Black Russian Big Muff - working as normal or broken?

[Colonel Monk]

Guys:

I'm looking at this for guitard in my band. When I got it from him he says "it's not working" but didn't get any details.

Just need a little info from someone familiar with these.

Powers up.

It does seem to "work", but can't tell if normal behavior:

1) Volume control - when engaged, if the volume is less than 45% there is no sound whatsover. When cranked, there seems to be a substantial boost in volume over bypassed.

2) Sustain - kinda the same as above - under 50% there's not much fuzz. At max though it seems to be OK.

Sound Normal?

CM

[Dick Tree]

The volume usually has to be around 50% for me to hear anything on mine. I usually keep the sustain very low because otherwise I lose a lot of low end/clarity. When my guitarist uses my BMP he usually changes the sustain to pretty high up though. So it sounds like yours is normal.

[Colonel Monk]

Thanks.

He said that it wasn't working at all, so that mystery is solved. Loose battery wire I'm guessing.

OR guitardation.

I'm going to add a 9V adapter receptacle for him and then it'll be all good.

I have to say though, it seems like it has weak output compared to some fuzz pedals, especially my BEAST.

[Konigstiger22]

Sounds about the same as mine. At about 45% volume there is a point where it is either loud or soft. Also I tend to keep the sustain lower than 50% as well for bass.

[Dick Tree]

Originally Posted by Colonel Monk

Thanks.

He said that it wasn't working at all, so that mystery is solved. Loose battery wire I'm guessing.

OR guitardation.

I'm going to add a 9V adapter receptacle for him and then it'll be all good.

I have to say though, it seems like it has weak output compared to some fuzz pedals, especially my BEAST.

Yeah, it's pretty annoying because the knobs can easily move around either accidentally or if the pedal is vibrating slightly because of noise or something.

Everyone once and a while I turn mine in while playing in my band and it's either silent or 100% volume

[Colonel Monk]

Originally Posted by Dick Tree

Yeah, it's pretty annoying because the knobs can easily move around either accidentally or if the pedal is vibrating slightly because of noise or something.

Everyone once and a while I turn mine in while playing in my band and it's either silent or 100% volume

Yeah I've started marking the line with a marker - especially with chicken-head knobs and loose pots.

Thanks again for your help.

[JonnyAngle]

I suspect they are using audio taper pots instead of linear taper for the volume knob.