Frantone Peachfuzz

3 knobs - Fuzz, Tone and Vol. Pretty simple layout, self explanatory in fact.

I bought this pedal because I went into a music store and said " I would like to buy a fuzz pedal that sounds like the amp is about to explode." ( i.e. - " Stay With Me " The Faces or to be exact Audley Freed's lead tone on the live Black Crowes - "Sometimes Salvation") I tried this pedal with a Fulltone 70's pedal and this pedal was quieter ( amazingly so ) and cleaned up better. Again the pedal was amazingly quiet. It can go from an overdrive to full out " amp exploding fuzz " - I believe because of the tone knob. This is where this pedal shines. The tone knob is responsive and very useful. It provides a denser and fuller tone which work with the fuzz knob. So with full fuzz and higher ( brighter tone ) setting you get classic fuzzy, less fuzz and less tone you get overdrive-distortion tones. So a very versatile pedal. The ad doesn't not lie - it can in fact go from Overdrive to all out fuzz. True Bypass too.

HAND MADE think about that for a minute... No prob here - I changed the battery and the inside was amazingly neat and clean - I say this is a very reliable pedal. I have had this pedal for about 2 yrs and no problems at all.

I have had no problems with this pedal. Therefore no reason to deal with them.

I play hard rock and have been for 28 years. I just rediscovered this pedal an put it back on my board. I also have on a Keeley Compressor, A Keeley AD-9 delay and a Boss e.q.. I run all of this through either a Hiwatt DR504 head or a Hughes & Kettner Puretone head through a 4x12 Celestion cab. With an '87 Gibson Les Paul. I really love the fact that you can get all these different gain tones with one pedal. I can go from Duane to Angus to Slash to Hammett all with this pedal. Quiet as a mouse. It also has an amazing amount of volume/output too. However like all good equipment this pedal needs to played loud - There may be some disappointment with bedroom levels.

The Peachfuzz is a very simple and basic fuzz pedal. 3 knobs, one representing "Fuzz", "Tone", and "Volume". I like my pedals like my amps, with as few knobs as possible, and as soon as you plug it in you'll get a sweet sound. It doesn't require much tweaking, which in my mind is a good thing!

Right away the Peachfuzz reminded my of J. Mascis of Dinorsaur Jr's guitar tone. Sweet, rich distortion with elephant sized sustain but very musical. Turn down the fuzz and you have instant T. Rex "Slider" style crunch. Unlike the Big Muff PI you can play chords through the Peachfuzz and every note come through clearly, which is it way it's become my primary distortion pedal. I can do so much, from thick lead sounds to crunchy rhytmns. I play through a '65 Fender Twin Reverb Reissue, Vox AC15cc1x, and an old Ampeg Rocket Reverb and this things sounds smooth through all of them. I play a American Telecaster, Rickenback 330, and an old Epiphone Emperor and I think I prefer the Peachfuzz much with the Tele because it makes it sound beefy whereas other fuzz pedals can make single coils sound too fizzy. The only time this pedal doesn't excel is when you turn the fuzz way down low, but if you are doing that just use an overdrive pedal! This baby is made for tons of gain, so use it that way! The only complaint I have is the pedal does not responsed to the tone control on the guitar very well, I hardly hear a different if it's all the way up or down.

I've never had any problem with this pedal, but I've only owned it for a few months. I've never played any gig with a backup pedal so I doubt I would need to with this!

Never dealt with them.

I love this pedal to death, it's the best used gear find I've come across. My music ranges from the Replacement's like country punk rock to power pop akin to Big Star or, for something more current, Sloan and I keep this pedal plugged into board at all times because I always find a use for it. I've only been playing for five years but I've owned a lot of gear compared to most people of my experience level. Currently I have a Fulltone Full Drive 2, Keeley Modded ProCo Rat, MXR Phase 90, Akai Intelliphase, EHX Holy Grail, Dredgetone Dredge Overdrive, and Visual Studios H2O and have cycled through dozens more and this is probably my favorite pedal. I usually prefer mellowed overdrive tones, but when I kick on my Peachfuzz it seriously makes me a better player because the sound that comes up of my guitar when I use it puts me in a groove like no other. Find one and buy, just don't try to get it off of me!

This is the standard 3 knob layout that seems to be the "norm" these days. I do wish it had seperate bass and treble controls in place of the one tone control, the case is certainly large enough to accomadate an extra knob, O' well I feel I lucked out with this one as the tone knob is voiced well and this pedal packs plenty of bass and treble if you need it..so, if it sounds like I am complaining I am not. It is very easy to use.

I am not looking for anyones sound but my own and this pedal does some really great things with my guitar and set up. It seems to me to be in between a fuzz and a distortion effect, I hear both and I really like that it is not a balls to the wall uncontrollable fuzz pedal.. you can actually play this effect and make music with it. It is articulate and cleans up well with the volume on the guitar and it is very pick sensitive it is also very quiet for a fuzz. My Guitar is a modified strat with an EMG SA pickup system (with mid boost.) The first effect I hit is a Barber Tone Press then an Electro Harmonix Metal Muff then an Xotic BB then a Fulltone OCD then the Peachfuzz and last but not least a BBE Sonic Stomp straight into a Genz Benz El'Diablo 30/60 tube combo. I also have effects that run through the effects loop of the amp but I won't bore you with that. I really like the Peachfuzz a lot, it sounds awesome through my rig.

Seems to be built very well. Mine stays at home (for recording.)

Don't know.

I play mostly rock, been playing for 40 years. I feel I know good tone and good products. I own lots of other pedals both analog and digital and I switch things out on my pedal board as I need them. About the only thing I could suggest for this pedal would be a "silent" switch so my condenser mic's dont pick up the snap of the on/off switch. For me this pedal is a class act, it is quiet and expressive yet it will grind and bark with the best of them when called upon, I can't ask for much more. I rest my case.

A very simple...like a fuzz should be. Fuzz, Tone, and volume.

USA Deluxe Stratocaster--->BOSS TU-2--->BOSS DD-20--->Ernie Ball Volume Pedal--->Peach Fuzz--->VOODOOLAB Sparkle Drive--->BOSS EQ-20--->MESA BOOGIE .50 Calibre +. It sounds great. Silicone instead of germanium so it's much more of a controlled sound but still very thick. I know I don't have a super "pro" rig but I think that it sounds pretty good for what I paid for the stuff. Anyway, I really like this fuzz. When I bought it I also tried the Seymour Duncan Tweek Fuzz, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Frantone The Sweet (which is germanium), Diaz Square Face, BOSS Blues Driver, and an Electro-Harmonix USA Big Muff. The Peach Fuzz had the best character: it's not shrill or muddy and it makes the speakers really move air like a distorted tube amp should. It's also true-bypass which isn't a deal breaker but a nice feature.

It seems rugged enough but the paint really sucks so much that it chipped the first week I had it. No big deal.

This is a great pedal and it has done everything I need it to do. I really like having a tone knob on a fuzz and for some reason it's kind of rare. I play rock/pop/indie or whatever name you wan't give it and this is just the kind of thick aggressive fuzz tone that I need for the occasional heavy instrumental section.

Tow knobs(an older unit). Easy to use.

I use it to add a little grit to the sound. Not much fuzz dialed in. I prefer this to overdrive pedals.

The switches on all Frantone products go bad more often then they should. I never play a gig without some other pedal as a backup.

Terrible support from Mia and Fran. They sent a pedal back to me broken and another pedal had the exact same bad switch I sent it to them with. They also have a bad attitude. Boutique-itis at its worst. I think I would rather deal with Mike Fuller at Fulltone, and that is saying alot!

I love the sound of this pedal but I would never buy a new product from them again. I bought a backup used on ebay. It's switch also failed. I don't abuse my pedals. To be fair I travel with it to most gigs and it gets a fair amount of use but 2 broken switches in 2 years combined with crappy customer service makes it hard for me to trust this company.

3 Knobs (tone, fuzz and volume), in and out, 9v in, hardly rocket science.

I have an Ibanez RGT42 and a Yamaha Pacifica 112, not the best guitars, but I love em both into a Vox AD30VT. Also in the chain is a T-Rex Moller overdrive and a vox Big Ben Overdrive as well as my Boss GT8 (I need a pedalboard).

Used into the clean channel of my amp and with the Moller, I get a fantastic lead sound, the bottom end gets very muddy (no matter what I do) so I don't do any palm muted stuff low down the neck with it. But, I couldn't care less about the muddiness because of how good it sounds for lead work.

Quite simply, it really fattens up the tone of an already overdriven tone, just a really nice fat lead tone with lots of sustain. Sounds really nice with my guitar tutors Broadcaster (its a real one) into his Mesa Mark III combo.

It does get noisy at high levels of fuzz, but I use it with the fuzz on about half, so its barely noticable, and I use it pretty much exclusively for leads, so that doesn't matter.

I would use this at a gig without a backup. It is very neatly built inside, although the paint does chip very easily, which is a shame because the paint is lovely.

Haven't had the need to deal with them, but apparently they are very heplful.

I like it a lot, be it for a high gain bluesy lead, a la Gary Moore, or a bit of Pink Floyd (i.e. the outro solo to Comfortably Numb).

I love this pedal, and if it suddenly dissappeared into thin air never to be seen again, I would buy another with no hesitation.

C'mon people, it's a fuzzbox, not a super-computer. Easy.

I put no opinion purpousfully. I kinda got pressured in by the guy selling it to get it (although I admit I did like it at the time) before truly researching it, so its nobody's fault but mine (*gag* on song reference! lol).

At the time, I recently decided that I needed a fuzz, having listened to Jimi's fuzz tone live at the Isle of Wright (called Wild Blue Angel). That sound was just to die for. I have yet to find/hear a pedal (or any other guitarist) that gets that same fuzz flavor. I also like Jack White's sound, and I know he used an old American Big Muff for it.

I went into the local "boutique" store and asked the owner if he had any suggestions for that sound. He's a Frantone dealer, so he let me try the Peachfuzz. I thought it was ok at the time, but I got kinda pressured into getting it. I later found out the Peachfuzz is silicone based, not germanium based like the Muffs and Fuzzfaces which is what I wanted. So essentially, it wasn't the same sound as the afformentioned, although it got somewhat close to a Big Muff.

I brought it home at tried it on my Fender Hot Rod Deville 410, and I kinda liked it. Sounded pretty good w/ my strat. It isn't a very aggresive fuzz...the Wweet probably has more of that mean germanium bite. But there was several things I noticed....it does clean up when the guitar volume is turned down, but you have to roll way back (like around 4-5) for it to be a usable clean. The tone control, while a nice feature (and very effective), still affects the tone no matter what the volume setting. I noticed this because I was using the tone at 9 o'clock, very bassy, to get that smooth lead tone on the treble strings. But when I rolled back the volume, the tone filter was still there, and the single-pickup chime was gone competely. It was the same sound just less volume and fuzz.

With humbuckers the fuzz becomes way too saturated for any definition...this is where the tracking really goes to shit...and I had no luck thinning it up. I don't quite see how people say this doesn't have enough fuzz, because I got buttloads of it (lol) at relatively low "Fuzz" setting. It's mostly because there is a ton of bass added in this circuit to the point where it overwhelms the sound. Some people like this, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

So I stopped using it....until I got my Dr Z KT-45. I pulled it out again, and found a new issue--this pedal has a ton of output. I set the amp at a meduim volume (which is loud, but "medium" for the amp) so the sound is a punchy clean with some grit, and then usually add drive or treble boost for gain. The Frantone seriously increased my volume, and I couldn't get it down at all, even when turning down the volume AND fuzz on the pedal...it was still too loud. And way way too much bass.

Basically, this pedal got completely kicked off my board by my BSM Fuzzbender. The tones are great, it cleans up very well with guitar volume (fuzz is completely gone by 8), and it works well with humbuckers (the tonebender side has tighter bass and stronger mids). It is a different beast though--a fuzzface/tonebender clone vs. a silicone Big Muff clone. It just met my needs and my personal taste better.

No problems with it. My gear costs too much money to own backups :-)

Haven't dealt with them

The Frantone is very thick sounding, which I say is good in some applications. It does not, however, interact well with other gain units--it really doesn't need them anyway.

It is true bypass, which I like. The paint chips though.

Ok, to recapitulate, it's a toneful pedal, but it wasn't to my personal taste and it didn't mesh well in my rig; but I didn't properly research it before buying. For me, this pedal would be best as a lead sound, because I found it way too strong for rhythm, unless that is the sound you like. Set your volume low and clean, and use the pedal to boost you to gigging volume.

I do like the Frantone line. They have a good presentation and are structurally sound. This one just didn't do it for me. I am looking into getting a Vibutron.

I am selling mine. There is nothing wrong with it functionally, just a couple paint chips. I've had it for about a year now, used it rarely. Never gigged. Contact me if you are interested.

I'd first like to point out that this is a review of the vintage Frantone Peachfuzz. The one everyone wants, cause vintage is better right?

It has Two knobs, Volume and Fuzz. Duh...

The battery is a little tedious to change, four screws on the bottom... ugh... it's not like a Boss, i'll tell you that much.

Really easy to find some great tones in this baby.

The review will be for this setup: a 1991 Gibson Les Paul Studio ---> Dunlop Cry Baby -----> Frantone Peachfuzz ----> Traynor 50 watt tube amp (the blue one!)

WARNING: Watch out for the volume knob on this beast, it's deadly! VERY responsive! I really like the tone that gets belted outta this machine. It's got lots of low end, but still maintains the character of your fingers. With the fuzz low; it's almost like an overdrive/fuzz. When you crank the fuzz up, you can still hear every note in a chord, it's very transparent for a fuzz pedal! With the fuzz maxed, a rhythm sound will get lost in the mix, and will be a bit harsh, but this is only because of the crazy fuzz that this thing gives out. I find that as i turn up the volume knob, the low end is boosted substantially, i don't know if this is good or bad... I like it though. The cool thing about it is if you roll back on the guitar volume, it cleans up like a baby's bum! And it really responds to your picking dynamics, like play soft, and you'll get clean, dig in and you get a hint of fuzz.

Imagine a TS-808 fused with a Big Muff, and you've got the Peachfuzz: Punch and transparency with a great fuzz tone!

One thing i really like is how the note breaks down after you hold it. It doesn't have endless sustain, but the sound as the note is dying, almost sounds like your sweeping from treble to bass on a wah pedal very slowly. It's nice...

One issue with mine is that there's a really really noticable hum from the pedal when i use the adaptor jack. I probably could have it looked at... It's not from my guitar, cause i rolled back the volumes, and nothing happened, then took out the d/c jack and it was perfect. So, who knows, age i guess.

You can get a tone similar to Jimi in purple haze, and a really soaring lead tone if you crank the fuzz up. Loads of sustain in the higher register.

Oh, man. Rectangular metal casing. Metal stomp switch. All great, but my only issue..

The black plastic volume knob slid off (probably because it's old!) in my gig bag, and wouldn't stay back on. BUT my intuitive genius mind fixed this right up with some contact cement inside the knob. I just stuck it back on, it dried, and hasn't broke since!

It kinda kills batteries fast if your not careful, just unplug the patch from the input when it's not being used!

Another thing is, when the battery is dying, the LED lights up slightly dimmer, but no sound comes out... It's noticable if you've got a good eye, but be wary of this.

I would definetely depend on this pedal, but i'd put in a new battery before a show, just to be safe!

Haven't dealt with them yet, i've had no problems so far.

I really like this pedal, and it really fits my style of music. I play mostly classic/psych rock with a faster fuzzed out edge. Inspired by Jimi, Jimmy, (lol), David Gilmour, The Vines, The Datsuns, a crapton of late 60's to early 70's psychedelia, ooh, Quicksilver Messenger service is awesome, Spirit is awesome, The Smoke, whatever, anyway

The new pedal comes with a Tone knob, this might be helpful, but i'm fine with this sound. I also am a fan of the knob style, they're big, black, and cool. I can move them with my feet onstage and not worry! If i need an extra fuzz or volume boost, that is!

It has inspired me on many occasions, and also inspired my Band's name, so i'd recommend this pedal if you want a very rare transparent sounding fuzz!

Well, a pedal with 3 konbs (level, tone and gain) can't be that hard to use now can it? This one isn't at all hard to get a good sound out of because it sounds great at nearly any setting. I personally like it with the gain set pretty high (like 3 o'clock), the tone at about 12 o'clock and the level at about 11 o'clock.
I suppose the only slightly difficult thing about it is that the dials are pretty sensitive, so the changes you get are quite dramatic. This is, of course, a good thing but makes it slightly harder to get a sound you like - to start with.

Excellent. I couldn't ask for more. Bare in mind that it is primarily a lead tone pedal - though I like it with rhythem styles too. It has plenty of bass and mid range and tons of sustain. It has a lovely vintage, violin type tone. As you may have guessed I like it a lot.
Oh yeah, and it is really, really quiet.
I think some people feel it doesn't have enough gain, but thats kind of a stupid criticism; it has the amount of gain it is supposed to have. It is not a big muff-a-like. It has a really great character of its own.

Erm, I think it is reliable. Seems sound. I've had it about a year and it is still as it was the day I got it. The only slight issue I have is with the input and output jacks - they dont quite have the 'snap' sound when you plug it in that lets you know it has connected properly.

Never dealt with Frantone. I hear they are very good though.

Really, really good. One of the best lead tones I've heard from a fuzz (and I have got a few - Zvex Fuzz Factory, Effector 13 Silver Crank, Frantone Cream Puff, Big Muff reissue (Yuk!) and I've played lots of others - that I couldn't afford!). I would recomend it to anyone looking for vintage tone. Don't get one if you are expecting balls to the wall amounts of gain because you wont get it.

I use the Peachfuzz with my Mesa/Boogie Bass 400+ Amp. It sound best if switched between Pre- and Power-Amp,in the FX loop. (!)
(You have to play with the Master and Volume Knobs to find your balance between clean and fuzzed bass.)

It has so much BASS, you even can boost basses, a rather rare and precious feature, the search is over! Distorted bass still is a difficult issue, especially when you want to have kept some bass in the signal when it reaches the amp!!!

I'll give the sound only a 9, I want to try Fran's Lo Tone Fuzz one day, it must be heaven!

The Janitor seems to have access to the computer at Fran's place. Anyway answers come quick and are helpful.

I love fuzzed bass -> Fu Manchu ->This thing does it!

fuzz and tone are straightforward but the vol is way over the top and hard to control. gobs of gain. it's almost at the lowest position if you want to maintain vol level.

well i haven't played them all but this is def the best pedal i've used so far. im a bassist so take that into consideration with my remarks. I had a Tech 21 XXL which totally blew, a Guyatone distortion which is OK (might be better on guit) and a black Russian Big Muff Pi. I liked the muff quite a bit but the construction is shameful. how can EH sell crap like that with a straight face. my Small stone is the same way - EH is the WORST. To be clear, the muff had some great tones but it's just not reliable. switch is dead and i used it about a year, moderately. I tried the Roger Mayer bass pedal and it just didn't pull up a clear dirty fuzz sound for me. The Peachfuzz sounds decent - it sounds somewhere near Pumpkins fuzz or 70's Sabbath or some stoner rock stuff. I think there is some EQ in this thing as it sounds like the mids get a little scooped and the bass boosted. I just keep thinking it sounds like a marshall tube stack really driven hard.

havne't had long enough to comment but my inspection shows it to be made well of quality components.

haven't tried

Overall i think it's a step in the right direction for me. i'd like to try the fulltone bass drive which people drool over. but this puppy's definitely a lot of fun and very huge sounding. i live in brooklyn so i might go drop by their factory to see what's up.

The Peachfuzz is an extremely easy pedal to use,three knobs: fuzz, tone, volume. The settings work well with one another and it was easy to find great sounds without the manual.

My rig is on guitargeek: http://guitargeek.com/rigview/623/ I play atmospheric guitar pop RIYL, Ride, MBV etc. The pedal is dead quiet and is great when I'm looking for a thick thunderous fuzz to break up the trebly bite that I get from my Rat II. The output from the pedal seems to absorb too many low frequencies when using it in conjunction with a noisy coda during times the bass is fuzzed out as well. We use a Roger Mayer Spitfire or an EH USA Big Muff Reissue on the bass. I really love the thick fuzz sound when a passage calls for the Peachfuzz.

I keep it in a pedalboard but I havn't had a problem in over a year and a half. On the way to playing SXSW in Austin (post 9/11), the Transit Authority really layed into my pedalboard and when it made it to the baggage claim, the case was open and everything (10 pedals)had condensation on them. The TSA had sprayed some freon type of explosive detector on eveything including inside the input and output jacks, ripping apart my meticulous George L connections. The Peachfuzz performed perfectly at the show the next night despite her rape by the TSA. I gig/tour without worry.

I've e-mailed and recieved instataneous replys. I've mostly been inquiring about other pedals or sequence suggestions since I haven't experienced a problem yet.

I play dreampop and this pedal adds a nice option to thicken-up the wash or make it seem like the gutteral gates of hell are opening. I've been playing guitar for over 12 years and in bands for the same amount of time. I traded a Zvex Fuzz Factory for this. I kept the FF for two days and it seemed like the pedal was bipolar, on the same settings the sound would fluctuate by the hour and it had these transistor-type overtones that I wasn't digging. I have a Zvex Super Duper 2 in 1 which I love. I'm used to Zvex's quirky charms, but, the FF was too tempermental for me. I'd buy a Peach Fuzz again. Dean Wareham of the band Luna recently started using a Peachfuzz instead of his Way Huge Red Llama. He's always been my tone guide.

very easy to use fuzz,tone,vol

I use the Fuzz through a Rivera 100W Rake head the Paul made for me it's a lot like dumble. Cravin 150 Pwr Amp for efx only; Cabs: 4X12 Marshall stereo loaded with Weber chicago and Thame 60W Speakers use it mono a 16 ohms,Rivera 2X12 Loaded with Weber Chicago at 16 ohms, Vincenzo 2X12 Loaded w/Weber Thame 60W and Vintage 30.I use a Bradhaw switcher Rs10 and 2X4 for efx I have a TC D-Two,TC G-Force,Bradshaw mini Mixer. Pedals are: Keely Compressor,Analog man Juicer,Arion Chorus for trem, Voodoo Lab Micro-Vibe,and Peach Fuzz. Main gtrs are a PRS McCarty with Duncan Pearly gates in the neck and Tom Anderson Ho2 in the bridge, Tom Anderson Drop Top w/Floyd Rose has John Suhr V60's and Suhr Humbucker in bridge. The peach Fuzz is very Low noise,built like a tank, My Rake head sounds very good with this unit, It has a lot of bottom end but the tone control does a nice job. If you wanted to tweek it change the cap valve this is very cheap to have done. The paint used on the peach fuzz chips very easy, The trick to this Fuzz is that you must use you vol contoll on the gtr to go from clean,crunch, and fuzz tones if you want to use the pedal for balls to the wall you get Stepin' Wolf Born to be Wild I never cared for that tone, all I do is back off the vol on my gtrs to clean up. My fav. tones that i use a lot is Michael Landau,Larry Carlton,Robben ford,Hendrix,Robin Trower,
Black Crows. The peach fuzz gets it all. I still give this unit a 10 it's the tone that I dig. I also run the peach fuzz 1st into the input onf my head and compressors 2nd this smooths out the peaks of ant od and fuzz.

I have owned the Peach Fuzz for a 1yr now and it's very dependable.
I would by one again.

The people at Frantone are very cool and respond well.

I play Jazz,Blues,Rock,Country and the fuzz is very good for all these styles. Been playing 20yrs if were stollen I would by again.
I love about the unit that it's very well built and the tones it gets, I wish that the paint job would hold up better,fav feature is the why the unit goes form a tube screamer,od and fuzz, I've had fuzz faces, CAE/Blak cat Freddy Fuzz,big muff the peach fuzz kills them all.

Its as easy as it gets,vol.tone,fuzz.Only a deaf person would have problems dialing it in,and they would probably get it right.

It's a fuzz the only person who wouldn't like it is somebody who bought it mistakingly,some kid who really just wanted a distortion or an overdrive.So if you want fuzz this is your daddy,it does the Pumkins thing.I play 50 watt Marshalls,Boogie blue angel,and Fenders.It's cool with single coils or humbuckers,Want low end balls and Chunkin'-you got it.It can do a cool nasal thing too if your into it.It ain't cheap, bring your vaseline.Nothing in life is really free.

Been playing 25 years,best fuzz I,ve ever heard.If lost I'd shop more for a better deal.It is fuzz at it's best,with true bypass: very important to me.

3 knobs - very easy to use, hard to get a bad tone out of it unless you crank the tone the bass side too much.

The peachfuzz sounds huge. It's got a really big wide sound that is just room filling. It's kind of a one trick pony, but it's a good pony. It's articulate, cleans up very nice when you roll back guitar volume, and cuts through the band. If you take Siamese Dream as the standard (in terms of amount of fuzz), the peachfuzz can just about approach that, but it excels at lower levels of fuzz as well. I use it for a dirty punch on some of our harder songs with the fuzz set at half or less. The tone control is even (not really spikey anywhere). It's a great pedal, maybe not for everyone since it sits between things like the fulltone 69 and the crazy fuzzes like a big muff or a fuzz factory. But it suits my needs well. I do wish there was a knob to control the fuzz that was independent of the gain. THen it would be the ultimate.
It plays well with others in my chain '56 RI goldtop w/p90s, EB mono vol, barber direct drive, peachfuzz, zvex sho, md-3 delay, guyatone vtx trem, holy grail all into a marshall bluesbreaker reissue. I play mostly indie rock in the vein of superchunk, husker du, etc...

built like tank, no worries.

It's a great fuzz pedal that covers a good range of overdrive levels. Built well, sounds enormous, and cuts through the band. What more can you want?

standard fuzz pedal layout.

Fuzz, Volume and Tone knobs.

this pedal is very easy to use. I dialled in a nice fuzz sound within minutes of plugging it in.

the manual is a small piece of paper. No settings or anything on it. To be quite fair, it's a fuzz pedal, and unless it's a Zvex Fuzz Factory or something, you don't really need settings suggestions in the manual or anything.

My current setup is the following:

1967 CAR Fender Jazzmaster > Krank Cheetah Scream Treble Boost > Frantone Peachfuzz > Frantone HepCat > MXR 6 Band EQ > Voodoo Lab Tremolo > Morley Emerald Echo > Akai Tune Lok tuner > Silverface 70s Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp.

In this chain the pedal is very quiet. It interacts very well with my treble boost and my OD as well with all the rest of the pedals.

On it's own the fuzz effect is very nice and thick. "Muscle" is a word that springs to mind sometimes. The more you turn the fuzz up, the denser the effect gets. Very nice :)

There's plenty of fuzz there to please most people, but I wouldn't say that it gets really out of hand (like a Way Huge Swollen Pickle, for example)

the only thing that might be a problem for people is that the pedal is quite bassy. it kinda sounds like Siameze Dream by the Smashing Pumkins (a good thing for me).

it's not a major problem for me, but others might dislike it.

so, 2 points off for that, as it could of been more versatile with it's tonal range.

True bypass is also a plus.

I can definetely depend on it.

it's built like Battleship Gallactica! :)

on a serious note, construction is excellent. Great footswitch, good jacks.

I would never gig without a backup of my main effects though (fuzz, OD) I'd carry a cheap boss, just in case.

I actualy had to email them when I thought that the peachfuzz had gone dead.

Mia was very prompt and nice in her answers.

my pedal hadn't really gone dead.

it's just that when the battery goes under a certain voltage rating, then the pedal brings out no fuzz effect, even though the LED is on, and everything appears to be normal.

a fresh battery brought my peachfuzz back to life!

thank you, Mia :)

I have been playing for 10 years now, and I play loads of different types of music, but my main stuff is Sonic Youth, Dinosaur jr, Lemonheads, Ride, Adorable, My Bloody Valentine etc.

this pedals sounds very good indeed.

If it was stolen, I think that I'd replace it with a pedal with a broader tonal range.

I'd like to try out some MJM stuff....maybe The Sweet, by Frantone would be a good choice too.

nowadays we're spoiled for choice when it comes to fuzzes.

I love the way it looks, like the way it sounds, and overall, I think I made a good choice when I bought it. Just wish it had a broader tonal range, and a tad more fuzz on tap.

Well all you have are 3 knobs...not that hard. Tone gives you more bass, then you have the fuzz and vol. The pedal works with my Boss pedal board and just pops right in!

Best thing about the pedal is that it can go really wild if you crank the settings, but it also can get just a little bit of fuzz. I make money playing in a cover band and it is just really usable. I use a Holland 50 watt amp and a Tele so I am a bit of a tone nut.

Just bought the pedal a month ago, so I guess we'll see! Seems very tough. I know that the jacks are Switchcraft, so it will probably last a long time.

Don't know

When I play for fun I play blues, but I also do covers to supplement my income. The only thing that would be better is if you didn't have to undo the screws to change the battery, but since it works with my pedal board, doesn't matter.
I bought this pedal because not only is it made in America, but it looks cool and just has an amazing smooth sound. Also it is less than other quality distortions.

This pedal sounds terrible. I cant use it at all.

I play a Fender Strat into a 100 watt Fender Stage Lead amp. I bought this pedal to use as a fuzz, but its completely worthless amd I returned this pedal the day after I bought it. It sounds weak, it has no bite, no bark, it doesnt sound that clear, and its tracking of the bass notes is way off. There isnt enough fuzz here to play lead guitar.

No need for customer support because I returned this pedal the next day and got a full refund.

I have been playing electric guitar for 20 years amd I know the goods when I hear them. This Peachfuzz aint the goods, folks. Its the worst fuzz pedal Ive ever heard, even worse than my 25 year-old Maestro MFZ Fuzz. Yes, its that bad! This Peachfuzz purchase was a waste of my time and money. The Boss fuzz that was recently discontinued is ten times better than the Peachfuzz and costs half the price! The Peachfuzz should sell for 75 dollars, not 175 dollars. Some of my other pedals include the Banzai Cold Fusion, Austone Fuzz Nutz, Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz, Fulltone Soulbender, all of which are much better than the Peachfuzz. I keep good pedals and I get rid of junk.

Well 3 knobs-not that hard, but a cool shade of blue! Volume, tone and fuzz.

I saw the last Peachfuzz review so I had to write. Wish they had the balls to use their name! Beautiful true bipass, the tone knob actually gives a bass boost. The coolest thing is that you can get just a little dirty distortion. I use a Fender Bandmaster with a @x12 with Celstions so my set up is great.

Switchcraft, sturdy box(small too!), alpha pots and a beautiful hand solder job. Totally dependable unless perhaps you are playing under water or something,

Emailed a question and got anhonesty reply right away. Told me the SWeet was a little to much sustain for the kind of music I play

I use this pedal when I do blues gigs or when I am backing up singers. I would use it recording as well.

The Peachfuzz is really easy to use. I "upgraded" from an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff NYC reissue, first to an EH Graphic Fuzz (it sucked, very yucky sound - kinda gimmicky) then today i exchanged that for the Peachfuzz. I say upgraded in quotes because the big muff is definitely no slouch, it has a great fuzz sound (at least that particular reissue did). The big muff has an awesome sweepable tone knob, which the peachfuzz doesnt have. The single tone knob (3 knobs on this pedal- Fuzz, Tone and Volume) is more of a simpler low pass filter that is still very functional. I kinda miss the tone knob from the big muff.

the battery is housed in the back of the pedal, which is only accesible by unscrewing the 4 screws holding the back plate on. it would really suck to have to deal with those screws 5 minutes before a show.

im also not thrilled with the power supply jack, i wish it was just a standard boss-type plug so i could power it from my tuner. i understand this has different power requirements, though if a company is going to make a plug like that, for $175 they should really just include the power supply.

the actual dialing up of sounds on this pedal is really simple, though. it comes with a inkjet printer printed manual that i dont think anyone would need except for the sentence on how to intelligently positiion the battery in the back.

btw, i bought this from 30th street guitars in NYC and they were very cool and helpful. i tried out maybe 20 different kinds of fuzz and they let me do an exchange (i initially bought the graphic fuzz) with no hassles or anything. they have an awesome selection of hard to find stuff.

in regards to hum, hiss and other noises, this pedal is very quiet, much more so than 90% of the other somewhat expensive ($150 and up) pedals i tried. it has a true bypass too, although it does drain the battery with the unit plugged in and the fuzz off (i think).

the fuzz itself is absolutely fantastic. even at the lowest setting on the fuzz knob there are cool tones to be had. the levels of distortion go from a really mild overdrive, all the way up to a very distorted sound.

i also tried it going directly in to my console and this also produced a great sound. very very different from the amp'ed sound. this was more of a "theme from fat albert" or some really old 60's kind of crazy fuzz. when direct it has a germanium transistor sound to it, i dont know if it uses those or not. my point is, when direct it gave me a sound that ive been trying to get for several months but had no idea how to get so for me this pedal is sorta perfect. with some early reflections and a little eq it should fit soooo nicely into a mix.

the overall volume of this pedal when turned on is mind bogglingly loud. it's fantastically loud and totally controllable due to the volume knob. with my big muff's gain turned down (for a mellower sound), switching between clean and fuzzed would leave the fuzz too quiet, even with the bigmuff's volume knob turned all the way up. i do not expect to be having that problem with this thing anytime soon.

i'm giving it this category a 9 because when switching back and forth between my amp's clean channel and the fuzz, i feel like there is maybe a little too much bass coming out of the fuzz. i like pretty punchy bass on my clean channel (a peavey classic 50 212) but it's just a little much around 100 hz or so with the pedal turned on. then again, i just got it today and i havent even rehearsed with it yet, i only cranked it a little in my studio room.

also, i think i noticed a slight pop when turning the pedal on.

overall though, the sound of this pedal won out over ALL the other ones i tried, which i think is saying a lot because i checked out so many, some of which were pretty expensive.

i just got it today, so i cant really say how reliable it is. the casing is made out of some kind of hard core metal, the switch looks like some kind of military issue thing, even the LED has some kind of protective hood around it. overall it looks like i could drive my saturn over it without it breaking too badly.

the insides are wired together well, i do a little of that myself and it's certainly a hell of a lot better than i could do. i didnt really like how the battery sits in the compartment, it just seemed a little sketchy. not that i think it's going anyhere, i just had to be creative with how i left the battery when putting the cover back on.

at this point if i had a show tonite i would bring a backup, but i dont think too many people out there would not bring one if using it for the first time on the same day you bought it. that would just be suicidal.

never dealt with them, but they're from my hometown and current hood of brooklyn, USA so how bad could they be?

i play a lot of styles, i also buy stuff knowing that when people come here to do sessions, they will occasionally want to use my stuff. ive been playing for about 15 years and been doing sessions for about 7 or 8 years (im just answering these questions they give you here).

my other distortion sound is a sansamp gt-2 and i sometimes use the distortion channel on the classic 50. i felt i needed something a little less polished sounding - something more transistor-y sounding for those times when a really polished sound is not as suitable. i think the peachfuzz is perfect for that.

after narrowing it down from all the other fuzz boxes i tried in the last 2 days, i'd say yeah if it were stolen, id replace it with the same one. on the other hand, the big muff i traded it in for it costs less than half of the peachfuzz and is a damn fine sounding fuzz. for some things i would even say it is better. so if youre reading this trying to decide which to buy, id say check out both cuz these 2 are the tops IMO

the main difference i have found is that the big muff has wayyyyy more gain and takes less of the gain knob (actually it's called "sustain" on the pedal) to get there. it has a really cool tone knob but is overall not a tenth as loud as the peachfuzz.

the peachfuzz has a few things about it that really make it stand out for a player. first i think that there is a real degree of subtlety that gets drowned in the big muff once you turn the gain up a little bit. with the peachfuzz it still responds nicely to your dynamics and chordal notes dont turn to shit, even at fair amounts of distortion. both pedals sound really funky when you plug them in direct and i can say that the big muff is fucking tubular for bass when used direct.

Well, folks, it's a fuzz. I didn't see any diodes inside the thing when I put a battery in there, so it must use some other sort of circuit to generate the fuzz/overdrive. There are two knobs: "Fuzz" and "Volume."

Pretty darned clean...certainly not much noise for a fuzz-type distortion box. There is a little "pop" when you switch it on, but it's not really noticeable. The overdrive (as per the volume knob) is hot and clean, and the fuzz is very, very smooth.

It seems quite solid. The circuitry inside is neat and well-screwed down, the switch is a tough true bypass job, and the outer casing is a metal box for chrissakes. The two pots are smooth...really, this thing is tough and high-quality.

Well, Frantone is out of business. I really don't know much about the mysterious company, other than it's this lady named Fran building this stuff. I'd imagine she's either a tinkerer or an engineer of some sort...anyway, it's truly a shame this company doesn't exist anymore...I must say, this is quite a cool stompbox.

Well, damn it, I play my own style of music (mostly) which I'd probably call a "poppy-funk rock." Or something like that. The Peachfuzz works very well as an overdrive, but I really like the fuzz this thing makes. I accidentally switched on a half-cocked envelope filter before this thing, and, oh my...suddenly, with a little palm muting and control, I was Jimi Hendrix or something. Oh Dear God! What a cool little box! The only difficulty I've had is that it requires a 3.5mm, 9V, 300ma power adapter; I plugged my older DOD adapter into it, which is a 10V/150ma unit, and the thing went crazy and hummed like a bastard. I stuck a battery in there instead, which fixed the problem, but I want to get it plugged in soon (I have a feeling this sucker eats lots of current). Anyway, I ordered an adapter with different plugs that will supply up to 500ma from Musician's Friend, and I hope to God that fixes the problem...it would truly suck if this thing made all kinds of noise unless it's powered by a damned battery. I highly doubt that's the case, and tentatively I feel I must rate this little wonder a "10" overall. Pity we won't be seeing more of Fran's handiwork...