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KitraeMember
Ron, do you know the year E-H moved to that second address? And what the first address was?
KitraeMemberIt really sounds nothing like a Big Muff, so the name is a bit misleading, but it does some cool germanium overdrive/fuzz tones. Lots of versatility, but not really in the scooped/clipped range you get from a Big Muff circuit. I’m still messing with it to see what tones I like. Lots of knobs to twiddle with!
KitraeMemberI saw the Muff drum!. I’m a big fan of your Effectology series. Some of the stuff you do just blows me away. I loved the Welcome to the Machine vid…well, all the others too. Some interesting signal chains I would have never thought of, but I’m starting to get a grasp on it now after seeing so many of your vids. Nice work!
KitraeMemberThat’s an interesting story. I posted it here earlier this year in a Jimi Hendrix thread. I have been digging up info about this story for several years, ever since I learned the Big Muff actually came out in 1969, not ’71. Here is an article I wrote about it, including all of Mike’s quotes I have found over the years, and some things he, and others have told me.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/Jimi_Hendrix_Big_Muff.htmlKitraeMember100euro is not bad at all for an op-amp Muff. The prices have gone up and down in the US recently. They were a lot higher than that here, but Ron is right – this is around what they should be selling for. Sounds like a good deal.
Here is a page all about those op-amp Muffs.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/big_muff_op_amp_history.html#Version4KitraeMemberSome people will like the graphics, some not. It’s lawasy been that way with EHX. Personally, I like the new G4BM graphics. It fits with the sounds I’m hearing from it.
If you really want the pedals and want different graphics, here is a page I made about how to apply new customized graphics to your pedal.
KitraeMemberQuote:I recently got these — they look black from a distance, brown on coser inspection and under strong light you can see they’re actually a kinda 70s faux marble deal. They’re cool.And you are keeping where you got them to yourself
Come on – give it up. Where did you score these?
KitraeMemberNo one is currently making those Sovtek style knobs. If you ever find any, be sure and let us know. There are a lot of us that need them.
KitraeMemberCograts. The old greeny Mistress is the best. I have the Deluxe as well, but I really like the old 18v Mistress. I use a Barge VB jr. mixer with mine so I can mix it in with my clean or distorted signal from my Muffs. I usually keep it about 50% in the mix.
KitraeMemberLook at the 1976 Muff pix near the end of the V2 section in my Big Muff page listed below. It is wired with a standard six lug bypass switch.
June 4, 2010 at 6:55 pm in reply to: New Devices: Germanium^4 Big Muff &, .44 Magnum, Freeze, Neo Clone, & Headphone Amp #105561KitraeMemberQuote:I’m curious about the NKT-275s. . . because Dunlop had them remade for one of their Fuzz Face reissues, and according to people who are into that stuff, the reissue NKT-275s just aren’t as good. 1960s ones usually cost 15-25 dollars each. Of course if EH found a bulk stash they could get them cheaper.I’m curious about the transistors as well, but since this is not a Fuzz Face I am not expecting those same issues to apply. A fuzz face is a pretty simple, but unforgiving circuit, and the tranys are the most key component to what we expect a good one to sound like, at least if you are comparing it to an old one. But even old ones don’t all sound the same. I’m sure EHX is going for the most cost effective and best sounding 275s they can find to keep the overall unit cost as low as possible. If the G4BM incorporates the standard Big Muff circuit path however, it’s a totally different animal than a fuzz. It seems the stacking of the two sections and adjustment knobs to allow a wide variety of tones is where this one is going to stand out.
Bob Myer mentioned to me in February that he was working on a “Germanium transistor amplifier with parameter controls”. This was part of a discussion on Big Muffs, so I am assuming the G4 is a Muff circuit. That and the fact that it is called a Big Muff. Mike usually reserves those two words for Big Muff circuits. Germanium tranys in a Big Muff sound nothing like a traditional Muff, or a Fuzz Face for that matter, so this should be interesting to hear. I can’t wait.
June 4, 2010 at 12:36 pm in reply to: New Devices: Germanium^4 Big Muff &, .44 Magnum, Freeze, Neo Clone, & Headphone Amp #106803KitraeMemberQuote:I’m kind of skeptical at this point on whether or not I’ll like the Germanium Muff.It sounds kind of like a cheap Sun-Lion (if the overdrive resembles the germanium OD and hence a germanium booster type thing) or a Germanium Jeckyll and Hyde with bias control. If it’s the former, AWESOME, if it’s the latter, meh.
I want to know if it has anything in common with a Big Muff besides name, 4 transistors, and being a drive pedal.
I’m trying to get some more info about it from the designers, Bob Myer, and Daniel Shin. Hopefully I will have an article about it on my website soon, or at least by the release date. From what I have read in the press release, it has most of the things I had hoped it would have in it. Can’t wait to try it.
KitraeMemberThe Muff can go pretty much anywhere in the signal chain, but typically put them after compressors and before delays and modulation. Overdrives can go before or after, but if you like to boost the Muff with an overdive, just experiment with the drive pedal before or after and use your ears.
Putting most drivers before the Muff seems to be a bit smoother, and after the Muff usually has more crunch and attack. Also which one is “driving” which has an effect on the tone – the booster drive or the Muff sustain? The Muff sustain can be set high and the drive pedal low, or vise versa. Each has a slightly different affect on the tone.
KitraeMemberMy TW is not any noisier than my LBM or USA reissue, until you kick the wicker on and max the sustain, but that’s adding more gain to the circuit. I only had one hoof that I demoed and it was about as noisy as a USA reissue. I have not played the DAM yet, but it’s all just a balance of component values to keep the noise level low, and using good quality components. My noisiest Muffs are the vintage ones. The absolute loudest noise has come from the V6 Muffs. V1 and V2 Muffs are hit and miss. I have a couple of really quiet V2 Muffs, and one really noisy one – which just happens to be the one that has the best tone – urrgg!
I have only ever had one so noisy that it was unusable and it had a bad cap. But my point was Muffs are noisy by nature, some worse than others.
KitraeMemberMuffs are high gain pedals. They will be noisy when you max the sustain, and even more so if you run them with boosters and compressors. I have yet to find one that I would call quiet. Lower gain Muffs like some of the Sovteks have less noise. Most of the clones I have played are no better – Skreddy, Musket, Hoof, Trifecta, Cornish, BYOC, SUF, et cetera. That’s just the nature of the beast. Skreddys are among the noisiest and SUF among the quietest, but they all have the Muff circuit hiss and hum. The noise never bothered me when playing in a band mix because it is not noticeable to me.
As far as getting lost in the mix, Muffs have a “scooped” tone circuit, meaning the mids are scooped out of the tone. That’s what gives them their huge, mean sound, but it also means Muffs occupy the same frequency in a band mix as the bass guitar, bass drums, and some keyboard sounds. The Bass Big Muff and Sovtek Muffs have more mids, so they stand out more, vintage USA Muffs and the USA reissue have less, so they can get lost. You have to set your guitar amp and bass amp EQ so there is more separation when using a Muff. Adding some compression boost the clarity of the tone, and adding a booster pedal to color the EQ a bit can both make the muff stand out more. Boutique Muffs like Skreddys and Cornish have more mids built in, and some others have mids switches, like the BYOC and Musket. They are easy to make stand out in a mix.
You may also not hear yourself in the middle of a band mix when playing, but others listening may hear fine. Thats a problem people like Billy Corgan had playing live, so he stopped using them. Others like J.Mascis huge wall of Muff sound, have no problem at all. Gilmour has no problem standing out, but he just uses them for solos. Sometimes your ears can’t handle all that sound at once when you are right in the middle and you just seem to “disappear”.
You just have to work on the right EQ mix. Some people just can’t get along with them, some can. Muffs are tricky to learn how to use, but once you get there they can sound incredible.
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