Big Muff values comparison chart.

[BMF Effects]

Things are a little slow at work today so I started a project that was intended to simplify my life. With all the versions of Big Muffs out there, I found myself constantly comparing schematics. I decided to gather all the ones I had and using the 1975 factory EH schematic as my base model I created a spreadsheet that lists the parts values for other versions. The versions I have included are -

Triangle ver.1
Triangle ver.1
Ram's Head
The American Reissue
The "Civil War" Sovtek Reissue
The Green Sovtek Reissue
The Black Sovtek Reissue
General Guitar Gadgets BMP

So far I've cataloged the resistors and I should be able to tackle the capacitors tomorrow. Unfortunately the schematics I have do not list the values for the diodes or the transistors. If anyone has info or pictures for the diodes/trannies and would like to contribute them I would be most appreciative. Once I have everything collected I will be more than happy to post a link for a downloadable PDF file. It wil be a straight forward, simple to read chart so that variations in versions can easily be found. Also if anyone has factory schematics other than the 1975 version and would be willing to share that would be great. Thanks and I'll update this thread as needed.

[tcobretti]

This sounds great.  I don't have anything helpful to offer besides my support.

[Yun]

i have tons of Schems, PDF's, layouts, etc.  for numerous versions.  If someone wants to "make something of that", let me know, guys. 

a bunch of people around here probably know that i know my way around the BMP, man.  Not to brag, or anything though. 

The civil war sovtek and green sherman sovtek BMP's all have the EXACT same circuitry.  I've owned my share, examined them, modded them, etc. 

Although the later black sherman sovteks have the same circuitry as the new sovteks that you buy new today....

[Bernardduur]

Only real difference between the Sovteks are the transistors;

Older ones used these unbranded E's (close to BC548B's) while the newer ones use BC549C's

Oh, and I LOVE my Muffs

[Gila_Crisis]

do you mean something like this?
http://www.pisotones.com/BigMuffPi/psst/BMP_versions.htm

[Yun]

Only real difference between the Sovteks are the transistors;

Older ones used these unbranded E's (close to BC548B's) while the newer ones use BC549C's

Oh, and I LOVE my Muffs

Yeah, those are actually decent transistors, man.  they actually go good in fuzz faces, and all that jazz.  i have a good bit of em left, man.  man, the stuff that i've accumulated (sp?) over the years!!!!   

As for you, Gila- you just beat me to the punch, man.  i was looking for that site to post it!  Craziness......

[3/4 North]

That's a great site.  I was building a PNP when it was first posted here.  He was the first to point out that the caps and diodes are reversed on a PNP. That's a good sounding muff.

[Yun]

A little OT, but did anyone take notice to the wopping 510K collector resistor for Q1 as aposed to the common 470K?  In the USA reissue that is.....

I wonder, what would result in replacing the 470K r's with 510K r's eh?

I may just have to FIND OUT  

[3/4 North]

One thing I've noticed, changing that first resistor to 3k3 is the only way to get the tone control section to work well.

[Sir H C]

There is also the Jordan Creator which is almost the same with some values of the resistors different and the Hohner Tri Dirty Booster which is a complete clone.

[Stompin Tom]

How about the little big muff?...  when I taste tested it against the new US and Russian it sounded much warmer and controlled. (I liked it so much that I bought it on an impulse...)

[BMF Effects]

Yun...I sent you a PM to take you up on your generous offer. Just wanted to make sure you got it.

Gila_Crisis...that site is a great source of info but what I'm trying to do is elimate the hassle of flipping between schematics. I'm also killing time at work.

[Jaicen_solo]

So which one sounds the best......

*Ducks* :>

[BMF Effects]

So which one sounds the best......

*Ducks* :>

I've finished the resistor and capacitor charts for the versions I listed. While there are parts value differences, so far there isn't anything that's made me go "Whoa! That explains some things!". I think it would be interesting to build the different versions with tolerances being as close as possible to those listed but in all reality you would probably be hard pressed to hear major differences. My guess is that good sounding vintage Big Muffs are sort of like vintage amps in the sense that they may (probably) suffer from value drift. I used to have any vintage amp I bought immediately recapped whether it needed it or not. After a few "what the hell happened to the tone?" episodes I stopped fixing what wasn't broken.

[BMF Effects]

A little OT, but did anyone take notice to the wopping 510K collector resistor for Q1 as aposed to the common 470K?  In the USA reissue that is.....

I wonder, what would result in replacing the 470K r's with 510K r's eh?

I may just have to FIND OUT  

If you use the worst case scenario of a 10% tolerance, the 470k could swing anywhere from 423k to 517k and the 510k anywhere from 459k to 561k. Unless you were comparing the low extreme to the high extreme would there really be an audible difference?

[Meanderthal]

 Heh... or... the 20% tolerance in the case of the triangle....

I think this is a fine idea, long overdue. Glad to see someone putting the time into organizing this. Thank you, it's bound to become a valuable future reference!

[WGTP]

From messing with the BMP tone stack, I can say you will hear differences in those values for sure.   

[Jaicen_solo]

Of that i've no doubt. I remember playing with a tonestack calculator program a while back which gave some interesting results.

[aron]

>Hohner Tri Dirty Booster

Is this for sure? A long time ago, this was a favorite.

[Yun]

A little OT, but did anyone take notice to the wopping 510K collector resistor for Q1 as aposed to the common 470K?  In the USA reissue that is.....

I wonder, what would result in replacing the 470K r's with 510K r's eh?

I may just have to FIND OUT  

If you use the worst case scenario of a 10% tolerance, the 470k could swing anywhere from 423k to 517k and the 510k anywhere from 459k to 561k. Unless you were comparing the low extreme to the high extreme would there really be an audible difference?

You DO have a good point there, however i was thinking of a transistor with the emmiter risistance of: 0    In other words:  i'm grounding the emmiters (except for q4 of course). 

Oh, i got your PM 5 minuits ago, and i'll respond shortly, man....