Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › muddy mushy big muff sound.. HELP!!
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July 28, 2010 at 3:58 pm #80542wardyh92Member
whenever I use my little big muff on an amp set with even the slightest bit of overdrive it turns completely to mush, and it sounds like there’s a blanket draped over the amp. It loses all clarity and bassy notes in particular just disappear.
I’m trying to get the siamese dream sound. Someone said you have to crank a tube amp for it to work properly, can anyone confirm this?When I play it on the clean channel it sounds fine. Is this normal? Is a big muff meant to be played on an amp set for clean? If so, how do you get a normal overdrive sound without tap-dancing around channel switchers and pedals?
Thanks!
July 28, 2010 at 5:39 pm #110529KitraeMemberIMO, they do sound best when played through clean tube amps with lots of head room and little breakup. I have never had great results using them with amps that already have dirt, though some people do. The dual clippers in the Muff circuit create a very scooped distortion on their own, so throwing that signal again into another circuit making more dirt out of dirt can sound bad. If the amp is too distorted the lows can bottom out and you can lose all your clarity.
Billy’s amp was a Marshall JCM 800. Not exactly a clean amp, but based on the sound, pix of his Muff, and the pots, he was likely using an op-amp Big Muff, not a transistor Muff like the LBM. Op-amps react slightly different to dirt than the transistor Muffs do.
July 28, 2010 at 5:52 pm #110530wardyh92Memberbut his amp was modded with kt-88s to make give it more clean headroom, so this make sense. it can only really work on a clean amp? are there any easy mods I can do to make it work with OD?
July 28, 2010 at 6:15 pm #110531KitraeMemberI don’t know if I would call using those China tubes much of a mod, but there would be more headroom. I have played a stock EL34 JCM 800 with my V4 op-amp Muff and I can say that Marshal tone I hear on SD really comes through with that particular amp slightly dirty. I get great results with my very clean Reeves Custom 50 too, another EL34 amp.
I’m sure there are mods that would make a Muff work better with a dirty amp, but it is a gamble whether or not you would get the Corgan tone you are after with it. I would not even want to attempt messing with those mircro SMD components on that LBM board either.
August 1, 2010 at 10:05 pm #110608efilhoMemberQuote:it turns completely to mush, and it sounds like there’s a blanket draped over the amp. It loses all clarity and bassy notes in particular just disappear.Exactly… In my opinion, the BMP only sounds good (for my taste) when it is the last OD/DIST in the chain.
I tryed to use it in several different positions but no… only sounded good when it is the last DIST.
I run a Vox AC4 and if I crank it up it is a no no for the BMP also. Soif Want to use the BMP, I need to run my amp clean (or just with a tiny break up).
I love the BMP and it sounds huge by itself or combined with the other DIST/OD pedals… as long as I follow what I said above.
If you’re curious, my signal chain is:
Line Buffer -> Vox Wah -> Digitech EX-7 (Whammy) -> MXR Phase 90 -> MXR Micro amp -> MXR Wylde OD -> Ibanez TK-999 (12AX7) -> EHX BMP -> EHX Small Clone -> EHX #1 Echo -> Vox AC4 TVH.
Ed
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