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Way Huge Russian Pickle

See Ive always felt the swollen pickle had much too much low end boom. That's the main reason I don't use it in my main rig. It just doesn't dial out. If I do dial it out with the scoop and the clip, I lose too much of everything else. The pickle is one of the oddest fuzzes I've ever played in that regard. It's also why I keep it around. It's just too cool and sound bad a$$ in my room and at other times.

I have high hopes for the Russian. I've always wanted an original sovtek greenie. But the prices they command the repeated reports of them being unreliable and picky and quite different from muff to muff of the same time period has always steered me clear. So I'm really hoping the Russian P brings the money. If not, I'm sure it'll be well enough. And I still have a feeling that things of this nature are always so relative. I've had some tell me low end was terrible on certain things only to try it myself and totally love the low end retention. Not to say you don't know what you're talking about. It's just, different strokes different strokes ;)

Mine should be here tomorrow!! I hope USPS is right this time.

Hey @keatdiggity, is there internal trims in der dat pedal???
No internal trim pots on this one. I love the simplicity of the three knobs. I think you'll really like the Russian Pickle. To be clear, this is not one of those pedals that sucks all of your tone by any means, however, I felt the need to add some bass to really make the room shake. And this is totally fine, because I usually bump the lows anyway.
 
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I was really excited to try this pedal out, so I ordered it on Amazon and received it today. Never having played an original Sovtek Big Muff, I can't really compare it to how closely it cops those tones. My initial impression upon playing my p bass through the Russian Pickle that it was heavy on the mids as it alludes to in the description. With the eq on my head at noon I felt that it was lacking bottom end. It was by no means harsh and treble heavy, just lacking the massive bass that I'm used to with the Swollen Pickle or the Aguilar Fuzzistor (I'm starting to realize that these are much different animals than the Muff clone category). Even with the tone knob on the pedal all the way down, it was not creating the low end fuzz that I had expected. It is simply more mid-centric, which some people will love. This characteristic may be a huge plus in band situations to cut through the mix. When I added some bass and cut the mids on my amp, it did get to what I was expecting in terms of monstrous room shaking fuzz. However, when AB'd with my Fuzzistor, the Fuzzistor crushed the Russian Pickle in terms of deep low end retention (again, two different types of fuzz flavors, so it may not be a fair comparison). I owned the Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian for a short time, and felt the same way I did when trying out the Russian Pickle. People love the W&C TFR, so I'm guessing the Russian Pickle will be a hit with many as well! I think that I may be the wrong guy to ask, since I greatly favor more deep sounding fuzz pedals. Aesthetically, the Russian Pickle is badass. It has a low gloss military green paint job that the pictures online don't do justice. Overall, I think it's a great pedal and a nice addition to the Way Huge Pickle family. (Sorry I won't be able to post clips.)

Bearing in mind that written descriptions of tone are always subjective, the EQ curve you're describing sounds to me like it's definitely in the Russian Muff family, but which one is uncertain. If you forced me to guess without A/B'ing sound clips, I'd say Bubble Font Green. They had a little less bottom and more growl than the Tall Fonts.

You are correct that the Swollen Pickle and Fuzzistor are different animals from the Russian Pickle, by virtue of having additional controls which make a big difference in the low end. The W&C TFR and Russian Pickle only have the traditional Muff controls. Hence the much bigger lows from the pedals with extra controls, while the TFR and Russian Pickle are closer to the traditional Muff EQ curve.
 
Bearing in mind that written descriptions of tone are always subjective, the EQ curve you're describing sounds to me like it's definitely in the Russian Muff family, but which one is uncertain. If you forced me to guess without A/B'ing sound clips, I'd say Bubble Font Green. They had a little less bottom and more growl than the Tall Fonts.

You are correct that the Swollen Pickle and Fuzzistor are different animals from the Russian Pickle, by virtue of having additional controls which make a big difference in the low end. The W&C TFR and Russian Pickle only have the traditional Muff controls. Hence the much bigger lows from the pedals with extra controls, while the TFR and Russian Pickle are closer to the traditional Muff EQ curve.

I totally agree that the extra controls put the SP and Fuzzistor in different categories than the Muff's. As far as whether or not the Russian Pickle sounds more like the tall font or bubble font, I couldn't tell you. I've never played through either. My initial impression is that it reminded me of the Wren and Cuff TFR from what I remember of that pedal.
 
I gots it guys!!!!! I really like the paint job. It totally looks like a tank. Flat army green. Dig.

So first impressions, I like it. I can't say there's anything quite "spectacular" about it. But it does what it supposed. And so far, it seems like it does it very very good. The low end is great! @keatdiggity, sorry but I have to respectfully disagree here with you, the low end is super solid imo.

I won't know for sure till I get it with the band, but so far so good. The tone knob is def expressive. Not sure what's different about from the norm, but it seems more musical so far. Like if I were to roll further back/ccw, it won't get overly woofy or drowned out. It does add bass though. And the other side isn't overly shrill or nasily. To me anyway. So it's the same as a regular BMP tone sweep but not. It's cool though.

Paint job is sick!! The pic doesn't do it justice fo real.

IMG_3266.JPG
 
Totally agree with @gregmon79 on the tone sweep. The Pickle had such a huge range on the sweep that much of it was unusable. It also seems like the volume knob has a more forgiving taper. The Pickle is prone to go from "can't hear it" to "HOLY CRAP" way too quick. I happen to have a gig tonight with a loud stoner band so I'm going to give this thing a trial by fire and see what happens. I normally use a Pickle with this band (after trying a LOT of other fuzzes) so it will be fun to compare the two.

Also agree that it seems to just do what it's supposed to do without a bunch of fluff. Reminds me of the DBA Fuzz War in that regard, which I also use a lot and highly recommend.
 
Totally agree with @gregmon79 on the tone sweep. The Pickle had such a huge range on the sweep that much of it was unusable. It also seems like the volume knob has a more forgiving taper. The Pickle is prone to go from "can't hear it" to "HOLY CRAP" way too quick. I happen to have a gig tonight with a loud stoner band so I'm going to give this thing a trial by fire and see what happens. I normally use a Pickle with this band (after trying a LOT of other fuzzes) so it will be fun to compare the two.

Also agree that it seems to just do what it's supposed to do without a bunch of fluff. Reminds me of the DBA Fuzz War in that regard, which I also use a lot and highly recommend.

Totally. And the tone knob still keeps a pretty solid low end on the right side almost all the way fully CW and even when the dist is dimed. That's pretty rare on a muff IME. This is a muff I can't stop playing. It's a riff machine.

I'm wondering how the feedback will be. Or if it'll be too touchy or not an issue. I have that problem with some fuzzes, too much feedback. This one seems to not be that way. But I'll have to wait till I get it with the band to see.
 
So some more musings:

I can't stop playing this thing. It's so weird, because this isn't like some crazy new off the wall all kinds of settings possibilities muff. But it's really musical in a way. I've played a decent share of muffs. This one just sounds great. And I love the way the tone stack works with the circuit. And like @ole Jason says, the volume is more like a traditional muff pot range. It very gradually goes up as opposed to too quiet to way too loud in a fraction of a centimeter. And it's quiet. That is one thing I've never really experienced with a fuzz, they usually scream at me if I turn too much up too much. This one doesn't do that. But it of course does get plenty loud the right way. And again, the low end is solid. Even if I dime the tone, the low end is still there!! It's a tad thinner of course, but it doesn't completely drop out like other muffs do. And I like that. However, I still need to get it in a gig/loud volume setting.

I sorta wish it had some more gain. But overall, it's totally fine. And I really like this thing. Did I say that yet??! I really like it ;) a lot. More to come......
 
You can help the gain issue by putting some sort of boost or OD in front of it. Muffs generally respond well to boosted signals, and I'd bet the Russian Pickle is no exception.

Yeah that'll be something I'll try in a live setting as well. I can tell that it does respond well to a boost. Tried my fifth gear after it. I should try it before too.

i wonder how it works with a hot/active bass,some muffs i've tried,can't handle high output basses very well.

It works great imo. Used my ATK 300. It's an active beast. And it handles it very well to my ears.