Home › Forums › Vintage EHX › V4 Big Muff (The Best Sound I’ve Ever Heard)

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • March 20, 2011 at 1:50 am #81430
    TheGhostMachina
    Member

    So I found what I believe to be a V4 op-amp Big Muff. The circuit board says 1322, the switch is labeled “AC Off ON”, and the chips are a 741 and a RC4558, from what I can make out.

    I’ve been using a Little Big Muff for about a year. And I recently bought the Tone Wicker version. So the first thing I wanted to do was hear the difference between the Vintage and newer versions.

    I like the Little Big Muff just little better then the Tone Wicker Version. Although bypassing the tone stack on the Tone Wicker is a nice wall of sound. But the V4 destroyed both of ’em. I set both the LBM and V4 to the ‘Billy Corgan’ setting (SP’s my fav band), and the V4 nailed it. But on the LBM I had to crank the tone all the way and the volume to 3 o’clock to even get close to the BC settings on the V4 (volume just over noon, tone slightly higher, sustain all the way). I’m playing through a Mesa Boogie Rocket 4Forty, 4×10/12ax7’s. I gotta say I don’t really want a JCM800 like I used to any more;)

    My original thought was to start gathering pedals for a ‘vintage’ pedal board. With the V4 Big Muff, a Deluxe Memory Man, MicroSynth, Bad Stone, Crying Tone, etc… But after what I just heard, I don’t think I can keep the V4 off my current live board. In fact, I’ll probably start looking for vintage replacements for some of my current pedals.

    Thanks to Kit Rae and his excellent Big Muff History for helping me identify the Muff.

    TGM

    April 2, 2011 at 3:52 am #114864
    Kitrae
    Member

    Congrats!

    The modern Muffs don’t really capture that V4 sound. I don’t think you can find a better Big Muff for Corgan tones. I run mine through a Mesa 5:25 Express, on the dirt channel with just a bit of the amp gain dialed in. Seems to voice just like what I hear from Billy’s JCM on SD. I suppose many amps get that tone with this particular Muff, but it a sweet tone.

    April 5, 2011 at 2:57 am #114899
    efilho
    Member

    Ohhhh. So many muffs… so little money!!!!

    April 6, 2011 at 3:52 am #114906
    curmudgeon
    Participant

    Nice acquisition- I am looking forward to trying out the real deal as well.

    Although I must say the Skreddy Mayo (not sure if the latter is sacrelig around here)- really gets that Siamese Dream tone.

    April 6, 2011 at 4:02 am #114909
    Kitrae
    Member

    Marc nailed it pretty good with the Mayo. The Mayonnaise MK II hits it too, though not quite as dark sounding. The best ones to use for Pumpkins/SD tones are the op-amp clones from Euthymia and Stomp Under Foot – the ICBM and Pumpkin Pi. EHX does not currently have anything quite like the old op-amp Muffs.

    April 6, 2011 at 5:11 pm #114914
    TheGhostMachina
    Member

    I haven’t tried any of the boutique ones. But yer right, nothing current is quite like the OpAmp version. I ended up re tracking all my guitar parts on my upcoming album with the V4. The LBM I had used sounded close to what I was looking for.. But the V4 was exactly what I was looking for. If I get some time this weekend, I’ll post demo clips.

    TGM

    May 4, 2011 at 1:55 am #115133
    GobblersMom
    Member

    Do you guys know of any solid places to find vintage muffs? Ive checked countless shops but so far no good.

    May 4, 2011 at 2:49 am #115134
    Kitrae
    Member

    Ebay is the number one place. Just put a watch up so you are notified each day when Muffs show up. You will also find them in the sell threads on the gear forums like The Gear Page, Harmony Central, DAM forum, lots of places. Craigslist is another place to look, though much less secure.

    You can check local music shops and pawn shops, but you can look for years and never see one in those places.

    May 4, 2011 at 3:31 pm #115135
    TheGhostMachina
    Member

    I lucked out finding mine. I was mixing FOH for a local act on a little tour, and the production manager at one of the venues we played mentioned something about owning a BMP when he played guitar in the 80’s. I asked if he still had it and if he would like to sell it. He told me he’d have to find it and get back to me when tour was over. Two weeks later I got an email with photos of his pedal confirming it to be the V4 OpAmp. I offered $175CAD and he agreed.

    I also check our local buy/sell/trade site, kijiji.ca (not sure if you guys have this in the USA). Last week I found a Black Russian (small version) for $80. That brings my total Muff count up to 5:). Next, I wanna try the Devi Ever Rocket (based on Rocket from Siamese Dream). Anyone heard one of these before? YouTube demos look amazing!

    TGM

    May 8, 2011 at 6:54 am #115156
    GobblersMom
    Member

    Thanks for the info, but now i’m faced with a new problem.

    Just bought a vintage v1 small stone, but after a couple hours of playing the connection is starting to crap out.
    Super cool pedal though!
    Check out my thread I just started, please help!

    https://www.ehx.com/forums/viewthread/4701/

    May 26, 2011 at 6:58 am #115310
    devnulljp
    Participant

    It’s funny, until the Billy Corgan thing, you couldn’t give those muffs away. Everyone was all corksniffery about op-amps vs. proper transistors … I sold three of them in the month or so before the Corgan post and had a hard time shifting them. Think I got about $90 each.
    They’re cool and all, def have their own sound, but I still prefer the sound of a good mike’s head muff ;)

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.