if you worked in a factory all day with this shit you wouldn’t want it either. It’s a pretty toxic substance. Pre-internet days I had no idea that the US still used lead in solder. They used to put it in paint, you have to be really careful if you are stripping paint in an old house … old water pipes were lead too. (also banned now)
“An important step in the understanding of childhood lead poisoning occurred when toxicity in children from lead paint was recognized in Australia in 1897.France, Belgium and Austria banned white-lead interior paints in 1909; the League of Nations followed suit in 1922. However, in the US, laws banning lead house paint were not passed until 1971, and it was phased out and not fully banned until 1978.”
It seems the US have been dragging their heels on this all along……
The other Major form of lead pollution came from petrol (gasoline)… the UK went lead-free in the mid 90’s (i’m not sure if that was a worldwide thing)
I concur. I recently aquired a Black (green) Russian -1999. I put the Bass Muff side by side with it and I truly couldn’t tell much difference, other than the obvious extra low end on the Bass Muff and like the other reply- it won’t get as trebley, since it’s tailored to Bass frequencies. Perhaps this proves the point of discontinuing the Russian Muff- The Bass Muff may very well be it’s ‘reissue’/replacement!
whats bakelite? im guessing some better kind of plastic? are there any up-sides to lead-free solder?
Bakelite was the first type of synthetic plastic ever made. It was used to make everything we make from normal plastic now from about 1910 to around the 1970’s. All the classic teles, strats and les pauls from the 50’s and 60’s had bakelite pickguards and knobs. Its called bakelite because you mold it and then bake it and it hardens and is then pretty much impossible to melt in normal operating conditions. They stopped using it because it was more expensive.
oh and the advantage of lead free solder is that it takes more heat to melt. Which is both its advantage and disadvantage depending on what you want to use it for.
Good synopsis. I hadn’t thought there would be people around that had never heard of bakelite…guess I’m getting old…
The pairing of high temp lead-free solder w/ bakelite is a no brainer. Best of both worlds. Shame they’re doing it with low-temperature-melting plastic.
simply – i have the latest russian BMP and in al it’s goodness, i miss one thing..
i think it’s the tonality of Sovtek muff… but accoring to me it lacks this searing head-blowing, smashing craziness that the NYC version could have… i’m talking about something like john Frusciante’s lead tone in “Strip my mind” from Stadium.
it could be me… or the pedal i have it set like sustain and volume on 1 o’clock, tone on 3 o’clock.
What do you think… could NYC version get me closer to that sound? i think i could trade easily… only thing i’m affraid of is that the NYC could be much more noisy… and i’m a little bit afraid of missing this crazy low end response that Svotek has… damn it’s hard!
Sovteks typically don’t have as much gain as the USA Muffs, but neither will have that sound right out of the box. If you have an amp that breaks up good at high volumes you may get close. Muffs like to be driven hard by loud tube amps, but to get that overdriven tone you hear in that solo you need to drive the Muff with a booster. Just about any decent overdrive pedal will boost the Muff into that territory, but stay away from bright ones like the Tube Screamer.
I’m not sure John is using a Muff on that song. Sounds more like a fuzz.
well i was hoping that you’ll answer my question thanks
i’m not completely sure it’s a big muff, but i heard that he used it on that solo…
about that boosting… i have tubescreamer-ish type of OD before my muff… when i kick it on, the muff looses some of it’s low end and acts more like a genuine high-gain pedal… also amazing tone, but not so amazing as john’s (obviously… duh…)
if i had some extra money, i’d probably experiment with ODs much more… but i’m a student having a hard time finding any part-time job and currently i need to pay for drivers education… but i’ll keep your advise in mind! thanks, man
PS: i was just wondering if it isn’t the NYC – Sovtek difference…
It’s a fine line using a booster. Too much gain from the boost pedal and the Muff lows will crap out. You just want a bit to get it into overdrive territory. You can put it before the Muff or after. Before is smoother, after is a bit harsher. You can also try using the boost pedal as the driver, with high gain, and the Muff after it with low gain, so the Muff is the boost pedal.
If you are using a Tubescreamer type circuit you won’t get the best results though. You would get closer with a USA Muff, but I don’t think you will get that sound. John could have used any number of his effects combos. The guy has every fuzz pedal known to man!
And what about boosting a muff with another muff? :lol:. Personally, I think you should own both versions. Save up. The russian version is discontinued so don’t trade it! I broke mine’s sustain pot, repaired it and it’s better. I’ll do some mods to it. That great tone on bass. I would own like 3 sovteks haha.