fuzz or muff

[bluesfloyd]

hi guys,
i read that a big muff would give you muff and fuzz sounds, and a fuzz pedal only give you fuzz sounds, so a big muff would be a all round pedal on your board, do you guys have muff and fuzz together or only one of these pedals, I would like to know what you guys use ?????

all the best, bluesfloyd,

[Surgeon]

Re: fuzz or muff

This is just my perception and I'm sure other will chime in with theirs but: a Muff does sound a bit like a distortion depending on how you set it but it's still a fuzz in my mind. Not sure what you mean as far as the distinction between muff and fuzz then...

However, the muff and its millions of derivative have a unique (at least to my ears) sound that other circuits won't provide. However, I don't think you'll be able to get the tone of other fuzz' with the muff either. The controls are simple so there isn't "much" variety available when it comes to "texture" and/or "grain"...

A muff is a muff, no matter how you set it.

[PFDarkside]

Re: fuzz or muff

Trick question, muff is fuzz!

It all comes down to how many variations of tone you want or need. Muffs are generally more saturated than some other fuzzes, but the specific transistors/IC and tone stack can create a wide array of tones of out one pretty standard circuit. (I think at last count I had 7 variations on the muff?)

When you say "Fuzz" you are probably referring to the Fuzz Face and Tonebender type pedals, but there are tons and tons of variations out there. Pretty much every pedal company makes a "fuzz" or two (or 8) and they range from smooth to sputtery, bassy to bright and trebly, raw to refined, etc.

I'd go to a guitar store and check out an EHx Little Big Muff and a Dunlop Hendrix Fuzz Face to get a feel for two pretty popular flavors of both. Keep in mind that Fuzz Face type pedals usually need just a little hair on the amp to smooth out some of their harmonics, so don't feed it into a clean transistor amp. Once you get a feel for the "base" tones, you can figure out if you want more gain, better ability to roll off gain with guitar volume, more bass, etc.

(Interesting to note, the original design of the Big Muff was intended to replicate the Jimi tone chain of Fuzz Face into overdriven Marshall)

[Agileguy_101]

Re: fuzz or muff

Both.

I have four different fuzz pedals on my board, and only one of them is a big muff clone. (at one point though I did have three different types of big muffs on my board that all sounded quite different. That was a lot of fun).

No offense, but it sounds like you don't have very much experience with fuzzes, big muffs, or even both. I would make a trip to the best guitar store in your area and spend a few hours going through their fuzz selection. Do a bit of reading on how a fuzz face works though because if you go in to that one without any knowledge of how it's commonly operated, you might not get the most out of it. (Hint - dime the fuzz control, volume to taste, and use the guitar volume to control the amount of fuzz.)

[Chickenwings]

Re: fuzz or muff

fuzz (assuming you mean fuzz face) can come in many different textures and tones. It gets its sound by distorting a pair of transistors.
muff (assuming you mean big muff) also comes in many sounds and textures. It gets its sound by distorting a combination of two pairs of diodes as well as transistors.
Fuzz faces have no tone stack, muffs have a tone stack.
They are different beasts and have different strengths and weaknesses in their application.

Faces are incredibly sensitive to nuance and guitar volume/tone controls but often don't work well in a pedal chain or if your signal is buffered. Muffs are more predictable and pedal chain friendly, but do not have the subtleties and sensitivity of a face. Faces are very different depending on the type of transistor inside, and how they are biased. Muffs are very diverse depending on the model (ie ramshead, russian, NYC, civil war, opamp version etc...)
Even within the two different types of pedals, you can go through so many variations of each until you find the one you like the best.

Having said that: a useable, tweakable and great sounding pedal that can dip into the territory of both kinds of pedals (without being either), has a wide tonal range and seems to work well as part of a pedal chain is the voodoo labs superfuzz.

IN terms of real world experience, i have done many gigs (and recordings) with nothing but a clean fender amp and a fuzz face and enjoyed it immensely. Due to their sensitivity to the guitar controls you can get a wide palette of sounds. There is no way in the world I could do that with a muff. However, my current (3 pedal) setup has a muff and no fuzz face...so go figure.

Maybe get one of each?

[bluesfloyd]

Re: fuzz or muff

hi guys,
big thanks for the detailed posts above, what i have gathered from the above posts is that i would have a fuzz face and a big muff on my board, i note that there are lots on the market to choose from, some fuzz/muff pedals i have hear i like and others i hate, so i will soon track down a few i really like,

all the best, bluesfloyd,

[Big Flannel]

Re: fuzz or muff

Try the new nano big muff from EHX and get one of the small-case fuzz faces from Dunlop. You'll be very Happy.

[Kais]

Re: fuzz or muff

There's about 1000 different flavors of muffs/fuzz. Depending on exactly what you want....check a superfuzz as well, maybe a fuzz factory?

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: fuzz or muff

hi guys,
i read that a big muff would give you muff and fuzz sounds, and a fuzz pedal only give you fuzz sounds, so a big muff would be a all round pedal on your board, do you guys have muff and fuzz together or only one of these pedals, I would like to know what you guys use ?????

all the best, bluesfloyd,

. . . ermmmm, a Muff IS a Fuzz.

[jon the art guy]

Re: fuzz or muff

Ehx made the Muff Fuzz too. Two distortion parts, not a lot of controls except for for volume and switches to activate one part or both.
I'd go for the fuzz face and a bit muff pi. A little different (Brit) flavor would be a black arts scarab and ritual Fuzzes. They also have both of those in one box, though I dont remember the name of it. Dark forest?

[Big Flannel]

Re: fuzz or muff

Ehx made the Muff Fuzz too. Two distortion parts, not a lot of controls except for for volume and switches to activate one part or both.
I'd go for the fuzz face and a bit muff pi. A little different (Brit) flavor would be a black arts scarab and ritual Fuzzes. They also have both of those in one box, though I dont remember the name of it. Dark forest?

The Ritual and Oath are combined in "The Destroyer". That thing is awesome.