Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › Broken Little Big Muff Ï€?
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February 2, 2009 at 4:51 pm #77674refeedbackMember
Hello! I think my Little Big Muff Ï€ may be broken, or perhaps more acurately speaking may have been faulty when bought. Perhaps I have faulty assumptions of the pedal. Let me describe. The pedal certainly has some level of distortion, but under no circumstance can I replicate or even approach anything like the type of sound that I’ve heard on the EHX website, or on the numerous demos on youtube. For instance, with everything at 12 o’clock, there is a significant volume drop. To break even the ‘sustain’ knob needs to be on full, and the volume something like two-thirds. The fuzz sound just isn’t there, it just sounds rather flatulent, barely distorted (I use distorted in a generic sense), none of that ‘infinite sustain’, it drops off very quickly (in contrast to a compression pedal). I’ve tried 9v batteries and power adaptors, with no difference. I’ve tried putting a tubescreamer before it on the pedal chain, with no significant difference. Of course I’ve also tried it on its own. I’ve tried going directly into the input on my amp, and using the effects loop; no difference. Other than pulling off the rubber feet and fitting velcro, and taking off the back to put in a battery, I’ve not fiddled with the innards of the thing.
When I compare my LBMÏ€ to the ‘fuzz’ setting on my holy stain, it just isn’t anywhere in the same league as it. I assume the Holy Stain’s fuzz isn’t technically a Big Muff Fuzz, but it certainly is a fuzz of some sort.
I’m using a 100w solid state Marshall amp. I only ever use it on the clean setting, with pedals providing all the distortion/overdrive effects. I wondered if the amp needed to have some level of dirt in order to bring out the fuzz, but like I already said, I tried a tubescreamer before it (and after it), to no significant avail.
Please advise – is it broke, or am I a dumbass? I love the rest of my EHX stuff, and I want a big muff sound that works!
February 2, 2009 at 5:14 pm #92463electro-melxModeratorunity volume is at about 11 o’clock on my little big muff, no you shouldn’t need any dirt on the amp to get a really thick muff sound.
have you tried it with a different battery or a power supply?
it doesn’t sound ‘right’ to me at all.
February 2, 2009 at 7:13 pm #92473julianModeratoryeah, something’s messed up with it
is the LED bright or dim?
February 2, 2009 at 11:42 pm #92499refeedbackMemberThanks for your advice. I just tried a new battery; nice bright LED. With Sustain set to full (about half-past 5 o’clock) and Volume at about 12 o’clock, it is about equal with the clean tone (Seems I exaggerated a bit before). The resulting distortion is almost like a mild overdrive, not really fuzzy, not at all thick – no ‘sustain’ to speak of. I just want to make sure that the pedal really is buggered before shelling out on a new one, in case that’s how it’s supposed to sound, or my setup was wrong or something. I’ve had the pedal over a year, but it’s always sounded like this, hence I don’t use it!
February 2, 2009 at 11:54 pm #92500Ned FlandersModeratorNo its definitely supposed to sound big and thick that’s for sure.
Send it in for repair.February 3, 2009 at 12:16 am #92504refeedbackMemberSadly, I don’t think it would be cost effective for me to send my pedal back to NY, as I live in the UK (I guess I would also have to pay the repair costs and return postage). I can get a new LBMP for £45 (about $65) – I should have sorted this out when I first suspected that it wasn’t right, and when it was still under warranty!
February 3, 2009 at 12:35 am #92508Ned FlandersModeratorMake a new one into its enclosure, it’ll only cost you the PCB, parts, 2 jacks and 3 pots.
February 3, 2009 at 12:38 am #92510electro-melxModeratorYou could send it to the repair centre in Germany (it’s where the european ones are done) but I think you might be right that it isn’t worth it, I bought a used one for £30.
February 3, 2009 at 12:51 am #92513refeedbackMemberLooks like it’s:
for me.March 3, 2009 at 1:08 am #94151scrimMemberI recently got a Russian Big Muff Pi, the black one with greenish/yellow printing on it, and seem to have almost the same problem.
When I switch it on, the LED lights up nice and bright (tried two brand new 9V batteries, this pedal has no power adapter option) but unless all three knobs are turned up 100%, it cuts the signal to practically nothing, and there’s no distortion to be spoken of. Even maxed out on the knobs and with every imaginable combination of settings, it still puts out next to nothing.
Tried it with my ’66 Duo-Sonic, two of my Jagmasters, my Epiphone SG, and the guitars seem to make no difference. Played it through my half stack, and my tiny little Danelectro Honeytone amp, same business no matter what I try. Just no distortion, and barely audible in comparison to my amp’s clean channel.
I listened to the audio samples on the Musician’s Friend site, and it was Muff-city, really nice. I seriously think there’s something wrong with this box, but don’t know where the trouble would be stemming from.
Any suggestions?
(Attached a picture of the box, I’m new to this forum, and not a computer genius, so if it doesn’t show up I apologize.)
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