Author Topic: Big Muff (Read 9301 times)

Swedey the cat · « **on:** December 16, 2005, 11:28:33 PM »

About a year ago i bought one of these pedals on e-bay and once i hooked it up i realised something was a bit wrong.
It sound horrible like maybe it way over fuzzed and nothing you do to the controls seems to make any difference. Also sounds like the tone is stuck with the bass maxxed out.
Dunno if anyone can help or has had similiar problems was thinking of trying to fix it but don't really know where to start.

Or should i just junk it and put it down to experience.

Cheers

Floyd Pepper · « **Reply #1 on:** December 17, 2005, 01:00:11 PM »

Is it US or Russian made? I've heard the Russians ones aren't so well put together.

Have you opened it up? Does it look like someones resoldered anything? Do any of the caps look like they've blown?

Swedey the cat · « **Reply #2 on:** December 17, 2005, 05:21:12 PM »

Its a US model. I have opened it up and to the naked eye it all looks ok. it switches between clean and mush ok. all the soldered joints look intact and the transistors etc appear to be ok too. maybe if i took a multimetre to it i might find a broken wire or dry joint.

Floyd Pepper · « **Reply #3 on:** December 17, 2005, 11:08:29 PM »

A multimeter should help find bad connections but it's hard to check components when they're still in the circuit as voltages flowing round the circuit so you can't trust what you measure.

If you know someone else with a Big Muff then try and compare them but the circuits have changed a few times over the years. It's hard to help from a distance I'm afraid.

Swedey the cat · « **Reply #4 on:** December 18, 2005, 09:27:00 AM »

Yeah i know its bad enough trying to check it from here!!
I think the only way to check the components is to isolate them all and i aint going to de solder the whole pcb.
cheers anyway i think i might have to accept i was sold a dud.

Kilby · « **Reply #5 on:** December 18, 2005, 01:49:50 PM »

Look on the forum on this site http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/index2.html

Theyre friendly and know what they're talking about.

They can give you reference voltages for a 'typical' big muff in working order.

Unfortunitely my Muff (oh err missus) is somewhat non standard these days otherwise I could have given you some readings.

Rob...

Swedey the cat · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2005, 11:01:34 PM »

thanks it looks a good site I'm ok with electrical diagrams and stuff so should get some pointers. If not I'll just buy a new one eventually!
But thats after I buy some Black dogs :D

magma · « **Reply #7 on:** January 01, 2006, 03:37:41 PM »

Just out of interest, what sort of amp are you using? Have you tried it with a different amp? What kind of sound (clean/dist etc) are you using it with?

The reason I'm asking is that I have a US Big Muff - it simply does not work with my Orange amp head. The amp is quite crunchy sounding and the pedal just fuzzes out, sounds horrendous: mushy and boomy. Totally unusable.
However it works a treat with cleaner amps that have a tighter sound like Vox AC30s & Fender Twins.

_tom_ · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2006, 04:29:42 PM »

I find Rats are better for fuzz, I borrowed an old Muff Pi off my mates dad and it just sounded cr@p really.

tewboss · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2006, 09:23:25 PM »

Fuzz pedals are known for being picky with amps. Just a suggestion, but I've heard some of them need to be the first pedal in the chain.

I've heard that Big Muffs can sound awful with Boogies, but you are really looking at Fender or Marshall type amps. The US-made Big Muffs are not supposed to be that great despite being better made than the (black) Russian ones. EH are known for having poor quality checking - my Hot Tubes was faulty from the factory as well.

Brow · « **Reply #10 on:** January 02, 2006, 01:48:27 PM »

I've had 1 of the Black/Russian Big Muffs for a while now, and it's never been a go to' pedal of mine at all.

I find it to be very picky about what amps it likes to be used with, and also what guitars I can use with it, otherwise it just turns to mush.

I do find it works better with Single Coil pickups over humbuckers, but that's usually common knowledge and not just my opinion.

I find I like my EMMA ReezaFRATzitz alot more for Fuzz, so the Big Muff stays in it's box unless I need it's specific sound for a song etc

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #11 on:** January 02, 2006, 08:22:31 PM »

Big Muffs DO sound very bassy & fuzzy, thats what they're about. Due to this, I find that they're best with single coil guitars into non-master volume amps.

I used to really dig the sound of my green Russian BMP with the fuzz set barely on, the volume maxed and the tone set to taste into a JMI AC30 set around half volume.

:twisted:

tewboss · « **Reply #12 on:** January 03, 2006, 11:53:42 PM »

Did you sell your green russian big muff?

chrisallan · « **Reply #13 on:** January 19, 2006, 11:36:00 AM »

hi, i bought a big muff, was really disappointed, using it with Marshall jtm45/100 have now got a smart people factory red threat pedal much much better. i use it with a custom strat style with nailbomb humbucker (bridge) and pair of irish tours wired to split coil nailbomb, but dont use that much. photo here www.theflamingmonkeys.com/chris1.html but it now has a rosewood neck which makes it all black. fitted by jonathan at feline guitars also have a warpig in an epiphone g400 xtreme. chris

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #14 on:** January 24, 2006, 01:32:22 AM »

yes, I sold my Green Russian Big Muff - got something daft like £80 for it.

I don't use a BMP at the minute but it makes no odds as I have another one that I built myself that sounds better.

:twisted: