Bass Big Muff Replacement?

Kusabi · #1 10-18-2011, 06:09 PM

Hey guys, I've been using an EHX Bass Big Muff for the past couple years and recently I've become unhappy with it. I just can't seem to get a tone I'm happy with out of it. That's what brings me here; I'd like to find a suitable replacement.

It seems to be a common consensus on the net that the sft cannot actually get this tone. Is there a pedal that can?
Catalinbread SFT: Bass Guitar HEAVY DOOMY - YouTube

I play a Fender Precision with TI Jazz Flats and a Sterling Ray34 tuned to C with Rotoflats. Amp is an Acoustic B200 combo.

My chain at the moment is:
Bass>Line6 M5(used as a compressor and sometimes an octave)>Tech21 XXLB(set for a heavy OD/light distortion)>Tech21 VTBass(set for light OD and always on)>BBM>Source Audio Bass Envelope Filter>Dano Cool Cat Chorus>EHX Memory Toy>Amp

Budget is about $150 but I'd be willing to stretch it for something amazing. Thanks for the help

Jay2U · #2 10-18-2011, 06:26 PM

I don't know, but if a pedal can be found, producing that tone, I'd buy it straight away. Dramatic, that's what I'd call it. It goes into overdrive over the entire frequency span, from low to high. Imagine this with a DGCF-tuning!

Knettgummi · #3 10-18-2011, 07:22 PM

Wow, that demo sounds fantastic! But you're saying the pedal doesn't live up to it?

Pretty sure I'll be replacing my own BBM with this as soon as my budget allows it. Check it out.

Kusabi · #4 10-18-2011, 08:00 PM

That demo is oh so close to the tone in my head. To clarify, I've never played through the SFT personally but in a few threads on here and elsewhere it is mentioned that the pedal cannot nail the tones in that demo

. If only it could! Things would be so much simpler.

Laurent · #5 10-18-2011, 11:42 PM

Do a search on this pedal and you will see that many people have not been able to duplicate the tones in the promotional youtube video. I tried the pedal twice and could not get near it either under 9 or 18 volts. It might be the tone you are looking for but I recommend you try this pedal first at the risk of being disapointed if you don't.

alec · #6 10-19-2011, 12:29 AM

This is good to know. I'd seen demos of the SFT before that didn't do much for me. On the weekend I saw that doom one and was blown away! Nice little reality check here, and money saver!

Ender_rpm · #7 10-19-2011, 12:46 AM

I'm gonna go with "Upgrade your amp"

Not a doom-y guy myself, but it seems that all of the threads here seem to emphasize maximum speakers/wattage/etc. A 200 watt SS combo just ain't gonna get you there. Neither are TI Flats, IMO. Try some SS round wounds, through a 2x15 or 8x10.

Also, they used a $1200 ribbon mic to record that demo, through god knows what amp.

Jay2U · #8 10-19-2011, 12:39 PM

Somewhere in my dusty brains I remembered a sound like that. It is produced by a $70 pedal, which is meant for guitar. My son happens to have one, so I played some stuff through it. It resembles the sound from the YouTube clip quite a lot. Listen for yourselves. I included some MP3 files I produced just a minute ago. I hope Lemmy doesn't mind I replaced his bass by mine.

Death Metal | DigiTech Guitar Effects

Sample.mp3
Whiplash.mp3

chaosmic · #9 10-19-2011, 01:06 PM

I'd go with a either a Musket, Blunderbuss, Supercollider, Hoof, Pickle Pie B, Pharaoh or Grey Stache if you're looking for a killer Muff style fuzz that'll give you much better tones than the EHX BBM in my opinion. The Oxide and TAFM are also killer bass fuzzes.....just not tonally similar to a Muff. There's a ton of other options of course. Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Knettgummi · #10 10-19-2011, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay2U

Somewhere in my dusty brains I remembered a sound like that. It is produced by a $70 pedal, which is meant for guitar. My son happens to have one, so I played some stuff through it. It resembles the sound from the YouTube clip quite a lot. Listen for yourselves. I included some MP3 files I produced just a minute ago. I hope Lemmy doesn't mind I replaced his bass by mine.

Death Metal | DigiTech Guitar Effects

That sounds pretty cool for a budget friendly alternative. Have you used this in a band context? I'm curious as to how the low end holds up vs. bass-specific pedals.

EDIT: Oh, and what sort of bass/setup did you use in the sample?

Jay2U · #11 10-19-2011, 04:16 PM

No, I haven't used this in a band, as my son and I are just playing for fun. The low end holds up amazingly well. The pedal was designed for cranking up the low end of a guitar. The amp I use is a Behringer BXL1800A. As I'm not gigging, this is more than sufficient. In the samples the settings for mid and high were halfway and the control for low was set to some 75% of its scale.
I use a pretty cheap bass: An Ibanez GSR200EX. It has two humbuckers. It used to have a pre-amp, but I took it out of the circuit. It simply sounds better and doesn't use batteries anymore. The strings I use are flatwounds, d'Addatio Chromes, 45 to 100. For these specific samples, I used the bridge element at some 50%. The other element was not used. The tone control was set for full highs. The bass was connected to the input of the pedal. The output of the pedal was fed into a rather simple line 6 BackTrack recorder. The recorded track was mixed with Whiplash afterwards.
I hope this answers your questions.

PS: I played this finger style. A pick makes it even more agressive.

tonymcbony · #12 10-19-2011, 04:25 PM

Yeah, I've had two SFT's and it was a barrel of farts both times.
The only useful thing it does on bass is very low on the gain.

On guitar, it's another story.

Try an Attack Goat, I enjoy mine and it's pretty nuts.
Any big muff clone with a mids knob will do the job too, I particularly rate the Musket.

Knettgummi · #13 10-19-2011, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay2U

No, I haven't used this in a band, as my son and I are just playing for fun. The low end holds up amazingly well. The pedal was designed for cranking up the low end of a guitar. The amp I use is a Behringer BXL1800A. As I'm not gigging, this is more than sufficient. In the samples the settings for mid and high were halfway and the control for low was set to some 75% of its scale.
I use a pretty cheap bass: An Ibanez GSR200EX. It has two humbuckers. It used to have a pre-amp, but I took it out of the circuit. It simply sounds better and doesn't use batteries anymore. The strings I use are flatwounds, d'Addatio Chromes, 45 to 100. For these specific samples, I used the bridge element at some 50%. The other element was not used. The tone control was set for full highs. The bass was connected to the input of the pedal. The output of the pedal was fed into a rather simple line 6 BackTrack recorder. The recorded track was mixed with Whiplash afterwards.
I hope this answers your questions.

PS: I played this finger style. A pick makes it even more agressive.

Thanks for sharing! I'm definitely going to give that pedal a test drive when I get a chance.

Charley Umbria · #14 10-19-2011, 08:23 PM

Frantone Lo-Tone Classic Fuzz. It's definitely going to be more than $150.00, unless you find a good deal on a used one.

But...PURE AWESOME.

Edit: there's one in the TB Classifieds right now for only $135.00!

Kusabi · #15 10-20-2011, 12:43 PM

After seeing this video Zvex Mastotron by Marco Gil of Maligno - YouTube I've decided to get a Mastotron. That first tone is

Jay2U · #16 10-22-2011, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kusabi

After seeing this video Zvex Mastotron by Marco Gil of Maligno - YouTube I've decided to get a Mastotron. That first tone is

I hear lots of harmonics coming out

, but I'm missing the fundamental frequency. I wonder how this one will sound if bypassed for a certain percentage.

Knettgummi · #17 10-22-2011, 03:16 AM

I was thinking the same thing. Lately I've been feeling like getting a Boss LS-2, or something equivalent, is the key to finding the perfect fuzz tone.

efe_gallagher · #18 12-04-2011, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kusabi

After seeing this video Zvex Mastotron by Marco Gil of Maligno - YouTube I've decided to get a Mastotron. That first tone is

That's a friend of mine, haha

G3Mitch · #19 12-04-2011, 08:03 PM

im abit tired off my BBM. the blend is cool, and it was nice and cheap. but meh.. ill probably keep it, but i now have a Way Huge SP which makes the BBM sound cheap in comparison. it will be coming off my board when i get my rat tail. (waiting on this and a pedaltrain 1 to post pics of my board

)

spaz21387 · #20 12-04-2011, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay2U

Somewhere in my dusty brains I remembered a sound like that. It is produced by a $70 pedal, which is meant for guitar. My son happens to have one, so I played some stuff through it. It resembles the sound from the YouTube clip quite a lot. Listen for yourselves. I included some MP3 files I produced just a minute ago. I hope Lemmy doesn't mind I replaced his bass by mine.

Death Metal | DigiTech Guitar Effects

Attachment 232584
Attachment 232585

No dont get the death metal it sounds way to high. It cuts alot of lows out of your tone and gives bad feedback. I had one it sold a while back... check out the way huge swollen pickle. It holds low end amazingly well. Sounds similar to a big muff only way bigger sounding.