I heard a nasty rumor that the Russian Muff was discontinued.  Hopefully it’s only to add a mains power.  Any truth to this?

It’s not listed in the online dealer catalog anymore so that may be true.

Anyone from EH wanna weigh in? And as to why.

I asked about it when I visited them in June. The costs to make the Russian pedals ROHS compliant were too high, so they discontinued the Russian pedals.

They were already not available in Europe for a while, I think they just sold the stock in the US.

DiscoFreq - 29 September 2009 12:22 PM

I asked about it when I visited them in June. The costs to make the Russian pedals ROHS compliant were too high, so they discontinued the Russian pedals.

They were already not available in Europe for a while, I think they just sold the stock in the US.

Are they going to replace it with a “same parts but made in USA” version?  It’s kinda like Gibson saying that they’re not going to make SG’s anymore.

whoa, I just bought one on ebay… my first muff… and when i come here… they are discontinued

i can’t even tell you how curious I am

well… speaking about curiousness (well, i pick hard words for a teenager from central europe :worried: ) ... why is that, dear EHX?

DarkAxel - 29 September 2009 01:27 PM

i can’t even tell you how curious I am

well… speaking about curiousness (well, i pick hard words for a teenager from central europe :worried: ) ... why is that, dear EHX?

they’ve not been available in the UK for a few years…it’s to do with RoHS (Restriction of the use of Hazardous Substances)

The RoHS Directive and the UK RoHS regulations came into force on 1 July 2006 and I presume that’s when they stopped selling them here. I think a lot of it is to do with lead in (non-RoHS) solder and other stuff in other components probably too…although I don’t know for sure. I really wish I had bought a few when my local shop have some in a few years ago because the prices are gonna go silly now.

Man!  I just bought one 2 minutes ago, after reading this post.  I am not going to let this get away.

Glad I own two of them!  They are my favorite Muff’s, sad to see them discontinued.

i hope this means a xo russian with regular inputs ans plug input

All sovteks sound like shit IMO! (its because all the capacitor values are wrong) But those that want one can always find them on ebay,there’s tons of them there…from the red army overdrive(this ones rare though) to the tank like green one to the flimsy black one,you can always get them on ebay.

I own a tank like green one, a half tank like black one and a flimsy black one, all modified heavily.

I bought all but one 2nd hand.

Liberty Belle - 18 October 2009 07:03 AM

All sovteks sound like shit IMO! (its because all the capacitor values are wrong) But those that want one can always find them on ebay,there’s tons of them there…from the red army overdrive(this ones rare though) to the tank like green one to the flimsy black one,you can always get them on ebay.

I own a tank like green one, a half tank like black one and a flimsy black one, all modified heavily.

I bought all but one 2nd hand.

so basically what you’re saying is: “this effect sucks! i have three of them!” :D is it just me or it doesn’t make any sense?

DarkAxel - 18 October 2009 07:43 AM

so basically what you’re saying is: “this effect sucks! i have three of them!” :D is it just me or it doesn’t make any sense?

.........‘all modified heavily’ was the key phrase here, I gotta say to me they are the ‘poorly made, poor sounding, cheaper alternative’ to a ‘real’ big muff, although I guess they have their own charm, but I’ve never been impressed with any of the russian made pedals.

electro-melx - 18 October 2009 08:04 AM

DarkAxel - 18 October 2009 07:43 AM

so basically what you’re saying is: “this effect sucks! i have three of them!” :D is it just me or it doesn’t make any sense?

.........‘all modified heavily’ was the key phrase here, I gotta say to me they are the ‘poorly made, poor sounding, cheaper alternative’ to a ‘real’ big muff, although I guess they have their own charm, but I’ve never been impressed with any of the russian made pedals.

ok, i get it now

i picked up the latest black version, i don’t have any experience with Big Muff, so i was like “whatever”

we’ll see it arrives this week

DarkAxel - 18 October 2009 07:43 AM

Liberty Belle - 18 October 2009 07:03 AM

All sovteks sound like shit IMO! (its because all the capacitor values are wrong) But those that want one can always find them on ebay,there’s tons of them there…from the red army overdrive(this ones rare though) to the tank like green one to the flimsy black one,you can always get them on ebay.

I own a tank like green one, a half tank like black one and a flimsy black one, all modified heavily.

I bought all but one 2nd hand.

so basically what you’re saying is: “this effect sucks! i have three of them!” :D is it just me or it doesn’t make any sense?

No, what I’m saying is this:
The sovtek enclosures,especially the cast green ones rule, the overall look of the pedal and the big silver DPDT switches rulle too and I love the look of the sovteks,hence I bought them with the intent of modifying them to my liking!

BTW,playing thru a black sovtek gives you absolutely zero idea of what the NYC Reissues,originals sound like. they are apples and orranges as far as I’m concerned.

I dont have a problem with the Sovtek quality,aside from the cheap pots, I just dont like the sound of them,same goes for triangle muffs.

Its capacitor values in key places that make them sound like shit, for starters they use 2 X 47nF caps in the clipping stages (this is the one and only reason they are boomy as hell)when the absolute minimum should be 100nF and 1uF being ideal. All the other caps,aside form the pF caps which are fine are 100nF and at least 3/4 of them should be 1uF.

My favorite sovteks are the cast aluminum ones,this covers the first green ones and the so called “civil war” ones and the red army overdrive.The folded steel green ones are ok but not as aesthetically pleasing as the big heavy cast ones.