An Update:

I ended up RMAing the unit to the shop and receiving a replacement. The problem is still there!

I sat down last night and really tried to get to the bottom of it.
The unwanted fizz/crackle is there as treble-y notes decay.
It happens on my PocketPOD but is much, MUCH more noticeable on the Vox AC15CC.

I can sort-of mostly dial it out by backing way off of the top-boost treble knob on the amp, cutting the highs on the Muff’n’s EQ and maybe dialing back on the guitar’s tone knob.

The other thing that seemed to help (or was it just my imagination?) was to put the Muff’n in front of my 2 non-true bypass pedals (a Vox Wah and a digitech Whammy.)

I’ve read of others having issues with stock AC15CCs and overdrive pedals, so I’ll eventually try the “bright cap” removal mod that supposedly will help.

I’m beginning to think the fizz/crackle is just a part of the fuzz characteristics of the pedal, but it just gets blown out of proportion by the AMP…

Damn! Somehow I missed that the Worm could use an expression pedal! That would have definitely been at the top of my list.

I ended up with a VOX Wah after trying the somewhat limited selection at Sam Ash (evidently somebody’s tech had been in the day before and bought 2 dozen Wahs of all different kinds…)

I tried the Hendrix Signature, the Behrringer, the VOX, and a couple others… The Vox was right in the middle of them all in the looks and price department, didn’t have as many features as the Behrringer and one other, but sounded the best by far.

I was actually kind of impressed with the Behrringer… A lot of options in a Wah that was under $50. But it looked and felt like it was under $50 and I have a rule about buying ugly and cheep gear…

I also ended up taking home a Digitech Whammy…

I honestly have no idea how much I’m going to use this… Or if I’ll even be able to ‘learn’ it enough TO use it…

But I love the sounds they make! Cream and Hendrix just wouldn’t have been the same…

The thing to do would be to try out the whole mess of them, but I’ve stepped on a Wah exactly twice before so I don’t really know what I’m doing enough to even test them out!

We will see what the local shops have in-stock tomorrow…

Following up:
I Sat down last night with the intention of getting to the bottom of the static issue with the English Muff’n + AC15CC. Unfortunately ended my little trouble-shooting session somewhat frustrated.

I first swapped all cables in the chain, and tried the set-up again, this time with my Charvel. I expected the hotter Seymour Duncan pick-ups to exasperate the problem, but to my surprise the static/crackly/fizz seemed to be lessened when I used the Charvel, although it was still present at a level that I found unacceptable.

After much research yesterday I fully anticipated to find microphonic tubes in the AC15, but before breaking out the tools to try the “tap test” on the tubes I took a step back and plugged the Muff’n into my Line6 PocketPOD and which I monitored with headphones. To my frustration the static was still present! And only increasing my annoyance was that the underlying tone was unreal.

So I guess that the problem does not lay with the AC15 after all… I “tap-tested” the tubes in the Muff’n and couldn’t hear any microphonic feedback. Just to make sure, I cranked the AC15 and hit a few wall-rattling chords. Damn did that sound sweet. Now I’m asking myself , “is this is a bug or a feature?”

Possibly a bad pedal? Or is this static-y overtone just part of the English Muff’n’s unique sound that I can’t year in any samples I listen to?