A tale of five Muffs... Well, seven in total, but five CMC Muffs...
Spent about an hour and a half comparing various Muffs on guitar and bass after dinner today. The main goal was to determine if I preferred SIL or LED settings, as well as my preferences for each on guitar and bass. Here's what I found:
Generally speaking, I used only two settings. This was to try and see the differences inherent in the pedals themselves. I only switched settings when toggling diodes, as I really liked the LED settings that I started with for all of my bass and guitar tones, and I was working on getting a tone that was similar to that in the mix with SIL. My tone goals were to be able to cut just a bit, have a solid and supportive low end, and be able to hear that my bass was dirty in the mix. The settings I started with for LED were volume at unity (right about noon), sustain at noon, Tone at 1:30, and Shape/Mids at max. When I engaged SIL, I found that all of the pedals got a boost of low end, more saturation, and became slightly muddier as a result. They also got considerably quieter, so I had to up the volume to about 2:00. To compensate for those changes, I also upped the Tone to around 3:00.
As a rule and regardless of pedal, I preferred LED to SIL in all settings. Each pedal reacted in pretty much the same way when being switched from LED to SIL. The extra clarity of LED was noticeable, and - especially on guitar - really helped with chords and single note runs. On bass, it seemed to keep the inherent tone of my bass, but with some bite and distortion to it. It was immediately present in the mix. On guitar, I found SIL to be too sludgy for my tastes. Not that it sounded bad, as I know there are plenty of people who would love that sludgy tone for doom, but for my doom tastes, I preferred more clarity. On bass, I found SIL to work just fine, though it deifnitely made the bass more of a "support" instrument, It didn't necessarily get lost in the mix, but it certainly didn't cut as much either. It would certainly work in all sorts of mixes, but I prefer a little bit more cut.
Now, on to pedal specifics:
Elk/Hizumitas - loose in all regards, both distortion-wise and in the low end. Most gainy, as well as the loudest by far. This was the only pedal that I never even got to 9:00 on the volume knob. Not a big fan of this as a rule, as it was a bit grainy and loose for me, but it is certainly a usable tone if you want a high gain Muff. I found myself enjoying it on guitar more than I had in the past.
Ram's Head - not as much bass as any of the others, but doesn't seem to cut bass either. A good, grainy tone, with some looseness in the distortion tone. Probably the most "vintage" sounding of the ones I have. Prefer it on guitar to bass since I like the extra lows of the Russian and Civil War varieties. I can see myself swapping this for the Civil War or Bubble Font Muffs on my guitar rig depending on needs.
Civil War - a bit bassier, but not a ton. Pretty even tone overall, but with plenty of bite and maybe a smidge extra treble. Not quite smooth, but not quite grainy - a nice middle ground. This is very distortion-y, as it's not loose in the lows or in the distortion "feel". It also has plenty of gain. Can definitely use this on guitar OR bass, though I have a slight preference for it on guitar over bass. I will likely investigate this one further on bass, as I might be able to get this to work better than the Tall Font on my secondary rig. We'll see. It's currently my #2 for guitar.
Bubble Font - my favorite of them all, for both guitar and bass. Just enough extra bass to give a little emphasis, but not overpower the treble content. Clear tone, and mostly smooth but with just a bit of gritty distortion. Saturates the lows just enough, but leaves them clear enough to not be mushy.
Tall Font - think Bubble Font, but a bit smoother and slightly bassier. More saturation in the lows, but also a hefty amount of lows overall. In the upper reaches of the tone control, it can get slightly harsh in the treble content. This is my current #2 for bass, as it adds a bit of bass emphasis that my 400RB-IV can't naturally reproduce. I also found I liked this on guitar more than I would have imagined given its bass-centric nature, and can certainly get sludgy like the Elk/Hizumitas, but nowhere near as gainy or biting.
I also compared these all to my previous go-to Muffs, the Pharaoh Supreme and Swollen Pickle. Here's what I found about those:
Pharaoh Supreme - same volume/tone changes when going from SIL to LED as described above, with the tone knob being used to adjust again. Overall, though, this was much more open in the lows on the SIL settings than any of the CMC offerings, and if I really wanted the tone of a silicon Muff, this would likely be the #1 contender as a result. Solid lows, present highs, just the right amount of grit and saturation, the only problem with the Pharaoh Supreme is that it's exactly what it advertises as, i.e. it's your amp but fuzzy. It doesn't jump out at you, and it's not super high gain or anything like that - it's a pretty neutral, if awesome fuzz with massive headroom that can be fed all sorts of ODs/distortions/boosts/etc. to liven it up. I use a lot of dirt pedals, so my amp settings are fairly neutral to work with various types of dirt. As a result, the Pharaoh doesn't cut as much as I'd like. Still, an absolutely landmark fuzz and easily one of the most versatile. If I HAD to use this, I'd probably just use my old DOD BiFET Boost to goose it with a bit more treble or gain. This is rightfully my "Old Faithful", as I know that I can always get a solid tone from this box.
Swollen Pickle - never been able to confirm, but I'm pretty sure the internal "Clip" knob blends between SIL and LED diodes. It's described as adjusting the clipping diodes to go from smooth (SIL?) to open (LED?) sustain in the distortion tone. Regardless, I usually end up somewhere in the 10:00-2:00 range. I got this to sound very similar to the various CMCs, with my goal being to replicate the Bubble Font. It was close, but I didn't have enough time to really adjust the internals, so that may happen tomorrow. As it stands, the "Clip" knob is at 11:00, which is giving me plenty of clear pick attack on the low notes. I quite like the attack on the higher notes, but I'd prefer smoother tones for the lows. I'll probably be able to fix that by lowering the "Clip" to around 9:00. Of course, that means I'll have to go outside of my usualy 10:00-2:00 parameters, but if there's a single thing the Swollen Pickle has taught me it's that patience is reward with this fuzz. Another fuzz that will never leave the collection, as I can always get a solid tone from it, and it's certainly livelier than the Pharaoh!
Alright, I think that's enough of my essay for the night. If you read it all, congrats! Hope you learned something, or became curious about something, or just wanted to play and see how far off I was in my descriptions. (Or maybe even were convinced to buy another CMC pedal, which I clearly should do as well...) Whatever it is, have a great night, and keep on jamming.
Spent about an hour and a half comparing various Muffs on guitar and bass after dinner today. The main goal was to determine if I preferred SIL or LED settings, as well as my preferences for each on guitar and bass. Here's what I found:
Generally speaking, I used only two settings. This was to try and see the differences inherent in the pedals themselves. I only switched settings when toggling diodes, as I really liked the LED settings that I started with for all of my bass and guitar tones, and I was working on getting a tone that was similar to that in the mix with SIL. My tone goals were to be able to cut just a bit, have a solid and supportive low end, and be able to hear that my bass was dirty in the mix. The settings I started with for LED were volume at unity (right about noon), sustain at noon, Tone at 1:30, and Shape/Mids at max. When I engaged SIL, I found that all of the pedals got a boost of low end, more saturation, and became slightly muddier as a result. They also got considerably quieter, so I had to up the volume to about 2:00. To compensate for those changes, I also upped the Tone to around 3:00.
As a rule and regardless of pedal, I preferred LED to SIL in all settings. Each pedal reacted in pretty much the same way when being switched from LED to SIL. The extra clarity of LED was noticeable, and - especially on guitar - really helped with chords and single note runs. On bass, it seemed to keep the inherent tone of my bass, but with some bite and distortion to it. It was immediately present in the mix. On guitar, I found SIL to be too sludgy for my tastes. Not that it sounded bad, as I know there are plenty of people who would love that sludgy tone for doom, but for my doom tastes, I preferred more clarity. On bass, I found SIL to work just fine, though it deifnitely made the bass more of a "support" instrument, It didn't necessarily get lost in the mix, but it certainly didn't cut as much either. It would certainly work in all sorts of mixes, but I prefer a little bit more cut.
Now, on to pedal specifics:
Elk/Hizumitas - loose in all regards, both distortion-wise and in the low end. Most gainy, as well as the loudest by far. This was the only pedal that I never even got to 9:00 on the volume knob. Not a big fan of this as a rule, as it was a bit grainy and loose for me, but it is certainly a usable tone if you want a high gain Muff. I found myself enjoying it on guitar more than I had in the past.
Ram's Head - not as much bass as any of the others, but doesn't seem to cut bass either. A good, grainy tone, with some looseness in the distortion tone. Probably the most "vintage" sounding of the ones I have. Prefer it on guitar to bass since I like the extra lows of the Russian and Civil War varieties. I can see myself swapping this for the Civil War or Bubble Font Muffs on my guitar rig depending on needs.
Civil War - a bit bassier, but not a ton. Pretty even tone overall, but with plenty of bite and maybe a smidge extra treble. Not quite smooth, but not quite grainy - a nice middle ground. This is very distortion-y, as it's not loose in the lows or in the distortion "feel". It also has plenty of gain. Can definitely use this on guitar OR bass, though I have a slight preference for it on guitar over bass. I will likely investigate this one further on bass, as I might be able to get this to work better than the Tall Font on my secondary rig. We'll see. It's currently my #2 for guitar.
Bubble Font - my favorite of them all, for both guitar and bass. Just enough extra bass to give a little emphasis, but not overpower the treble content. Clear tone, and mostly smooth but with just a bit of gritty distortion. Saturates the lows just enough, but leaves them clear enough to not be mushy.
Tall Font - think Bubble Font, but a bit smoother and slightly bassier. More saturation in the lows, but also a hefty amount of lows overall. In the upper reaches of the tone control, it can get slightly harsh in the treble content. This is my current #2 for bass, as it adds a bit of bass emphasis that my 400RB-IV can't naturally reproduce. I also found I liked this on guitar more than I would have imagined given its bass-centric nature, and can certainly get sludgy like the Elk/Hizumitas, but nowhere near as gainy or biting.
I also compared these all to my previous go-to Muffs, the Pharaoh Supreme and Swollen Pickle. Here's what I found about those:
Pharaoh Supreme - same volume/tone changes when going from SIL to LED as described above, with the tone knob being used to adjust again. Overall, though, this was much more open in the lows on the SIL settings than any of the CMC offerings, and if I really wanted the tone of a silicon Muff, this would likely be the #1 contender as a result. Solid lows, present highs, just the right amount of grit and saturation, the only problem with the Pharaoh Supreme is that it's exactly what it advertises as, i.e. it's your amp but fuzzy. It doesn't jump out at you, and it's not super high gain or anything like that - it's a pretty neutral, if awesome fuzz with massive headroom that can be fed all sorts of ODs/distortions/boosts/etc. to liven it up. I use a lot of dirt pedals, so my amp settings are fairly neutral to work with various types of dirt. As a result, the Pharaoh doesn't cut as much as I'd like. Still, an absolutely landmark fuzz and easily one of the most versatile. If I HAD to use this, I'd probably just use my old DOD BiFET Boost to goose it with a bit more treble or gain. This is rightfully my "Old Faithful", as I know that I can always get a solid tone from this box.
Swollen Pickle - never been able to confirm, but I'm pretty sure the internal "Clip" knob blends between SIL and LED diodes. It's described as adjusting the clipping diodes to go from smooth (SIL?) to open (LED?) sustain in the distortion tone. Regardless, I usually end up somewhere in the 10:00-2:00 range. I got this to sound very similar to the various CMCs, with my goal being to replicate the Bubble Font. It was close, but I didn't have enough time to really adjust the internals, so that may happen tomorrow. As it stands, the "Clip" knob is at 11:00, which is giving me plenty of clear pick attack on the low notes. I quite like the attack on the higher notes, but I'd prefer smoother tones for the lows. I'll probably be able to fix that by lowering the "Clip" to around 9:00. Of course, that means I'll have to go outside of my usualy 10:00-2:00 parameters, but if there's a single thing the Swollen Pickle has taught me it's that patience is reward with this fuzz. Another fuzz that will never leave the collection, as I can always get a solid tone from it, and it's certainly livelier than the Pharaoh!
Alright, I think that's enough of my essay for the night. If you read it all, congrats! Hope you learned something, or became curious about something, or just wanted to play and see how far off I was in my descriptions. (Or maybe even were convinced to buy another CMC pedal, which I clearly should do as well...) Whatever it is, have a great night, and keep on jamming.
