Questions and Answers about Paradox TZF. Required reading for those interested in buying one. Some of these Q&A's are from emails, others are from discussion forums.

Q: How will TZF sound with my rig?

A: It depends on how you have things set up. I can't stress enough how important it is to run all of your distortion/fuzz/overdrive effects BEFORE Paradox TZF, and run your amp clean. If you like to use your amp's built in distortion/overdrive, then put TZF in your amp's effects loop. If it doesn't have one, TZF will loose much of it's intensity. Rule of thumb - don't run TZF into a distortion box of any type or into a distorted amp.

If your setup is based on a distorted amp with no effects loop, Paradox TZF is definitely not the flanger for you. If you use pedals for all of your distortion needs, and run a powerful, clean amp, TZF will shine. This is true for most delay, chorus, and flanger effects.

A: Paradox TZF is not for everyone. TZF is designed to reproduce the classic tape flanging effect from the 60's. The over the top flange that Eddy Kramer called "Phasing". There is NO other flanger capable of creating that effect. You can hear it on recordings like Keep yourself alive (Queen), Axis Bold as
love (Hendrix), Listen to the Music (Doobies). Check my audio clips if you haven't already.

Flanger pedals made over the past 25 years are a different effect. By design, they are unable to sweep over the top, so instead they use excessive regeneration to produce a very resonant, tubular, twisting sound. If you're happy with your MXR, Ibanez, Boss, DOD, EH Mistress, ADA, Lovetone flangers, you might want to pass on TZF. But if you long for the ORIGINAL flanging effect, and know about the magic of that sound, you'll love TZF.

Q: Can it self-oscillate? Are there internal trimmers to make it do it?

A: No - Paradox TZF does not self-oscillate. The TZF design is much more involved than any other flanger, and it's basic design principal does not lend itself well to excessive regeneration. The regeneration parameter is limited by fixed resistors. If you're looking for a flanger that self oscillates you don't need Paradox TZF.

Q: How can this be the first flanger to produce through-zero-flanging? They've been making flangers since the 70's, and now, in 2002, Foxrox creates the first and only one!! What gives?

A: Good question. I wonder about it myself.

Here's my theory - Nobody, at least no effects designer was ever able to figure out a way to do it. In order to get the effect, it requires a departure from traditional flanger/chorus design. Either I'm the only one to ever think of it, or I"m the only one to actually take the time and design it. Either way, Paradox TZF is the first and only flanger pedal available to musicians that is not only capable of, but designed specifically for through-zero-flanging.

Many have said that the through-zero-flanging effect was impossible to create in real time. To get the original effect it required a complicated setup with multiple tape decks playing back the same program material, slightly out of sync. As one deck would pass the other in time, the magic TZF effect would be created. This is impossible with conventional flangers, which simply sum a modulated delay with a dry signal.

I came up with an idea for creating the authentic through-zero-flanging effect in a stomp box format back in 1993. I designed a circuit to do it, but was never able to bring it to the point where I could go into production. During this time, in April of 1993, I built up a custom flanging unit for Lenny Kravitz so that he could recreate the flanging effect from his hit "Are you gonna go my way" as part of his live act. I set it up so that the effect was added at the main mixing board, and so that his engineer, Tom Edmunds (Bones) could turn a knob on a remote box in order to control the flange point right at the crucial moment. As far as I know, this is still part of Lenny's live system.

In 2/2002 I decided to revive the basic concept and to try a fresh new approach to the design. This time I struck gold! I took my time and let the design evolve through several prototypes, being evaluated by a group of qualified beta testers until coming up with the final product. Paradox TZF is the flanger I always looked for, but could never find. With added features like pedal control of MANUAL and SPEED, and Envelope control, this is a flanger I could never get board with.

Q: I don't understand why there is a Polarity foot switch. It just seems kind of strange.

A: I agree, but there is a good reason. The original design had just one foot switch - bypass. Instead of a polarity switch, the TZF knob was as a knob that you could turn one way for Positive, the other way for Negative, center for OFF. I built up five prototypes that way. I used one of the prototypes on several gigs, and found that I kept bending over to switch the TZF polarity from one extreme to the other. One night, I thought "if this was on a foot switch, I'd be happy". I ran it by one of my beta testers, and he agreed, and that sealed the deal. So I decided to add a foot switch to the final design. I could have left it the way it was, or I could have used a small toggle switch, but It wasn't much more expensive to use a foot switch so I went for it.

Q: Is there much of a learning curve with Paradox TZF?

A: It depends on how experienced you are with flanger pedals and flanging in general. But for most people, yes, there is a learning curve. Don't expect to get the best sounds during the first minutes, hours, or even days of having a TZF in your possession. Instead, you need to "learn" this flanger and all it's nuances. There are so many unique, and mind-blowing sounds to choose from, you need to take your time and find your sound. There's magic in this flanger, but it's up to you to harness it.

Q: Is there any pop when switching? If so, how bad is it?

A: If you're not playing, there is no audible pop. But if you're letting a chord sustain and you switch it and out, you hear a slight “jolt”, but it's not loud. Most people wouldn't even notice it. It's the price we pay for true bypass in this type of effect. It's NOT a DC pop, it's actually a momentary overlap of sounds causing the noise reduction circuitry to overcompensate. A similar thing will happen with other chorus or flanger units that use compander noise reduction and true bypass. I weighed the pros against the cons and found it to be an acceptable trade off, and much less offensive than most true bypass pedals. And due to the use of audio relays, the signal switching is infinitely more reliable.

Q: My A/DA flanger has a volume drop when I switch it in, how about TZF?

A: I designed it to have a little bit of gain, just enough to make the effect stick out a little under most conditions. HOWEVER – in Negative TZF mode, the low end gets hollow and the level varies depending on where the flange point is. As it crosses over the zero point, it disappears completely! That, for many, is the holy grail of flanging sounds (Jimi's House Burning Down sound!).

More Q&A coming.