musician's Friend
Ease of Use 9.2 (36 responses)
Sound Quality 9.4 (37 responses)
Reliability 9.3 (30 responses)
Customer Support 8.4 (7 responses)
Overall Rating 9.4 (36 responses)
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Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: Trade
Submitted 10/19/2004 at 09:09am by Bob

Ease of Use : 9
Great range of OD/distorted tones available! Easy to dial in a good tone. The Bias knob is kind of subtle - don't expect a huge change in tone. I think it affects the feel of the pedal. All the way to the right it has a faster, harder attack. the pedal takes on a more spongy "tube sag" feel with the bias knob to the left. It reminds me of the full power - "tweed" power switch on my mesa Boogie MKIV.

Sound Quality : 10
Sounds very tube-like. It has a more modern than vintage tone to me. I've tried several high gain pedals recently and this is the keeper. As a bonus, the lower gain tones are also very good which I've found is usually not the case with a pedal. You usually only get a good low gain or a good high gain tone. The tone control is also pretty cool. Around 4-6 o'clock it sounds pretty transparent and up to 7-8 o'clock it adds nice presence. I think it gets on the "too bright" side all the way to the right. EVH tone to my ears - plus other tones in the lower gain area that sound great. The kind of product that makes you play better. I know that sounds stupid to some people but I've found it to be true with a few pieces of gear. Harmonics jump off the fretboard and it's one of the most quiet pedals I've ever tried. High quality stuff here.

Reliability : 10
Seems very solid.

Customer Support : No Opinion
N/A

Overall Rating : 10
Great high gain tones! Very amp-like. I've had a Distortion Pro and have a Varidrive, Soulbender, Distortion Booster, GT2, Keeley Rat and several other OD/distortion pedals and the Reezafratzitz is a new fave.


Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 10/11/2004 at 06:27pm by Paul

Ease of Use : 10
Pretty basic except for the BIAS control wich brings this pedal into a leaque of its own. It takes no time to figure this wonder out.

Sound Quality : 10
This Pedal is awesome. I don't even use the distorted channel in my amp anymore, just the clean channel and the RezaFratzitz

Reliability : 10
Had no problems with this one whatsoever. It's sturdy and rock solid.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Had no problems with it. no need for support.

Overall Rating : 10
I play everything, I've been playing for a lifetime and the pedal just need a tweak to fit any style. It responds as an amp and doesn't cover up my style or sound. It's a bit weird that this pedal sounds so much better than any tubedriven pedal I've tried. I've used so many overdrives and distortions but this one beats em all. If it were stolen I'd buy two, one for use and one for backup locked in an armoured safe.


Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: euro (179,00)
Submitted 10/11/2004 at 06:25am by Blam
Email: bramtk<at>hotmail dot com

Ease of Use : 9
Sure, easy to use.

Sound Quality : 10
Well, I was a long time searching for a distortion pedal. I wanted a tonload of gain (so I could back it off if I wanted to), I wanted the tone of my guitar to survive passing the pedal (so no cutting off bass), I wanted something with pickattack (so no fuzzy inarticulate mess) and I wanted it to have nice (in stead of harsh) harmonics.
Well, I was a long time searching for the ultimate distortion pedal. I wanted a ton load of gain (so I could back it off if I wanted to), I wanted the tone of my guitar to survive passing the pedal (so no cutting off bass), I wanted something with pick attack (so no fuzzy inarticulate mess) and I wanted it to have nice (in stead of harsh) harmonics.

You might think it is easy to find such a thing, but I had some troubles. First off al, there are three ways to go in the pedal world; you can go for the mass-produced Boss-kind-off-pedals, you can go modded or you can go boutique. The first category is a bare acre. But handmade distortion pedals are few, the boutiques seem to concentrate on overdrive- and fuzz pedals. I tried the Fulltone DP-1 but that just didn't have the gain, it's way to easy. Instead of distortion it's more like an overdrive, it?s nice but it doesn?t provide enough gain. So maybe a modded pedal, I tried a Keeley DS-1 SEM. Perhaps it's in the pu's that I use (Lace sensor silver), but it didn't have a ton load of gain and when I increased the gain it produced nasty upper harmonics.

Then I saw the Reezafratzitz in the window off a local guitar shop proclaiming it to be the best distortion pedal in the world. I tried it and was impressed; it has all of the features mentioned above. Does it do anything else? No, but I don't care for this is, finally, a decent distortion pedal.

What it all boils down to is that this pedal sounds amazing, but that shouldn't be a surprise regarding the fact that it lives up to the features mentioned above.


Reliability : No Opinion
It looks sturdy enough but time will tell.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Don't know and I?d rather not find out.

Overall Rating : 9
Use this in combination with a RMC-1 Wah and an overdrive (either a Banzai Fireball or a Maxon OD-820)in front of it and a Boss CH-1 and an Ibanez AD99 analogue delay after it. Play rock of al kinds and this covers a lot of ground. The gain is set on one o'clock and that enough for a thick rocksound. The bias is on eleven o'clock but I'm still experimenting with that feature.


Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: 179 (euro)
Submitted 10/02/2004 at 11:28am by Huib
Email: huibvb<at>yahoo dot com

Ease of Use : 8
It has the standard distortion/OD controls Level, tone and Gain. So realy easy. Only the bias control needs a little time to work-out, but if you do, it'll do things no other dist/od pedal does.

Sound Quality : 10
I use a '73 Marshall Superlead head, wich is a very basic but extremely TONEfull amp, with a 4x12 greenback loaded speakercab. Together with Fender Strat and Les Paul type guitars. I play alot of types of rock and blues music, so i needed an OD/dist. that would cover all, and my main goal is TONE.I'm a big fan of real tube tone. I bought this pedal in 5 minutes after a guy in the store showed it to me, and i tried it out. caus it HAS TONE!! ALot of it. from soft edgy crujch for blues (with a strat it's great!) to supersaturated distortion and solo/lead sounds. And here the bias control does magic. From agressive marshall type sounds, to smooth singing vox-sounds. But the low gain crunch and medium gain dist. sounds are magical. Also it has very very little noise, even on higain. My '73 Marshall now sounds like a '73 Marshall that is overdriven, or as a boutique super higain amp! It sounds like an expensive tube pre-amp!! And it satisfies all my od/dist needs, and that's alot, caus i play in 2 coverbands. Soundwise i rate this little stoompbox very high!

Reliability : 9
Never had problems so far, but i haven't had it for a long time yet. I checked it out on the in- and outside, and this thing is very solidly built, with very good components, so i don't expect any problems. I would trust this little box on stage without a backup

Customer Support : No Opinion
never dealt with them yet

Overall Rating : 10
If you're looking for a real professional overdrive/distortion with real tone, and even real tube-like dynamics, harmonics and tone, this is it. I'm sure this will become my permanent od/dist in my setup for the next 100 years or so. I own Les PAul's and strats and the pedal reacts perfectly to both. it's very reactive to your playing style, and to the volume control of the guitars. I've tried hundreds of dist/od pedals, incl. tubeloaded ones, but for me this is it. Just try to find one and try it for yourself.


Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: 1495 (DKR)
Submitted 06/22/2004 at 12:13pm by Anonymous

Ease of Use : 9
If you've ever used an overdrive pedal, you know how it works

Sound Quality : 9
When you want that definitive sound that this pedal produces, it's the greatest there is. But it only has one sound. Shure, you can vary how much of that sound you want (I usually use it with the gain set between 12 and 5(max) O'clock) with the gain and volume, but it stays with it's sound. The more volume you give it, the better it sounds, but I usually turn the volume down because I'm playing through a 1974 Marshall 100W MK2 Lead, which is annoying the whole street enough as it is.

Reliability : 9
The only thing that annoys me about it is the power cable which will fall out a bit too easily. Of course, I could just use a battery instead, but I hate having to change them.

Customer Support : No Opinion
Never dealt with them..

Overall Rating : 9
I play prograssive rock-blues and when I want to get dirty, this one does it without destroying the basic blues tone. It is after all the pedal which I use the most.


Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 05/13/2004 at 06:10pm by Mikkel Winther Jensen
Email: Mikkelwintherjensen at hotmail<dot>com

Ease of Use : 8
You need a little time getting used to the controls, but once you figure out which knob controls which parameter you're set to go. If you're used to using pedals this won't be any problem at all, but for someone who aren't used to using pedals getting the different filters to work together it will be a big problem at least for the first few days. For the experienced player it isn't as intuitative because it is innovative and you'll have to learn how to use it, but as I said before it's quickly learned.

Sound Quality : 9
The other reviewers have already covered the sound of this thing. It's extremely versatile. I use this with a Peavey Classic 30 a Dunlop Crybaby 535Q and a Boss ME-33 multifx board (for delays and modulation effects). The Reezafratzitz is definately less noisy than the multifx when turned up high, but when you really press the gain you'll get a little noise. I recently changed my 9v adaptor that's feeding the pedal to a better power supply though and this helped cut down the noise to a minimum. This gets a 9 because of the little noise that slips through.

Reliability : 10
I bought this directly from the music store that make them (www.orkestergraven.dk). When you look in their windows from the street you can look directly in at them handwiring these pedals at a table inside the shop. Each pedal is an individual handwired and handwelded piece and as a such I expect that they're sturdy and extremely reliable as the workmanship is top drawer. The pedal itself is enclosed in a solid square metal box. Even though the pedal could probably be more sturdy I can't really see how that would be done, short of giving it it's own tank armour.

Customer Support : 10
I live in ?rhus and normally buy my music supplies at the shop that make these pedals. I can tell you that the customer support probably won't ever get better than this. If you have a problem you just go down there with your pedal and they'll fix it for you! It's your typical local music supplies shop, that just happens to make some of the best pedals in the world.

Overall Rating : 10
I was needing a distortion pedal to shape my sound after struggling with making my multifx pedal sound the way I wanted it. This thing can do almost everything genrewise. Fiddle a little with the knobs and you have a complete arsenal of sounds at your fingers.

I play Blues and Classic Rock and this thing can cover it very well. The fantastic thing is that with the bias control you can simply "close and open" the distortion/overdrive. It's a control over the sound that I've never had before.


Let me say clearly that it isn't a coincidence that the pedal got a 6/6 rating on the leading Danish internet magazine for musicians. It has it's own sound and you have to work with it on it's own premises. It isn't a DS-1, a Tubescreamer, a RAT or a Muff.
It's entirely it's own pedal in it's own right and with it's own sound, but the thing is that even though this is just a little pedal to come out of a little company in ?rhus, Denmark this pedal is worthy of comparison to all these big names and all that at a very affordable price considering it's entirely handwired. That's an amazing feat and something that Emma Electronics should be applauded for.


Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: 1500 (DKK)
Submitted 03/18/2004 at 02:17am by Jonas
Email: jonas at nooffence<dot>dk

Ease of Use : 8
4 knobs: Level, Tone, Bias and Gain. Level, Tone and Gain are self-explanatory, but Bias is special. It allows you alter the type of gain, from bluesy Fender-like overdrive, to heavy Mesa-Boogie-like distortion.

A bit of experimenting is needed to get good tone out of the pedal. On top of that, it reacts very diffenrently to different amps and guitars.

Sound Quality : 10
I have used this pedal with two amps, a Peavey Bandit 112, and a Peavey Classic 50.
I normally play a Fender Jap Strat with a SD Lil' 59 in the bridge.

The pedal sounds awesome. From the bluesy overdrive to the heavy distortion, the pedal sounds crisp and clear even with maximum gain. In essence, the acts like a gain channel on a very good amp.
The only problem is that the pedal can be a bit noise with bias and gain turned up, but not enough to be annoying.

Reliability : 9
I have jumped around on the pedal for four months now, and it hasn't even been scratched. Of course, I couldn't resist taking it apart to see how it was built. It seems very solid and the interior shows good worksmanship.

All-in-all, it seems very reliable, but I ALWAYS bring some kind of backup.

Additionally, there is a small problem with the design. The 9 volt DC jack is placed a little awkwardly, so you risk with disconnecting the power-supply when jumping around on the stage. A strategically placed bit of tape solves this quickly and efficiently, though.

Customer Support : 9
The Pedal is handmade by a small firm in Aarhus, Denmark. I heard good things about the pedal, but Aarhus is a bit too far from Copenhagen where I live. I phoned them, and the guy I talked to was very friendly. He offered to mail the pedal to me free of charge, so I could check it out for a couple of weeks. If I did not like it, I could return it to them.

Overall Rating : 10
I have played for 10 years, mostly rock, with a touch of blues. This pedal delivers all kinds of distortion, and does a very good job of it. It has become my favourite distortion, even beating the, in my opinion, very good gain channel on my Peavey Classic.
I would definitely buy a new one if mine got lost somehow.


Product: EMMA RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz
Price Paid: 1495 (DKK)
Submitted 03/03/2004 at 02:38am by Christian

Ease of Use : 10
This thing is ready to play in minutes, and still leaves room for toying around. The RF-1 doesn't come with a manual, but the 4 buttons are easy to put to GOOD! use: Level, Tone (Hi-boost/Hi-cut), Bias, Gain, On/off switch and a red LED. Level is easy to adjust. Tone also - adjust it to fit the sound of your amp. The Bias is really cool. Turn it counter clockwise and the sound is open and shimmering, turn it up and it tightens up giving you a really ballsy sound. Gain goes from sweet blues to roaring hell!

Sound Quality : 10
I am using a G&L S500 and a handbuilt hollowbody with Gibson PAF pu's into a Cry-baby wah, TS-9, Emma RF-1, DOD A/B box into my 70's Fender Pro Reverb (40w Twin Reverb). From the A/B box i route the signal into a Roland GP-100 MultiFX and into the Fenders 'clean' channel (no reverb, tremolo) and the other channel to the.... u guessed it.. the luxurious input on the fender providing tremolo and reverb.
The ReezaFRATzitz is not noiseless but doesn't produce an alarming amount of hum.
It sounds great for a pedal. I was looking for something to add a convincing compressed classic rock sound (Slash, Craig Ross, Jimmy Page, etc.) to my amps really nice clean sound. I was considering everal options like adding a marshall top (or similar) with a vintage cab or a Koch Pedaltone preamp. The extra amp option was a nice idea but clumpsy and expensive. The Koch is great but also pretty expensive. Then I read about the Emma RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz.. 'The Best Distortion Peadal In The World'. I checked it out and bought it in ten minutes. In my opinion it's a future classic and the price will only go up!
The sound goes from bluesy to nu-metal it covers all bases very nice, but what really makes it great is its responsiveness to pick and input volume. It reacts like a tube amp, so you can basically set the RF-1 to thunderous drive, back down your guitars volume and be nice and cool - but still clear! - and then turn your volume up for that saturated solo! The value for money is unreal!
As a pedal I would rate it 10, but for me it's actually an alternative for a second channel/amp so the ratings should go higher!

Reliability : 8
Seems rugged, solid metal casing, good quality plastic knobs, on/off switch seems a little light weight but will propably stand the test of time.

Customer Support : 10
Called the company to ask for dealers. They were very friendly and I'm sure I would receive 1' class service if I should call them again.

Overall Rating : 10
I play cover rock from the 70's and up. Been playing close to twenty years. Have been through a number of amps: Acoustic G100T, Roland JC-160, Marshall JTM45 and currently plays my Fender Pro Reverb which is a keeper. I would buy a new Emma pedal in a split second if it was lost. It's the most musical OD/dist.-pedal I've ever heard. The alternative is a high-end preamp.

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