Bass Big Muff Has No Presence?

**TheEmptyCell** · #1 10-20-2010, 01:54 PM

The BBM is my only pedal, and I'm a little frustrated with it.

Switch is set to 'dry', volume at 12 o'clock, tone at 1:30 sustain at 3:15.

It sounds awesome on it's own, or with just drums, but once I kick it on with 2 guitars with mild overdrive and vox, I can't even tell it's on. Even the drummer, sitting across from my amp at ear level can't hear a difference.

My amp is set flat, and I'm playing a P-bass with flats. I'm expecting another layer in the midst of distorted guitars, not just a little red light on the floor telling me it's on, with no audible difference. Any suggestions or input?

precision punk · #2 10-20-2010, 02:19 PM

Try boosting the mids on you're amp and maybe cut the sustain on the BBM a little to get a more solid punch which works well with the flats.

bassguitar808 · #3 10-20-2010, 02:23 PM

have your guitards cut their lows / low mids

btw I sold mine

now using a Catalinbread SFT

looking at an Iron Ether Oxide next

Pullman? · #4 10-20-2010, 02:26 PM

This may seem silly, but for a while i had no idea about the mini toggle, but now i run it on the bass boost with sustain and tone maxed out and volume at noon. That works wonders for me.

Din Of Win · #5 10-20-2010, 02:30 PM

Yep, the DRY mode is one of those, "sounds great on its own, but..." kinda pedals.

+1 on bass boost mode.

I just got a Bluebeard, and my BBM's been on the sidelines ever since.

So yeah, try the bass boost mode and bump your mids, you should get some nice fuzzybuzzy sounds from that.

khabalah · #6 10-20-2010, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassguitar808

have your guitards cut their lows / low mids

btw I sold mine

now using a Catalinbread SFT

looking at an Iron Ether Oxide next

yeh , get one

Headless Llama · #7 10-20-2010, 04:13 PM

Same here. I tried it in the store, and absolutely loved it! But in a band setting, it is worthless. I'll have to try one of those SFTs that all yall are raving about...

rratajski · #8 10-20-2010, 04:49 PM

Here's the deal with muffs, sansamp bass drivers, and sfts: they all cut mids and mids help you cut through.

Look for a muff with a mids option or tone bypass.
If you cut mids in your signal before your amp, you can't bring them back in post-pedalboard. You can boost mids before a mid-cutting pedal to help.

eyeballkid · #9 10-20-2010, 04:55 PM

wow.. i find mine to be a little mid heavy!... but im playing a stingray...dry knobs at noon.
I sometimes wish i could dial back its presence.. and i do by dropping the sustain and making it more overdrivey sounding.

rratajski · #10 10-20-2010, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyeballkid

wow.. i find mine to be a little mid heavy!... but im playing a stingray...dry knobs at noon.
I sometimes wish i could dial back its presence.. and i do by dropping the sustain and making it more overdrivey sounding.

Impossible for a muff to be mid heavy unless your mids are way boosted before the muff like from your stingray.

tomhanzo · #11 10-20-2010, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rratajski

Here's the deal with muffs, sansamp bass drivers, and sfts: they all cut mids and mids help you cut through.

Look for a muff with a mids option or tone bypass.
If you cut mids in your signal before your amp, you can't bring them back in post-pedalboard. You can boost mids before a mid-cutting pedal to help.

Yeah he is right. Muffs chew up your mids and spit out fuzz.

I always wondered how the muff with tone wicker sounded with bass?

rratajski · #12 10-20-2010, 07:19 PM

It sounds like your bass distorted

. The tone on the muff is bypassed. Sounds crappy alone, but cuts through in a mix.

wetzelman1 · #13 10-20-2010, 07:23 PM

I don't realy understand why everyone has this exeperience with the BBM. I play in a a doomy post rock band, we play LOUD, and tuned AGCF. I have my BBM set dry, volume bout noon, tone bout 11 o clock and sustain bout 2 o clock. I think the key is finding the right volume combination. Mine will give an audible volume boost when just solo'd, but in the mix, the volume boost isn't really perceived. I've never had a problem not cutting through with it.

snaverb · #14 10-20-2010, 07:32 PM

russian big muff is the best for bass

tomhanzo · #15 10-20-2010, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rratajski

It sounds like your bass distorted

. The tone on the muff is bypassed. Sounds crappy alone, but cuts through in a mix.

so it cuts no lows end? It leaves all your mids?

Quote:

Originally Posted by wetzelman1

I don't realy understand why everyone has this exeperience with the BBM. I play in a a doomy post rock band, we play LOUD, and tuned AGCF. I have my BBM set dry, volume bout noon, tone bout 11 o clock and sustain bout 2 o clock. I think the key is finding the right volume combination. Mine will give an audible volume boost when just solo'd, but in the mix, the volume boost isn't really perceived. I've never had a problem not cutting through with it.

Well what kind of bass do you use? what eqs do you have? I bet your eq is a smiley face lol. Thats probly why.

As for the volume difference, well: the distorted sound has less definition (i guess youd call it that) than your clean. It has to be louder to be heard in the mix. IMO

fitz420 · #16 10-20-2010, 08:45 PM

my bbm's lack of mids started my quest for the right "muff". i decided to keep the blackout effectors musket after going through many muff derivatives. no low end loss and plenty of mids (V1 goes to flat, V2 goes to boost). highly recommend this pedal and company. kyle is super friendly and quick with answering any questions you may have. you can usually grab a used V1 here or on TGP for around $100-$110.

rratajski · #17 10-21-2010, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomhanzo

so it cuts no lows end? It leaves all your mids?

Most distortion loses a little low end, but in the muffs I've made and modded, tone bypass is the way to go. Your bass' tone is present and accounted for!

Devo-lution · #18 10-21-2010, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rratajski

Impossible for a muff to be mid heavy unless your mids are way boosted before the muff like from your stingray.

In my experience rays aren't that mid boosty...

I use a granny puker... No idea about the EQ, but I can clearly hear myself in a mix.

rratajski · #19 10-21-2010, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devo-lution

In my experience rays aren't that mid boosty...

I use a granny puker... No idea about the EQ, but I can clearly hear myself in a mix.

Welp, that dudes getting mids from something before his muff, b/c those mods have tone boosted somewhere being that muffs scoop mids out...

Ad Jetsonic · #20 10-21-2010, 04:47 AM

Going back to the OP. Set it up for the band mix not how it sounds on it's own.

As a guide I have the toggle set in the bass mode, up the volume to 1pm, tone at 2pm and sustain at 4pm. I do adjust to the room on the sound check as well. I'm playing a Precision with DR rounds through an Orange Terror.

I find you have to go more extreme and trebly to cut through. I don't particularly like a mid biased sound in my band so I accept that volume has to increase to compensate.

I use it on two songs in the set and it goes down a storm. I really like this pedal. It's worth persisting with