So Many Muffs - A Quick Tour of Today's Affordable Big Muff Pedals

There are a lot of Big Muff pedals. I won't say too many because that's not possible. Why are there so many of them? What one should I lust after? Is the big box any different than the smaller version?
I'll try my best to help clear the air when it comes to available affordable Big Muffs. This is a longer video, but hopefully you'll agree it's time well-spent.
“Green Russian” Big Muff reverb.com listing
reverb.com/item/53682944-elec...
“Black Russian” Big Muff reverb.com listing:
reverb.com/item/53690584-elec...
Product shots (Little Big Muff, Nano Big Muff, Big Muff w/ Tone Wicker) from ehx.com
All music by me
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:25 - Demo #1 - “Get Up, Get Over, Get Down”
1:50 - The Layout
2:29 - History of The Muff
4:19 - Triangle Muff
6:00 - Ram’s Head Big Muff
6:58 - Comparison: Triangle vs. Ram’s Head
8:18 - Opamp Big Muff
10:02 - Russian Big Muff
12:22 - NYC Big Muff
14:07 - Germanium4 Big Muff
15:45 - Metal Big Muff
16:38 - Bass Big Muffs
18:12 - Wrapup
19:55 - Demo #2 - “You Gotta Start Somewhere”
21:11 - Conclusion

[@Annunaki_0517]

Still the best guitar pedal KZbin channel going. Should have 100x the amount of subscribers, the algorithm is not respecting this awesome channel. Keep the faith, it will come soon. How TPS and others (who just bore me to tears) have so many more subs is a mystery.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thank you so much!!

[@stevejohnson6632]

Great video again. Awesome tones! The best grungy pedals out there!

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thank you so much!

[@gazeunderthesunmusic]

I adore both of my Op-Amp and Ram's Head Big Muff reissues pedals

[@fedir_sh]

Very cool review, thanks! ))

[@michaelfowler3187]

I remember mike Matthews mentioning a favorite attribute about one of the first muff types, I thought it was the original triangle but i could be mistaken- but he definitely commented on a front of the note attack definition that later versions lacked in his mind.

[@BitcoinTakeover]

Thank you for doing this!

[@StompboxBreakdown]

This one was a lot of fun to do. Those boxes hold a lot of possibilities

[@PedalExperiments]

This was a really fascinating lesson on the history of the Big Muff. Great job, Jeff! 👍 The black and red Deluxe Big Muff and Metal Muff Nano are my favourites, personally. The MMN in particular, as it's just so insanely versatile! Obviously it can get pretty "chuggy" at the extreme settings, but dial it back and it can do a lot of the regular Muff-type things as well. Keep up the good work, dude. And more long videos, please! 😁

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thanks, man! Always appreciate your support

[@jim195221]

Nice video. Very helpful. Thanks

[@duncansbuddy]

I have, I believe, the original Big Muff Pi. One of my first pedals, still have it, haven't used it since the 70's lol. Purchased in the early 70's. Again, nice vid, great presentation.. Nice ending.. you gotta start somewhere, perhaps, perhaps, I shall re-start somewhere and dust my Big Muff off (if I can find it).

[@CorkDave1]

Very good overview, thank you 🙏

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thank you, David!

[@URTH-yb5xh]

Too many people ruin demos by interfering with their playing Too much or too little Thanks for lettin’ it rip I finally get a real sense of what’s going on with Muffs Your intelligence is appreciated Thanks

[@jorgejorgelandia]

Great video.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it

[@TheAmazingSnarf]

you gotta start somewhere! i came here to learn about my op-amp pedal- and i have! but i learned so much more. thank you.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Awesome! Thanks for the feedback, @JammyPants

[@BigBoss1292]

The Op Amp and Ram’s Head will always be my favorite. I’m fortunate enough to have owned originals of both as well as the reissues…the reissues are worth every penny and sound identical

[@AdADglgmutShevanel]

Thanks for the history lesson! Very informative. I really love the Ram's Head. I have a Walrus Audio Eons which I know is partially based on it, but I want to compare them side by side.

[@Issicra]

I have a garden variety Big Muff Pi, and have never heard the other ones before. Good stuff. Was wondering why they make like 14 of 'em. Full disclosure, I only got mine for Siamese Dream tones.

[@Dorachagi1]

I adore my nano Triangle Muff. I keep considering swapping it for something a little more boutique (because apparently I like burning money for no reason), but it just sounds too damn good!

[@ASM881]

This video is drowning in more Muff than I was in 2006.

[@randysutton2120]

Which Big Muff is for me? All of them... I'm new to the channel, and am really enjoying what I've watched so far. Looking forward to catching up.

[@nojuanatall3281]

I have a V7D black russian and the rams head reissue. They're so different! The black russian is smooth and creamy. The rams head has an ice pick like bite.

[@jacobbrown1690]

I have the metal muff, the tone wicker muff, and triangle reissue. Use the tone wicker the most. Triangle for pink floyd type stuff

[@amylou7991]

Good job! 👍

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thanks Amy!

[@amylou7991]

@@StompboxBreakdown No problem, you're fast becoming my fav pedal youtuber. Love the wit! Pizza Muff! 😄 🤣

[@StompboxBreakdown]

@@amylou7991 Haha, I can relate ANYTHING back to pizza

[@StompboxBreakdown]

@@amylou7991 Wow, thank you so much!!!

[@baldyhead]

If you want all the sounds of the old Muffs but just one pedal you need the Deluxe. It can replicate all but the Germanium and Metal Muffs, which are not Muff circuits.

[@220_hz4]

Oh yes. Muffs are my favorite I appreciate that you went in chronological order with the different muff types, and that you didn’t say the op amp muff has an “op amp toggle”. Lots of confusion on the graphic with that one Oh and was that NYC muff a more recent example or is it an early 2000’s NYC? There’s a difference between the two, but they look identical IIRC. Fran Blanche designed the early 2000’s spec

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thank you! LOL an opamp switch, I see how people might infer that from the graphic but... haha. I had to check, mine is a Rev. C. Reading up on it some more, probably explains why I had to set the volume knob differently to achieve the same output. I'm also realizing I totally should have just aped the bass solo from Army for this vid. That's some tasty bass-into-muff playing.

[@wesmitchem825]

Thanks for the killer video I always preferred the triangle muff cause on the demos I've heard it sounded like the rams head does on your demo I've owned the NYC muff which was special due to being designed by Fran blanche of frantone pedals my first experience with a muff was a crappy plastic Russian version that was just weak it's funny I traded the NYC muff to the same guy who had that crap one right now all I got are a mini muff my friend mark made for me that only has one knob but it's internally set perfectly and a muffin factory he also made which is pretty much a wren and cuff de la Riva and I got a way huge swollen pickle fuzz coming anytime now the big metal muffs are terrible the top boost is horrid I think they completely revamped it for the small one you have they sound way different.lastly I'm definitely gonna have to get a deluxe bass muff it sounds exactly what I've been looking for on bass

[@220_hz4]

I feel you on the one knob muffs, I built one that sounds sick. My band leader uses the old big box metal muff through a fender twin reverb and I think it sounds fine, but it is pretty fizzy

[@Guitar_Ted]

I've had two Big Muff Pi's. One a late 70's/early 80's (I cannot recall when I had it clearly) and a 2000's Muff. Could not get down with either one. They left me feeling frustrated because they are so dark and, well.....muffled! ha! This made me think fuzz wasn't for me, and now I understand it wasn't me, it was the Big Muff. Thanks for the demo. I wish I could get on with a Big Muff, I love the music some pull out of these pedals. But alas! Every time I get my NYC Big Muff out I end up feeling bad. Now the Triangle and the Op Amp ones are more my style. Maybe I should give one of them a try sometime. Currently using a Pettyjohn Rail and a Reeves Electro 2N2Face for fuzz.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

I hear you on the fuzz quest. Honestly, I don't use fuzz all that often in my day-to-day playing. When I need one, I'm a big fan of the Caroline Hawaiian Pizza and its cousins. They've got just enough hair and squeal to give things an element of danger but without losing the body of what I'm playing.

[@TWELVE-ax7]

Josh does a GREAT job on the Muffuletta.

[@rareform6747]

Had Them All should not sold my 1977 . The Green Nano Muff is Neutral on all tube amps !

[@hailmaryrecordings8255]

I wasn’t sure about fuzz, so I picked-up one of the Behringer super fuzz pedals & really like the big muff setting. I’m sure the first time I stomp on-it live, it’ll bust into 30-pieces, so I’m getting a big-boy muff. I’m thinking triangle. Good segment. 🤘🏻

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Thanks!! I think you'll enjoy the Triangle Muff. The way it reacts after the peak, and as it's trailing off really give it character, in my mind. Behringer pedal looks rad, though I share similar concerns about them on a long-term basis. I've had too much Behringer stuff just suddenly stop working, and I usually can't ever get it working again.

[@jawshhedd7339]

No relation between muff and superfuzz. No muff mode on the sf

[@hailmaryrecordings8255]

@@jawshhedd7339 Actually, many players have told me that setting 1 is a fuzz-face type, and setting 2 is big muff type. I’m aware it’s a clone of a boss pedal & not the *exact* signals.

[@TheSPY1997]

@@hailmaryrecordings8255 It's actually a clone of the Boss FZ-2, which is in turn based on the Superfuzz. The Superfuzz is a Japanese octave fuzz from the 60's with 2 modes on a toggle switch, one more mid forward, and another that's more scooped. Crucially, both modes have an upper octave added to the signal, which makes for the wonderful scrabled sound associated with that pedal. While a Fuzz Face is mid forward, and a Big Muff is scooped, the modes of the Superfuzz sound significantly different to these two pedals, partly due to the added octave.

[@artemisg.8057]

Triangle or Ram's head with Telecaster and Blackstar ID Core amp?? looking for my first fuzz

[@silviolutti1522]

Hello and thank you for this video, really useful and well done. My heart and my love for David Gilmour inevitably leads me towards the ram's head reissue, no getting around it. But I hear that this version is very loud, probably the loudest of the four reissues. Does it appear to you? Then I wanted to ask you if in your opinion, taking instead the sovtek de luxe version (very nice..) you can also get sounds in Ram's head style or do you think it's impossible being a different circuit? Greetings from Italy!

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Hello Silvio! I got to visit Milan a number of years ago, enjoyed my time there a great deal. My experience with the loudness of the pedals is that they *can get* loud, but there's also a Volume knob on it, and it's ok to not leave knobs right in the center. Big Muff pedals are *very* reactive to the types of input signal they're being fed, so when I switch from a Strat with vintage style pickups to my G&L with hotter exposed-rail pickups, I need to re-adjust the pedal. I think that if I were jamming with some friends or playing a bar gig and someone wanted to hear some Shine On You Crazy Diamond, and the only fuzz I had on hand was a my Russian, or the Deluxe Russian, I'd be just fine. Would a Rams head sound a little more accurate? Perhaps, but I think there's more to be said for the type of guitar pickups being used, the amp being used, the amp's settings, not to mention the accuracy and skill of the player. All you need is something thick and saturated with lots of sustain and compression to ride those long notes and give it that violin-like tone. I always imagine someone like Eddie Van Halen or Mark Knopfler or David Gilmour, if they played their famous songs on just about any guitar plugged into just about any amp is going to sound more like that artist than me playing through their actual gear. But because I'm typing a lot, I'll just say, I think the Deluxe Russian strikes a nice balance between them all, and I love the added flexibility of that second switch to add in the mids, which is exactly what I typically keep a Tube Screamer around for.

[@silviolutti1522]

@@StompboxBreakdown Hello and thanks for your reply! By noise I didn't mean the volume but the background hiss when you turn up the gain, maybe even after 2.00 pm. Sure, I agree that with any big muff you can get close to the Gilmourish sound, but I asked you that question because, for example, with the de luxe big muff (the one similar to the two button red sovtek de luxe), you could being able to bring out the sounds of both the Ram's head and the green russian. One last thing: many say that the ram's head reissue is more mids scooped than the triangle reissue. Listening to the comparison in your precious video, it doesn't seem to me, indeed, it seems quite the opposite, just as it seems to me that the green russian actually has only more mids/bass and no more mids frequencies. The mids/bass in my opinion are different from the central mids and are not the ones that take you out of the mix of a band. In my opinion the ram's head reissue comes out better in the mix than the green russian.

[@michael_caz_nyc]

I never liked Muff-style pedals. They always got Lost in the Mix (until) I purchased the Thorpy Fallout Cloud = Sustain for days. When I do Santana, people think I am using a sustain-pedal when it's just a Barber Gain Changer SR into the Thorpy (both set low-ish gain). A Think wall of singing-violin-like sustain. oNe LoVe from NYC

[@chrisdavies1767]

Drive a RAT style pedal into the Muff and you'll cut through the mix... keep the distortion low on the RAT and think of it as a Mids punch... keeps that distinct woolly Muff tone but somewhat negates the mid scoop which kills them in a mix

[@Supernautiloid]

I solved this problem by getting the JHS Muffeletta :)

[@StompboxBreakdown]

I like that solution

[@averylangs]

Hey what's that hot pink pedal on the top left shelf?

[@StompboxBreakdown]

That is a Caroline Shigeharu. Only 2 pink ones exist, I have one, the builder has the other :)

[@macsarcule]

Really nice review of the muff world! So appreciate the same riff on each play through 🙂👍 Definitely not too long, that flew by! Until last year, I really hated fuzz. Just unusuable to me. Then I learned about 4 transistor fuzzes like the EHX Ram's Head (pretty much the locus of my fuzz love - so Floydy 🙂). Not finicky about signal chain placement, huge spectrum of tones, and much tighter distortion than something like a fuzz face circuit. Since then i've tried lots of 4 transistor fuzzes including the JHS Crimson. I'm able to dial in most 4 transistor fuzz to sound very similar to each other _across the middle ranges_ of their sustain, level and tone pot settings. At a certain point, I'd have said if you're talking about a straightup fuzz (not some combo pedal or something with gain switching or bias controls), they're identical. Then I tried Browne Amplification's T4 Fuzz. It’s modeled on the rams head / red army. Here's what it does that most 4 transistor fuzzes don't. a) Clean highs. I don't use buzzwords like that easily. 🙂Rack the tone and sustain full clockwise - the signal stays incredibly tight and clear - very mids-focused instead of just treble, no ice pick screechiness, even on a bridge pickup. No melting the paint off your walls like a Ram's Head can in those settings. b) You can turn it into a fuzz face. Crank the tone counter-clockwise to full dark and the sustain at full clockwise, and you've got a fuzz face sound that does that fuzz face thing - it cleans up with your guitar's volume knob. Your last jam did much credit for the op amp muff. I haven’t been a big fan of it in demos and you got really sweet sounds out of it, really wanted to hear that lead keep going and going. Thanks for kickin ass with this channel!

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Lots for me to look into!! Thanks man, that last jam was a lot of fun, I wanted to keep going ha ha ha

[@macsarcule]

@@StompboxBreakdown Update: since watching your video and re-watching the last jam with the op amp fuzz, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and picked up a Keeley Moon Op Amp Fuzz. The thing is FIRE. 🔥🔥🔥 Thank you for turning me on to op amp fuzzes!

[@StompboxBreakdown]

That looks like a good one!

[@nicolalbertoscirocco]

Thank you for this video! I love to dive into the misterios depths of fuzz😂😂

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Happy to oblige! It's a pedal history with so many twists and turns.

[@jordantaylor1988]

Lol the confused guy big muff

[@jawshhedd7339]

The muff wasn't mike matthews, a woman created it and it was called the muffler and was a large pedlar, not a plugin

[@SteveDiogo]

Maybe I’m a heretic but the opamp is my fave. I love the overtones.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

It definitely has something the others don’t, and it totally rips in a band mix.

[@therewasascene]

These aren’t vintage. Worthless. Unsubscribe. 😜 ♥️ Dude you dropped history on me that Josh Scott hasn’t 😮 how many times can I calmly depress that like button?!? Great job. Didn’t know muff was for muffled and the larger enclosure = big muff. Made my day.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

LOL thank you! A lot of EHX’s product names are double entendres, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Muffled explanation was invented just to have a kid-friendly explanation.

[@therewasascene]

@@StompboxBreakdown shoot. Let’s pretend that it definitely is just that and that only.

[@mikemorrisonmusic]

So little time.

[@StompboxBreakdown]

Haha, you got that right. Not shown: Me A/B'ing the Ram's Head and Triangle Muffs trying to figure out the right words to describe them.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

You are saying the name wrong, thus missing the joke! Big Muff Pi “Muff pie” is slang for female genitalia, a.k.a. a “fuzz box.”

[@johnrogers2826]

Nope, way too many muff joke possibilities. Not going near that over touched thing or fall down that dirty hole. Well played though! And you talking about each having their own flavour and banging some out and a little more hair in there. Naughty!