@@ThatPedalShow Me, myself and I know more about gear, in our pinky, than your entire foots. Foots? Yeah, I mean, me maybe we haven’t actually used, or even seen, most of the gear you guys have, and/or have had to demonstrate uses for, but we make up for it with gusto. 😆
I never really thought I would be that into the big muff sound just listening to demos, but playing it loud in the room, there is absolutely nothing like it. It's a pedal that just compels you to play. Play anything. It doesn't matter. It makes everything you do on the guitar sound cool even if it's just pounding on the strings at random. And it just sounds huge. Absolute magic is right! I prefer the Green Russian version for its less scooped, thicker sound. Less gain, but still plenty enough!
I’m glad Dan made the point that the mid scoop is excellent with vocals. A lot of internet comments make blanket statements like “Big Muffs don’t work in a mix” - kinda true if you’re trying to play tight riffs or solo in a raucous mix, but as a pad-like rhythm sound to sing over, they’re great. (Also good for lead parts in a more spare mix where a high-mid-heavy fuzz might sound too strident)
This is why grunge is a very misunderstood genre they're not just discounting the equipment but how it's used, you can always use a boost pedal for a solo and go back to the BM for rhythm.
Agreed. It is one of those things where you kind of disappear if you step on it mid song in a live situation after you've had some hi gain distortion sounds going. J Mascis does this underdrive thing to combat that where the drive going in to the muff pulls some volume out of the signal so stepping on the muff puts it back. Gives it some impact when it drops in.
My AC15 is the tube amp I've owned for the longest time. still I use it the most often. It gets chosen over a Marshall JTM, Victory V40 Duchess and even AC30. It's not too loud, fits in a mix well, has nice trem and a spring reverb. Really like it with my Guild Polara Deluxe too, it does pair best with Telecasters, P90s Les Paul Specials & Casinos, & SGs. It doesn't love Jaguars or Strats - too thin, and it doesn't love humbucker Les Pauls - too heavy. Those are the Victory and Marshalls strengths.
trust me man, it’s a good choice. some years ago when i was in the market for my first tube amp i KNEW i wanted an AC15, and after looking i found one and it’s been my fav amp ever since - what’s more is the first pedal i got with it was a big muff sooo this videos perfect 😭😭
@@compucorder64 fascinating! I play mostly Strat and Les Paul (I’m more Mick than Dan) hence the AC15 absence from my life confirmed by your findings above. I play mostly fender style amps where muff pedals are scooped sounds on top of scoop sounds and thus sound like I’m drilling aluminum piping not playing gigantic riffs. I can compensate for the later by adding a TS to the mix.
@@SlingShot830201 For my Les Pauls (a P90 Gibson Les Paul Special & Sire L7), the Marshall JTM with the smooth sounding top-end of Creambacks is my favourite. And I kind of just like a boost or treble boost or fuzz in front. For the Strat, both the JTM & Victory V40 both sound good in different ways. The JTM excelling at that glassy tearing neck pickup tone. And the Victory doing the squeeky clean shimmery sparkling thing, but smoother. Agree on the TS as a shaping boost, with a Strat, through the Victory, Earthquaker Plumes or Wampler Tumnus are my go to. Whereas I like the flatter more amp-like less mid-pushed Boss BD-2W in custom mode with the honkier / barkier / vocal P90 guitars, Casino, SG, Wingman, Jazzmasters, 335s. Compression is a factor too, the Vox AC15 with Tele or Mustang does well with the shaping of an Opto or Hyperluminal in SYM mode. JTM doesn't need compression so much, it's more baked in - anything that goes into the JTM gets the JTMs tone printed all over it in a nice way. Where the V40 is more neutral to bending and shape to most things - it sounds more like what goes in, comes out - louder but clean and smooth. The AC15 is in between, more flexible than the JTM, but more characterful/limited than the V40 - because it doesn't do a lot of bass - and sometimes the treble can be troublesome with some guitars and pedals. And it doesn't have huge clean headroom. Whereas the AC30 has tons of bass to compensate, so treble less of an issue - and good clean headroom, but the problem then is volume. The V40 and JTM are more easilly controlled with the power switching options. But if you ever did want a Vox, I'd probably recommend the AC30, with an attenuator. The S1 version isn't much heavier than the AC15. Can get a Surfybear for Spring, most of the time, Top Boost channel only is the sound used anyway.
This could not be a better timed video for me! Saw Dinosaur Jr yesterday evening for the first time in 34 years (a few failed attempts along the way) at Bearded Theory festival. Sound was awful for about the first 20 minutes, combination of his unique backline - a HiWatt and two Plexis with six 4x12, all actually on, and very loud, as is well known - and very windy conditions. At the exact moment that they started to play 'The Wagon' everything came good and it was suddenly a very emotional experience. Freak Scene followed not long after. Absolutely incredible. Thanks to this video I've also learned that what I thought was covering 'Muff' territory - DBA Fuzz War - isn't really. J Mascis signature Ram's Head now on order. Thanks once again guys, costing me money that I'm always delighted to spend 😁
Ahaha! Oh we don't know. Plenty of wonderful info in there if you can avoid the crossfire. Like a sniper's alley of sorts. Pot of gold at the end if you make it through.
Muffs can really fart out into already overdriven amps, I always prefer them into squeaky clean amps. But they do react very well to boosts such as tubescreamers or even treble boosts etc. I think one thing that was missed here is how incredibly well they pair with modulation, particularly chorus and flange.
I found that out the hard way: clean amps work WAY better, but the type of boost will determine how the Muff sounds. Full range clean boosts will add more bottom end and then it gets mushy. Something more spiky, to me, works better.
I love my swollen pickle, its a modded big muff style fuzz with a mid scoop or push control, great for sticking out more in the mix. Way huge are killing it
The original design that they sold forever, - but I'm pretty sure they changed on the recent mini,- was unique because it had both an internal pot for centering mids, and a control that blended Silicon and LED clipping types.I learned that I preferred LED to Si ( my least favourite clipping type, it turned out) from having that pedal. Way Huge make some underated pedals; if you're not familiar with the Green Rhino, Blue Hippo, Red Lama, and Aqua Puss, you should be.They are made for playing live and jamming,- easy to find sounds that work.
Hands down, best channel for guitar/amp/pedal/tone content and how to. They have made my life soooo much easier by saving me time and money and I love and admire these two blokes!
I love to stack mine with a Boss SD1 with a hum bucker guitar. I don’t play dirty that much, so it’s a real treat to play with such a singing tone. Guess I’m going to dig it out go for it, it’s been awhile.
The Musket Fuzz into a deluxe reverb, with all knobs on ten except for the tone and vol. Black out Effectors nailed what you're trying to bring across.
Maaaaaan, I was given a 78 back in 83 and it was all I had at that young age. I ran it through my Peavey Bandit! I felt like the badest M.F. in the Neiborhood! Thanks for this episode. BTW, I still have it tucked away safely...
Great topic. I’ve always avoided the Big Muff for some unknown reason. I’m only just now in my 40s getting into fuzz - I made my first purchase of a fuzz, the JHS Bender recently - so this is the perfect episode for me!
My favourite way to use a big muff is low volume, high gain, lowish tone into a super clean high headroom amp with low gain and then boost the output volume to get a super pristine but huge sound Record that into a DAW, double track it and add a nice P-bass and its HUGE Or neck pickup on a tele with everything at noonish for a frothy chaotic sound, like blurs bugman
The basic big box NYC Muff is super underrated, it's the most modable also. With an EQ or boost, it covers more territory than the other muffs, which are just mods of OG circuit.
It sounds to me like my Tycobrahe Parapedal, which I used to run either before or after my Little Big Muff when I was first starting out. If I remember correctly, I ended up with a GE-7 before, then the Parapedal after, using the Muff as a a bit of a limiter before the somewhat weak wah. Magical.
I have one of the newer versions - I bought it about 3 years ago. My only electric guitar is a Les Paul, so I put a MojoMojo in front of it, and set up the MojoMojo so that I couldn't tell the difference whether it was on or off, and then I turned the level down about 25% from that point, and that feeds into my Big Muff Pi, so I can use the volume control on my guitar in a meaningful way. On the bridge pickup, I can get David Gilmour like tones by keeping the guitar volume low, and then crank the volume if I want more. It also sounds beautiful on the neck, and in combination with both pickups. Also, I have an SD1 between the aforementioned pedals, to allow a different flavour, and I have a Tilt Overdrive (Revv) pedal after the Pi, so I can add Boost and/or OD as desired. All of these things combine to give me an awesome variety of tones - the Tilt feeds into my Kingsley Constable, which then feeds into my amps' front ends.
Single favourite pedal ever. Started a band based on that pedal. Two Marshall half stacks, bass, vocals and drums. Big Muff pedal on each of those including vocals. 10/10
Such an interesting pedal. I’ve always been a massive gilmour fan and could never get that fabled ‘singing-violin’ lead sound until I ran it into a lightly overdriving blues breaker style overdrive and rolled the sustain back on the big muff quite a long way. It wasn’t how gilmour got that sound but for whatever reason it unlocked that sound for the way I play.
20:28 - I had been all but screaming at my monitor for you to add some delay and reverb to it. A Big Muff into an AC15 was my first amp and fuzz. Hit the Trem on the AC15 to make it absolutely massive. So many good solo sounds. I never understood how Mr. G was using a Muff until I had one and then it all clicked.
Great to see the Big Muff given the the TPS breakdown. I’m keen to try and experiment on some of the tone/gain settings explained here. Super insightful show as always from the RUclips pedal show leaders.
I have a big muff clone with an AC15 and it's the most cathartic thunderstorm sound and I adore it. Thank you for deepdiving into one of my favourite pedals using my favourite amp! All love.
@@ErosGalaxia they really are underrated. I'll have to get my hands on one of those. The clone that I have has a switch to add more mids and it really makes a huge difference.
I play the green russian one. I put the tone all the way up, sustain just there where it becomes fuzzy (maybe 8 o'clock). With the volume of the guitar you can go from overdrive to a more "tone bendery" sound. Love that!
Nice timing as I’m considering buying the new kittycasterFX Mohair. I like the idea of that Muff based pedal having a treble booster circuit in it. I believe J Mascis uses that combo as well.
Humbly requesting an episode devoted to the Muff Fuzz, Dan and Mick. It’s my favorite “pedal” of all time that almost no one knows about. A highly underrated circuit. Less gain, less scooped than a regular Big Muff, and super dynamic with guitar volume control. I actually like the IC Opamp version better than the transistor one. But they’re fragile as all heck and they could use more clones.
yes,the how to use episodes are great . i would love to see more about how to combine certain pedals to create certain sounds. years ago EHX did something like that.
a cool trick I discovered was that if you set the big muff tone to zero and put a wah in front of it and just leave that tone down, you get this really good overdrive sound that is unlike any other. it stops sounding like a big muff at all
I’m tracking guitar parts today and planned on using my big muff. Perfect timing. A favorite sound of mine is tone control rolled off on guitar>midboost>phaser>muff. Sounds synthy.
There’s something about the lights and color balance that has Red looking particularly deep and luscious right around the 16:56 mark. Also love the content, as always, and this one hits home as I’ve been preferring Muffs in my short foray into fuzzes. Thanks so much for the tips on this!
I love my Big Muff. I've tried a number of other fuzz pedals and I keep coming back to this one. I tend to run mine as a lead tone stomp in front of an overdrive pedal set to the edge of breakup.
Big Muff was my first ever pedal, and I've had several different versions since. So glad you guys could do a show on such an iconic pedal. TPS needs more pedal shows!
I guess I change my board every month a little bit, but the big muffs (Green Russian clone on Amp A, Triangle clone or Green Russian on Amp B) are always there. Specially the Russian is my lonely island pedal. Great episode👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Great Episode! I use a Stonk Box into a Muff Circuit for Ripping leads and a Hot Cake set to low gain into it to tighten the muff up for Rhythm. Took me a long time before I understood how to properly use it.
Oh, man, that was great and very timely for me. I have had a reissue Russian Muff for ages - but it does it magic best with something mid humped and boosty in front. After years of doing that with a SD-1w, I decided to try other things last night. It was a fun game. 1 thing I found out is that my BD-2 (Analogman modded) is pretty amazing as a boost into it - even though it is "flatter' in the mids. Great show, fun stuff - and I love the AC w/ the Marshall!
Check out the Germainium (2 sided) big muff at some point. Clean settings of drive side add beautiful levels of thickness and depth to a very clean sound!!!
@@HenritheHorse I love it. With the voltage control its very versatile too. Bias and voltage are separate so its starved to saturated. and just the drive side is almost and always on thing for me, set clean.
Love that every week you're now teaching me to use the pedals my own pedal board that I can't make the most of haha. Can you do the dod 440 or small stone next please?
Cool I am wearing my TPS Fuzz shirt today! The tone control is really nice as it keeps the mid dip but lowers either the treble to right or bass to the left. I have the germanium one and it's really pretty nice as it has a bias pot as well. But the opamp version is in a different sound than the 4x transistor model. Thanks guys as always great show! Going to pull them out today.
You guys read my mind. Just a week or two ago, I was looking at old videos of yours and trying to figure out how to get a better sound out of my Big Muff pedal. Perfect timing. Been diving into Siamese Dream a bunch too. And Emma Ruth Rundle's On Dark Horses, though I think she uses more overdrive than fuzz.
Thank you! Everyone thinks of a big muff as this big dum-dum hammer to whack your amp with. The articulation, dynamics, light and shade are there, those Gilmour tones. It’s a thing of beauty and some strats on the neck pickup, they can cleanup a bit and it’s sublime. It’s different, but there’s the same sweet spot tuning and tasting experience as a fuzz face. It’s different, but a similar experience. I said it’s different. I’m not saying it sounds like a fuzz face. ✌️😌🎸
Thing that's interesting to me about Muffs (harhar!) is that all the variations over the many years of production can sound subtly or significantly different, depending on the settings, but they can also sound pretty much the same and will all do that Muff thing reliably and consistently. I've got the JHS Muffuletta which replicates five different historical Muff circuits (plus a custom JHS mod) and you can really find some interesting and unique tones on all of them, but they are each definitely unmistakably a Muff.
I’ve never known a pedal that reacts SO differently to guitars and amps. When Dan switched to the SG at around 7:30, it went from tones that to my ears were ok for a style, to something I would use myself. It wasn’t just more/less output etc, it completely moulded the sound to something different
Ah man, this inspired me to get the Big Muff back on the board (Angry Driver had to make way due to lack of power cables). But wow, I’d forgotten how much fun this pedal was. Haven’t played with this much filth through the AC15 for a while. Cheers lads.
Nice. - For even slightly lower gain muff goodness, try a green Russian, including the great reissues, or a Mojo Hand Iron Bell. Or a modded muff with LED clipping. Another good sound with the Tube Screamer is to set it with a little mild drive, unity volume and tone turned up for more treble less bass. Compensate as needed by turning Muff tone down.
I like running the Big Muff into a Blues Driver, or the version I have now, which is the Keeley Super Phat Mod.Great Pink Floyd tones. I learned it from Bjorn back in the day. It feels really good under my fingers. It makes the Muff warmer, thicker, more smooth and not so raspy in the high end
My favourite muff, or fuzz generally, is the Walrus Audio Eon's Ram's head Muff. Because it's so flexible, but at the same time many of the modes sound great. But if there's one specific muff tone I love the most, it's the heavy AF sounding Russian Big Muff. And the even the cheaper small modern versions do sound plenty good. The JHS Legends of Fuzz Mary K is an awesome muff-like tone too, and the expression gives it a really interesting extra dimension of playability - that's can be more subtly musically expressive than a wah.
I use the Big M in my band. I have gone through hundreds of gain options and I have found that the one that works the best for us is the Green Russian Muff. I use the screamer going into it and it really allows the guitar to cut in our trio and I am able to sing over it a little easier.
Ya know, if you really think about it, a Big Muff is just doing in solid state with transistors/OpAmps what an SLO-100/Dual Rec/5150 is doing with tubes. So if you bypass the tone stack and boost into the front of it with a TS and let your amp's EQ section do the tone shaping, it's actually surprisingly similar to a lot of metal amps.
The sound of ages, what a completely wonderful sound. I've never really gelled with fuzz, but I have owned plenty of fuzzes, including muffs (most recent one being the Op-Amp one they did with Billy Corgan). I've always ended up taking them off my board though and selling them, as they only got used infrequently, but more because they got lost in a band mix, fighting for frequency space with the bass). In isolation like this, it is the most glorious thing ever (those overtones with SG ringing out... ❤), but they often disappear in your average pub band context. I always end up getting another one when I see videos like this one, so... I guess it's off to Andertons again for another try - it's just too good a sound not to have! 😂 Great video guys, perfect start to the weekend!
Really enjoyed seeing the Big Muff get the love it deserves. In the last segment, Dan said that he was going to show how the TS into the BM would yield rhythm tones, but then proceded to play only leads. I'm assuming one can use that setup to play some nice chords too. Cover your ear holes! Cheers.
Hey there, cool video! Really one of my most favourite sounds is a Big Muff > Fender Blues Deluxe and a Gibson Les Paul. If you add some reverb, you can really get some massive and beautiful, Neil Young sag sounds out of it. I can't get this sound with my Marshall or Vox. It's Fender all the way!😀
One type of guitar sound that does come though a Muff is.. Classic Fender Jaguar with the 'strangle switch' on (its really amazing to hear all that bottom end just disappear.
You can get a really smooth, non-abrasive sound by running a Ram’s Head muff (not sure about an op-amp like they’re using here) into a Boss BD-2. The BD-2 with the tone rolled back and volume up creates a mid boost and with lower gain settings on the BD-2 (I put mine around 10-11:00) it smooths out the Muff gain, Keeps the sustain, tames the highs, drops the lows some, and boosts the mids. Just have to balance the gain and tone of the bd-2 to a sound you already like on the muff
Should try turning the high cut on the ac 15 all the way down or almost all the way down especially for the strat. Use the treble knob to pull some treble back in. Great episode! Thanks.
Thanks for the tips! I have a (another entendre) Way Huge Russian Pickle and Fuzz Imp Creature, and struggle at times to dial them in. I'm looking forward to playing around with both of them after watching this.
Understandable why the Big Muff is so popular: a truly unique circuit that is aggressive whilst keeping it's warmth and responsiveness to dynamics. It's also amazing how different parts and values change the character of the same schematic. The only thing it can't do is clean up but it's much less fussy about going into the right amp than a fuzz face. I can think of an earlier pedal that uses soft-clipping diodes: is it the weird monstrous Uncle of the Tube Screamer?
@@KahruSuomiPerkele Yes. I also meant it doesn't clean up that much from dialling the gain control back on the pedal. Despite this, I think it gives good note separation for chords and intricate parts even with its dirty character!
I’d love episodes concentrating on how to achieve a particular sound. For instance, Johnny Marr’s setup for “How Soon Is Now?”, or SRV’s Texas Flood, or anything Gilmour. Even on this episode at one point you hit the sounds of the opening of “Reeling in the Years”. Now I know a Tele>muff sweet spot>Marshall can reproduce that sound.
Thorpy Fallout Cloud, PastFx M-1-A or Noel Cornet ( if you can find one? ) the builder doesn't respond to inquiries. I love a Big Muff . . . I'm old school. ; )
Big Muff is great with an octave-up pedal . I recommend using Big Muff-type pedals with f.e. Hypercoven by Does It Doom , Octavia by Roger Mayer or something from Epigaze .
![Get More From Your Tube Screamer Overdrive Pedal [Solo Boost, Harmonic Feedback & More!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zfNT5-P1sdA/mqdefault.jpg)
![Get More From Your Tube Screamer Overdrive Pedal [Solo Boost, Harmonic Feedback & More!]](/img/tr.png)
I love these videos focused back to the pedals and how to use them. Still the best guitar pair on the internet.
//insert inappropriate comment here about other pairs near guitars//
@@ThatPedalShow Behave!
@@ThatPedalShow
Me, myself and I know more about gear, in our pinky, than your entire foots. Foots?
Yeah, I mean, me maybe we haven’t actually used, or even seen, most of the gear you guys have, and/or have had to demonstrate uses for, but we make up for it with gusto. 😆
@@ThatPedalShow and the snappiest comeback of 2024 goes to...
@@ThatPedalShowboomer hoomer 🙂↔️
Love when That Pedal Show dives back into pedals! My favorite kind of episodes!!!
I never really thought I would be that into the big muff sound just listening to demos, but playing it loud in the room, there is absolutely nothing like it. It's a pedal that just compels you to play. Play anything. It doesn't matter. It makes everything you do on the guitar sound cool even if it's just pounding on the strings at random.
And it just sounds huge. Absolute magic is right!
I prefer the Green Russian version for its less scooped, thicker sound. Less gain, but still plenty enough!
I use my big muff as my main rhythm sound and then slam it with a treble booster for main riffs and solos. It. Is. Glorius.
Man, the Big Muff holds a very special place in my heart. I love that circuit. Especially the OP amp version.
I’m glad Dan made the point that the mid scoop is excellent with vocals. A lot of internet comments make blanket statements like “Big Muffs don’t work in a mix” - kinda true if you’re trying to play tight riffs or solo in a raucous mix, but as a pad-like rhythm sound to sing over, they’re great. (Also good for lead parts in a more spare mix where a high-mid-heavy fuzz might sound too strident)
This is why grunge is a very misunderstood genre they're not just discounting the equipment but how it's used, you can always use a boost pedal for a solo and go back to the BM for rhythm.
Combine the BM with other overdrives for infinite sustain for your solo playing. It's more than just this one sound you get out of this pedal.
Agreed. It is one of those things where you kind of disappear if you step on it mid song in a live situation after you've had some hi gain distortion sounds going. J Mascis does this underdrive thing to combat that where the drive going in to the muff pulls some volume out of the signal so stepping on the muff puts it back. Gives it some impact when it drops in.
This show on Big Muffs showed me I need....an AC15. What a tone with the SG.
Right!?😂👌🏻
My AC15 is the tube amp I've owned for the longest time. still I use it the most often. It gets chosen over a Marshall JTM, Victory V40 Duchess and even AC30. It's not too loud, fits in a mix well, has nice trem and a spring reverb. Really like it with my Guild Polara Deluxe too, it does pair best with Telecasters, P90s Les Paul Specials & Casinos, & SGs. It doesn't love Jaguars or Strats - too thin, and it doesn't love humbucker Les Pauls - too heavy. Those are the Victory and Marshalls strengths.
trust me man, it’s a good choice. some years ago when i was in the market for my first tube amp i KNEW i wanted an AC15, and after looking i found one and it’s been my fav amp ever since - what’s more is the first pedal i got with it was a big muff sooo this videos perfect 😭😭
@@compucorder64 fascinating! I play mostly Strat and Les Paul (I’m more Mick than Dan) hence the AC15 absence from my life confirmed by your findings above. I play mostly fender style amps where muff pedals are scooped sounds on top of scoop sounds and thus sound like I’m drilling aluminum piping not playing gigantic riffs. I can compensate for the later by adding a TS to the mix.
@@SlingShot830201 For my Les Pauls (a P90 Gibson Les Paul Special & Sire L7), the Marshall JTM with the smooth sounding top-end of Creambacks is my favourite. And I kind of just like a boost or treble boost or fuzz in front. For the Strat, both the JTM & Victory V40 both sound good in different ways. The JTM excelling at that glassy tearing neck pickup tone. And the Victory doing the squeeky clean shimmery sparkling thing, but smoother. Agree on the TS as a shaping boost, with a Strat, through the Victory, Earthquaker Plumes or Wampler Tumnus are my go to. Whereas I like the flatter more amp-like less mid-pushed Boss BD-2W in custom mode with the honkier / barkier / vocal P90 guitars, Casino, SG, Wingman, Jazzmasters, 335s. Compression is a factor too, the Vox AC15 with Tele or Mustang does well with the shaping of an Opto or Hyperluminal in SYM mode. JTM doesn't need compression so much, it's more baked in - anything that goes into the JTM gets the JTMs tone printed all over it in a nice way. Where the V40 is more neutral to bending and shape to most things - it sounds more like what goes in, comes out - louder but clean and smooth. The AC15 is in between, more flexible than the JTM, but more characterful/limited than the V40 - because it doesn't do a lot of bass - and sometimes the treble can be troublesome with some guitars and pedals. And it doesn't have huge clean headroom. Whereas the AC30 has tons of bass to compensate, so treble less of an issue - and good clean headroom, but the problem then is volume. The V40 and JTM are more easilly controlled with the power switching options. But if you ever did want a Vox, I'd probably recommend the AC30, with an attenuator. The S1 version isn't much heavier than the AC15. Can get a Surfybear for Spring, most of the time, Top Boost channel only is the sound used anyway.
Saw Mudhoney two years ago at a festival in Australia and omg, their on sound on stage was like a wall of Big Muff. Amazeables!
This could not be a better timed video for me!
Saw Dinosaur Jr yesterday evening for the first time in 34 years (a few failed attempts along the way) at Bearded Theory festival. Sound was awful for about the first 20 minutes, combination of his unique backline - a HiWatt and two Plexis with six 4x12, all actually on, and very loud, as is well known - and very windy conditions.
At the exact moment that they started to play 'The Wagon' everything came good and it was suddenly a very emotional experience. Freak Scene followed not long after. Absolutely incredible.
Thanks to this video I've also learned that what I thought was covering 'Muff' territory - DBA Fuzz War - isn't really. J Mascis signature Ram's Head now on order.
Thanks once again guys, costing me money that I'm always delighted to spend 😁
Noel's mocking indignation still gets a grin 😁
I LOVE TSP episodes like this that aren’t blues/low gain drive based, it seems like it gets the best out of Mick
*TPS
TGP is a toxic place not to be associated with these lads. 😂
Ahaha! Oh we don't know. Plenty of wonderful info in there if you can avoid the crossfire. Like a sniper's alley of sorts. Pot of gold at the end if you make it through.
@@lexist7ha I’m so used to referencing TGP as a meme my brain is scrambled
Muffs can really fart out into already overdriven amps, I always prefer them into squeaky clean amps. But they do react very well to boosts such as tubescreamers or even treble boosts etc. I think one thing that was missed here is how incredibly well they pair with modulation, particularly chorus and flange.
Yes, EQD Plumes works so well with the Muff. It makes palm mutes more defined for me, also leads pop out more. Great stuff!
I found that out the hard way: clean amps work WAY better, but the type of boost will determine how the Muff sounds. Full range clean boosts will add more bottom end and then it gets mushy. Something more spiky, to me, works better.
I use it with chorus all the time, definitely a miss here
Nice to see the Jazzmaster back in the mix. Mick always plays different when he uses that guitar.
You can tell Dan has been using the Big Muff for a LONG time. Dude really knows that pedal.
I love my swollen pickle, its a modded big muff style fuzz with a mid scoop or push control, great for sticking out more in the mix. Way huge are killing it
The original design that they sold forever, - but I'm pretty sure they changed on the recent mini,- was unique because it had both an internal pot for centering mids, and a control that blended Silicon and LED clipping types.I learned that I preferred LED to Si ( my least favourite clipping type, it turned out) from having that pedal.
Way Huge make some underated pedals; if you're not familiar with the Green Rhino, Blue Hippo, Red Lama, and Aqua Puss, you should be.They are made for playing live and jamming,- easy to find sounds that work.
@@markferguson3745I want a Way Huge StoneBurner BADLY.. Low octave fuzz. So eviliscious
Hands down, best channel for guitar/amp/pedal/tone content and how to. They have made my life soooo much easier by saving me time and money and I love and admire these two blokes!
Ah mate, thanks so much 🤓🙏
Y’all probably know this.. but the iconic idie rock sound for a JM is the middle position, sounds hewg with a muff!
I love to stack mine with a Boss SD1 with a hum bucker guitar. I don’t play dirty that much, so it’s a real treat to play with such a singing tone. Guess I’m going to dig it out go for it, it’s been awhile.
The Musket Fuzz into a deluxe reverb, with all knobs on ten except for the tone and vol.
Black out Effectors nailed what you're trying to bring across.
SG with P90's, Big Muff and Orange amps: that's a combination that can't be beat for me 🥰
My first pedal ever, a true beast!
Love you guys, thanks for all the joy
Treble booster into Muff is a boss move
Perfect combo.. muff for a huge rhythm sound, cut through with the treble booster
Enter KittyCaster Mohair. That pedal is why I've been playing my Analogman SunLion into my Black Russian Lately
Maaaaaan, I was given a 78 back in 83 and it was all I had at that young age. I ran it through my Peavey Bandit! I felt like the badest M.F. in the Neiborhood! Thanks for this episode. BTW, I still have it tucked away safely...
I recently bought a big box big muffin over the smaller enclosures because I believe they sound different, ANYWAYS, wonderful stuff here. Thank you!!
Great topic. I’ve always avoided the Big Muff for some unknown reason. I’m only just now in my 40s getting into fuzz - I made my first purchase of a fuzz, the JHS Bender recently - so this is the perfect episode for me!
My favourite way to use a big muff is low volume, high gain, lowish tone into a super clean high headroom amp with low gain and then boost the output volume to get a super pristine but huge sound
Record that into a DAW, double track it and add a nice P-bass and its HUGE
Or neck pickup on a tele with everything at noonish for a frothy chaotic sound, like blurs bugman
The basic big box NYC Muff is super underrated, it's the most modable also. With an EQ or boost, it covers more territory than the other muffs, which are just mods of OG circuit.
That tone control on the BM is the most useful thing. It's like 'dial-a-peak'. Brill.
It sounds to me like my Tycobrahe Parapedal, which I used to run either before or after my Little Big Muff when I was first starting out. If I remember correctly, I ended up with a GE-7 before, then the Parapedal after, using the Muff as a a bit of a limiter before the somewhat weak wah. Magical.
I have one of the newer versions - I bought it about 3 years ago. My only electric guitar is a Les Paul, so I put a MojoMojo in front of it, and set up the MojoMojo so that I couldn't tell the difference whether it was on or off, and then I turned the level down about 25% from that point, and that feeds into my Big Muff Pi, so I can use the volume control on my guitar in a meaningful way. On the bridge pickup, I can get David Gilmour like tones by keeping the guitar volume low, and then crank the volume if I want more. It also sounds beautiful on the neck, and in combination with both pickups. Also, I have an SD1 between the aforementioned pedals, to allow a different flavour, and I have a Tilt Overdrive (Revv) pedal after the Pi, so I can add Boost and/or OD as desired. All of these things combine to give me an awesome variety of tones - the Tilt feeds into my Kingsley Constable, which then feeds into my amps' front ends.
Single favourite pedal ever. Started a band based on that pedal. Two Marshall half stacks, bass, vocals and drums. Big Muff pedal on each of those including vocals. 10/10
Such an interesting pedal. I’ve always been a massive gilmour fan and could never get that fabled ‘singing-violin’ lead sound until I ran it into a lightly overdriving blues breaker style overdrive and rolled the sustain back on the big muff quite a long way.
It wasn’t how gilmour got that sound but for whatever reason it unlocked that sound for the way I play.
20:28 - I had been all but screaming at my monitor for you to add some delay and reverb to it. A Big Muff into an AC15 was my first amp and fuzz. Hit the Trem on the AC15 to make it absolutely massive. So many good solo sounds. I never understood how Mr. G was using a Muff until I had one and then it all clicked.
the live " in the room" sound is second to none. Impossible to record this.
Great show!
Just …such fun. Pumpkinstastic. As ever, in a band context, frequency is everything.
Great energy from you both!
I have been neglecting my muff recently... this is some much appreciated inspiration.
TPS always does a great job exploring the range of pedals. I always learn something new. Many thanks.
Great to see the Big Muff given the the TPS breakdown. I’m keen to try and experiment on some of the tone/gain settings explained here. Super insightful show as always from the RUclips pedal show leaders.
I have a big muff clone with an AC15 and it's the most cathartic thunderstorm sound and I adore it. Thank you for deepdiving into one of my favourite pedals using my favourite amp! All love.
Big Muffs & AC15 are an underrated paring. Especially if you use a Civil War Muff as it adds mid-low end that really brings the AC15 to life.
@@ErosGalaxia they really are underrated. I'll have to get my hands on one of those. The clone that I have has a switch to add more mids and it really makes a huge difference.
I play the green russian one. I put the tone all the way up, sustain just there where it becomes fuzzy (maybe 8 o'clock). With the volume of the guitar you can go from overdrive to a more "tone bendery" sound. Love that!
that's what the episode is missing
The musket Fuzz is an awesome versatile muff inspired pedal
Nice timing as I’m considering buying the new kittycasterFX Mohair. I like the idea of that Muff based pedal having a treble booster circuit in it. I believe J Mascis uses that combo as well.
6am here and it’s my favorite way to wake up on a Friday!
Great show as always! I picked up an omp amp big muff this year (because corgan) and couldn't be happier. My neighbors however ...
Humbly requesting an episode devoted to the Muff Fuzz, Dan and Mick. It’s my favorite “pedal” of all time that almost no one knows about.
A highly underrated circuit. Less gain, less scooped than a regular Big Muff, and super dynamic with guitar volume control. I actually like the IC Opamp version better than the transistor one.
But they’re fragile as all heck and they could use more clones.
Ooh…. Built a pedal on what is supposed to be the IC version of the Muff Fuzz (jrc4558 ic and 1n34a diodes) Really love it too.
i love Big Muffs and i can not lie
yes,the how to use episodes are great .
i would love to see more about how to combine certain pedals to create certain sounds. years ago EHX did something like that.
I'm really loving these "get more from..." videos! Perhaps you could take a look at the ProCo Rat soon?
Didn't they do a Rat focused episode....pretty sure they did....or was it JHS?? Pretty sure one of them did one....
a cool trick I discovered was that if you set the big muff tone to zero and put a wah in front of it and just leave that tone down, you get this really good overdrive sound that is unlike any other. it stops sounding like a big muff at all
I’m tracking guitar parts today and planned on using my big muff. Perfect timing.
A favorite sound of mine is tone control rolled off on guitar>midboost>phaser>muff. Sounds synthy.
Guitar > BM > amp 😒
Guitar > BM > overdrive > amp 😍
I like to use it for it's violin-like sustain: whack up the sustain, lower the treble on the guitar and play classical violin lines.
There’s something about the lights and color balance that has Red looking particularly deep and luscious right around the 16:56 mark.
Also love the content, as always, and this one hits home as I’ve been preferring Muffs in my short foray into fuzzes. Thanks so much for the tips on this!
I love my Big Muff. I've tried a number of other fuzz pedals and I keep coming back to this one. I tend to run mine as a lead tone stomp in front of an overdrive pedal set to the edge of breakup.
Big Muff was my first ever pedal, and I've had several different versions since. So glad you guys could do a show on such an iconic pedal.
TPS needs more pedal shows!
I guess I change my board every month a little bit, but the big muffs (Green Russian clone on Amp A, Triangle clone or Green Russian on Amp B) are always there. Specially the Russian is my lonely island pedal. Great episode👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
My first pedal!
I convinced my parents to buy it for me so I could play You Aint Seen Nothin Yet.
Great Episode! I use a Stonk Box into a Muff Circuit for Ripping leads and a Hot Cake set to low gain into it to tighten the muff up for Rhythm. Took me a long time before I understood how to properly use it.
In a word... GLORIOUS!
HAPPY FUZZ FRIDAY!!! 😎🎸🤘
Oh, man, that was great and very timely for me. I have had a reissue Russian Muff for ages - but it does it magic best with something mid humped and boosty in front. After years of doing that with a SD-1w, I decided to try other things last night. It was a fun game. 1 thing I found out is that my BD-2 (Analogman modded) is pretty amazing as a boost into it - even though it is "flatter' in the mids. Great show, fun stuff - and I love the AC w/ the Marshall!
Check out the Germainium (2 sided) big muff at some point. Clean settings of drive side add beautiful levels of thickness and depth to a very clean sound!!!
@@HenritheHorse I love it. With the voltage control its very versatile too. Bias and voltage are separate so its starved to saturated. and just the drive side is almost and always on thing for me, set clean.
Uh oh, take shelter TPS mentioned…shoegaze 😂 Always love the stuff guys
Love that every week you're now teaching me to use the pedals my own pedal board that I can't make the most of haha. Can you do the dod 440 or small stone next please?
Cool I am wearing my TPS Fuzz shirt today!
The tone control is really nice as it keeps the mid dip but lowers either the treble to right or bass to the left.
I have the germanium one and it's really pretty nice as it has a bias pot as well.
But the opamp version is in a different sound than the 4x transistor model.
Thanks guys as always great show! Going to pull them out today.
I've gotta say, I didn't expect you guys to describe this pedal as 'musical'. It seems such a departure from what youre usually into. its cool
Muff+AC15=More than the sum of it's parts.
The new EHX LPB3 Booster and EQ sounds great going into the Big Muff!
I like the JHS Muffaletta - gives you the options you need for just about any situation
You guys read my mind. Just a week or two ago, I was looking at old videos of yours and trying to figure out how to get a better sound out of my Big Muff pedal. Perfect timing.
Been diving into Siamese Dream a bunch too. And Emma Ruth Rundle's On Dark Horses, though I think she uses more overdrive than fuzz.
Thank you! Everyone thinks of a big muff as this big dum-dum hammer to whack your amp with. The articulation, dynamics, light and shade are there, those Gilmour tones. It’s a thing of beauty and some strats on the neck pickup, they can cleanup a bit and it’s sublime. It’s different, but there’s the same sweet spot tuning and tasting experience as a fuzz face. It’s different, but a similar experience. I said it’s different. I’m not saying it sounds like a fuzz face. ✌️😌🎸
Thing that's interesting to me about Muffs (harhar!) is that all the variations over the many years of production can sound subtly or significantly different, depending on the settings, but they can also sound pretty much the same and will all do that Muff thing reliably and consistently. I've got the JHS Muffuletta which replicates five different historical Muff circuits (plus a custom JHS mod) and you can really find some interesting and unique tones on all of them, but they are each definitely unmistakably a Muff.
I’ve never known a pedal that reacts SO differently to guitars and amps. When Dan switched to the SG at around 7:30, it went from tones that to my ears were ok for a style, to something I would use myself. It wasn’t just more/less output etc, it completely moulded the sound to something different
Ah man, this inspired me to get the Big Muff back on the board (Angry Driver had to make way due to lack of power cables). But wow, I’d forgotten how much fun this pedal was. Haven’t played with this much filth through the AC15 for a while. Cheers lads.
Love these pedal-focused vids. Thanks guys!👍🤘
Nice. - For even slightly lower gain muff goodness, try a green Russian, including the great reissues, or a Mojo Hand Iron Bell. Or a modded muff with LED clipping. Another good sound with the Tube Screamer is to set it with a little mild drive, unity volume and tone turned up for more treble less bass. Compensate as needed by turning Muff tone down.
I like running the Big Muff into a Blues Driver, or the version I have now, which is the Keeley Super Phat Mod.Great Pink Floyd tones. I learned it from Bjorn back in the day. It feels really good under my fingers. It makes the Muff warmer, thicker, more smooth and not so raspy in the high end
My favourite muff, or fuzz generally, is the Walrus Audio Eon's Ram's head Muff. Because it's so flexible, but at the same time many of the modes sound great. But if there's one specific muff tone I love the most, it's the heavy AF sounding Russian Big Muff. And the even the cheaper small modern versions do sound plenty good. The JHS Legends of Fuzz Mary K is an awesome muff-like tone too, and the expression gives it a really interesting extra dimension of playability - that's can be more subtly musically expressive than a wah.
I use the Big M in my band. I have gone through hundreds of gain options and I have found that the one that works the best for us is the Green Russian Muff. I use the screamer going into it and it really allows the guitar to cut in our trio and I am able to sing over it a little easier.
Ya know, if you really think about it, a Big Muff is just doing in solid state with transistors/OpAmps what an SLO-100/Dual Rec/5150 is doing with tubes. So if you bypass the tone stack and boost into the front of it with a TS and let your amp's EQ section do the tone shaping, it's actually surprisingly similar to a lot of metal amps.
The sound of ages, what a completely wonderful sound. I've never really gelled with fuzz, but I have owned plenty of fuzzes, including muffs (most recent one being the Op-Amp one they did with Billy Corgan). I've always ended up taking them off my board though and selling them, as they only got used infrequently, but more because they got lost in a band mix, fighting for frequency space with the bass). In isolation like this, it is the most glorious thing ever (those overtones with SG ringing out... ❤), but they often disappear in your average pub band context. I always end up getting another one when I see videos like this one, so... I guess it's off to Andertons again for another try - it's just too good a sound not to have! 😂 Great video guys, perfect start to the weekend!
Really enjoyed seeing the Big Muff get the love it deserves. In the last segment, Dan said that he was going to show how the TS into the BM would yield rhythm tones, but then proceded to play only leads. I'm assuming one can use that setup to play some nice chords too. Cover your ear holes! Cheers.
Hey there, cool video! Really one of my most favourite sounds is a Big Muff > Fender Blues Deluxe and a Gibson Les Paul. If you add some reverb, you can really get some massive and beautiful, Neil Young sag sounds out of it. I can't get this sound with my Marshall or Vox. It's Fender all the way!😀
TPS always putting videos of the pedals I’m into at the moment.
a very tight Muff show. At around 8 minutes, Dan sounds like a TOOL clone. From blues to doom, there are lots of tones in there.
One type of guitar sound that does come though a Muff is..
Classic Fender Jaguar with the 'strangle switch' on (its really amazing to hear all that bottom end just disappear.
You can get a really smooth, non-abrasive sound by running a Ram’s Head muff (not sure about an op-amp like they’re using here) into a Boss BD-2. The BD-2 with the tone rolled back and volume up creates a mid boost and with lower gain settings on the BD-2 (I put mine around 10-11:00) it smooths out the Muff gain, Keeps the sustain, tames the highs, drops the lows some, and boosts the mids. Just have to balance the gain and tone of the bd-2 to a sound you already like on the muff
Should try turning the high cut on the ac 15 all the way down or almost all the way down especially for the strat. Use the treble knob to pull some treble back in. Great episode! Thanks.
Thanks for the tips! I have a (another entendre) Way Huge Russian Pickle and Fuzz Imp Creature, and struggle at times to dial them in. I'm looking forward to playing around with both of them after watching this.
Understandable why the Big Muff is so popular: a truly unique circuit that is aggressive whilst keeping it's warmth and responsiveness to dynamics. It's also amazing how different parts and values change the character of the same schematic. The only thing it can't do is clean up but it's much less fussy about going into the right amp than a fuzz face. I can think of an earlier pedal that uses soft-clipping diodes: is it the weird monstrous Uncle of the Tube Screamer?
it cannot clean up like a fuzz face, because the Big Muff has a high input impedance while the Fuzz Face has low input impedance.
@@KahruSuomiPerkele Yes. I also meant it doesn't clean up that much from dialling the gain control back on the pedal. Despite this, I think it gives good note separation for chords and intricate parts even with its dirty character!
Love these revisit the classic videos.
I’d love episodes concentrating on how to achieve a particular sound. For instance, Johnny Marr’s setup for “How Soon Is Now?”, or SRV’s Texas Flood, or anything Gilmour. Even on this episode at one point you hit the sounds of the opening of “Reeling in the Years”. Now I know a Tele>muff sweet spot>Marshall can reproduce that sound.
You guys made me take my rams head muff our of the box for the first time this year!
TS9 into the Muff was glorious! Might have to dig my muff out of storage and give it another go!
It goes from aaaahhhh to AAAAAHHHH!!!!!
Hilarious 😂😂😂
Is the Pedal version of Nicolas Cage :D
Thorpy Fallout Cloud, PastFx M-1-A or Noel Cornet ( if you can find one? ) the builder doesn't respond to inquiries. I love a Big Muff . . . I'm old school. ; )
I love it when you dust off the AC15 and take it for a spin.
Loved the show.. showed me I'm not missing a big muff. The best sounds to me where when it was off. 😂
Big Muff is great with an octave-up pedal . I recommend using Big Muff-type pedals with f.e. Hypercoven by Does It Doom , Octavia by Roger Mayer or something from Epigaze .
Really Great video!!!
Maybe the one great idea is to use “low sensitivity input” with big muff and Marshall’s..
I have loved every big muff I have ever played with ! 😂 Another great show Legg-ends .
Please explain wtf "legg ends" means lol... it sounds like "leggings" when they say it which I associate with yoga pants 😅
Someone called them legends once and one said more like leg ends .@@mrskullman40
@@mrskullman40pronounce it with a hard G
Never thought TPS would make me blush. 😂