someone give me the difinitive answer

[bigdaddy496]

once and for all

wtf is the damn big muff? is a freaking fuzz or distortion? i want one but im not about to have 4 different distortions on my board. its already bad enough theres three. can someone please chime in with this? because i like the tone that david gilmore gets out of the thing but not enough to cough up more real estate on the pedal board for more of the same thing.

 

[PMcG No.6]

Big Muff kinda falls into both categories, but I'd say it's more of a distortion than fuzz if you were to compare it to a Fuzz Face or Tonebender type of effect.

What pedals do you already have? There's lots of Big Muff variants/copies out there. You may already have one.

 

[bigdaddy496]

vox satchurator, keeley ds-1, boss metal zone

 

[PMcG No.6]

Yeah, none of those are even close to the same as a Big Muff. If you like the Muff I'd say go for it. They're not that expensive and it'll be different than those three.

Now you just have to decide which Muff you want to get. LOL That will lead you to the Ram's Head, Triangle, Russian etc... debate. Good luck! I always wanted a "Triangle" Muff. Almost built one.

 

[GrouchyDog]

ROFL, I've been kinda wondering the same thing. My OD/dist chain is Time Machine Boost -> Analog-Manned TS9 -> OCD, so I think it wouldn't be redundant to add a BM. Assuming I had the board space, which I don't...................

 

[bigdaddy496]

i have to go with the little big muff, or the little big muff with tone wicker

 

[Dr.Distortion]

The name says it all... Big Muff Pi... Fuzz.

The older ones are fuzz, no doubt...

 

[sweatyhand]

once and for all

wtf is the damn big muff? is a freaking fuzz or distortion? i want one but im not about to have 4 different distortions on my board. its already bad enough theres three. can someone please chime in with this? because i like the tone that david gilmore gets out of the thing but not enough to cough up more real estate on the pedal board for more of the same thing.

I agree with you here,but each has different Muff zone sort of ....

 

[gibsonguitar1988]

To me it's a fuzz. I want my distortion to be less sounding like a broken speaker, LOL. The Big Muff has too much Fuzz for me to use as a distortion. I want my distortion thick, chunky, and full but not fizzy, fuzzy, or flabby. The Big Muff works great as a fuzz though.

 

[bigdaddy496]

i heard the argument of little big muff vs big muff pi and a lot of people say they sound exactly the same. i wouldnt have an issue except they arent joking when they say its "big" muff

 

[Hector Arcadius]

Yeah, none of those are even close to the same as a Big Muff. If you like the Muff I'd say go for it. They're not that expensive and it'll be different than those three.

Now you just have to decide which Muff you want to get. LOL That will lead you to the Ram's Head, Triangle, Russian etc... debate. Good luck! I always wanted a "Triangle" Muff. Almost built one.

Nice thread, perfect to go with my Gilmour-kick I have been having for the last year or so...

Chad, which (affordable )Muff / Muff-clone would you recommend for DG tone? FWIW, I have been looking for the NYC with Wicker.

 

[PMcG No.6]

Nice thread, perfect to go with my Gilmour-kick I have been having for the last year or so...

Chad, which (affordable )Muff / Muff-clone would you recommend for DG tone? FWIW, I have been looking for the NYC with Wicker.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea. I've only owned one Big Muff and it was a black Russian BM. Didn't care for it. Might have been my amp at the time, I dunno... I think there's usually a big debate which one is best for Gilmour. I think he used several different version throughout the years; most notably the Ram's Head and Triangle.

I'm sure any of them would be good enough to get a Gilmour-ish tone as long as you have the rest of the effects that go into his signature sound. Personally, once I started building and really looking into pedals I always wanted to build a Triangle Big Muff. Never got around to it.

 

[snaredrum]

i tend to call it a fuzz.

by the way, one not mentioned yet - the bass big muff. interesting gilmour-style tones, and you can even blend your clean signal in.

 

[snaredrum]

oh, and the little big muff seems to have a bit more treble "crunch" to it than the large nyc big muff

 

[kungpow!]

its a fuzz, dude

 

[st.bede]

if you are interested in the differences between different big muff pedals search around EHX.com | Electro-Harmonix Forums . I remember reading some great info there.

 

[Mantis]

it's the coolest Fuzz ever!
have a russian and new york. both are different both are great.
The Big Muff Pi Home Page

 

[dubcut]

To me, it is more of a buzzy distortion that is smooth - a contradiction of terms, actually. Therein lies the beauty - sweet on some notes, nasty on unison bends, and the fidelity is perfectly smashed on power chords, making them sh*&ty sounding, but fat as heck or thin if you want.

really cool for adding with an octave down to get wierded out effects, much less predictable than a Dist box, for certain.

 

[Tim Fezziwig]

I wish I KNEW . Ilove it though! I get GREAT saturated 70's tone out of it. It has a "hollow"Fuzz like quality! Not really a Fuzz>More of a SUSTAINER with attitude! I use the Muff to push My Swollen Pickle. That is MEAN ! My Face-Lift gives GREAt FUZZ! The octave is weak. I use the octave volume to help drive the Fuzz. There two switches so I kick on octave side for a BOOST!

 

[firesgt911]

I don't think you can have too much variety when it comes to dirt!

I run quite a few dirt pedals set up to cover a wide spectrum. As far as the BM goes, definitly a fuzz that can do distortion at times. It is one of the most aggressive sounds you can find.

If you are going for Glimour, find a Rams Head clone. Stompunderfoot and Ronsound have more inexpensive clones than some others. All the versions sound different though. I never really meshed with the Little Big Muff and gave it to a friend. My favorite is my version 3 which is the Rams Head circuit with the newer NYC graphics. The one on my board, however, is my version 5, 78 opamp big muff. It is the closest to a distortion of all the versions, but still very fuzzy.

All in all, I've had like 8-9 of them and could not go on without at least one. They are big, but that's just an excuse to get a bigger board!