Frantone Vibutron

real easy to use , but i find it not to be a vibe pedal...a exc. tremelo pedal..my univibe and rotosphere mkII are vibes...

top of the line FOR A TREMELO PEDAL.

solid for a tremelo pedal....

what can I say...I bought it...works and looks and built 10/10...but this is NO vibrato pedal...no way...its a tremelo pedal...put it next to any univibe/hughes and kettner rotosphere...so Im stuck w/ a great tremelo pedal

I was not the only one who thought this is NOT a vibe pedal at all....its a super tremelo pedal...much like a tremadillo, but theres NO pitch and bend...you are not going to do any typical trower or hendrix with this.....
id buy from Frantone again, but be careful what you buy,make sure it does what you would expect it to do...it should be called a TREMATRON....lol

I tried this pedal out next to a T-rex tremolo at Rudy?s in NYC. I was prepared to spend the extra 30 bucks on the American made Frantone but I wanted to test it with something else of similar quality. (T-rex hails from Denmark) At first glance the T-rex had more options but after careful consideration and listing I fond the Franton to have more "useable" sounds. It?s very easy to use. Has 3 knobs and sounds great at all settings. This is a pedal made to sound good live with a group not just in the music store or in you're bed room. If you play out often you know what i'm talking about.

I play a stock American strat and a Gibson 335 into a couple different amps, for small and jazz gigs I use a sliver face Fender musicmaster bass, for most gigs I use a peavey classic fifty 410 (don't laugh till you use one live). I also have a mojotone tone machine but it?s in the shop. At Rudy?s I used a demo strat with fralin pickups (I think) into a Victoria brown face clone and a Carr maverick. This pedal is clean quiet and user friendly. I will mention that their is a slight change in tone with the effect on if you turn the depth knob down all the way so the effect is off but the pedal is still on you will notice a slit loss of highs. I say this only because a another reviewer said their was no change. This is not a big deal because it has a true bypass and would be nearly imposable to correct in an analog effect. It sounds great for what I play. It?s subtle not to drastic with the mode knob turn to the right, in the middle you get a more pronounced sound and to the left it's square wave time. Think kill bill 2 sound track.

Just bought it seems tough. I work my gear hard but I've never broken a pedal.

N/A they are made by a couple out of NYC haven?t had to call them but if I did it would be to compliment them for making a good product.

I've been play ten years now. I study jazz at the univisty of Maine at Augusta. An awesome school to learn at. I play jazz gigs and I have my own R&B, funk, pop, blues, and play to the crowd bar band. We usually play out once a week or more. If my pedals we stolen I would not be able to afford to replace them all, so lets not think about that. This pedal was a good investment. Here is some thing that very true; good music is comprised of three elements, space, time, and tone. Tone is a very important element in music. We've all heard bands with good guitarest that have bad tone. So when you pick your effects think about what will sound good live and don't be afraid to spend a little more if you can afford it.

Vast palette of tonal colors that span a wide range of our hearing spectrum. Reds, crimsons, blacks, blues, greens and yellows. No manual; plug in and expereiment, you'll find some mojo in this pedal for sure.

Forget my setup, I've got everything from cheap to way to expensive, from mass market to custom built one-of-a-kind. Unit is not noisy at all on any setting no matter the extreme. I also use the Fulltone Supa-Trem (the new one without the mandatory volume boost) just after the Frantone. I bought both thinking to A/B them and send one back, but found sounds in each one the other did not possess. Gotta have 'em both. I checked out everything else. This Frantone has got the hoodoo kudu - positive vibes here!

From the contact i've had with Frantone, I can rest assured if this unit blipped they would straighten me out. I never gig without a backup and if everything went bust, I'm able to stand up and do it with my voice alone anyway.

I own and use more than one Frantone pedal. I've had nothing but the most positive experince with customer support. They are into doing what they do totally on the level. First class, correct path people.

I've been playin' forever, I'm a lifer. If you want, www.nowik.com. If it disappeared, for sure I'd get another one as fast as I could. I look at pedals as instruments and this pedal is musical instrument of the highest.

It's three knobs; speed, waveform, and depth. If you're looking at this review, then you know the basics of the trem/vibrato effect and its controls...no hidden surprises. It will not take you very long to get comfortable with this pedal. Straightforward set of instructions, but you really won't need them.

Here's my rig: Heritage 535,Gibson Les Paul, and Gibson ES-225 played through a Holland 2-10 Jazz Amp. Other effects include a Klon, Fulltone Fatboost, Clyde Deluxe, Distortion Pro, and Choralflange, Boss Delay,and an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. Everything is powered by a Voodoo Labs Pedalpower II. The Vibutron works great with this setup. As promised in their literature, there is no change in volume or tone when using this pedal nor does it introduce any noise into this chain. It's also true-bypass. Best of all, it sounds like its part of the amp and not an add-on effect. I was extremely pleased that it blended so well with the amp and the other effects. I had forgotten how good an overdriven vibrato/delay tone could sound. The Holland is a very unforgiving amp when it comes to effects. Even though I use quite a few pedals, I do not want anything in the chain that takes away from the tone; and I do compare the tone of the pedal straight to the amp vs in the chain with the other pedals before I commit to using it. The Vibutron passed with flying colors. No noise from the pedal and sounds equally good using a battery or ac power.

I have only had the pedal a few weeks so I can't truly comment on its reliability yet. I would say it appears well-built and I haven't had any problems thus far.

I have not needed to contact the company for anything but I would say that the pedal is just as they described on their site. No extra hype or b.s. claims. They appear to deliver what they promise.

I've been playing for over 30 years and I do gig regularily. I've also spent time in the studio. Been fortunate to own a few choice pieces and can appreciate good-quality, reliable equipment regardless of price. My band plays blues, r&b,and classic rock so a good tremelo/vibrato sound is somewhat essential to the music. A few years ago, I finally switched from blackface Fender amps to Holland amps and although the Holland amps are sweet sounding amps, they don't have built-in tremelo/vibrato. I had been using an old Boss Tremelo pedal for years and it actually wasn't bad sounding once you got past the volume drop. What started my search for a better sounding pedal was that when I was in the studio working on our last CD, I used the vibrato sound in my original "road tested and gig-approved" '65 Twin Reverb for a few songs and when it came time to play those songs live, the Boss didn't cut it. The best description I can give you is that the Boss sounded like an effect whereas the Fender's vibrato was the real deal. I was pretty set on ordering the Fulltone Supra-trem, when I happened to come across the Vibutron in a local music store. I arranged to try it on a gig with my rig (the only real way to be sure something is going to work for you) and I was sold. There was no guesswork in getting the pedal to do its job and in minutes I had a vibrato sound that nailed the sound of the Twin Reverb. Thats no easy task in my opinion. From a mellow barely audible sound to an in-your-face on/off delay tone, this pedal is outstanding. I can't believe I'm the first person to post a review.

Granted, $280 list is a lot for a pedal; and before you jump, I bought the Klon years ago, before they rose to the price levels they are going for now on E-bay. If I spend that kind of money on something, I've got to be fairly sure its a keeper. It didn't take long to realize this one's a keeper. If there was one thing I could add to the pedal, it would be a fast/slow switch like the Fulltone has. In all fairness, I have not played the Fulltone but I heard it used live and tone-wise the Framptone and the Fulltone are in the same league. Keep in mind that tremelo/vibrato pedals are not as widely used as overdrive or distortion pedals so you may not find that many pedals out there to try for comparison. There are probably even fewer high-end vibrato pedals out there. But if you're looking for a true authentic sounding tremelo/vibrato pedal, then give the Framptone a try. Believe me, you will hear the difference. It's that good.