The headroom on the Holiest Grail is a bit low (even with the input slider). I would recommend a good compressor to place before it.

The modulation on the Toy is stronger/wilder than the CC, and also considerably less expensive.

But the CC has internal trimpots to control both the depth and rate of modulation. The Toy only has a trimpot to control the depth, so I think you are stuck with the predetermined rate.

I’m not sure about the quality of the repeats. If the Toy is anything like the Boy, then the repeats are very dark and decompose successively into mush. This is can be an endearing quality for many, and an annoyance for others.

This seems to be common with those Alpha slide switches. I’ve lost count of how many slide switches I’ve had to adjust. A pair of needle-nose pliers does the trick.

The Deluxe Memory Man is notorious for low headroom; so if you’re going to put a Big Muff before it, you’ll need to turn the volume knob down.

Personally, I’m not crazy about the sound of the Big Muff into a Memory Man. It’s just too washy for my taste. I like playing clean into the Memory Man, and better yet, put the Black Finger compressor before the Memory Man to limit and fatten the signal a bit. The Deluxe Memory Man’s preamp is also good for adding a touch of dirt to the end of the signal chain.

Small Stone before Deluxe Memory Man is pure celestial heaven IMO. One of the world’s great combinations, but clean, not dirty.

I also like the Big Muff before filters (phaser, wah) – it’s more dramatic a sound, and I’m a all about tonal drama.

That chain is OUTRAGEOUS 😆 :thumb:

If you only plan to use the Mod Wah, then it would make sense to put it after your wah, and before compression.

However, I personally like the sound of filters after fuzz so that the sweep is really dramatic.

Another consideration – do you have the original box or the XO?

The original box version has terrible headroom, much like the old DMM. I have to keep it after compression to keep it from clipping.

The XO version fixed that problem, IIRC.

The Hoax is an amazing pedal – one of my favorites. It’s a really idiosyncratic pedal that does its own thing, and as a phaser it is very unique because the 2 delay lines allow for some really interesting interactions.

But I would also check into the XO Stereo PolyPhase. The features are tailored to phase shifting, and you can get a wide variety of shapes and tones with it.

Bear in mind that there are 2 different versions of Deluxe Big Muffs – the one with the Blend switch, and the one with the Series/Parallel switch.

I’ve owned both, and ended up selling the Blend switch version and kept the Series/Parallel version.

The Series/Parallel version allows you to place the compressor in front of the fuzz in a series, which makes for some outrageous sustain. If you can hold out for one of these versions, it’s worth the wait.

However, you can always mod the Blend switch version if you are daring http://hammer.ampage.org/files/Device1-7.PDF

It’s one of my favorite vintage EHX pedals, and pretty rare. I don’t see them on eBay very often – maybe once or twice a year at best.

I’ve only seen them in the style of treadle enclosure in your pic. I’m pretty sure they were in production in the late 70s.

My only complaint is that the bypass is a real tone sucker, so it’s best to put it in a looping system, like my Carl Martin OctaSwitch.

I’ll let the soundclip speak for the sound quality.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7468131