Advice Big Muff Pi USA or Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker?

[Duffy]

I have played the Big Muff Pi USA pedal and like it. It is big and I don't mind the size, it sounds great and has great sustain. I want to buy one of these.

Since a lot of you guys have a lot more knowledge than me when it comes to these things, pedals and so forth, I am hoping to get some feedback from some of you as to which one would be the best, objectively speaking, pedal - aside from subjective, "it's a personal preference" thing.

By this I mean, is there any difference in the sound of the two Muffs, with the Tone Wicker one in standard Big Muff Pi mode? And I know that there are a couple switches on the Tone Wicker one that expand its tonal capabilities. Are the Tone Wicker added features a great idea or are they just additional bells and whistles that don't actually improve the natural sound of the Big Muff Pi USA?

Aside from personal preference perspectives, are there any of you that understand the different circuits and can evaluate the affects on the character of the sound produced by each pedal when compared to each other?

Supposedly in standard Big Muff Pi USA mode both pedals sound very similar, but there is supposed to be a perceptible difference in sound. Since the Big Muff Pi USA sounds really great to me, I don't want to lose that special sound by trying to overdo it with the Tone Wicker, unless the basic sound is great and the added features are substantially improvements.

I'm not interested in trying to find an old version or a Russian version. They have the ones discussed above at the store by where I live.

In my opinion the Big Muff Pi USA is the best sounding fuzz pedal that I have tried, by far.

Hopefully someone will have some insight into this question regarding the differences between the two. Before I go to the store today and AB the two pedals I would like to have some knowledgeable info going into it that might help me with my evaluation and give me some specific things to listen for.

I know they use different power supplies, with the Tone Wicker one supposedly using the standard type power supply jack; but this isn't really a point of concern for me because I will buy whichever power supply is right for the unit I get.

Feedback is appreciated and thanks in advance.

[Ch0jin]

Hi Duffy, I've read up considerably on big muff's and have a couple myself (a "Triangle" spec and a custom hot-rod version of my own design) The main difference between all versions is the gain of each stage. I used to have one with a 4PDT switch that would swap emitter resistor values between two "versions" so I could get a feel for how much the gain of each stage actually effected the tone. (Less gain was better to my ears).

That's all largely irrelevant to you though I guess as you've found the sound you want in the USA version.

As I understand it the "Tone Wicker" simply removes/bypasses the tone stack. BMP's of all versions have a pretty massive mid scoop happening which can mess with "cut through" in a band situation. Cutting out the tone stack will give you loads more mids and (unless they also alter the tone stack recovery stage) loads more volume. I think there's also some kind of switch to bring back more high frequencies when the tone stack is engaged (although I can't imagine why, both of mine have plenty of highs).

My suggestion is to try both and see if the 'tone stack bypass' or 'tone wicker' mode sounds good to you. If yes, buy that one, if not, buy the regular one. Standard BMP tones should be identical for both.

Keen to hear how you go though as I have a naked BMP board from tonepad sitting in a bag somewhere waiting for a reason to exist. If the tone wicker thing sounds good, I might make one. (Cause everyone needs three BMP's right........)

[Duffy]

I suspected such with the self explanatory TW. The dealer by me has never carried the TW version so checking it out didn't happen and I bought the big Big Muff Pi USA and the power supply.

Experimenting with it at home is interesting and it has a lot of different sounds and is the best sounding fuzz pedal I have tried out, to my ear. Using the Gibson Faded Studio with smooth maple cap and Burstbucker Pro pickups produced great super saturated sounds, and I like it best with the gain turned down quite a bit, but even with the gain cranked it produces some great tones. I played that thru my SCXD on voice 9 set up for a moderate tone and it was good sounding. I should have switched the amp model to some cleaner ones, but instead I plugged into my lacquered tweed HRDX with the 60th anniv. round metal badge on the back and the Jensen P12-n alnico speaker, on the clean channel. This produced some really nice fuzz results with a lot of difference in the tones going from the amp clean to the pedal engaged. Quite nice, easily tweakable for a variety of great tones. Then I plugged my stock sunburst fifties CV strat with an aged white, almost caramel, pearl pickguard. This is a beautiful looking guitar with a great neck and it sounded great clean thru the HRDX; then engaging the BMP it roared with beautiful semi articulate sound that really made use of the BMP's capabilities. Various settings with the BMP produced a whole lot of great tones with the CV strat and it is still hooked up, but I'm about to plug in my P ninety equipped LP special copy and anticipate that that will produce a variety of great sounds too.

Right now I have the gain turned down, which is still a whole lot of gain, and the tone turned up. Between these two knobs there is a Lot of territory that can be conquered. I really like the endless sustain that you can get out of this pedal, combined with the wide range of tones. I'm satisfied with this pedal and it surpasses by far any other fuzz sounds I have on my multipedals.

EH says that the new two sided overdrive/distortion Big Muff is complimentary to the Big Muff Pi USA. I could see possibly getting one of them someday and I might try it out this week.

I'm enjoying the tones from the one I decided to get and think it has a lot to be learned.

[Ch0jin]

Awesome review as ever Duffy! I hear you on the endless sustain, that really is a BMP trademark. I tend to run my main BMP (the triangle design) with the tone backed off to about 9 o'clock for a darker tone and the sustain at about midday. They certainly crank out a wall of fuzz don't they ;)

[Duffy]

Yeah. Wall of fuzz really describes it.

Tomorrow I'm hooking it up to my Peavey 6505+ combo on the so called clean channel and I'll see how that muffy hits those five pre-amp tubes and pair of 6L6'es and see if it squeals and roars. This is definitely a fun box and gets me into a lot of unprecedented tonal areas, an undetermined number of which remain unfathomed. I can only imagine what a true master could unearth with this pedal; but I know I'm going to make some discoveries of my own at my own skill level and enjoy it while doing so. This is a pedal that I can fully appreciate. It has a lot of depth of field, so to speak.

[markb]

I've only used three "Muffs". An original 70s "whatever they were making then" version back in the days, one of those Soviet numbers and an Ibanez Soundtank 60s Fuzz. They all did pretty much the same thing. Thick, compressed fuzz and sustain for days. Very cool indeed.