Necessity is the mother of invention.
I wish we could go back to bakelite instead of cheap crappy plastic that melts when you look at it…

Does anyone tried comparing the sound of the Black Russain Muff to a Bass Big Muff…

If there is? How does it sound?

Does the Bass Big Muff Comes Close to the Russian Big Muff (Yr. 2000 re-issue)...

Your comments will be truly helpfull…

friedjesseradio - 25 December 2009 03:18 AM

....are there any up-sides to lead-free solder?

yeah, it doesn’t give you lead poisoning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_poisoning

if you worked in a factory all day with this shit you wouldn’t want it either. It’s a pretty toxic substance. Pre-internet days I had no idea that the US still used lead in solder. They used to put it in paint, you have to be really careful if you are stripping paint in an old house ... old water pipes were lead too. (also banned now)

“An important step in the understanding of childhood lead poisoning occurred when toxicity in children from lead paint was recognized in Australia in 1897.France, Belgium and Austria banned white-lead interior paints in 1909; the League of Nations followed suit in 1922. However, in the US, laws banning lead house paint were not passed until 1971, and it was phased out and not fully banned until 1978.”

It seems the US have been dragging their heels on this all along…... :D

The other Major form of lead pollution came from petrol (gasoline)... the UK went lead-free in the mid 90’s (i’m not sure if that was a worldwide thing)

I concur. I recently aquired a Black (green) Russian -1999. I put the Bass Muff side by side with it and I truly couldn’t tell much difference, other than the obvious extra low end on the Bass Muff and like the other reply- it won’t get as trebley, since it’s tailored to Bass frequencies. Perhaps this proves the point of discontinuing the Russian Muff- The Bass Muff may very well be it’s ‘reissue’/replacement!

If I’m off base, please feel free to correct me.

fenriz033 - 29 December 2009 03:51 PM

I have even heard that the bass muff is based on the russian curcuit and but I dont know if there is any truth in that.

But they certainly sound alike.  I even think I might have trouble telling them apart on a coke/pepsi style test.

I have no idea about the circuits but I believe it was designed to be close in sound .... that’s why it’s green.

Liberty Belle - 19 March 2009 06:56 PM

Who cares if a muff is noisey when your not playing, you dont do gigs to not play or sit down with your rig to not play.

All of these are hard to do if your gear is going WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHH!

That’s why I don’t like noisy muffs so much.

fenriz033 - 29 December 2009 01:22 PM

friedjesseradio - 25 December 2009 03:18 AM

whats bakelite? im guessing some better kind of plastic? are there any up-sides to lead-free solder?

Bakelite was the first type of synthetic plastic ever made.  It was used to make everything we make from normal plastic now from about 1910 to around the 1970’s.  All the classic teles, strats and les pauls from the 50’s and 60’s had bakelite pickguards and knobs.  Its called bakelite because you mold it and then bake it and it hardens and is then pretty much impossible to melt in normal operating conditions.  They stopped using it because it was more expensive.

oh and the advantage of lead free solder is that it takes more heat to melt.  Which is both its advantage and disadvantage depending on what you want to use it for.

Good synopsis. I hadn’t thought there would be people around that had never heard of bakelite…guess I’m getting old…:D
The pairing of high temp lead-free solder w/ bakelite is a no brainer. Best of both worlds. Shame they’re doing it with low-temperature-melting plastic.

fenriz033 - 30 December 2009 05:52 PM

And what about the 1/128 quasihemidemisemiquaver?

I’m not a shredder so I neither care about nor notice those…
EDIT:

fenriz033 - 30 December 2009 06:22 PM

devnulljp - 30 December 2009 06:05 PM

fenriz033 - 30 December 2009 05:52 PM

And what about the 1/128 quasihemidemisemiquaver?

I’m not a shredder so I neither care about nor notice those…

Obviously.  I mostly just posted that for the sake of absurdity.

I should have added:
:D

ok, so here is the story…

simply - i have the latest russian BMP and in al it’s goodness, i miss one thing..

i think it’s the tonality of Sovtek muff… but accoring to me it lacks this searing head-blowing, smashing craziness that the NYC version could have… i’m talking about something like john Frusciante’s lead tone in “Strip my mind” from Stadium.

it could be me… or the pedal :D i have it set like sustain and volume on 1 o’clock, tone on 3 o’clock.

What do you think… could NYC version get me closer to that sound? i think i could trade easily… only thing i’m affraid of is that the NYC could be much more noisy… and i’m a little bit afraid of missing this crazy low end response that Svotek has… damn it’s hard! :D

Sovteks typically don’t have as much gain as the USA Muffs, but neither will have that sound right out of the box. If you have an amp that breaks up good at high volumes you may get close. Muffs like to be driven hard by loud tube amps, but to get that overdriven tone you hear in that solo you need to drive the Muff with a booster. Just about any decent overdrive pedal will boost the Muff into that territory, but stay away from bright ones like the Tube Screamer.

I’m not sure John is using a Muff on that song. Sounds more like a fuzz.

well i was hoping that you’ll answer my question thanks

i’m not completely sure it’s a big muff, but i heard that he used it on that solo…

about that boosting… i have tubescreamer-ish type of OD before my muff… when i kick it on, the muff looses some of it’s low end and acts more like a genuine high-gain pedal… also amazing tone, but not so amazing as john’s (obviously… duh…)

if i had some extra money, i’d probably experiment with ODs much more… but i’m a student having a hard time finding any part-time job and currently i need to pay for drivers education… but i’ll keep your advise in mind! thanks, man

PS: i was just wondering if it isn’t the NYC - Sovtek difference…

It’s a fine line using a booster. Too much gain from the boost pedal and the Muff lows will crap out. You just want a bit to get it into overdrive territory. You can put it before the Muff or after. Before is smoother, after is a bit harsher. You can also try using the boost pedal as the driver, with high gain, and the Muff after it with low gain, so the Muff is the boost pedal.

If you are using a Tubescreamer type circuit you won’t get the best results though. You would get closer with a USA Muff, but I don’t think you will get that sound. John could have used any number of his effects combos. The guy has every fuzz pedal known to man!

And what about boosting a muff with another muff? . Personally, I think you should own both versions. Save up. The russian version is discontinued so don’t trade it! I broke mine’s sustain pot, repaired it and it’s better. I’ll do some mods to it. That great tone on bass. I would own like 3 sovteks haha.

Kit Rae - 18 January 2010 05:21 PM

Sovteks typically don’t have as much gain as the USA Muffs, but you can fix them to real easy!.

Fixed!

Swap a few caps and resistors and they can sound exactly like a NYC or any other muff you want it too!

BTW, the trannies do have as much gain its the resistor values limiting that gain is all. Every Sovtek tranny I’ve measured has been near 800hFE. You only need 550 or so to make a realy high gain big muff.LOL