EHX Big Muff Op Amp reissue

TTBZ

andyp said:

TTBZ said:

God that sounds great, maybe better than the green russian reissue.

My thoughts exactly.

One of the two is getting bought before too long, I guess I'll have to try them together and see which I prefer.

Please make a thread if you do get a chance to play them side by side - I'd be interested to hear the differences between the two!

andyp

I'm not sure I'm qualified enough for that at my level, but if I do manage to test them out, I will do that.

Lebarque

Interesting this is getting so much interest. People have been making Op amp Big Muff clones for years, which I'd wager are better than this EHX version will be, if my experience of their pedals is anything to go by. *With the exception of my big box Small Stone which I love.

Is it just that people weren't aware that Billy used this type of Muff? It's fairly common knowledge I believe. Another consideration is that I don't believe he used it live, cos it got lost in the mix. Triangle style muffs have been more popular for a reason...

Anyway, I'm sounding like a killjoy, so will shut up. It's a cheap way to relive that great album. Crank it!

Ro_S

^ op-amp big muffs weren't made for long.  that's part of the thing.

stonevibe

I have a Euthymia ICBM for doing this, but I would still try one of these out as they look as though they will be fairly cheap Official RRP is $80.90 and so UK price should be similar I suppose

thermionic

Hmm, I might get a Fuzzdog kit for £26 and rehouse it in my "ordinary" Big Muff...

impmann

It’s good to see EHX making the different flavours of Big Muff - there’s a massive industry of folks trying to make improved versions so I guess it’s inevitable.

However, does this pedal only make that noise?
If so... erm... I don't like it.
I loved Siamese Dream but I can't see me wanting to make the same noises.

Perhaps a demo showing why this pedal is so revered what be useful - if its revered purely for that sound, then I'm surprised if I'm honest.

EricTheWeary

Is part of the point of an op amp fuzz that they aren't as fussy about where they are in the signal chain as germanium or silicon fuzzes? 

timhulio

EricTheWeary said:

Is part of the point of an op amp fuzz that they aren't as fussy about where they are in the signal chain as germanium or silicon fuzzes? 

A bit, but transistor muffs aren't fussy where they are in the signal chain either.

Ro_S

EricTheWeary said:

Is part of the point of an op amp fuzz that they aren't as fussy about where they are in the signal chain as germanium or silicon fuzzes? 

Big Muffs generally are not typical of fuzz pedals.  They're more distortion-fuzz, anyway.  It's typically the 60s style fuzz circuits - and certain ones - that are most fussy about signal chain placement.

jpttaylor

I'd have thought that this would be ideal for people wanting that wall of fuzz that Big Muffs do so well, but without being totally lost in the mix - at least in the way that Rams Head and NYC Muffs usually are. In that respect, the tone bypass might be quite useful, as it is on the Tone Wicker version.

markjohnson

Red Apple in Belfast are taking pre-orders by the looks 
https://reverb.com/uk/item/7746951-electro-harmonix-op-amp-big-muff-pi

juansolo

jpttaylor said:

I'd have thought that this would be ideal for people wanting that wall of fuzz that Big Muffs do so well, but without being totally lost in the mix - at least in the way that Rams Head and NYC Muffs usually are. In that respect, the tone bypass might be quite useful, as it is on the Tone Wicker version.

I'd argue that the muff tone stack is a huge part of what makes a muff a muff. Indeed it's a lot of the reason that an IC muff sounds like a transistor one. You're absolutely right that the reason you disappear is the scooped mid nature of them and the bypass switch gets rid of that. But there are ways around that that preserve what I consider to be something that makes a muff fundamentally muffy. I've never been fond of the bypass switch...

Also all muffs play nice with other effects, they're not like old fuzzes, as someone has already said, they work like a fuzzy distortion. The op-amp version was really the most unloved one. Most people only get into them because they're chasing the SP sound. One thing they have in their favour though is that they're super consistent as there are no real variations of it, unlike other muffs that have many.

Ro_S

How does an op-amp Big Muff sound compared the the core sound of the Way Huge Swollen Pickle (that's an op-amp BMP, too, right?) 

antifash

impmann said:

It’s good to see EHX making the different flavours of Big Muff - there’s a massive industry of folks trying to make improved versions so I guess it’s inevitable.

However, does this pedal only make that noise?
If so... erm... I don't like it.
I loved Siamese Dream but I can't see me wanting to make the same noises.

Perhaps a demo showing why this pedal is so revered what be useful - if its revered purely for that sound, then I'm surprised if I'm honest.

This. 

I would've wanted this in the ‘90s but I can’t imagine using it now!

TTBZ

I've never liked the SP tone (too smooth) I just thought it sounded great in the video - bit more raw and crunchy than the tone on the albums imo.

ICBM

crunchman said:

Is this the one that @ICBM takes his username from?

Yes . Although mine is actually an original *Little* Big Muff - which unlike the modern ones is identical to a full-size one except that gain is preset full up (where else ), and the tone switch goes from full down to full up. (I modded mine so it’s more like 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock.)

If you get lost in the mix with one of these you’re probably using too small an amp. They need a big, powerful amp with enough frequency range to not choke off the bass and treble if you set the pedal louder than your clean sound.

stickyfiddle

I know I never get on with Big Muffs, and I don't even like the SPs but that does sound glorious.

juansolo

Ro_S said:

How does an op-amp Big Muff sound compared the the core sound of the Way Huge Swollen Pickle (that's an op-amp BMP, too, right?) 

WHSP is a traditional muff. There are really no variations on the Op-Amp muff out there apart from ours as far as I can tell (we do one with the UltraStoner tone stack and mids control). Oddly I've never put the WHSP into the muff spreadsheet. Might have to do that at some point and build one, I know it gets a lot of love.

andyp

@TTBZ ;;

Don’t shoot if this is a terrible video as I’ve not watched it yet (poor signal), but this popped up on my YouTube feed just now. CME normally do pretty good videos so hopefully it's useful. I’ll watch later when I get back on 4G.

https://youtu.be/1u86hhaE-Jw

Andy