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Vintage threads from the first ten years

op-amp Big Muff

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12/21/1999 9:32 PM
Bob St	op-amp Big Muff A couple of years ago, I bought a Big Muff pi (op-amp version) from a thrift store for the princely sum of four dollars. Last night I finally got around to trying it out. My question, for those in the know, is a simple one - is it supposed to sound this bad? =Bob

12/21/1999 10:46 PM
adrian	Uhhhh.....Describe bad please. What is going through it? Into what? Compared to what? I made a Trans one that sounds pretty great I wonder if my great and your bad are the same?

12/21/1999 11:05 PM

Man, it's bad. As a point of reference, I consider "good" to be the ts808 (obviously)and Marshall Guv'nor, "marginal" to be the MXR dist+, and "bad" to be a ProCo Rat.

I'm running a Les Paul w/Duncan 59's into a Marshall 2204. The distortion quality of this unit is complete over-the-top mud. Way, way, waaaay beyond "buzz". Even at the lowest audible settings of the sustain control, there's way too much distortion. The output control doesn't provide any volume boost at all even when cranked.

A quick check against the schematic shows everything as it should be, but I just don't remember these units sounding this bad back when I was a kid.

=Bob

12/22/1999 1:26 AM

That sounds about right. I think the Op-Amp PI is clearly the lesser of the two but you would probably hate the trans. one also. Do you run your amp for a highly distorted sound? If so it makes sense that the BMP would not work too well. I find the pedal to be quite loud through a relatively clean amp, perhaps the preamp of your Marshall is already dimed and has no headroom to take more gain from the Muff?
I like the BMP but since I play bass and not guitar in my band I can't really say if I would use one - I like it but it is limited - kinda chews on the ear. I'm more a fan of subtle, amp based distortion. I don't like the Rat at all.
- Adrian

12/23/1999 9:09 AM

quote:
"Do you run your amp for a highly distorted sound? If so it makes sense that the BMP would not work too well. "

Not really. I've been running the preamp at about 12:00 (love that "just" crunchy Marshall rythym sound), and then using outboard boxes for the extra gain for solos and such when needed. I tried this thing through the low gain input as well, and it was still extreme overkill.

I still haven't ruled out something screwy with the circuitry - I'll probably check into it a bit deeper after the holidays.

=Bob

12/22/1999 4:24 AM

Bob,

I haven't had my op amp Big Muff out in years since I tuned up an earlier "ram's head" transistor model.. however I do recall the op amp version was all buzz and lacked volume. When I used to gig with it into a clean fender amp, I actually lost some apparent volume, even with the volume pot maxed.

However if the rat is on your crappy-sound list, no big muff is gonna make you happy IMHO!

Matt

12/22/1999 11:05 AM

My OpAmp BMP hasn't got Matt's problem. I have plenty of output and I think it doesn't sound that bad. It is actually close to the sound of a reissue BMP. Then again, I like a fuzz pedal to give real fuzz. It's not harsh but not too mellow either and it sure has tons of bass on offer.

It didn't work when I got it (free!) and just needed a few cables to be soldered properly. But I noticed that EH components had been added off the board (in order to correspond to the schematic). Maybe yours have different values for these?

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