The ramshead I made passes unity about the same as a NYC muff. Which isn’t much but its enough.

Its just a combination of certain parts values throughout the entire circuit that dictate if it will pass unity or not I think.

If it doesnt reach unity you could always tone bypass it permanently, that way it would look stock and sound like the tone is around half way but a bit clearer. After all, they are just pedals, not the holy grail…..If I was concerned with 100% vintage correctness my muffs would stil be non true bypass.lol

But if I had the holy grail, I would probably true bypass that too!

I have a 66 mustang, its not 100% vintage correct cause I’ve replaced the pickups and pots etc and wired it differently, these are just minor things to me. SO long as the overall looks still look vintage and the main components are intact i’m not too concerned.

As I commented on this thread: https://www.ehx.com/forums/viewthread/726/, I have an EH Deluxe Big Muff “Parallel/Series” (EH-3054 circuit board version) which has these volume issues.

But in this particular case, I remember that this Big Muff (before the “mods”) was actually louder than unity gain (in fact, the rest of the band complained lots of times claiming that Big Muff was “too loud”). I know it because a former band mate owned it “all-original” and was “pure brute force”. Years after he sold it to a guy (which supposedly “modded” it – which led to disastrous results); later, that guy sold it again, and the I bought it back.

Based on my experience and comparing it with the “Blend On/Off” version [EH-1330A board, if I’m not mistaken] (which is very loud if you wish), I think that restoring the Big Muff as close as original, the volume issues will be solved. If not, I’ll ask my tech to give it more gain is it needs and is technically possible.

That’s my hope… as soon as I have fresh news, I’ll post it on the thread I mentioned above.

Regards to everybody who love the Big Muff!

Nacho

I have an IC Muff that has a very similar issue. When I switch the muff on, even with the muff volume dimed, there doesn’t seem to be much / any volume boost over when the effect is in the chain and switched off. The difference is, even when the muff is switched off, it is still boosting the signal substantially over what volume would be if the guitar were plugged directly into the amp. I’d like to know how to fix that issue (without true bypassing).

Hi devnulljp – I haven’t cleaned the slider. I can give that a try, although mine is a tone bypass slider.

I think I did a bad job of explaining my issue. When I plug directly into an amp, volume is at lets just say, at 3. When I put the muff into the chain, even with it not switched on by the foot switch, volume jumps to 5 or 6. Then when I switch on the muff, volume tends to stick at around the same 5 or 6 when knobs are maxed. I think most people have the issue of volume being 3 straight to amp, and 3 with muff in chain on or off.