Fuzz Review: Frantone Bassweet V1

Construction and cosmetic concerns:

The amount of external abuse that this pedal has taken seems pretty substantial. Beyond the layer of goo that I scrapped off of it, there are also some chips and dings on the corners. It is a testament to either blind luck or quality of the construction that it is still functions perfectly and I’m willing to bet the latter.

The insides are clean and well laid out. Nice little touches like a side-mounted wire clip keep the battery cable from floating around when unattached and a foam and plastic shielded area for battery compartmentalization is much better than many of the ‘wedge it in and hope it all stays’ attitude we often see from small-run pedal makers. The PCB is directly soldiered to the activation switch, but has a little floating room (and the underside is cushioned with foam). I think you would have to crush the box to hurt it.

The “True Bypass” method used in all Frantone pedals is a little different then the Hardwire bypass we see in most boutique builds these days.

Frantone effects use a unique active true bypass audio switching circuit that is designed to stay in bypass mode if the applied power is less than 7 volts. The LED can light with as little as 3 volts supplied, so it may remain lit in this case. The benefit of this circuit is that if your battery or power supply falls bellow operational levels while playing the audio chain is not interrupted. There is nothing worse during a performance than stomping on a pedal and getting your signal muted!

This ‘Relay True Bypass’ basically uses a small current for switching instead of physical connections. This has the added benefit described above, but at the expense of significantly increased power (see eats batteries) and a bit more cost. Otherwise it responses just like hardwire switching (both in pros and cons). This was all news to me too, so I figured I would share!