Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Pink Unicorn Horsey

Pink Unicorn Horsey

Megä Pöny Rÿdr
Can any of y'all describe to me the tonal difference between the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzzface and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi? (I'm talking quality vintage units, not reissues -- unless the reissues sound particularly good.)

- Keith
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Keith,

those are 2 pretty different sounding units...the Fuzz Face is the classic raspy, fuzzy, buzzy tone that all Fuzz Tones are judges by, the Big Muff is good for making your guitar sound like a hair dryer...now, I say that with love...I have had several vintage and new Big Muffs over the years and I like them and always have one around (right now my fav Big Muff is a Sovtek model...one of the early reissues, it's Green and it sounds bad ass), I had a reissue Fuzz Face and thought it sound pretty bad, I sold it and got a Roger Meyer Axis Fuzz which is great...NOT A FUZZ FACE SOUND, but a good fuzz tone and I also have a Tweak Fuzz, which IMO gets a very good Fuzz Face tone.

What specifically are you trying to find out...just the tonal differences?
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

The question stems from a study of David Gilmour's tone. I've heard that he used or uses either or both of these fuzz effects.

I have an Analog Man NKT-275 Sun Face (http://www.analogman.com/fuzzface.htm), which is a true-to-vintage tonal replica of the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzzface. However, I have never played a Big Muff Pi before, vintage, reissue or otherwise and was wondering how well it would help me emulate Gilmour's tone. His sound has changed a lot through the years, but he's always been unmistakably Gilmour. It seems that he used the Dallas-Arbiter Fuzzface in the earlier years and the Big Muff Pi in later years.

- Keith
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

I can run a Strat into my Big Muff, Electric Mistress and delay into my Sound City and get a pretty damn close Gilmour...he has used both through the years, and as far as I know he still does use both...the Big Muff has a super distorted tone and the killer part is all the damn sustain!!!
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Right now I have and use a boss DD-5...Im not crazy about it but it's cheep and it gets the job done...I think Im gonna get Analog Mike to mod it for high cut then get the tap tempo set up and use it for long delays then I'll pickup a Memory man for short delay and echo stuff...
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Did he generally use the Big Muff for leads and not rhythm? I can see that singing sustain in the BM, but it seems like noise when playing rhythm.

I think the better delays for Gilmour are either analog or digital effects that simulate analog. Most of the classic work was recorded with an Echorec or Echoplex, then later a Memory Man, right?
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

PFDarkside said:
Did he generally use the Big Muff for leads and not rhythm? I can see that singing sustain in the BM, but it seems like noise when playing rhythm.

I think the better delays for Gilmour are either analog or digital effects that simulate analog. Most of the classic work was recorded with an Echorec or Echoplex, then later a Memory Man, right?
Click to expand...

David has used tone of stuff over the years...it's so hard to tell what was done with what...
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Ok...mine is a 50+ Mark 4 and is kind of like a HiWatt but it is it's own thing as well, that said I can get a pretty damn good HiWatt vibe going with it. A SC 50 or SC 100 Mark 3 would be almost identical to a HiWatt DR 504 or DR 103...

Sound City amps get a bad rap for being noisey and for being unrelibiable...they are built with the same killer transformers that Hiwatt used, good resistors and caps, good pots, etc...IMO a high quality amp...as for the noise, they do have ground loop problems BUT so do early HiWatts!

All that said, they are hand wired, vintage Brittish amps and IMO are worth far more than they sell for. The Mark 4 series has an active EQ section that lots if guys don't like, but I maintain that if you learn how do use them they are great.
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Just a mention: If you have a Boss DS-1 plugging your Big Muff into it will make the Big Muff sound less like a hair drier :joke: and, IMO, improve its tone alot!
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Or, turn the Big Muff's tone to zero, volume and sustain on full, and doom it up. Welcome to my preferred tone.
 
Re: Diff. Between Arbiter Fuzz and Big Muff

Kyuss_Rock said:
Or, turn the Big Muff's tone to zero, volume and sustain on full, and doom it up. Welcome to my preferred tone.
Click to expand...


:bigok:

I hear ya!

It's not the way I use mine, but I could see it!
 
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