Little Big Muff Pi vs. New York Big Muff Pi

[Blurillaz]

A while ago, I brought my NY Big Muff to a friends house, who has a Little Big Muff. I did an A/B test, and it seemed that the LBMP had considerably less low end, more treble, and the volume control seemed to be strange, as when it was dimed, it was the same as 1 o'clock on the NY BMP. Are there and differences in the circuits, and does someone have gut-shots? I would think that EHX would make them the same, but with different enclosures... He got it used so perhaps the previous owner decided to mess around with it?

[Mudfuzz]

I remember reading somewhere that the the LBM is supposed to be voiced somewhere between the NYC and the Russian models, I have no idea if this is really true though...

[Pirate]

I have a LBM and like it but for some reason it doesnt sound good with the Seymour Duncan JB thats in my guitar.

[Roseweave]

A while ago, I brought my NY Big Muff to a friends house, who has a Little Big Muff. I did an A/B test, and it seemed that the LBMP had considerably less low end, more treble, and the volume control seemed to be strange, as when it was dimed, it was the same as 1 o'clock on the NY BMP. Are there and differences in the circuits, and does someone have gut-shots? I would think that EHX would make them the same, but with different enclosures... He got it used so perhaps the previous owner decided to mess around with it?

Yeah, I find my LBM is lacking in bass, I have to keep the tone rolled down generally.

[Ghost Hip]

I agree with the bass issue. My NYC Big Muff kicked the white spider out of my main fuzz slot because it brought the lows. Now I use my NYC and Rocket more often. I use the White spider for my friends band now because I cover the trebles in the band.

[Mudfuzz]

If you want lows in a muff though any of the Russian made ones will win out.

[the raytownian]

If you want lows in a muff though any of the Russian made ones will win out.

I've got 0 experience with any Muffs beyond the newer, black Russian BMP, but I can certainly understand where the "Muff" term comes from when playing it.

I actually like it more for single notes and "leads" (if you can call what I play "lead guitar") more than I do chords/rhythm guitar.

[lizardville]

I have an original Muff from the 70,s (opamp version) and a new little BM and they dont sound much alike. The new one sounds more like an overdrive to me. Less trebely than the original though...

[Roseweave]

Are there any mods to the LBM to make it more bassy?

[gestaltito]

Hi,
removing the first diode pair should do any muff more bassy, at least it did work good in my Black Russian muff.
It was piece of cake with the Russian. With the LBM should be more tricky because of the design, I have a LBM as well so maybe I'll have a go,
here's a website detailing that and other mods, along with couple of pics of the Black and LB muffs, from the same website:
http://rkerkhof.ruhosting.nl/Taas/Mods/Big%20Muff.htm


Best Regards
P.

[Spiteface]

Actually, I have another question to add to this, I was gonna start a thread anyway.

I own an NYC Big Muff, and a Little Big Muff, bought new when they first came out in 2006/2007 (I think)

Mine, has the knobs in the wrong order, like this:



Compared to:



As I understand it, the earlier die-cast LBMs had the reverse order as seen in the top pic, like mine. Then eventually this was rectified into the "correct" order as seen on the NYC model.

Does anyone know of any actual differences in sound between the early ones and the later ones? I'm asking because I also saw this:

Version 10 "LITTLE" BIG MUFF (circa 2006) - Sonically the Little Big Muff sounds very similar to the NYC reissue V9, but a bit brighter and a bit less bottom end to the sound. A great Muff tone. Some people say this sounds like the Ram's Head Muff, but not like any Ram's Head Muff I have ever played, and I have played a bunch.

taken from This summary. Mine defnitely sounds different to my NYC, firmly in the Muff family, but not like the NYC, and mine seems louder than the NYC. I actually have a BYOC Large Beaver Kit I intend to build to Ram's Head spec, but this might change that decision.

[gestaltito]

Hi,
mine is probably a later one because it's not loud at all, in fact I have to crank it full to obtain same level as disengaged...
other than that I can't answer your question, sorry.

[Roseweave]

I have a bit of a volume issue with mine too. It's still loud enough on full for pushing the amp a bit harder though so it's not that big a deal.

I really would like to mod it for more Bass. I was playing it today and it's just disappointing that it nails the fuzz voice from the lower mid frequencies up. Muffs are meant to be big and bassy. I have to turn the tone down and then it looses bite which is the whole point of buying the LBM over the modern NYCs.

[gestaltito]

Good luck on that mod!
I just opened mine yesterday and freaked out!! it doesn't look like the picture above, it's just those futuristic-micro-components, think I'll leave mine as it is .

[Roseweave]

:| Maybe I should sell it and get another Devi.