Big Muff - I'm paralyzed by too many choices

[aron]

Not to drive you guys over the edge, but remember the Colorsound Jumbo Tone Bender? :-)

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/Jumbo.jpg

[MikeH]

The more I look at all of these Big muff versions, the more I think I could use pretty much any component values I want, and it would still sound like a Big Muff. 

[Heemis]

I think you'd be right, considering that's how it worked with EH basically forever.  Another thing to consider is that so much of the sound comes from your guitar and amp.  Don't get me wrong, I love my muff, but I just think the differences in most of the versions are so slight that you'd be hard pressed to pick the right one in a blind "taste-test".

To my ears, the biggest things that change the tone of a big muff are the type of diodes you use, and what components you use for the tone stack.  Which is great, because these are both easy and fun to mod to your heart's content.

[Mark Hammer]

Said it before and I'll say it again: the quintessence of the BMP is the fact that it is essentially TWO diode clippers in a row.  Once you do that, and for the most part it really doesn't matter how you do it, the resulting sonic personality is pretty much established.  After that, it is simly a matter of EQ-ing, shaving off a bit of bass here or a bit of treble there.

[deaconque]

I was in the very same predicament not long ago when i decided to redo the circuit in my black BMP.  My solution was to print all of the schems from GGG and compare them all.  In the end I realized that most of the  component differences were insignificant, as far as sound goes.  The only real mods I found that made a big difference were the ones for more or less gain and mods to the tonestack.  I spent a lot of unnecessary time trying to find that "magic" muff sound all the while not really being sure of what that actually sounded like.  I must say that my BMP sounds many times better now than it did stock though.  I think you'll probably be pleased no matter which model you build.

[Scruffie]

I think Dano from BeavisAudio should do an Muff Lab to compliment his Fuzz Lab...

I think i'd go for the Violet Rams head model... just cause I quite like the colour Violet... With an added Tone Stack Switch and Switchable Bass Mod... I recon it'd have to be named after Prince and be my Purple Rain Muff...

[Solidhex]

Ha ha

  Paralyzed is a great term. I think all the research done on all the various versions is important. As far as building your own though you need to bust out a breadboard and spend about a week experimenting with different values all over the circuit to see what does what sonically. That way you can take a "little of this, little of that) approach with it and create something that suits you. One thing I think is a must have is the AMZ presence control. That way you don't have to worry about the tone stack. You can approximate a huge rage of Big Muff era tonestacks that way.

--Brad

[Mose Varty-Seppanen]

I liked the Jordon Creator a lot! Anyone know of a schematic? I don't think there is one, huh?

I'm really curious about this one too.
I think the second Lemonheads album was named for this pedal. Seems there's almost no info to be found about it.

[station]

I think Dano from BeavisAudio should do an Muff Lab to compliment his Fuzz Lab...

I think i'd go for the Violet Rams head model... just cause I quite like the colour Violet... With an added Tone Stack Switch and Switchable Bass Mod... I recon it'd have to be named after Prince and be my Purple Rain Muff...

With all the variations out there it would be a really interesting project to set up something like what Dano did with the Fuzz Lab. (Muff Lab... ? )

I just built a BMP based on the Ram's Head and I can tell you - it sounds way smoother than my black and yellow reissue.

[The French connection]

Don't forget Skreddy Mayo!  Personnaly, i like the GGG tuned version...but again this is subjective! Socket hot spots (diodes, trannys and filter caps) and tweak to your taste for your specific rig!

Salut!
Dan

P.S. Ho! Don't forget to call it ''Burst box''...

[mattpas]

Don't forget Skreddy Mayo!  Personnaly, i like the GGG tuned version...but again this is subjective! Socket hot spots (diodes, trannys and filter caps) and tweak to your taste for your specific rig!

Salut!
Dan

P.S. Ho! Don't forget to call it ''Burst box''...

The GGG Tuned Version is a Violet Ram's Head. I am not sure why there is a tuned version. You can compare JDs VRH and TV schematics.

[The French connection]

Yeah! Pretty much the same...Just R18 different in the tone section...39K/100K

[kupervaser]

I once built the Swollen Pickle by Way Huge, sounds great.

Here is a sample:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7346629

And the gear it has been recorded with:

[MikeH]

I once built the Swollen Pickle by Way Huge, sounds great.

Out of curiosity, which version is the swollen pickle?  Or is it YET ANOTHER version of the Big Muff?

[kupervaser]

It's this pedal:
http://www.happybob.com/marc/circuits/WayHuge/

[MikeH]

Hmmm... so yeah.  it basically is just another slight variation on the Big muff.  Great.

[kupervaser]

Yes it is.

I also built it with 4 separate transistors because i couldn't find the quad array transistor chip at that time.
Now I found it, so maybe i will build it once again, however what's the point. I can't even really hear the difference between different bug muffs, or maybe a very slight one.

[mattpas]

Sound clips of a bunch of muffs.
http://www.stompunderfoot.com/BIG_MUFFS.html

There are about 30+ versions out there.
Matt is making several of them for this page.

I just added more Muffs to the Big Muff page.