• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Electro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff

Just sold my Malekko Assmaster (not here because I'm cheap) in favor of the BBM. Heresy, I know, but even though the B:A is "better" in some ways, it's just not a coupla hundred bucks better. For me.

Yes that is why I started with what I did. Here is the thing, those two pedals in design are night and day, the "B:A" is a octave fuzz a muff is not. In terms of B:A vs muffs I like any muff better then any brassmaster. And as for Octave fuzzes I like supperfuzzes better than brassmasters but neither is better then the other in design really. That has to with who built the thing, what components they used and how much they very from the original design. Which brings up the point for me... I really need to try out [not buy:p] a original ramshead big muff....
 
Just sold my Malekko Assmaster (not here because I'm cheap) in favor of the BBM. Heresy, I know, but even though the B:A is "better" in some ways, it's just not a coupla hundred bucks better. For me.

Completely different pedals. I have a Sovtek on my board, and a Blackcat Bass Octave Fuzz (an earlier clone of the Bass Brassmaster than the Malekko). I would have kept them both.:)
 
It's just a muff, dude. what kind of components would you upgrade?

I agree some kind of mid control would be nice but IMO the limited gain range is what makes the BBM my muff of choice

Hmm at this point I'm not sure, I haven't really taken it apart yet. I think the lower gain "might" be the trade off. For me what I'm complaining about is hard to describe, it's a texture thing. All the other muffs I have when you either have them set way low or cranked have this depth that I think has to do with the way they compress when clipping.

The main reason the BBM didn't stay on my board more then a hour was the way the blend works doesn't work with my set up, it either is too loud of inaudible.
 
Different pedals?! The devil you say! And here I was thinking they would do exactly the same thing. Good thing I didn't try to choose one over the other based on what I needed out of a fuzz pedal and my budgetary concerns at the moment.
 
Hmm at this point I'm not sure, I haven't really taken it apart yet. I think the lower gain "might" be the trade off. For me what I'm complaining about is hard to describe, it's a texture thing. All the other muffs I have when you either have them set way low or cranked have this depth that I think has to do with the way they compress when clipping.

The main reason the BBM didn't stay on my board more then a hour was the way the blend works doesn't work with my set up, it either is too loud of inaudible.

yeah but i think it's a question of design rather than components

i'm not sure how compression would increase the "depth" though
 
Different pedals?! The devil you say! And here I was thinking they would do exactly the same thing. Good thing I didn't try to choose one over the other based on what I needed out of a fuzz pedal and my budgetary concerns at the moment.

Yes, the devil I say...

Comparing the two and saying one is "better" in "some ways" is the same as comparing a delay to a phaser and saying one is "better" in "some ways".

I think the common term is "apples and oranges". That as my point.

However if you were short on funds, you may as well compare selling a piece of furniture to a pedal and make the same utilitarian decision. It is the same thing, really.

All of this said, I was trying to be friendly before in making a point, and it did not warrant a snarky response on your part. I would humbly and respectfully request observance of the first rule of posting here, and that is that you respect your fellow posters at all times.

For that, I thank you.
 
If I couldn't hear the difference between the BBM and the B:A I would never have bought both in the first place. Any "snark" that may have come across was due to frustration that folks seem to think I couldn't hear that difference. At the same time, it seems to me that distinction between the two pedals might be slightly less than the distinction between either pedal and a couch, bed, or table. This goes back to that old saw about the average audience member being unable to hear much in the spectrum of sound other than loud/soft, clean/distorted. I'm not recording anything at the moment that would require the slight octave effect of the B:A, and in the places I play and for the the people to whom I play the distinctions between the pedals would be more or less nil. For other folks and for other reasons these distinctions will be much greater, but "for me" (as I said in my first post in this thread) and for now my fuzz needs are satisfied by the BBM. I'm going to go ahead and keep the couch.
 
to answer alexcolaco, i would choose a EHX bass big muff. not my favorite muff, but far better than the other two imho.

ok thks.
But isn't the EHX bass big muff very similar to the little big muff? and the mxr el grande different from the other two?

i only ask because i have a little big muff and want to buy a pedal fuzz for bass. i like the el grande cause of the deep switch that allows me to get what i cant with the little big muff. i'm not too fond of the bass big muff.

could you help me deciding between the both bearing in mind that I'm not looking for big fuzz or muff sound. I'm looking for the best sound on the left side of the tone and sustain knobs.

thanks
 
I guess at this point one more opinion probably isn't all that helpful, but I picked up a BBM expecting to love it but I didn't. It did everything it was supposed to do, and did it well, but just was not at all the 'flavor' I had in my head...I won't knock the pedal, it just wasn't for me...

-John
 
ok thks.
But isn't the EHX bass big muff very similar to the little big muff? and the mxr el grande different from the other two?

i only ask because i have a little big muff and want to buy a pedal fuzz for bass. i like the el grande cause of the deep switch that allows me to get what i cant with the little big muff. i'm not too fond of the bass big muff.

could you help me deciding between the both bearing in mind that I'm not looking for big fuzz or muff sound. I'm looking for the best sound on the left side of the tone and sustain knobs.

thanks

they are both muffs so they have some similar qualities. The little big muff is similar to an NYC reissue muff. Has less bottom end, more highs, more gain, and maybe slightly less mids than the BBM. The BBM is based on the Russian (V8 i think) and consequently has less gain and is more smooth on the high end...setting the toggle to bass boost preserves the low and and adds bass as you turn clockwise on the tone, where you would usually loose low end. The middle or Norm mode sounds more like a stock black russian. The dry mode blends your uneffected signal back in at 50/50.

as far as the el grande, i know some people like it.....i don't. doesn't sound organic enough to my ears.
 
they are both muffs so they have some similar qualities. The little big muff is similar to an NYC reissue muff. Has less bottom end, more highs, more gain, and maybe slightly less mids than the BBM. The BBM is based on the Russian (V8 i think) and consequently has less gain and is more smooth on the high end...setting the toggle to bass boost preserves the low and and adds bass as you turn clockwise on the tone, where you would usually loose low end. The middle or Norm mode sounds more like a stock black russian. The dry mode blends your uneffected signal back in at 50/50.

as far as the el grande, i know some people like it.....i don't. doesn't sound organic enough to my ears.

thanks
this was most helpful. i think i'm gonna go with the EHX BBM
 
Hey guys,

I was wondering, i can't seem to find a smooth fuzz sound, kinda like the sound of overdriven tubes, from this pedal. has any of you achieved a sound similar to that? if so, which were the settings? thank you! I play a squier active jazz V.