Best big muff pedal?

Calum13

MattBanshee said:

There's so many Big Muff types out there, you're never going to get a subjective answer.

My favourite is the Black Russian, but I don't want to sound like J Mascis, specifically.

There are some reasonable quality ram's head clones on ebay for £30 or so that will do the job. The trick is though, if you watch any J Mascis gear interviews on YouTube, he has a passive volume cut box in front (e.g. EHX Signal Pad, £20 or so). He then leaves the Muff on 100% of the time, has the volume cut on for his "clean" sound to tame the fuzz, and turns it off for the full fuzz distortion sound.

EDIT: links below

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/183746809018 muff clone


https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/143098559105 cheap volume pad pedal



Never knew that, I always just though he had various distortion and OD pedals. I might bid on the rams head clone you posted. Are cheap unbranded pedals off eBay any good?

Fishboy7

EQD Hoof Fuzz is one of my faves 

Handsome_Chris

earwighoney said:

ThorpyFX said:

monquixote said:

I'm pretty sure J Mascis uses a Big Muff Boosted with a Box of Rock.

He also bought a Fallout Cloud from me- uses it in the studio apparently.

Seriously? I have no reason to doubt you but that is truly incredible. 

You should put that up on your website!  

@earwighoney , I thought that Radiohead's Ed O'Brien would be endorsement enough?

Handsome_Chris

If the OP can get one pre-loved the Fallout Cloud/Muffroom Cloud is a corker.  But why take my word for it when one of our own can show you in a concise video?

timhulio

Here's one I build. Green Russian for exactly £100.
http://www.fredric.co.uk/green-russian-sovtek-clone

bbill335

timhulio said:

Here's one I build. Green Russian for exactly £100.
http://www.fredric.co.uk/green-russian-sovtek-clone

This is one of my favs. Very versatile, full of useful tones. 

My other favs were the wren & cuff box of war and the dope priest v7. Worth trying a dba Fuzz War, too. 

rico

I enjoy my BAT Pharoah. Muff with three clipping options and a treble control. 

AlexC

Am I the only one who thinks there’s just too many types of EHX Muff? 

lasermonkey

My favourites so far are a very early Triangle model (the one with the 3uF caps) and the second V2 Violet version. The Triangle one is raw and primitive sounding, great for garage or stoner tones. The V2 I guess is more typical of the BM sound. I sorted the V2's transistors for gain based on actual readings from several original pedals which goes against perceived wisdom. 

I've built myself a fair few clones, but these two are my favourites at the moment. I add a mids control, which helps add some presence, plus modifications to prevent loss of treble when the sustain and volume controls are dialled back.

NorthernStomps

timhulio said:

Here's one I build. Green Russian for exactly £100.
http://www.fredric.co.uk/green-russian-sovtek-clone

Can confirm

its fantastic 

Musicman20

I'd personally opt for an EHX at that pricepoint:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electro-Harmonix-wicker-Ground-electric/dp/B001NXDSK2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electro-Harmonix-Green-Russian-Muff/dp/B0751CRJ7X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ehx+muff&qid=1553771337&s=musical-instruments&sr=1-1

They have a few other variants.

Or, opt for the Fredric above.

Or, save and buy the Thorpyfx Fallout Cloud.

If I had a choice to get ONE Big Muff under £100, I'd get the Big Muff with Tone Wicker.

If I had a higher budget, I would 100% go with the @ThorpyFX Fallout Cloud. It is much easier to create a clearer and less mushy BM tone with this pedal. E.g....with a Les Paul I would definitely cut the bass. It isn't the wildest gnarliest Big Muff, think of it more like a very refined yet still very full on Big Muff. Clear but fuzzy. Plus, when you drop the level of fuzz, it sounds great as an almost overdrive type pedal...

The fact  J Mascis bought and now uses a @ThorpyFX is probably one the greatest selling points. J is a fuzz king. 

andyp

Handsome_Chris said:

If the OP can get one pre-loved the Fallout Cloud/Muffroom Cloud is a corker.  But why take my word for it when one of our own can show you in a concise video?

Who's the guy in this video? I thought it was bloody brilliant!

Andy

ICBM

Handsome_Chris said:

That does sound absolutely brilliant. Being able to hear all the notes clearly in the chords even through the wall of fuzz with the sustain up full is very unusual for a pedal like this, and it’s perfectly controlled as it decays back to clean(ish!) as well - really useful and also rare to hear that done properly in a demo.

andyp said:

Who's the guy in this video? I thought it was bloody brilliant!

I believe it to be @WiresDreamDisasters .

WiresDreamDisasters

Cheers guys.

Yeah I love the Fallout Cloud. Thorpy has done a stellar job with it. It's better than every other Muff I've ever owned. I love the clarity and the huge lows it can do.

andyp

I was never a fuzz fan, but got an Op-Amp reissue (the "Billy Corgan" one that came out recently) last year on eBay for a good price. I love it. I can see why people like that style of fuzz, big time. That Fallout Cloud sounds incredible!

ICBM

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Yeah I love the Fallout Cloud. Thorpy has done a stellar job with it. It's better than every other Muff I've ever owned. I love the clarity and the huge lows it can do.

I may be wrong - @ThorpyFX may correct me - but I think that the difference is that the Fallout Cloud isn't actually a Muff derivative, it's a Muff-*sounding* circuit which is quite a bit different in design.

I really love the clarity I heard in your demo too - the ability to hear the individual notes in a chord, which by all normal standards should be completely obliterated at that gain level, is quite remarkable.

juansolo

I think we've got one of everything on this page available. £80 each: http://80.229.1.38/~juansolo/stompage/std-fuzz.html

...I may be quite fond of a bit of muff.

ThorpyFX

ICBM said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Yeah I love the Fallout Cloud. Thorpy has done a stellar job with it. It's better than every other Muff I've ever owned. I love the clarity and the huge lows it can do.

I may be wrong - @ThorpyFX may correct me - but I think that the difference is that the Fallout Cloud isn't actually a Muff derivative, it's a Muff-*sounding* circuit which is quite a bit different in design.

I really love the clarity I heard in your demo too - the ability to hear the individual notes in a chord, which by all normal standards should be completely obliterated at that gain level, is quite remarkable.

Most boutique variants of the MUFF circuit seek to 100% clone the circuit.... which for all sorts of reasons is daft because there are about a million variants and each one within a category (triangle, rams head, civil war etc) sound different from each other. what i sought to do was get the gain structure and feel of the muff nailed and then add a stronger emphasis to the EQ and recovery stages which means that the Fallout its principally its own thing but..... it can also cover off the main food groups within the muff family but it can do a lot more besides.

so id say "sonically inspired by" just my route to the end product is different

breezytele

I haven’t tried lots of BMs, but I’ve been happy with the Tym Big Mudd ram’s head 
https://www.tymguitars.com.au/blogs/blog/8299709-the-tym-big-mudd-pt-4

Jonathanthomas83

@WiresDreamDisasters sounds superb, mate. What drums do you use for that track, please, if you don't mind me asking?