Russian Muff Help?

[ifeellikeatourist]

I'm not really sure if anyone can help me with this, but I know a lot of you really know your way around a big muff, so I thought I'd just check. So, my friend has a crappy black russian muff (I'm pretty sure it's the newest version, cause it has true bypass) and it stopped working. I told him that I don't really know how to trouble shoot with fx, but I said I'd take a look at it anyway, just to see if I could figure anything out. The first thing I noticed when I took it apart was that the battery snap had broken off of the pcb, so I replaced the battery snap and thought "well, that was an easy fix," except it still doesn't work. I get a signal in bypass mode, but not when the effect is engaged, so can't be those cheap-ass input/output jacks. I looked over the whole thing and can't find any broken traces or components/wires that have come loose. Is there any way to really diagnose what could be causing the problem? Any common muff issues you know of that could be the problem here? Should I just tell him to shell out another $40 and get a new (used) one? Or tell him to shell out a little more and get a real fuzz pedal? Thanks for your help!

[Scruffie]

Hmm could really be any number of things, without two diagnostic tools, a Digital Multi Meter to check voltage is getting to the right places & Continuity and an Audio Probe to see if the Audio is stopping at a certain component that may be faulty (easily made from a capacitor and an old guitar lead) it will be just guess work as to what's wrong... could be any number of things, could be the jacks still if one of them isn't making a proper connection with the Jack and completing the circuit for the battery to work... could be a dud switch, could be a blown component, could be anything.

My quick suggestions for trying to sort it would be repeatedly press the switch quickly to see if it latches and then works, that might help.... make sure the pins of the jacks are really connecting visually... and sometimes a nice trick I like is to put my finger across the board and see if it starts working at some point, can break some effects but it should be okay with this.

I might buy it off him if he doesn't mind shipping to the U.K. and wants to fund a new one though.

Oh and By the way, these pedals may appear to be True Bypass but alot of them had a fault on the PCB that meant they weren't actually wired for true bypass, easily fixable with a track cut and piece of wire though if you do get it to work.

[ifeellikeatourist]

Thanks for your reply. I do have a digital multimeter, but I'm still somewhat foggy as far as how to actually use it. I did attempt to use it, though, and, with the negative probe on the ground, I touched the positive one to each solder joint, and voltage seemed to be registering at each point on the circuit board. What this tells me, though, I'm not too sure. Also, for what it's worth, the led is not lighting up, so apparently current is stopping at some point, right? I'm wondering if maybe one of the pots could be messed up? I'll try the audio probe suggestion and let you know how that goes.

oh, also, the pcb does have a track cut and a wire leading from the 3pdt to the output jack, so I do believe that it has been correctly true bypassed.

[Scruffie]

No LED huh... could be not getting power or once again the switch.

For the Multi Meter, thankfully you're in luck, this image shows in Red exactly where to trace the voltage (and also that True Bypass thing I said about) -
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9403 ... fftbd2.jpg so yeah, ground the black lead and have a poke around, you want to have 9V on that rail and then you can see if the voltage drops significantly after a component. The Correct transistor voltages to be looking for are shown here - http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/pdf ... struct.pdf


An Audio Probe should be helpfull too though but this appears to be a voltage or switch issue.

[ifeellikeatourist]

Awesome, thanks!

[dune2k]

You won't find a Russian Muff for $40 btw...they go for around 80€, dunno what they cost in the states.

[devnulljp]

The switch is probably toast. Depending on the version, you should be able to jumper it across the switch to always on and if it works replace the switch. The switches on those Russian muffs are (were?) pretty flimsy.

[Gilmourish]

Not really the right thread... but I love my black russian muff... never had any problems with it and i love the sound... Wouldn't say it was crappy...

[Scruffie]

The switch is probably toast. Depending on the version, you should be able to jumper it across the switch to always on and if it works replace the switch. The switches on those Russian muffs are (were?) pretty flimsy.

The True Bypass version used the same Blue 3PDT as EHX always used as far as I know from the unit I modded, but mechanical components are inherently flawed so it may well be broken, it's a common problem.

I don't think jumpering will even be necessary, my comment of 'putting your finger across the board' will probably work on the switch too, but the fact the bypass works fine does make me wonder if it really is damaged as from the description it isn't an intermittent problem and switches fine between clean and not working.

Not really the right thread... but I love my black russian muff... never had any problems with it and i love the sound... Wouldn't say it was crappy...

I quite liked the one I tried, Big Muffs hardly change in design really and no two are the same anyway so I don't think it's possible to generalise one type as crappy or not.

[ifeellikeatourist]

In regard to crappiness of sound, I noticed that the black russian muffs seem to have somewhat of a following, (at least over at the ehx threads ) and I think it sounds cool for what it is, I just refer to it as "crappy" in comparison to the muffs that preceded it, such as the famous green Russian muff. It's also somewhat crappy simply in terms of quality, sound excluded.

In regard to the price, yeah, I checked ebay and it seems that since the russian muff has been discontinued, the prices for even the black ones have jumped into the $60-$80 range, which on one hand is ridiculous since they were only like $50 new, but on the other hand, it's still cheap for a decent pedal. On the other other other hand, I swear to you that within the past year I found one of those at a local music store used for $40 (It might have even been like $35?). I passed on it 'cause it's not really my thing...guess maybe I shouldn't have.

In regard to everything else, thanks everyone for your help. I'll let you know if I figure anything out.

[Jero]

I sold my black russian muff for $35, which is what I paid for it

[tuffteef]

I sold my black russian muff for $35, which is what I paid for it

Bargain where do you shop!?

[futuresailors]

Mine just shat itself too. Signal can bypass it, but when it's engaged everything has to be cranked and it barely gets to super compressed OD levels...Damn Russians infiltrating and sabotaging everything...

[Scruffie]

Same advice given in the thread applies (assuming you have a DMM or old lead to make an audio probe) although yours may very well be the switch, have you tried putting your finger/ piece of metal across the switch lugs? And this may sound incredibly stupid but it has happened before... are the leads the right way round? and have you ruled out the battery being dead.

These Russians were built from scraps so it's no suprise they die a bit... the wire inside is also incredibly thin.

And I will consider buying dead Russian Muffs for the right price if you fancy letting them go...

[Rygot]

Or tell him to shell out a little more and get a real fuzz pedal?

...but