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(Work in progress) - Here are clips of various Big Muffs for comparison. Keep in mind that the sound of vintage Big Muffs WILL vary slightly from unit to unit. I tried to pick a typical sounding example for each Big Muff version for this clip library.

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone with Fender Strat fitted with SD SSL-5 bridge pickup, a bit of compression from a Boss CS-2, Boss CE-2 chorus lightly mixed in using a mixer pedal, and 470ms delay from a TC Nova, into a clean Fender Twin Reverb cranked LOUD.
Comparison Clip 2 - Raw Muff tone with a Les Paul Custom fitted with P90 pickups, into a Marshall JCM800 head and Fender cabinet.

HOW I COMPARED THEM - I matched the tone of each Big Muff as close as possible to a bench mark V1 Triangle Big Muff tone for an accurate comparison of the tonal differences. See the bottom of the page for recording and setting info.

Version 12 TONE WICKER BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone. Wicker switch off.

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Version 11 BASS BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone in normal mode

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone with bass boost switch on

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

BASS BIG MUFF versus the discontinued Version 8 BLACK RUSSIAN BIG MUFF. They sound very similar. Russian is first, then BBM. BBM Bass boost is off.

BBM vs. Black Russian - tone knob range

BBM vs. Black Russian - chords

BBM vs. Black Russian - leads

BBM vs. Black Russian - guitar volume at half

BBM vs. Black Russian - soloing

Version 10 LITTLE BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Version 9 "NEW YORK" REISSUE" BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Version 8 “BLACK” SOVTEK BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

See bass Big Muff above for clips comparing it to the version 8 Sovtek Muff

Version 7 “GREEN” SOVTEK BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Version 7 “CIVIL WAR” SOVTEK BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Comparison Clip 3 - Ram's Head Big Muff, "Violet" spec Ram's Head, Civil War Big Muff. Each phrase played in that order. EMG DG-20 Strat into a Fender Twin Reverb

Demo Clip 1 - On the Turning Away - Boss CS-2 Compressor > Civil War Big Muff > B.K. Butler Tube Driver > Boss GE-7 EQ > Boss CE-2 Chorus (70% in mix using a Barge VB Jr. loop mixer) > TC Electonic Nova Delay

Demo Clip 2 - Civil War Muff only

Demo Clip 3 - Civil War Muff with Boss CS-2 compressor

Demo Clip 4 - Civil War Muff with Boss CS-2 compressor placed before and BK Butler Tube Driver place after for boost

MIKE MATTHEWS RED ARMY OVERDRIVE - Early version of the Sovtek "Civil War" Big Muff. Clips are of the first edition RAO.

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone.

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Demo Clip 1 - On The Turning Away - Boss CS-2 Compressor > Red Army Overdrive > B.K. Butler Tube Driver > Boss GE-7 EQ > Boss CE-2 Chorus (70% in mix using a Barge VB Jr. loop mixer) > TC Electonic Nova Delay

Version 6 "REVERSE LOGO" BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Versions 4/5 BIG MUFF - op-amp versions

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Demo Clip 1a - Cherub Rock - Les Paul played through a Marshall JCM800.

Demo Clip 1b - Cherub Rock - Multi-layered guitar tracks, played with a Strat and Les Paul through Marshall JCM800.

Demo Clip 1c - Cherub Rock - Multi-layered guitar tracks, played with a Strat and Les Paul through Marshall JCM800. Tone about 3 on Muff, and mids dropped on the Marshall. Attempting to match the layered guitar tone heard on the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream studio recording.

Demo Clip 2 - Noodling around with a strat, bridge pickup, through a Fender Twin. Muff on max sustian, tone around 12:30.

Demo Clip 3 - More crappy noodling around, with a Les Paul, neck pickup, through a Marshall. Muff on max sustian, tone around 12:30.

Version 3 BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Demo Clip 2 - Cherub Rock - Multi-layered guiatr tracks, played with a Strat and Les Paul through Marshall JCM 800.

Version 2 "RAM'S HEAD" BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm/Chords raw tone

Comparison Clip 3 - Leads raw tone

Comparison Clip 4 - Raw Tone. Ram's Head Big Muff, "Violet" spec Ram's Head Big Muff, and Civil War Big Muff. Each phrase played in that order. EMG DG-20 SA Strat into a Fender Twin Reverb

Demo Clip 1 - Comfortably Numb first solo - Ram's Head Big Muff. Played with an 18v Electic Mistress -> Boss DD-3 delay -> Fender Twin Reverb amp.

Demo Clip 2 - Intro to Sorrow - Big Muff, Boss CS-2 compressor, Tube Driver set for light boost, Boss CE-5 chorus, and TC Nova delay set at 540 ms. EMG DG-20 Strat into a very loud Fender Twin Reverb.

Demo Clip 3 - Sorrow solo - Ram's Head Big Muff. Played with Boss CS-2 compressor -> Muff ->TC Nova Delay -> Boss CE-2 chorus in left channel '65 Fender Twin Reverb. Boss CS-2 chorus in left channel.

Demo Clip 4 - On and Island solo #2 - Boss CS-2 compressor -> BK Butler Tube Driver set for light boost -> Ram's Head Big Muff -> TC Nova delay.

Demo Clip 5 - Noodling around. American Std. Strat, Seymour Duncan SSL-5 bridge pickup. Boss CS-2 compressor -> Muff -> TC Nova delay. I kick in a Colorsound Overdriver set on a loud boost near the end.

Version 1 "TRIANGLE" BIG MUFF

Comparison Clip 1 - Wet solo lead tone

Comparison Clip 2 - Rhythm and riff tone

Demo Clip - Triangle Big Muff first edition. Played with a 2008 American Standard Strat, Seymour Duncan SSL-5 bridge pickup -> Muff -> TC Nova delay.

Demo Clip - On and Island solo - Triangle Big Muff second edition set for a harsher, drier sound. 2008 Am. Std. Strat, Seymour Duncan SSL5 bridge pup -> Muff (or clone) -> BK Butler Tube Driver -> Boss GE-7 -> TC Electronic Nova delay.

HOW I COMPARED THEM - I matched the tone of each Big Muff as close as possible to a bench mark tone for an accurate comparison of the tonal differences. I did not set all the tone knobs at the same position because that is a terrible way to make a pedal comparison. The same pot (potentiometer) positions will give a wide tonal variance from Muff to Muff. Rather, I adjusted the tone knob of each Muff until the tone matched as close as possible a V1 Traingle Big Muff that I used as a bench mark tone to match. The V1 tone was set to 1:00 for Comparison Clip #1 and 11:00 for Comparison Clip #2. The actual tone knob positions for each Muff ended up between 45-55% (11:30). The sustain was set to about 90% (4:30) for each Muff.

RECORDING - Two Sure SM57 mics placed 2" from speakers, converted to digital through a Presonus Firebox, recorded into Garage Band on a Macintosh G4.