This week's installment of our Hi-Fives is with the man behind Zvex Effects; Zachary Vex. Give his little interview a read to learn his top-5 takes on some random subjects.

 

Top five strangest custom paint requests

  1. A blue monster with three mouths eating people in each mouth
  2. J. Mascis riding a purple horse holding a sceptre on a purple sparkle finish
  3. A silverback gorilla with a sombrero riding a giraffe
  4. Two three-eyed laser cats
  5. Arial view of a TV dinner tray

 

Top five pedals you wish you’d came up with 

  1. The E-Bow
  2. Jordan Bosstone
  3. Tel Ray oil can delay
  4. Echoplex
  5. 1.5V Maestro Fuzz-tone
  6. Mutron Gizmotron

 

Top five best things about running your own company

  1. Having people tell me they're my biggest fan, when I'm actually their biggest fan.
  2. Waking up and making phone calls to my own warehouse from bed.
  3. Seeing my name in lights at the NAMM show (10,000 watts).
  4. Not having to answer to anyone except everyone at the shop, dammit.
  5. Being able to put a 3' diameter ZVEX logo on top of my million watt electric dragster.

 

Top five ways people ask for free/promo pedals

  1. Hi, I do online reviews...
  2. Hi, I'm in the military...
  3. Hi, I play in a church group...
  4. Hi, I'm a paraplegic... (this has happened surprisingly often)
  5. Hi, I'm in junior high school...

 

Top five meals on the road

  1. Sushi
  2. Chipotle
  3. Whole Foods (when staying in Austin, TX at a hotel with a kitchen in the room... I made panna cotta and mushroom risotto for GHOSTT [Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl] at SXSW last year and they LOVED it!)
  4. BBQ Chicken across the country at home-style joints
  5. In-and-Out Burger or Five Guys, depending on the area

 

Top five worst jobs you’ve held

 Sorry, I've loved every job (except one) I ever had.  My first paying job was building an antenna deployment mechanism for a rocket headed through the Northern Lights, to do analysis.  My second was as a technician in a microelectronics lab making chips, and I got a 10% raise on the first day, from $2.50 to $2.75 per hour.  My third was repairing guitar amps, and that's where I learned a lot of my chops.  My fourth was a lab technician making chips, my fifth was as a field service engineer with a company car and basically 75% paid free time, and ever since I've either been a recording engineer/producer or a pedal manufacturer.

 The one bad job I had was working for free for my brother pulling nails out of pallet boards to make recycled wood furniture.  It was my first job... I was a true slacker.  Hell, I've always been a slacker who crams when things get tight.

 

Top five movies

  1. The Incredibles
  2. Apocalypse Now
  3. Star Wars (first one)
  4. Shawshank Redemption
  5. 2001

 

 Top five rooms in your house

  1. Kitchen
  2. Bedroom
  3. Loft
  4. Workshop
  5. Other Bedroom

 

Top five non-guitar related things to do

  1. Sex
  2. Race electric drag cars
  3. Sex again
  4. Play cello
  5. Cook, eat, then more sex

 

Top five songs on your iPod you’d be embarrassed to play with friends in the room

That stupid U2 album that self-downloaded, and is the only music on my iPhone

Otherwise, I'm proud of my vinyl collection.

 

Top five things you’d rather be doing than answering these top fives

  1. Sex
  2. Answering email (oops, that's what I'm doing)
  3. Practicing my comedy routines (I'm not quitting my day job)
  4. Sex
  5. Answering the top fives on the phone instead, don't worry, no sex involved

 

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