Super cheap distortion pedal.

[Kilby]

I'd also suggest the EH bug muff, or one of the many variations.

A proco rat may also be an option.

Ermm, don't compare the fab tone pedals with the berhenger stuff the fab tones are actually nice.

Rob...

[tewboss]

Russian Big Muff?

They sound pretty cool, my bassist uses one, sounds different to an USA Big Muff, but not in a bad way.

I heard they were better than the US ones, but I bought one and found the quality was poor. One of the jacks broke after a couple of uses (not gigged).

The thing with big muffs is that they aren't high gain fuzz pedals. They sound nice when the sustain level is low (Gilmour), but get messy when up high - not a bad thing if you are into Mudhoney, Nirvana etc. Having said that I'm pretty sure the bass player from Mastondon uses one.

[schmendict]

I was thinking of getting a job, and getting one of those DIme Distortion units from mxr.

[t3h haze]

Russian Big Muff?

They sound pretty cool, my bassist uses one, sounds different to an USA Big Muff, but not in a bad way.

I heard they were better than the US ones, but I bought one and found the quality was poor. One of the jacks broke after a couple of uses (not gigged).

The thing with big muffs is that they aren't high gain fuzz pedals. They sound nice when the sustain level is low (Gilmour), but get messy when up high - not a bad thing if you are into Mudhoney, Nirvana etc. Having said that I'm pretty sure the bass player from Mastondon uses one.

Depends on the sound you're after, you need a good amp though to handle the Big Muff, since there's so much bass. The Russian ones aren't built that well at all, the USA are better quality. I don't use mine for when I need clarity, just when I need a huge wall of fuzz, which the Big Muff does like nothing else.

[tewboss]

oh don't get me wrong, I prefer a high gain fuzz sound to the Dual Rectifier sound. The Russian pedals have a different sound - more of a conventional distortion. I've been meaning to replace the cr@ppy parts in my Russian. The green sovtek pedals are considered better than many of the vintage USA  made big muffs - David Gilmour has one in his uber rig.

I bought a Frantone "The Sweet" fuzz pedal.  Fran designed the USA reissue Big Muff Pi pedal for EH. The Sweet isn't a big muff clone, but can easily cover all the sounds a big muff can do but has an even bigger headroom. It uses new/old stock germanium resistors which all the decent fuzz pedals use. It's also only half the size of the Big Muff.