“EVER PLAYED AN
ELECTRO-HARMONIX BIG
MUFF AFTER THE YEAR
2000? FRAN DESIGNED
THAT. FRANTONE’S
PEDALS—IF YOU CAN
FIND THEM—HOLD
THEIR VALUE EXTREMELY
WELL AND WILL LIKELY
BE BURIED WITH THEIR
OWNERS DUE TO THEIR
SOUND QUALITY AND
GENERAL SCARCITY.”
20
TONE TALK //
type pedal. Before The Sweet was released, Frantone
sought out to craft a Big Muff, and took some real
liberties with the design. Firstly, the clipping stages were
reworked, with transistors two and three being changed
to NTE103A, modern off-the-shelf germanium transistors.
These pieces are extremely expensive because they’re
engineered using modern technology which affords
them less leakage and variance. The standard 1n914
clipping diodes were also discarded and replaced with
1n6263 diodes, a Schotkey type that clips less, for a
more saturated, yet open fuzz tone. This isn’t to say that
Frantone left the other transistors alone; Q1 was changed
into a super-high-gain Darlington to let untold amounts
of gain into the clipping stages, and Q4 was a mysterious
“dome-top” Fairchild house-numbered transistor, similar
to the ones used in the very first Big Muff circuits.
Finally, the tone stack was completely refined, resulting
in a tonal range that exceeds the normal “between 10and-2” spread that most users bemoan about the Big
Muff. Clearly, there’s a lot to take in here, but Frantone’s
germanium-equipped Muff is the first germanium
transistorized Muff on the market and I am absolutely
shocked that The Sweet has been thus far immune to
cloning—it’s one of the best sounding Muff variants out
there, period.
The Cream Puff is a blatant misnomer in the best way
possible—nothing about this unit sets you up for the
sound it produces. From the white Bakelite knobs to its
pastel pink color, up through the name and the “Fluff”
knob, the Cream Puff might be misconstrued as a lowgain overdrive of sorts. Spoiler alert: it’s not even close.
The Cream Puff will maul your amp within inches of its
life—if you let it. The Fluff knob is incredibly versatile,
ranging from something appropriately named to full on
tear-your-head-off fuzztone. The Cream Puff is op-amp
based, with a full LED clipping structure for raw open fuzz
that every rhythm player should strive for. In fact, there
may not be a better pedal out there for this purpose.
Welcome Back, Frantone: Her Top 5