Big Muff, which version?

[JaviCAP]

Hi dudes,

I was ready to build a 66 Triangle when I realised that not only I have no 120nf caps, but even in the biggest components stores in Madrid I can't find 'em (100 o 150, but nothing in between), so I have to wait for another tayda's order, two more weeks.

I had very clear that the triangle was the  one I wanted to clone first, but now, I have no clear choice.

Green russian and Ram's head are good options, as I want it to have powerfull bass but as now we have a forum, would like to ask you about your favourite BMP, I remeber that Miro built  5 in a row, or something simlar, so please, let me know your opinion.

BR

[mirosol]

Well :) They all sound just like big muffs. Green russian has more bass, but all the other value changes make very subtle changes. I personally like the triangle and black russian the best.
+m

[Madferret]

Having owned an off the shelf Big Muff and built a Triangle, I'm afraid to say that the genuine Muff sounded the best.  That could be down to my crappy build though, it was one of my earlier ones.  Since the basic circuits are pretty much identical, why not try socketing the key components and make your own version?

[JaviCAP]

Thanks for the answers, mates!

Black, Green, Triangle, Ram's.... yeah, all  so similar, and so fifferent at a time. I think i'll build the RAM as it seems the most similar to the Triangle and I have all the components and values at home.

I have an original Red and Black, so i'll be able to compare both when the Ram is finished. I hope to finish it before next week, as the Kingslayer pcb  from Madbean is supposed to get here on moday or thursday!

BR

[dodido]

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[otalgiafx]

Have built the violet rams head and Green Russian versions.  Both nice and fizzy though the bass frequencies on the Russian are ideal for the brightness of my Selmer amp and give a nice full fat tone, even on single coil pickups. Had a deluxe big muff with in built compressor when I was a kid, never seen one of those pedals since - probably worth a kings ransom nowadays ... sold mine in the eighties ... doh!

[Ross]

I've built 2 Big Muffs that I really liked. One was the Jordan Creator, which is basically a hotrodded Triangle, and the other was the P19. I really like the way the P19 sits in the mix on guitar (but it's not that great on bass.) I'm just not that blown away, although if I mess with the transistors a bit more, it migh get better. The Creator, on the other hand, is  absolutely awesome. It's not fizzy compared to a lot of Big Muffs, and the gain is manageable. I do find the transistors make a bit of a difference, my personal favorite combo in the P19 are MPSA18 for Q1+4 (input boost/tonestack), and BC550B for Q2/3 (the clipping stages). I would like to grab some BC550Cs to see if the higher gains help the P19 punch a little better.

I've got another project in the works, involving a Green Russian, a FET blender, and a boatload of DPDTs.

[JaviCAP]

Well, these days I've been reading a lot about Big Muffs, its versions, and so on.

All these reading confirms what you say: the BMP circuit is extremely tolerant to values and tolerances, so all big muffs are pretty the same in a 90%, the rest are little details and nuances.

Been reading that every version can have  even 20 variations, so finally decided to build one of the most wanted BMP in order to A/B it with my original Back and red american reissue, and choose the Violet Ramshead, fourth variant of Version 2 Big Muff. Liked that it just takes poly caps and no electolithics and that was one of the most desirable BMPs

Using Mark's layout, I followed the schematics of http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part1.html

so, a few values have been changed from Mark's vero. Took off the polarity protection diode and the filtering 100uF and link, as there were no present on the original

Well is late and can't play at high volume, but as stated on the Big Muff Pages, this version / variant definition in one word is: equilibrium

I'm thinking about building a "Multi Muff" with the variants / mods previousy commented on this post.

By the way, Tayda's ceramic caps are a big shit, has to check about 40 470pF pieces, to get 3 with a real value of 470pf, most of them are in 380-410 range!

BR