Can someone explain the difference between various Big Muffs

[Roseweave]

Triangle, Ram's head etc. Is there a real notable difference?

[Scruffie]

As Mike Matthews says of a batch of the same muffs produced at the same time none of them will sound the same but in generalisation from what I understand -

Triangle - Considered the True Big Muff, very musical and the standard.
Rams Head - Slightly less gain than the Triangle
Violet Rams Head - Gainy Mid Scooped Sound
Third Edition with the word BIG MUFF and Pi Symbol - More Extreme
Civil War Muff - Less Gain than Most and more Mids (Famously used by Dave Gilmour)
Green/Black Russian - Not far off the Civil War Muff with slight variations although some models can be exactly the same.

Both the Civil War and Russian Muffs though have famously bad wiring and some of the newer True bypass black russians have a flaw on the PCB layout that means they aren't actually True Bypassed at all.

[Roseweave]

Cool thanks! Wanted to know what the hub-bub was about.

[Blurillaz]

Apparently Frantone used to work at EHX and designed the NYC Muff.... Something along those lines....

[devnulljp]

As Mike Matthews says of a batch of the same muffs produced at the same time none of them will sound the same but in generalisation from what I understand -

Triangle - Considered the True Big Muff, very musical and the standard.
Rams Head - Slightly less gain than the Triangle
Violet Rams Head - Gainy Mid Scooped Sound
Third Edition with the word BIG MUFF and Pi Symbol - More Extreme
Civil War Muff - Less Gain than Most and more Mids (Famously used by Dave Gilmour)
Green/Black Russian - Not far off the Civil War Muff with slight variations although some models can be exactly the same.

Both the Civil War and Russian Muffs though have famously bad wiring and some of the newer True bypass black russians have a flaw on the PCB layout that means they aren't actually True Bypassed at all.

There's a lot of inconsistency and confusion too. And like you said, two of the same model can sound drastically different. I have two triangles with 0.1uF caps and another with 1uF, all with different values on the output. The 1uF is bassier and thicker but not boomy like a Sovtek. I guess it'd be good with a Strat, but I like the 100nfs with the dark humbuckers on my 335. I shpuld probably try the 1uF with my old lipstick Silvertone.
What are you calling the 3rd edition? Because the v3 red/black is a ram's head. it's a EH3003 in a different coloured box. I have two of those -- one with BC239Cs and another with FS36999s. Then there's the v4 & 5 which are IC-based, and sound more like a Rat to me than a muff -- I think of them as distortion boxes not really fuzzes, they're fizzier and harsher. The v6 is the 3034 muff, which had S2N5088s. Less complex harmonics, more balls to the wall. Noisier too in my experience. This is the Mudhoney muff.
I've heard tales of NPN muffs too with S2N5087s and FS39000s but never actually seen one.
My triangles have FS36999s as does one of my Ram's heads.
I think the ram's head is the smoothest and one of the nicest sounding, although nothing sounds like a good triangle.

[Scruffie]

I think back in the early days component wise it was probably what they had to hand or felt like really, as you say there is so much confusion, there is no definitive muff.

The third edition schematic was the first Block letter Big Muff I was led to beleive, this kind http://www.oaktreeent.com/web_photos/am ... ff_web.jpg

Yes i've heard the Op-Amp Muffs are a love hate thing, think i'l stick to transistor muffs myself, although I do like the Rat, but if I want one i'l get one.

It's all too confusing, one day perhaps i'll create a Muff Lab pedal with all the switchable options to try out every kind of muff there is and finally find out what muff sounds best.

[Blurillaz]

I think back in the early days component wise it was probably what they had to hand or felt like really, as you say there is so much confusion, there is no definitive muff.

The third edition schematic was the first Block letter Big Muff I was led to beleive, this kind http://www.oaktreeent.com/web_photos/am ... ff_web.jpg

Yes i've heard the Op-Amp Muffs are a love hate thing, think i'l stick to transistor muffs myself, although I do like the Rat, but if I want one i'l get one.

It's all too confusing, one day perhaps i'll create a Muff Lab pedal with all the switchable options to try out every kind of muff there is and finally find out what muff sounds best.

The best muff is if you take a 4 channel mixer and blend together the triangle, ram's head, civil war, and NYC muffs with a mid boost.

[devnulljp]

The best muff is if you take a 4 channel mixer and blend together the triangle, ram's head, civil war, and NYC muffs with a mid boost.

A bit like a Hoof then ?
I'll take a 3034 over a NYC any day though, noise and all.

[lizardville]

Hi, Here are the guts of mine...



Maybe I could get some help here?. I find the tone of it to be on the trebly side and gets ear pierecing once you go past 11.
Is there any easy mod to make it more versatil?

Thanks in advance.

[Scruffie]

Wow that's old looking... can you read schematics? If so there are tons of mods you can perform on muffs and i'l give you some links, if you can't read schematics.. i'l give you some links to help with that.

[lizardville]

Thanks ,
i guess its an Opamp version. Pots are dated ¨77
the bad news is I cant read an squematic to save my life...

[Scruffie]

http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/Sc ... ToReality/ You'll wanna read through that then.

And here are some links that Roseweave gave me for modding your muff http://rkerkhof.ruhosting.nl/Taas/Mods/Big%20Muff.htm

[devnulljp]

Hi, Here are the guts of mine...
Maybe I could get some help here?. I find the tone of it to be on the trebly side and gets ear pierecing once you go past 11.
Is there any easy mod to make it more versatil?

Thanks in advance.

What's that - EH1322? Talk to Liberty Belle on the EHX forum, he loves those IC muffs. I find them kinda fizzy, and they do get Leon Trotsky-ice picky.

[Roseweave]

I think I like the V3 version the best... and the V4 is the one Billy used? I liked that one too :P What Transistors did those use?

[elbandito]

Here's a very informative site about EH pedals over the years...
http://electroharmonix.ronsound.com/

And here's some Big Muff specific info: http://electroharmonix.ronsound.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=45