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.

four knobs: level, tone, bias, & gain. usually four potentiometers can spell trouble for me, but not w/the FRATzitz. it took me all of a couple seconds to figure out where i liked the level & gain knobs positioned, then only a scant few more ticks o' the clock to get the tone knob dialed in. after that, i just spun the bias pot w/out care, cuz really, the entire rotation of the knob produces use-able sounds if you've got the other three dials where you want 'em. piece-a-cake.

set-up when posting this review: 1976 gibson s-1 w/lindy fralin p-90s > radial dragster > doobtone mcbuffer > emma FRATzitz > mxr m-108 10-band eq > isp technologies decimator > bbe sonic stomp > 1961 gibson ga40 tube amp. as i mentioned above, i quickly discovered that i liked the level & gain settings on the FRATzitz @ approx 1:30. and even though i found it very hard to believe at first, the tone knob sounded best to my ears when maxed out totally clockwise, i.e."full treble". i left the m-108 settings all "flat" (or "unity", if you will). the decimator i positioned @ -30db, & the sonic stomp settings sounded best w/lo contour @ 12:30 & process @ 11:30. amp volume was set at 5, amp tone set about halfway between 4 and 5. once i got all that stuff dialed in, it was time to start spinning the bias knob on the FRATzitz. at the minimum setting (or @ about 7:30 on the dial), i found the sound to be sorta like a mesa boogie or other hi-gain amp of that ilk. good for low-string riffs & power chords. at 9:00 & 10:30, the sound coming out of the amp put me in mind of a marshall, a bit like ace frehley or slash. really great for middle of the neck single-note stuff or violent-sounding diads & triads. much more to my liking. at 12:00 & 1:30, it would seem obvious that the progression would now lead to vintage fender combo amp sounds; while i definitely did hear characteristics in the sounds here of late 50s to mid 60s fenders, i'd be lying if didn't say that the sounds coming out of my amp seemed much "tougher" than even the beefiest bassman or twin. again, middle of the neck leads & riffs just rolled off the guitar at these settings. w/the bias @ 3:00 the sound is -to quote the engineers at emma electronics- IN YOUR FACE. they also claim it's emulating a vox-type sound. i don't have any experience here, so i'll just have to agree. playing up high on the neck sounded good w/the bias at 3:00. i didn't much care for the sound w/the bias knob cranked any further clockwise than that. hey, no biggie. michael jordan occasionally missed a free throw, y'know? one final thought: lest someone think that i'm DELIVERING THE WORD FROM ON HIGH, i'd just like to state that these were MY findings, the way things sounded to MY ear. i may or may not know what the hell i'm talking about. but rest assured, i'm doing my level best to be honest w/you. class dismissed.

200 clams. that's nuthin t' sneeze at. yer average lifeguard/landscaper/little-league-umpire would hafta rake in a boatload-a hours 'fore he could waltz into his local musical supply shack & say "I WANT THE FREEZARATZAZZ OR WHATEVER IT'S CALLED, DUDE". but i'm here to tell ya, once you have this pedal, your days of mowing lawns could be OVER, at least as far as distortion stompboxes are concerned. seriously, between the FRATzitz & the maxon ds-830 (another double-benjie distorto pedal worthy of your attention), i feel i have every possible distortion box angle covered. of course you still need fuzz boxes & treble boosters, but that's another matter entirely...

The Reeza (I think it's destined to become known as this if it's not already) sounds great at almost any setting and that, in my opinion, is the best compliment you can give to a piece of gear. A true testament to the designers and builders. The controls are really sensitive and interactive that tweaking this pedal is straight up fun. No matter where you have the knobs, the Reeza just sounds excellent and in that way it reminds me a bit of a Neve EQ, musical and full of character. There's no manual included and I guess a little technical data would be nice (power supply info, sample settings, etc.) but you can enjoy figuring it out just by playing and twisting the controls a bit. It seems like it would be easy to tweak on the fly too (on stage, for example) because the knobs are laid out very simply on the top of the box. (From R > L ) GAIN , BIAS , TONE , LEVEL. Nice.

I tried (and bought) the ReezaFRATzitz after testing 20 or so overdrive and distortion pedals, mostly hand built boutique stuff a la Fulltone, Nick Greer, Barber, Xotic, Home Brew, you get the idea. I was using my Suhr classic w/ Bardens in the neck and middle and a Duncan JB in the bridge through my Fulldrive 2 into a Marshall JSM half stack (clean channel only).

The Reeza has a lot going for it. First off, it's really quiet all around. The gain knob sounds great and gives you a really wide variety of sounds. The low gain settings, which are bluesy with a little bite, break up nicely under your pick attack and clean right up as you back your guitar down. The mid gain region brings you into the browner Plexi tones, responsive and chunky. The gain cranked from 3 o clock and up turns this pedal into an ultra high gain Marshall. It sounds really big and mean like crushed glass with gobs of low end. The BIAS knob lets you blend the overall character of the pedal between class A to class B (as I think of it...tighter and more focused or bigger and looser). This is a very powerful tone shaping device. Along with the TONE control, which is really sweet sounding, it gives you lots of tonal possibilities from an EQ standpoint. I lowered the GAIN and used the LEVEL control as a clean boost to drive the Fulldrive 2 and the input of the amp. Both sounded incredible. Can you tell that I really like this pedal?

I think what makes this pedal standout is the inherent harmonic richness and complexity present whenever the box is on. I don't know much about electronics but this stompbox is the first one to make me want to learn.

It seems well constructed but sometimes looks can be deceiving. I take good care of my stuff so I'll let you know how it holds up.

I would use it without a spare on a gig. Innocent until proven guilty.

Emma Electronic is in Denmark and distributed in the States by Godlyke so repair/upgrade issues are as of yet unknown. Europe is always a scary prospect when it comes to shipping gear back and forth so I hope it holds up.

Mainly I play R&B, Hip Hop and Jazz but I play professionally so I also play whatever style is paying the bills. The RF-1 ReezaFRATzitz is very versatile distortion pedal and I can't wait to put it the test in the real world.

I've been playing for about 22 years and have a bunch of instruments, computers and studio gear. Lately I've become stompbox junkie.

If stolen I'd replace it immediately.

I love the overall character of this pedal. It sounds good 2 me at any setting.

I hate that it's not true bypass but maybe it's a reminder from the guitar cosmos not to take all the gear too seriously. If it sounds good it is good.

The BIAS and TONE knobs are 2 of the most musical sounding circuits I've ever heard in a stompbox.

The tones I'm getting out of the RF-1 are inspiring and there's nothing like playing when you sound good.

Keep an eye out for Emma Electronic. They've earned my respect with this pedal.

Plug 'n play, like most any OD pedal. I just checked and there is indeed a one-page manual, never had a need for it though. There are some suggested settings but they're not the ones I would use, but that's ok. It's not like you're flying a 747 or anything... Oh yeah, it doesn't eat batteries too badly, so that's a good thing.

I go back and forth between the Reeza and my SIB Varidrive, they have quite a bit of similarity to my ears, with my rig (Germino Lead 55, or other similar EL34 brit-sounding amps). The Reeza is less hassle to set up on stage, so I've been bringing it lately most times. I use it almost always with its volume about 10-12:00, and gain below 9:00 (i.e., very low settings for gain). I find at this level it cleans up very well (like the Varidrive), which is good for me because I like to ride the volume knob on my guitar. Used like this it's not especially heavy metal, more old-school Marshall (Humble Pie, Free etc.) up to about Guns 'n Roses when my guitar's turned up. I don't find it overly bright, I keep its tone control from about 10:00 to 2:00, i.e. plenty of adjustment remains on either side. Compared to the Varidrive, it has a little less fur and a little more cut, harmonics are a little crisper. I tend to use the clockwise ("fixed bias") setting more than the ccw "cathode bias" setting, as the latter is a bit too fuzzy for most of my stuff, though sometimes I like it for kind of a low-fi old ZZTop sound. The Reeza works fine for me with a fairly clean amp (like I need at very small gigs) and also when the amp is cranked a bit. For me, and for the way I use it, it sounds far more natural and pleasing than the multitude of other pedals I've tried (incl. all the Barber stuff, all the Fulltone stuff including OCD, Foxrox, Menatone, Cornish, most everything except the Klon :-) There's a ton of gain available if you turn that knob up, of course, but I rarely do that unless I'm just screwing around, so you could probably do older metal just fine (Judas Priest etc.) and scooped stuff if you also used an EQ pedal, but that's kind of outside my knowledge zone.

Yep, I depend on it, and use it on a gig without a backup, sort of, since I usually have a fuzz pedal on my board too, and I can get by just fine with that. But it's built solid, so I'll give it a good grade.

never had to, I bet they're fine but I'll leave this blank.

Les Paul into Germino. Aiming for a combination of Warren Haynes, Dickie Betts, Paul Kossoff tonewise. The Reeza and the Varidrive are the two pedals that have gotten me closest, I love 'em both but usually only bring one or the other to a gig. There may be something better out there, but I haven't found it and I've tried sooooo many :-)

It's hard to get a bad sound out of it. Well, I haven't been able to do so. 4 knobs, turn'm, and you hear what they do. Easy.

I use this with a Barber Ltd > Emma > Fulltone OCD > Small Stone > Catalinbread SCP > Yamaha UD Stomp into a Fender Dual Showman Reverb and Pro Reverb, both Silverface.

Gets a little noisy if I turn the gain past 3'0, but I get plenty of gain at 3'0, so no problem.
Next to the very open and uncompressed OCD, I needed an modern sounding overdrive with lots of gain, and the Reeza delivers : not at all as responsive as the OCD, though the Emma can deliver similar timbres, with the bias turned low. I turn the bias high, and they complement eachother perfectly.
The OCD does sound and react more like a real tube amp, the Reeza sounds unmistakenly solid state.

Seems sturdy, can't really tell yet.

Haven't contacted them yet.

I play rock with influences from all over the place, this pedal was meant for the metal'ish bits. I've been playing for +20 years.
If it were stolen, I might try an SCOD.

Plug. And. Play. ReezaFratzitz gets great sounds across the entire spectrum of every knob. The only bad settings are the ear-splittingly loud ones past half on the volume knob. I run some pretty hot pickups, but never have to turn it up above 9:00.

Knobs for: Volume, Tone, Bias (mids), and Gain

I use a Gibson Les Paul Custom with Duncans and a Fernandes Decade Elite with Dimarzios, into a Fender Dual Showman head and a 4x12 or 2x12. This pedal sounds like a gift from the tonal heavens.

Every, I repeat, EVERY knob is useable throughout 100% of its range.

The Tone knob goes from a murky Sabbathy sound to shrill punk tones, but sounds best just shy and high of noon.

The Bias takes you from a scoopy, hi-fi EL34/6L6 type distortion to super-sweet EL-84 tones. I leave the bias at 80% - 100%.

The gain knob goes from sweet Layla-like overdrive at 8:00-9:00 (high bias) to Jimmy Page at 10:00 (medium bias), Guns 'n Roses at 11 (medium bias), Queen at noon (high bias), Van Halen at 1:00 (lowish bias), Metallica at 2:00 (low bias), and super grindy sounds from there on. I must admit that the distortion gets a little harsh past 2:00. Varying the Bias control will get you variations on these sounds.

I'm actually using this pedal for my main overdrive tone, with a Hot Cake for really thick distortion. It knocks the Blackstone MOSFET out of the water: the Blackstone's two channels either sound too bright or too fat -- they never match up. The Emma with my modded Boss Compressor/Sustainer takes me from super warm, sweet overdrive to a slightly brighter, more compressed (obviously) and grindy sound that borders on distortion. Emma reacts very, very clearly with other gain pedals, and is amazing for stacking. I bet a Timmy would just kill with this thing. Not so good for overloading into fuzz with the Hotcake -- it just makes the 'Cake sound smoother and less bassy. Most people would find this effect pleasant.

My only complaint is that the Bias knob doesn't sound as good on the lower settings, most of the best sounds, in my opinion, are above 12:00. But the others are there for flexibility. Also doesn't sound as thick as something like a Mosferatu -- very power-tube like, not fuzzy at all.

The switch looks just a little weird. I just got this thing. I'll post about it later if there's a problem.

Bought it used. No contact. They're somewhere in Scandanavia.

Best, I repeat, best overall gain pedal I've ever played. Althought it's marketed as a distortion, I use it for my main overdrive sound and have no complaints about that tone. Knocks other designated overdrives out of the ballpark, including Fulltone Fulldrive 2, modified Boss SD-1, Barber Direct Drive 2, Blackstone MOSFET (previous champ; there is still possibility of a comeback.)I would buy another if it was lost, no doubt about it. My bnndmate plans to try one if his Cold Fusion isn't what he hopes it is. We both agree - best overdrive from a pedal we've ever heard, and best tube-amp style distortion (as opposed to fuzz or metal) that we've ever heard.

I submitted a review below after buying the product. But since I'm often frustrated that many people write reviews while on the emotional high of buying a new product, I thought I'd give you a one year after review. If you don't want to read what follows, it's even better than the original review.

The pedal is not difficult to use, but the bias knob means there are very different distortion sounds available. The key is that - like a good valve amp - amost every sound is good, unlike many other pedals.

Guitars: Stock Classic 60's strat / Jap 50's strat with Stymour Duncans

Pedals: Crybaby, CS3, Mayer Octavia, original TS808, Reezafratzitz, V Twin, TR2, DD2, CE5, Ernie Ball Volume

Amps: Pro Jnr, Blues Jnr, Peavey Classic 30

Noise is very low, and sound is very good! I'd have to say that I've rarely heard a pedal which is so good at both low gain and high gain sounds.

I'd have to say that through my set up the sound is very like Joe Bonamassa's sound on Reconsider Baby (Had to Cry Today album) and I Know where I belong (New Day Yesterday).

My V Twin is sill very fat for the odd heally high gain solo, but the EMMA is much better for biting sounds which cut through, and for rhythm sounds.

The EMMA also wins hands down on any of my other pedals because it cleans up really well from the guitar volume pedal.

If there was a higher number than 10 - that would be my vote on this.

After a year it's been totally dependable. Yes I'd gig without a back up. Frankly, if I needed to I could use this pedal in place of my tubescreamers and my VTwin, but none of those could replace the EMMA.

I play bluesy rock in a covers band, and also play in worship teams in various churches playing quite rocky contemporary music, so I need a wide variety of sounds.

I wnet though several pedals in the search for a new dist pedal, and this one won hands down. I tried all the Boss pedals, and had a DS1 for eyars, which I thought was good at the time. I tried all the HAO pedals, the Blackstone pedal and the Sansamp pedals, and none matched the authentic marshall in a box of this baby.

The key to any musical equipment is that they should free you and inspire you to play - the Reezafratzitz has that in abundance.

Pretty easy to use. As mentioned below, the bias knob takes the most getting used to. I had it left-of-center for the first week of playing with it before turning it to 3 o'clock...I instantly liked this better. The bias knob is subtle, but when your ear catches the difference, it is nice to have. The rest of the controls are normal for distortion pedals and provide a wide range of sounds.

I use a Music Man Sub-1 with Jon Moore custom pups (check his reviews out in the pickup section...AWESOME!!!) > Boss Super Chorus > ReezaFratZitz > Keeley modded Boss Tremolo > Keeley modded Sparkle Drive > Line 6 DL-4 > Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4 x 10.

This pedal sounds so good. Best distortion box I've ever played. It is my primary distortion for the heavy stuff I play with my band. I disagree with the folks who say this pedal can't cover Metallica-style dirt. When we end a song with an open drop-D, it levels the trees around the house. Chords sound alive and smooth and yet so gnarly at the same time. Tack on some delay or reverb or...well...pretty much any other effect and it sounds great. It plays with others very well ;O)

If you are tired of effing around with distortion boxes and being disappointed, give this one serious consideration. Distortion tones you can scoop up and eat.

Totally solid construction. I have little doubt it will live up to EMMA's reputation for indestructible, high-quality boxes.

Haven't dealt with them. Don't think I will ever have to though.

I play garage rock with many ecclectic genres tossed in. Surf rock, 50's crooner pop, punk, blues, etc. I've been playing around 14 years now. This is a creamy, hard-hitting, versatile, delicious pedal. What more can I say? How about buy it...?

This pedal is incredibly responsive to pick attack/guitar volume. I leave the tone control at 12o'clock, put the bias at 4o'clock (for nice fast attack) and put the gain control at 3o'clock. Live I can get many different sounds out of it by altering my guitars volume, and my playing style. Ease of use is about as good as you can get.

I play a modified american strat, with a coil-tapped 'lil 59 humbucker in the bridge, into a vintage Twin (silverface)
This pedal is almost silent with this setup. I bought this when my old jeckyll and hyde pedal broke, because it sounded simply incredible. It also sounds good with my lexicon LXP-5 which I mostly use for reverb, and my boss chorus pedal. It's hard to describe exactly what this pedal sounds like but it's exactly what I've always wanted a distortion pedal to do. The sound is fat and ballsy, but not muddy at all. It cuts through the mix but isn't harsh.
Best (solid state) distortion pedal I've ever used.

This actually is my backup distortion pedal, one of the reasons I bought it is it's construction. The thing is a solid metal box with rounded edges, the knobs have a low profile and seem very solid. I can't imagine anything breaking on this pedal but I'll probably keep my old boss overdrive in my gig bag just in case.

I've never dealt with them

I play modern rhythm guitar, and more vintage style lead guitar. This pedal makes everything I do sound great. Also on my pedalboard, I have a lexicon LXP-5, maxon compressor (solo boost), and boss chorus. These effects are hooked up through a loooper 1-loop, so when I'm not using them the signal isn't effected by the LXP which has a bypass from hell.
If it were lost I'd probably buy another, I tried almost every pedal in the store last time and this is the best. It sounds a lot like the OCD but with more MOJO to my ears. Plus the bias control is great.
This is the best solid state distortion pedal I have used, and I've tried many. for $70 more than a terrible boss distortion, I consider this an excellent value.

I agree with those of the previous reviewers who don't find this pedal to be a no-brainer at all. It took quite some time to master the controls and above all to find the right spot for the pedal in the signal-chain. The controls are simple yeah, but to make it sound it's best isn't that easy. Another thing is the battery-compartment issue that lowers the points: the hassle to get to the battery and then there are four screws to lose.

Tele with Lollars > TS9 with TS808 mod > MXR phase 45 > ReezaFRATzitz > Voodo-Vibe > Ibanez Analog Delay to a RI 59' Bassman.
There are basically two sounds you can get from this thing, one highly compressed and other more open. I prefer the latter with modest gain: the distortion is very coarse-grained and there isn't excessive amount of sustain; I like to have a natural fade for the notes. If you DO want the sustain to be practically never-ending with whatever guitar, just turn the Bias off. The trade off is more sizzle and less rumble, if you get what I mean.
There's also a cool setting with zero Gain and the Bias at about halfway: clean boost with a hint of mud around the edges. That said I don't really think the Bias knob has any other options than full on or full off but then again I might be wrong...

Seems very solid. If you don't kick it around it should be undestructable, or at least as much so as anything else on the market. Don't need a backup, unless you're paranoid.

No experience.

I play roots-oriented rock, blues, funk etc. and think this is quite close to the sound I hear in my head. I've been playing for 16 years and I think I know by now what I like without neceserily needing to compare anything side by side. I DID compare this to a Fulltone OCD in the shop and liked this one better. It sounds good with the TS9 driving it's input and would probably sound nice with other boosters as well. It is very sensitive to pick-ups and everything else so you really need to find the right matches for it.
It made me sound good and I will keep it untill I find something that does the job better. Not that I'm looking anymore, though.

Takes a while to dial this pedal in. No manual is needed, just a good ear. This pedal loves single coils, and has the most useable range for Tele's and Strat's . You need to dial back the gain about a quarter turn for humbuckers, or plug into the number 2 input of a Fender amp.

I'm using this with a Fender '52 reissue Tele, a Les Paul with alnico humbuckers, and a Victoria 35310 (Tweed Fender Bandmaster). I dropped a Fulltone Distortion Pro for this pedal. I felt this pedal captures tube sag better than the Fulltone. It also makes the bass control on my amp come alive. That said, I still keep the bass between 3 and 4, as most Fender amps should never have the bass above 5. The Bandmaster sounds more focused and dampened, like a 4x12 cab. This pedal sounds nice at low volumes, where the Fulltone starts sounding good when the amp is driven. The Distortion Pro is a great pedal, but this is a hair cooler.

The class A and B knob is what makes this pedal. Class A is harmonically saturated. I tend to turn up the treble on my amp in this mode. Class B is more open and defined in the top end. Both sound great, and having a choice makes this pedal versatile. This pedal can go from fairly clean to smokin'. More gain than most classic rockers need. I generally use it from 9:00 to 12:00 ( When my neighbors go to sleep) Beyond 12:00 is the more modern Marshall/ Boogie territory.

Too early to tell.

No experience. I've heard good things.

I play just about everything. I don't play death/speed metal. I've owned: the TS9, the Turbo Tube Screamer, the Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Soulbender, and Distortion Pro, the Budda Phatman, the Meas V-Twin, the Way Huge Swollen Pickle, and the B.K. Butler designed Chandler Tube Driver. I've dumped them all, except the Way Huge 'cause it's Way Cool. As far as creamy tube amp overdrive/distortion, this unit is the best I've found. The only other pedal I wish I'd kept is the Fulltone Soulbender, though it's not really in the same class as this pedal.

I've owned most of the great amps of all time and know what they sound like cranked (Tweed Bassmans, Blackface Twins and Deluxe Reverbs, Matchless, etc.). No pedal captures it exactly, but the point is to get as close as possible at reasonable volume levels. This pedal can make a big amp sound great a low volume levels. On the flip side, I had my Bandmaster on 11 the other day, and I was listening from about 40 feet away. Amazing crunch tone on it's own. Turning on this pedal set to low gain, the Bandmaster sounded much bigger.

I find it easy to get a good sound, but there are lots of different sounds. The controls are subtle yet interact well to give a wide range of sounds. The fact that there are many different sounds which need experimentation means the pedal scores 8 instead of 10. This is definitely not a criticism.

I use mostly a variety of strats through a Fender Blues Jr and a Pro Jr together, as well as a Peavey classic 30 and a JCM900. I have a ton of other pedals - my chain is as follows: Crybaby > Boss CS3 compressor > TS808 > Reezafratzitz > Boogie V Twin > DD2 > Boss Chorus Ensemble.
The pedal is dead quiet, although I am using it for lower gain sounds and the V Twin for high gain. The EMMA could easily handle high gain, but I like being able to switch between both live.
The EMMA is a really organic sound, like SRV or Doyle Bramhall. I also love the way it cleans up so well when I back off the guitar volume, unlike the V Twin which is too muddy when I back the guitar vol pot off.
Very rarely have I heard a pedal which can do low and high gain so convincingly.

Only had it a couple of months. I've gigged it a few times with no problems, but other than that I've no experience.
As I said I have the Tubescreamer and the V Twin so if something went wrong with any piece of equipment I could make do with the others.
Therefore I give the pedal a 10 in faith!

I play blues, rock and pop and I've found this pedal an absolute gem. The gain spends most of its time below 9 0'clock, but there is so much on tap if I ever need it, which is cool.

I'm a pedal junky so I might be tempted to go for another brand if this was stolen, but I cannot imagine a better sound for the money so I figure I'd end up with another EMMA. I tried several HAO and Blackstone pedals in Charlie Chandlers and was frustrated with them. When I said this to Charlie, he said - try out the Reezafratzitz - it really sounds like a stack on 10. Straight away the sound was a killer.

So here's my review.I dont think that the reezaa is a easy one. Being a hard strummer, it gives to much gain. Give it a slight strum and it's beats any screamer or od. You have to give attention
to the bias control. So ease of use is only a 7. (You really have to learn to use this stomb box). IT'S NOT REALLY A STOMB BOX FOR NOVICES.

I like it. It has some softness and is't transparent, though it distort very esaly. (Sorry my spelling).

So far no problem.

I can only give it a 9. because of the things mentioned above.

It is an overdrive/distortion pedal with 4 knobs...how hard could it be? The only thing most players won't be used to is the bias control, but your ears will tell you where that needs to be set, just like anything else.

As others have said, it is that bias control that puts this pedal in a class by itself. It is almost like being able to change tubes (or even amps) by merely turning a knob...genius!

OMG (Oh, My God)! It doesn't get any better than this. I have never heard a pedal that has such cool sonic character of its own, yet maintains the sonic character of your instrument...my Gibson 335 sounds like the best damn 335 ever made, and my American Strat sounds like the best Strat ever.

I haven't tried it with my old Super yet (waiting on tubes), but I've been using it with my VHT Pittbull head through vintage Fender 10's mounted in two sand-filled, Mitchell bass-reflex cabinets (yeah, kind of weird cabinets for guitar, but I like strong, low-end presence in my guitar sound).

This pedal can give you pretty much any sound you want, except for the Slipknot, Godsmack category. Anything else you'd want is there and really easy to find - from SRV to Clapton to Brian May to EVH. In fact, every millimeter or so of adjustment of any knob is a whole new, very cool tone.

Since that VHT has 4 switchable gain settings, I thought I might not even need a distortion pedal...now I don't think I'll ever turn it off.

Surprisingly, it is not true bypass like my Zinky pedal, but it has some sort of capacitor storage - when you unplug it during use, the sound fades gradually...still, there is no noticeable loss when bypassed. So don't let any "true-bypass-snobbery" get in the way...this pedal sounds better than anything I've used or even heard!

Seems very well-built. It is in a sturdy, almost square metal box, like the Menatone stuff. I've only had it for about a week, so it had better be reliable so far!

It has a small, simple circuit board visible when you access the battery, and it also has this enclosed, black molded area which is probably where the all the good stuff is (they may have done this to hide their magic). If something were to fail inside there, it would not be repairable, but easily replaceable.

I would trust it under any condition, but I always have bring backups of everything, including guitars and amps.

Never had to contact them...probably never will.

I play a wide variety of blues, rock, R&B, "pop", jazz, melodic metal, and country...cover and original...live and session work (including work with multi-platinum artists). I have been at it since I was 7, making it 36 years now. This pedal is the perfect match to my variety of styles.

I have some old vintage pedals that I've owned since the 70's, numerous Boss boxes from the 80's, plus some newer boutique stompers like Zinky, George Dennis, Holowon, and Cat's Eye. All those pedals are cool and have some good sounds, but none as good (or as many) as the EMMA.

The biggest problem is that any movement of any knob gives a whole different sound, which can be a great thing, but it also means you may want to mark it to get back to certain sounds you want. In fact, it has tempted me to get a few of them so I can switch to other great sounds more quickly, though I generally prefer the bias toward the right...seems to give a real round, American "tubey" effect...more tubey that my Hafler tube pre-amp! Biasing left is more British sounding.

If it were stolen I would want to hunt them down and beat them senseless, but being non-violent, I would just buy another one.

Even if your as dumb as a sack of hammers, you can operate this pedal.
dead simple. The bias control, just tweek till it tastes good.
The hardest thing about this pedal is pronouncing it.

I'm running this into a non master vol. silverface pro reverb. Strats, single coil and double fat. Hey Folks, this is the most quite distortion pedal ever. period. What really impressed me was the versitility. With silgle coils you can get that just over the edge breakup,( ala vince gill, or keith urban) go to humbuckers and a little more gain and your in early zz top ( brown sugar) mode. A little more gain and a twist on the bias , ez Ac/dc , all the way to Hoobastank grind , if thats what ya need. But this pedal is more than just varying stages of gain. Its interactive, just like a good tube amp should be, very touch sensitive, back off your guitar vol. and it sounds like a JTM 45 plexi, just backed off a tad. And The harder you hit it the more it grinds. Beautiful harmonics.
Getting sounds as good as my buddies Hot Cat 30, not identical, but close enough without me spending $3500 for a bad cat. Plus I still have the pro reverbs wonderful clean sound, 2x12's, tube driven spring reverb and tremelo.
I love this pedal.

On the inside it has the big goop brick around the electronics so it might be kinda tuff to get worked on, I best fill out my warrentee card. overall it looks very solid. Pretty thick PCB and nice heavy duty inputs. It should last awhile.

never dealt with the company so Im not sure but for the price I could always get another one if it breaks.

After going through tons of distortion boxes I think this Emma has cured my g.a.s. In the last few years Ive had, ( matchless hotbox, badcat 2tone, zinky true grit, way huge red llama clone, zvex super hard on, reverend drive train, about 4 modded tube screamers, boss ds-1, mxr+, fulldrive, and a few others. ) Out of all these the zinky, llama, and hard on, were the best sounding. The llama sounds a little thin in the bass department compared to the Emma. The Reezafratzitz also has more complexity to it, more organic sounding.
With this pedal It sounds like I'm taking a bluesbreaker, orange, soldano, and a bad cat to the gig, but at the end of the night I only have to load my old pro reverb.
Ive been around the block and through the barn. You Youngsters take it from a old pro.
If you are in need for a good distortion box. Try this pedal. for the money you wont find a better one.