help me mod my big muff

I'm looking for a creamier more bluesy distortion, and i don't have the money for a blues driver, so im looking to find a mod that will give me something like that from my muff.

any websites or tips? this would be my first time modding a pedal so im hoping its simple and it will give me the option to switch back and forward to modded and non modded

thanks

You don't mention which Muff you have - some require different approaches, some have slightly different components.

...But in a nutshell, the easiest things to do to make a Muff creamier or bluesier would be to replace the 3 negative feedback loop resistors with a lower value, which will drive three gain stages less, and produce that result. Most (if not all) Muffs use a 470K resistor for all 3 of these. And no other component on the board should use a 470K. The early triangle Muffs used a 390K in it's place - that might be a good replacement value.

...If you want the gain thing switchable, you could "bypass" the existing 470K with another one, which will cut the resistance in half when the switch is thrown. If you use a DPDT toggle, you could do this for the two middle gain stages, which is where most of the distortion occurs.

Another thing that would make things softer would be to replace the three small caps on those loops. Stock values are typically 470pF, 500pF, and 560pF, with the first being the most common. Make these bigger to soften the clipping. Once again, you can add toggles that will bypass the existing caps, increasing the capacitance.

Yet another idea would be to locate the second pair of clipping diodes. If you replace them with something with a smaller conducting voltage, you'll get softer distortion that clips much sooner, compresses more, etc. There was actually a pedal called the Soft Sustain that replaced those second two diodes with germanium 1N34A's, which conduct much earlier than the stock 1N4148 silicon units. If you can't get 1N34A's, BAT41 Schottky diodes will do the exact same thing, but with a diode that's the same size as the stock ones.

And yet another idea would be to locate the 4 resistors coming off of the transistors' emmiters, which all connect to ground, and are all small values - from 100 ohms to typically 820 ohms. The first and fourth emitter resistors will typically be higher (the fourth one is usually ~3.3K), but those are boost and recovery stages, so you can concentrate on the middle two, which will probably be 150 - 390 ohms. Incrementally increase their values to drop the gain. A great alternative would be to install a pair of 1K trimpots and "tune" them.

These are all generic ideas that will work for any 4 transistor Muff that isn't SMD construction (like the new Nano Muffs, etc.) or the op amp version (uses chips instead of transistors).

I'd personally start by reducing the resistance on the 3 feedback loops. This is usually sufficient, IMO.

What if you wanted a NYC Reissue (2008?) to ..um how do I say it...

You know when you hold a note and it decays and gets all those sweet overtones...sounds interesting, sweet and unpredictable, great fun... how do you get it to do that more? Humbuckers help, it seems, but what about settings/mods?

Also, is there one component that increases bass for single coils without making it boomy?

I have had an NYC reissue and hardly used it since I got it (5 years? maybe a lot more, I can't remember now) because I disliked the sound so much. I followed 11gauges advice and swapped out about 6 components for some other cheap components (4 diodes and a couple of resistors) and now it sounds fantastic and very pleasing to my ear.

First of all let me say 11 Gauge knows about ten million more times about this subject than me. I was just gonna say keep in mind if yer testing different distortion and overdrive pedals trying find one that sounds like you want yer muff to sound. The Muff is a fuzz pedal totally different from distortion or overdrive pedal sound wise anyway. I wont go into the tech stuff. I leave that for guys like 11 Gauge who know way more than me on that subject. Im just talking about the overall effect and tone.

I have had an NYC reissue and hardly used it since I got it (5 years? maybe a lot more, I can't remember now) because I disliked the sound so much. I followed 11gauges advice and swapped out about 6 components for some other cheap components (4 diodes and a couple of resistors) and now it sounds fantastic and very pleasing to my ear.

Do you remember what you did? Can you post it? Mine is a new NYC Reissue.

I've searched and found some mods like getting rid of the tone stack that I'm going to try, but the enclosure is huge, so I'm going to add extra pots and switches for those. I hope it's going to end up one of those muffs with switches everywhere- like this!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCgiNhJlrms

Diodes and resistors I have got. Which ones/ what values sound great?

-Dave

Interesting thread...

I've got the Big Muff- Russian 'black' version, and the GGG Green Kit that can go several ways in the build. Looking for mod ideas. :idea:

What if you wanted a NYC Reissue (2008?) to ..um how do I say it...

You know when you hold a note and it decays and gets all those sweet overtones...sounds interesting, sweet and unpredictable, great fun... how do you get it to do that more? Humbuckers help, it seems, but what about settings/mods?

Also, is there one component that increases bass for single coils without making it boomy?


If you mean that you want more sustain prior to decay on the NYC RI, simply swap the 4 clipping diodes (blue Schottkys, very easy to locate) for the original 1N4148's, which have a bit more compression and make the notes hang longer, even with SC's.

...And if you want even more sustain after the diode swap, you will probably need higher gain transistors. 2N5962's will add a significant amount. And MPSA13's will provide the maximum amount of gain possible, to the best of my knowledge.

If you mean that you want more octavy, fuzzy, loose, ultra compressed (but with less sustain) sort of textures, you need clipping diodes like 1N34A's or BAT41's for the second clipping stage only. Replacing all 4 will just kill everything, IMO. And you might want to start with replacing just one of the two - it should give you some octave stuff on decay that is fairly noticeable. If you like the overall textures but the compression is just too much, try replacing the diodes in the first stage with LED's - this will give a huge boost, and get back some of the top end and snap that are lost.

To make things temporarily more bassy for single coils will require a switch that changes either the bass resistor or capacitor. Make either one larger to increase the low end range. Actually, the bass resistor in the RI is half the size that it is in most other Muffs. Increase it from 22K to 39K, and it will be nice and full with SC's, and match the tonal response of the old classic Muffs.

Interesting thread...

I've got the Big Muff- Russian 'black' version, and the GGG Green Kit that can go several ways in the build. Looking for mod ideas. :idea:

What are you looking to get out of it? Tell me in as much detail as possible, and I'll tell you what you probably want to do...

11 Gauge,

Thanks, I'll start with sound demos and the options that GGG provided with the kit. Also, will keep the Black Russian stock for now.