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which big muff sounds best with a bass?

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Retranslator

Feb 1, 2011
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78
#1
Tried several Big muff pedals: 1) newly made guitar ehx big muff pi, 2) ehx green bass P and 3) a copy of Russian black one. Both doesn't sound dense enough in a mix, though a copy of black Russian sounds really nice if played solo. If anybody knows any boutiques, that sound good and don't get lost in a mix, I'd be grateful for help. BTW about 2 years ago I had deluxe 80s big muff and that sounded awesome, but sold it as I didn't use it and wanted something more compact on the bord =/
 
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#3
Currently, I use a Black Arts Toneworks Pharaoh. If you want dense, this pedal will do it. I play in a very loud, heavy rock band and have no problem being heard in the mix. Other muff variants you may want to look into:

Wren & Cuff Pickle Pie B
Earthbound Audio Supercollider
Earthquaker Devices Hoof
Blackout Effectors Musket

There are plenty of others but I tried to stay in the under $200 range. Happy hunting!
 
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#4
Wren & Cuff Tall Font Russian
Blackout Effectors Musket Fuzz V2
Earthquaker Devices Hoof Fuzz

You could always try to put a Tube-Screamer-like OD infront of the fuzz. My MXR GT-OD infront of a Tall Font Russian sounds killer and cuts through a mix very well, imo.
 
#5
WhiteNinja said:
Wren & Cuff Tall Font Russian
Blackout Effectors Musket Fuzz V2
Earthquaker Devices Hoof Fuzz

You could always try to put a Tube-Screamer-like OD infront of the fuzz. My MXR GT-OD infront of a Tall Font Russian sounds killer and cuts through a mix very well, imo.
Click to expand...

Yep, I tried to put a Mad prof bass OD in front of the black-russian clone and in cuts through better, but want same cut through in one pedal :) Musket, hoof and pharaoh sound pretty interesting on demos..
 
#7
Give the EHX Big Bass Muff a fair shot. Hear me out now.

You can pick them up for $50 and sell for the same, so what have you got to lose?

Now here's the thing about the BBM...some folks will tell you that even though it has a clean blend, they do not blend well and there is a volume increase because there is no level control on the blend. Well let me tell you, those people are right.

Hold on though...here's the secret...go into the BBM with an overdrive pedal, something that has tons of bottom end and a level control like a Hardwire Tube Overdrive. INCREDIBLE! It's a totally different animal. You can pick both pedals up for $120-ish. BBM + a good overdrive is like magic, seriously. I'd love to compare this setup to a Pickle Pie B, though...but it costs quite a bit more than these two together.
 
#8
I've got both a Blackout Musket and a Pickle Pie B on my board and they are both awesome. I think the Musket is a little more versatile overall, but the PPB is awesome as well and has the blend knob on it so you can really dial in different amounts of fuzz going into your rig. It's pretty cool.

For inexpensive EHX pedals, I prefer the Black Russian over the new/newer US and Bass versions.
 
#9
mmbongo said:
Give the EHX Big Bass Muff a fair shot. Hear me out now.

You can pick them up for $50 and sell for the same, so what have you got to lose?

Now here's the thing about the BBM...some folks will tell you that even though it has a clean blend, they do not blend well and there is a volume increase because there is no level control on the blend. Well let me tell you, those people are right.

Hold on though...here's the secret...go into the BBM with an overdrive pedal, something that has tons of bottom end and a level control like a Hardwire Tube Overdrive. INCREDIBLE! It's a totally different animal. You can pick both pedals up for $120-ish. BBM + a good overdrive is like magic, seriously. I'd love to compare this setup to a Pickle Pie B, though...but it costs quite a bit more than these two together.
Click to expand...

I've heard this suggestion before from others but I'm not sure which overdrive I should opt for. How well would you say a Boss ODB-3 will fair with the BBM?
 
#11
The tall font green russian big muff is the best for me, tons retains low end and it's super thick fuzz. I also use the bass big muff but in a totally different situation. It used to be my only dirt pedal and I think I got around pretty well on just that alone.
 
#12
mmbongo said:
I'm not a big Boss fan :)

I like the Hardwire because it has separate controls for level, bass, treble, and gain. Very tweakable and can be had for $60.
Click to expand...

Cheers for that. I'll see if I can hunt down some sound demos of it. I'm not overly keen on the ODB-3 either as an overdrive (sounds too harsh to be an overdrive...teeters on the verge of being an all-out distortion imo) but it just so happens to be the cheapest one I can find locally haha.
 
#13
mmbongo said:
Hold on though...here's the secret...go into the BBM with an overdrive pedal, something that has tons of bottom end and a level control like a Hardwire Tube Overdrive. INCREDIBLE! It's a totally different animal. You can pick both pedals up for $120-ish. BBM + a good overdrive is like magic, seriously. I'd love to compare this setup to a Pickle Pie B, though...but it costs quite a bit more than these two together.
Click to expand...


nice tip,
what pedal is going first mmbongo? the overdrive or the BBM? and how do you set them fot better results?
 
#14
My two favorite:

Wren & Cuff Pickle Pie B - awesome for its clean blend
Fuzzrocious Grey Stache - awesome for its diode switches and mid control

Both Muff clones, but both have very different tones (with Pickle Pie at full wet blend). Any fuzz is subjective, but to me both fuzz tones sound really good, and I choose based on the features that I listed. Currently the PPB is on the board due to blend features, and Grey Stache is on guitar duty bringing the sludge.
 
#15
I have the Bass Big Muff and Musket. The musket is obviously a lot more interesting and versatile than the BBM and does cut better un-blended (it can also blend just fine by using a Boss LS-2), but, in my experience, unless you push the volume way up, a muff will always be kinda buried in a dense mix. Of course, this is true for fuzz in general, but I find it's even more evident with muffs. Even if you blend, the part that will be cutting through will be your clean sound, not the distortion, obviously, so it kinda defeats the point. I'd still like to try the Pickle Pie B, but I'm not sure I want to invest more money into yet another muff.
 
#17
Nasnederis said:
nice tip,
what pedal is going first mmbongo? the overdrive or the BBM? and how do you set them fot better results?
Click to expand...

Overdrive into the BBM. I didn't change the overdrive to do anything special with the BBM, I just keep it set how I normally use it. Gain about halfway, bass and treble both boosted. All I really adjust on the BBM is the fuzz level. The BBM is kinda like hot fudge on the ice cream. Not much use alone, but transforms the main dish into something spectaular :)

The Hardwire overdrive is also nice for this because it has a ton of midrange, and the BBM has a big mid scoop, so they go great together.
 

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