New (and improved?!) Bass Big Muff

[vegas532]

Originally Posted by jasohall

Right here sir: http://www.ehx.com/products/deluxe-bass-big-muff-pi

They don't have the dbbm on the front page or anything but if you go to their bass effects it's listed there.

Cool!! Thank you, sir!

[Laurent]

So they added the new product page to their site. It wasn't up yesterday.
They might have read my pointed comments.

When comparing MXR and EH it is interesting to note that MXR has fully absorbed new PR and promotional marketing techniques. Meanwhile EH is stuck in 90's style tactics.

Let's review:
EH: press release, company site not updated when the press release goes out. Some print ads but we see few of them currently.
MXR: forget press releases (who still read them and journalist are a disapearing bread) instead they generally do a teaser campaign followed by fabulous videos (the best in the biz - their video blog is groundbreaking stuff) followed by print ad.

The release date of the new bass muff and to a certain extent MXR product puzzles me.
Early January? Why not early december to capitalize on the holiday season?
I understand the NAMM show is in January but we have shifted from a mode that was industry driven (professional shows and distribution) to a mode that is consumer driven.

All that said, 2013 should be exciting when I review the new pedals coming out:
- EH new bass muff
- MXR bass chorus flanger
- MXR bass overdrive
- Zvex Basstortion

I might be leaving a few out. What about Boss, where are these guys and when was the last time they put out a new bass pedals. Was it 1982 or 1995?

[Bakkster_Man]

Looks promising. I definitely like the idea of the crossover. In just the last few weeks I've found that the less low frequency on the input of the BBM the better (to me) the distortion sounds. Less 'splat' to the attack. The crossover would let me filter that out only when the effect was active, meaning better fuzz without compromising the clean tone. Then the low pass on the clean so I can filter out the high frequencies of the dry mix and let the fuzz take its place. Both good features. No, it isn't a mid recovery, but I would likely set it with the LPF at around 2kHz to preserve clean lows and mids, and the HPF around 150Hz to keep the distortion from being muddy. Only thing the crossover could use is a way to dial in extra gain to offset extreme filter cuts.

The blend would solve my biggest issue with the BBM, though like others I'm not sure why the clean out is an XLR. I suppose with the blend knob I could move this after the compressor and use it as the last step, but I'd prefer not to pay for a DI that I won't use.

[scottfeldstein]

I'm interested to see what the crossover can do. Can't wait to see a street price in the wild and some good youtube demos.

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by jasohall

And the musket, and the supercollider... all very popular clones with mid controls or tone bypass because that's what players want. Thing is I'm not talking about those pedals, I'm talking about the latest thing ehx is hawking to us vs. the multitudes of other clones out there.

My guess is that EHX is too cheap, lazy, and/or incapable of doing such things which is why there's a huge boutique market.

[dannybuoy]

I tried a Bass Muff in normal mode with a SFX X&M crossover blender because I too thought that it sounded like a great idea in theory. In practice though, it lowers the volume hitting the fuzz resulting in less gain, and because you've low-passed the cleans you don't get the same top end snarl as you would with a regular blend when really digging in hard. This design should work better though since there are separate HPF and LPF controls so they don't have to crossover at the same frequency!

[EskimoBassist]

Originally Posted by bgmww

If a fuzz like this one (or similardistortion like mxr m80+) is set quite early in an effects chain (say.. before filters, mods, delay, etc).. why on earth these pedals have a DI out ?

The MXR isn't intended really as a distortion - it's a preamp more than anything so it works well last in the chain. If you DO decide you use it as a distortion though, it's great to have it far up your chain before you hit any other dirt boxes because then you can send a clean/gritty tone direct to FOH and then add whatever else on top going through your amp. Used mine like that for years to effectively bi-amp.

[scottfeldstein]

Originally Posted by EskimoBassist

The MXR isn't intended really as a distortion

C'mon. Have you heard this thing? This ain't no SansAmp.

Me, I'd use it at the end. I already have a digital distortion in front of my envelope filter, etc. I'd use the MXR by itself just to get a "rock sound." Or maybe the EQ to scoop some mids for a slap tone as well.

[brendanbassist]

Man, and I was all set on picking up the Ashdown hyperdrive. Now I have to wait for soundclips of this.

[Bakkster_Man]

Originally Posted by dannybuoy

I tried a Bass Muff in normal mode with a SFX X&M crossover blender because I too thought that it sounded like a great idea in theory. In practice though, it lowers the volume hitting the fuzz resulting in less gain, and because you've low-passed the cleans you don't get the same top end snarl as you would with a regular blend when really digging in hard. This design should work better though since there are separate HPF and LPF controls so they don't have to crossover at the same frequency!

That's my thought as well, have several octaves overlap. Then you also have much less of a volume loss.

[mjac28]

I still don't think it has anything on the vintage Muffs or the two million Muff Clones if they could get some NOS components and make some limited edition Russian Muffs I might care more.

[Laurent]

The pedal is out and available. Priced ar $118 this is a great value.

She looks grear and has lots of nice features; can she cook?

[Meddle]

Solutions looking for problems by the looks of it.

I was at a metal gig a few months back, and there was one bass 'n' drums doom band that had the bassist playing through DI-ed Big Muffs. Swarm of bees tone for sure. Unless that DI has a speaker sim it is going to be rough!

As others said, a mids control is what is missing here.

Also, I'm not a fan of clean blends for distortion. It suggests that a bassist is only ever wanting to add some guitar-shaped fluff to the top of their clean bass signal (the Boss ODB tone). In my mind the best bass distortion would include a few soft and hard clipping options (maybe have some red LED distortion in there) but include the bass end without having to include a clean blend. I don't like the sound of a clean and fizzy thin distorted bass playing in parallel...

[cheapbasslovin]

Originally Posted by Laurent

Priced ar $118 this is a great value.

Wow.

[Laurent]

Dear Santa,

One EH Bass Muff Deluxe, MXR Overdrive, MXR Bass Flanger/Chorus, one Zvex Basstortion.
Please, I've been good!

Hope Santa loves bass.

[ryansalmond]

Crossover controls look brilliant. Have been wanting just that in a dirt pedal for so long.
Too bad muffs aren't my taste.

[KeTeVemCovers]

Its avallible! I guess I'll start saving money for a couple of these.

[Meddle]

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

My guess is that EHX is too cheap, lazy, and/or incapable of doing such things which is why there's a huge boutique market.

Not sure they are cheap or lazy, just a bit idiosynchratic. I guess they are almost like the Rickenbacker of pedals. Sometimes they leave you dumbfounded (why do some EHX pedals have to be as big as a house?!?!), sometimes they leave you bewildered (why does the paint shed of some EHX pedals when you look at them?) and sometimes they leave you underwhelmed (wait, this pedal is made out of a standard Hammond enclosure with a few holes drilled in!).

Sounds like they are run by a bunch of oldschool hippies and stoners with soldering irons.

[Laurent]

Originally Posted by Meddle

Not sure they are cheap or lazy, just a bit idiosynchratic. I guess they are almost like the Rickenbacker of pedals. Sometimes they leave you dumbfounded (why do some EHX pedals have to be as big as a house?!?!), sometimes they leave you bewildered (why does the paint shed of some EHX pedals when you look at them?) and sometimes they leave you underwhelmed (wait, this pedal is made out of a standard Hammond enclosure with a few holes drilled in!).

Sounds like they are run by a bunch of oldschool hippies and stoners with soldering irons.

I do not think they are cheap or lazy. Idiosynchratic, for sure. Let's not forget the boutique pedal market is minuscule in number of units. When it comes to marketshare it's all about the big three Boss, MXR and EH. Boss is far far ahead of the other 2, and I would bet MXR has been gaining ground on the other two in the last 5 years.

EH marches at its own beat, some of their pedals are strange or underwhelming but some are nothing short of brilliant.
I hope the new bass muff fits this category. If anybody can generate a new exciting fuzz, it's them!

[Bakkster_Man]

So, who will be the first to get a sound clip out?