My favorite kind of Muff

[Ace]

Ok you perverts, I am here at work today, and I decided to do a little product research. Since we are now official Electro Harmonix dealers, I decided to compare as many Muff pedals as I could. For my test equpiment I used a Burny Les Paul copy into a late-60's early-70's silverface Fender Deluxe Reverb. The Muffs I tried out were the US Big Muff, Russian Big Muff, Double Muff, Little Big Muff, Metal Muff, and a vintage 1980 Big Muff.

One thing that I noticed right away was that the Metal Muff is distinctly different from the others. It is more of a heavy metal distortion than a fuzz like the rest of the Muff pedals. It sounded great for what it was, real warm for a metal distortion, yet totally tough. The Russian Big Muff seemed a bit less powerful than the other Big Muffs. The winner in my eyes(ears) was rather suprising to me. I would have to say that honestly the Little Big Muff is the thickest, nastiest of them all!!! The vintage Big Muff came in second. The new Big Muff sounds really good too, nearly identical to the vintage one, but not quite. The double Muff has two muff circuits, but together they still were no match for the Little Big Muff. Funny how big sounds can come from little packages!!!

[lerxstcat]

It's funny, I had a Little Big Muff and didn't really like the tone; my Sovtek Muff wasn't as good as the real Big Muff I had back in the 70s either. I really dig my ART Xtreme distortion to be honest, it has a good thrash distortion, a Tube Screamer type and the Retro is sort of like a Muff, yet different. ART's error was not putting onboard tuners in their guitar floor multieffects.

Maybe my LBM was just not one of the better ones... I have a Ross distortion that I think is the shit! Just level and distortion controls, but your guitar and amp sound are basically the same, just distorted in the right way!

Sorry for the tangent there, and thanks for the No Muff Too Tough shootout!

[Ace]

I've noticed that a lot of EH pedals sound a bit different from unit to unit. They are pretty organic sounding, and I could see where one may not sound as good as identical models. It's quite posssible that your LBM sounds completely different from the one I used today. Which I am seriously considering buying....

[jjw]

lol never tried a muff but have to say Arts solid state distortion sounds great!I will have to try out a big muff,hopefully the local music shop has them?

[slayer]

What the hell does a Muff actually do to the tone? Jack.

[Ace]

A Big Muff is a grossly over-saturated fuzz box.

In metaphysical terms, it is like coming face to face with an overweight benevolent sea serpent that cradles you in it's teeth...

[slayer]

That sounds like a cool tone. Jack.

[Model 6 Matt]

I never got into the Muff tone, just not for me.

[Inazone]

I saw a Metal Muff in a local MGR store but didn't check it out. I probably should have, as the ART Xtreme I use at my practice space finally died after many years of use and getting zapped by a flaky electrical outlet. I still have my main Xtreme and the rack DST-4 preamp with Xtreme distortion on it, but am keeping my eyes open for suitable alternatives. I've read some good things about the Metal Muff, but I don't think the other versions would do what I need.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

I have been thinking about buying a Big Muff for some fuzzed-out, Billy Corgan-style leads but I dunno yet. I gotta figure out how to get more pedals on my pedalboard, which is stuffed full right now. I will keep the Little Big Muff in mind.

[El_Kabong]

For me, thje Muff search ennded with the Frantone Peachfuzz. The lady knows how to lay down the stink with her muff. (She is also the designer of the NYC version). The Metal Muff does sound very cool, tough.

[Chad]

My two Muffs of choice. Swollen Pickle and MJM Foxey Fuzz. I would NOT own the Swollen Pickle had I not got it for $150 when they were still in production.....yet, I still can't bring myself to sell it and I could probably get $500 or $600 out of it....haven't checked for awhile.

[horns666]

Me no likey Muffy..even in 70's ..when I used to sucky..

[Cleveland Metal]

Muff and Cool in the same sentence is an oxymoron, haha... Unless it's a female muff that is... And if it's big, then it's still not cool...

[jgcable]

I'm not digging the muff pedals either. If I want a muff type tone I just throw a blanket over my speaker cabinet.