Showing posts with label Frantone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frantone. Show all posts

Friday, 24 July 2020

Frantone Lo-Tone Classic Fuzz

From the source:

At last... a classic fuzztone for bass!  This transistorized beauty uses germanium diodes for soft knee clipping and actually boosts the bottom to give you awesome sustain with rich creamy fuzztone.  Wonderful overtones and plenty of thump to boot.   








Saturday, 26 April 2014

Frantone Vibutron

Great sounding tremolo here from Fran, and something for me to finally build with the batch of ICL8038 ICs I bought a couple of years ago! :o)  To keep the size down and make it 1590B friendly I've done away with the rotary switch used in the original, and instead I've used a DPDT on/on/on toggle to select the waveforms.  Functionally they remain identical and you will be able to select sine, triangle or square wave in exactly the same way, but remember to add the link noted.  I've also added an optional "Fast" switch which isn't in the original, but will do what it says on the tin and so some people may like the extra effect.  Thanks to KindaFuzzy on FSB for his schematic.

Info about the original:

Good Vibrations!
All of the warm, soothing tone you'd expect from a great vintage amp trem with the added versatility of selectable waveform.  Designed with the single coil player in mind, this variable amplitude modulator is a favorite among those that want the highest fidelity and smooth performance combined.  The Depth control allows you to dial in as much effect as you like, from the slightest hint of mellow sine wave smoothness to fully gated square wave effects.  The added benefit of a wide Speed range makes this a very powerful tool for the serious musician.  The Vibutron's lemon-lime motif is highlighted by the custom made cherry red Bakelite knobs.
Bon appetit!






Friday, 4 April 2014

Frantone The Sweet

Although this isn't your usual muff clone, you can certainly tell where the inspiration came from.  This pre-dates the EQD Hoof, but like that pedal this uses NPN germanium transistors for Q2 and Q3 but with schottky diodes here instead of LEDs.  I can't find any information at all about the FS25444 838 Q4 transistor, but it is definitely NPN bipolar, and looking at a gut shot on the Frantone web site it's an old style TO106 style case like the 2N5133 that are much sought after for Big Muffs, or the ME4003 that I know a few people on here use.  Anyway just try anything for that and let us know your results.

Info about the great sounding original:

Truly insane fuzztone!
 Over the top in every way using the classic tone of germanium transistors.  This is the longest sustaining and smoothest sounding all-transistor fuzztone you will ever own.  I have designed many fuzztones, including the 2000 New York City Big Muff for Electro-Harmonix, so believe me when I say that this is the most extreme one I have ever made.  It's tone is indescribable.  The full bottom and crisp highs will astound you, and the endless sustain will make you cry like a baby.   But don't take my word for it.. try one for yourself!

All new Frantone effects come with full signal bypass and status light!

Each one of The Sweet fuzztones is hand-made in
the USA by Frantone and features:

    Tough cast aluminum case
    Black Epoxy Enamel finish
    True bypass switching
    Green indicator LED
    Steel LED bezel
    Switchcraft jacks
    Custom White Bakelite knobs
    Hard mounted PCB
    External power jack
    All teflon hook-up wire
    Really cute clear feet







Thursday, 25 April 2013

Frantone Cream Puff

Original unit has relay based switching and 1000µ filter cap. This layout is done with the circuit in tact, but omitting the original switching, LED and filtering is replaced by 470µ cap. Our "standard" polarity protection is in place and i've also added 1M resistor to prevent popping from the standard true bypass switching.. Tone 2 and Volume 3 connect together, there's a dummy connection for those on the board. Sounds nice now doesn't it? The pedal i mean..



Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Frantone Peachfuzz

Information about the original from Frantone:

This 3-knob Peachfuzz fuzztone has all the great classic sound with 50% more gain than the classic 2-knob model.  It has been hot-rodded with super quiet circuitry and the addition of a rockin' tone control.  Truly the finest in lead-guitar tone and second to none in performance, the Peachfuzz is a must for all serious players.   Looking for a screaming cranked-to-ten amp-in-a-box, smooth singing fuzztone, and overdrive distortion all in one?  Well, this is for you!

FuzzBoxGirl demo



The first layout I posted was fine, but there was an unused row and so I managed to make it slightly more compact:




Updated layout from the Rev 5 schematic: