The Big Muff: Original, Mini, or Nano

none of the above, jumbo or supa tonebender, very similar, less clipping diodes, fuzzier.... or skreddy's stuff, killer

All I know is that the Little Big Muff is the same pedal as the Big Muff, same sound. Just a smaller pedal. I can't speak for the others you mention.

I like the pi.

only big muff id go for is a russian, personally id get the walrus audio jupiter fuzz, its imo the best value fuzz on the market

thing is, a stock EHX big muff is almost useless on stage for anything but bass, and then you want old russian ones... its also not a fuzz, for those of you still thinking its a fuzz

I think before people go big muff they should try some actual fuzzeslik a fuzz face (dunlop makes some good ones now for the first time in ages), a tone bender or 2, maybe something in the mosrite style (catalinbread makes a fuzzrite clone and the demo soudns just like the vntage one I had)... and of course check out the EHX satisfaction fuzz even though its will be compeltelely worthless for mdoerb music... but also try the original EHX muff fuzz or better yet try the double muff. The muff fuzz is 2 LPB1 boosts in a row one at full tilt fuzzing into the 2nd one that's got a vriable output still.... the double muff is 2 of those in a row so tis fr boosters mutilating eachother in true fuzz fashion. They sound good. Think Aladdin Sane album like Panic in Detroit....

I know I am doing that thing where someone says "should I try the little big muff' and I go "no, you should try some other fuzzes first" but a stock big muff gets lost on stage. End of story. Its sludgey, has no dynamics and is sos cooped that the bass and cynbals eat it unless you EQ after it.

let me begin to answer this by saying that No one who is really into guitar and tube amps lsitens to Corgan ebcause he has a great guitar sound, he often doesn't, but its cool sounds that were unique at the time and they serve the song.

having seen smashing pumpkins more times than probably anyone else on EB I can tell you I never saw him use a big muff live. I am pretty sure he just used it to record and then mainly just on siamese dream and probably not on as many individual guitar takes in that sea of guitar as you might think. There's also a considerable amount of univox superfuzz on that record.... at an rate, i think the post-MCIS guitar sounds are infinitely better, pun intended.

its usable live but im with jim theres better real fuzzes for the money, the big muff is a respectable pedal but compared to pedals like the fuzz war, jupiter and boutique brands they out do it, also check out the fuzzrocious blast furnace

I don't think the Big Muff is a bad pedal for live performances. It just takes a few months of performances to discover the right sound. Other bands have used it live such as Bush, or STP.

dean deleo doesn't use a big muff or any dirt boxes other than an all tube SIB varidrive as a slide boost. I have talked with that guy for over an hour after an army of anyone show and I know all about his gear preferences. His live rig is VERY well known and his studio tones are a surprising amount of weird, off-brand amps turned up to meltdown.

did you call Bush a band?

Besides, someone found a way to make it work

"oh yeah, I am youtube video kid and I know so much better than the old soundman because I watch videos with limited bandwidth... whoopdeedoo! I told him."

okay dude, dave gilmour invented that trick with a colorsound overdriver AFTER a muff I think back before even I was born, but it really only works in a very limited way and it adds noise to an already noisey distortion, butting the mid boost BEFORE the muff will be noisier...

you want a big muff? just get the little big muff, its 90% the same pedal, the main difference being some miniature surface mount parts that are full size, thru hole parts on the NYC (I would say get the nano, but maybe its all surface mount aprts, I dunno if EHX cheaped out more on it, never repaired one). If there's a difference in performance in another circuit there won't be in a muff because its clipping sections are like a fucking sledge hammer -- with the stacking trick I have always thought it seemed a little nutty to get a pedal with no midrange and then add more circuitry after it to try to add some midrange back. Isn't that like driving 5 miles north to find an onramp to drive 10 miles south? Just take a different road. The big muff is a cool idea and some EHX versions sound ebtter in a band than others but none are particularly useful outside the studio. Go cheap or go with a modified boutique. I ahd a SKreddy Mayo that was pretty decent in a band contextif you were careful and being NOISE FREE it definitely could survive the stacking tricks better than an EHX muff. I also had a copy of a mayo froms tomp unerfoot and that was killer. That guy is a great guy though he's really jacked the price of his pedals up now. You should chat with him though because he is very knowledgeable and friendly. Thing is, operative word is HAD. I've ahd a geen russian, a balck russian, a rams head, a NYC, a mayo, a stomp underfoot and on and on. They are all gone and I never miss them.

https://youtu.be/iwBSuZvVoHs?t=7s

try some other stuff and even some more expensive, boutique type muffs too... and pay as little as possible for the mini-big-muff because the EHX stuff has shit resale unless its old

I'm tryig to be helpful and get you the msot for you money, but if you wanna be combative and not just go "I think i will try the muff anyway, thanks for your observations though, I'll reread them if i can't get the muff to work for me" then keep going and I will taunt you a second time.

But seriusly? having looked at your personal equipboard I think you may wanna lay off on effects and save your money for a tube amp. You really aren't going to appreciate any fuzz or muff tyle pedal without one. Theya re not solid state friendly pedals, man. They wanna itneract with the variable impedance load of a dual triode in roder to really 'breathe'. These are all discrete transistor devices and behave somewhat differently than a DS1 that's driven by an IC like the headphone amp in your phone. I propose that what you were going to spend on a big muff and a TS9 to goose the front you put into your savings account to start the nest egg for a tube amp in 6 months to a year (remember to add money to the account monthly).

thanks for getting my abck on this one! I don't know why someone would get a flawed, pedestrian distortion from the stone age of this type of epdal when ther are better options! Its one thing if tis an old one and you're a collector, i've been there. But a new one? In new fuzz/distortion the world's your oyster. I second the fuzz war, defintiely in the muff camp and sooooooo much better. Or an obvious alternative is the Swollen Pickle mk2 with all those little mid-sculpting knobbies bult in. When I got ym first few big muffs there was nothing simialr out there except the pickle mk1 whichw as rare as hen's teeth.

i want a russian pickle ive seen tons of youtibe vids i just havent demoed pedals in a while, but theres so many good fuzzes out there its definitly worth shoppin around what works for someone you like doesnt mean itll fit your rig

Then how do you explain Billy Corgan's use of the Big Muff

Corgan infamously was quoted as stating that Siamese Dream layered up to 29 guitar tracks.

I doubt even Corgan could explain Corgan's use of the Big Muff.

I use a Big Muff, and have made it work live. I have also used it on several recordings and found that each engineer gives it a new sound, new slant or new feel based on what he runs it through. A useful pedal, with plenty of options for those who take the time to love it.

http://thiseclecticlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/no-coffee.jpg

ok, dude, hendrix never used the muff on any documented dates and while Mike Matthews knew him Hendrix maybe tried it at 1 jam before going toes up (do the math) as a prototype and Matthews has been trumepting it ever since... however, Hendrix probably did use the muff fuzz on axis, there are souds on that record that are un-fuzz-face and kght be that pair of LPB1s strapped -- there's soemthing on his equipbaord about it but its hotly disputed,man.

as far as the revolution? the revolution was the FZ1, the original fuzz and 1st dedicated distortion effect.... hell it was like the 2nd tompbox I can think of , 3rd if you count the sho bud volume! You're like 15, 16, maybe 21 at most, right?

I am not saying that the idea is bad, i am saying that its a stone age pedal in thatthe EHX stock big muff uses shit componenents and was voiced by a keyboard player... soemtiems stoneage pedals are good, some fo them work great, msot do not.... I used to colelct vintage fuzzes, theya re finnicky and difficult and mainyl good for wild colors in the studio. its ahrd to beleive the big muff has held on this long but it has with only a short laps in production when I was a kid. I stillr ecommend for live purposes looking at modern stuff built on a stone age topology. There are lots of functional big muffs out there. But if you must muff, then just get the little big muff as its a sallish enclosure with a good switch and mostly the same crap parts as the bigger one and the same transistors (you don't wanna go much crappier than whats inthere already). God knows whats in the nano.... if you want one as small as the nano get a boutque version froms tomp udnerfoot. You will be imrpessed by it until you need t play lead in a band with anotehr guitar player or a horn section.

You're just trying to see if you can escalate this into a flame war for some reason a -- is it because I refuse to like the big muff and keep suggesting you try soem other stuff in a store when you try out the little big muff to hear the difference for yourself?? because I don't like it and have owned gobs of them and a bunch of boutique ones that were considerably better and I couldn't get them to do much for me other than as accent stuff in the studio or jamming in my bedroom. I had much better stage luck with the even more ancient but less stupid circuit of the burns buzzaround/tonebender 3. That's me, but I can tell you I really did go through lke every fuzz out there. From where Iw as standing the big muff was actually cool, but if I went off axis on a big ass stage I was gone and I was told that even through a 100 watt marshall AND a pwoerful PA I sounded like tiny little bees in the audience. Every variant I tried had the same effect and ic ame to realize thatmy sound only had attack at the lwowest gians ettigns which deeated the whole purpose of the muff. I'm just telling you to try other things in teh store and maybe walk around the store while you do to see how you sound when you're nto right in front of the amp. If you wanna mock me for sharing my experience then i won't share it with you again.... you have all the big muffs and I'll continue to collect gear that sounds good.... like vintage ac30s and stuff. More for me!!!!!!

Terry mentioned that thebig muff works for him but he should also tell you he has about a zillion dirt pedals on this gigantic homemade pedalboard and a 100 watt JCM800 2203, a beast from the 80s. God knows what he gets up to with that rig!

Anyway, this long post is the sound of Jim waking up to find more smack talk after I had pretty much dropped it and making a loud mouthed reply without drinking enough coffee or having a cigarette.... just go get the little big muff, but while you're there try some other stuff, man. Swollen Pickle, Fuzz War if possible, a stright fuzzface, an mxr BC108 fuzz.... try some shit before you talk smack based on marketing at least.

Oh man I love swollen pickles!!!

yeah, the new, dunlop version with the extra knobbies is pretty good at everything you would want an over the top, fuzzy distortion to do. I honestly barely tried the original in the 90s. You didn;t see many and when i encountered one that belonged to studio I didn't have time to dick with it for fun, just tried it for a sec and went 'nope, too blown out for this song, lets try soemthing else.' I actually missed the baot on most of the original way huge epdals, the klon centaur, early fultone and the lovetone stuff like the big cheese and meatball. I was around for it but it was so pricey by the standards of the day that I refused to order any of it blind and stores didn't carry small brands back then.

Hendrix very rarely/possibly never used the big muff live and at that it was the original russian(which i reccomended) not a standard pi, he primarily used the dunlop fuzzface, do 5 seconds of research and youll see almost every video and link for hendrix tone is a dunlop

and the big muff wasnt a revolution, its not even a true fuzz its a distortion, it was a popular pedal when they began to rise in popularity, the first big muffs were in 68/69, the first fuzzes were made by radio and electronics companies in the early 60's for musicians wanting a driven dirty sound and then companies like dunlop in '66

if you want a revoutionary pedal save up a few grand and get a Klon Centaur or Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, and buyer beware the vintage big muff and the modern one are not the same pedal vintage ones tended to have more high end from what ive read