Trying to get a "punchy" sound with a Big Muff pedal

seachto7

Howdee,

I've been playing around with settings for the Big Muff for quite a while, and have yet to really nail it down in a live setting.

I'm using a Jazzmaster into a fender blues deluxe, and live would go more for the boss blues driver or a zoom ultra fuzz (great pedal!).

however, I'd like to use the big muff live too. I suppose my reference points are some of the foo fighters stuff, and some of the ian thornley stuff (if any of you have heard of Big Wreck) . if you check out "ian thornley make belive" on youtube, that's the big muff sound.. I'm pretty sure of it.

But I know the foos used it a lot on the "colour and the shape" if I'm not mistaken, and it seems to have a nice edgy sound that cuts through.

Jack white gets a similar live sound I think. Seems to have enough bottom end on it to cut through. It could just be a case of playing with an EQ pedal after the Big Muff.....

I also know there's loads more gone into their gear and recordings to get that sound, but to try and get a basic big muff sound to cut through, I find it pretty hard...I suppose it's a unique pedal in that it has its own distinct sound...

deaddonkey

2 things - it's meant to be fuzzy, not punchy. It can do punchy- but

I doubt that a plinky sounding jazzmaster is going to do it for you

Paolo_M

To me bottom end doesn't help guitar to cut through in a mix.
In fact I'd go as far as to say that it hinders guitar cutting through.

Mids are what give a guitar cut without harshness.

Too much lows before the amplifiers power amp leads to mush, flab and no cut with a band, though it might sound good in a bedroom.

If it were me I'd put a GEQ after the Muff, cut everything below 250Hz, boost around 500 - 2kHz and leave the rest level, perhaps cutting 16kHz (if you have it) to cut down on fizz. Then I'd wind the lows right up on the amp.
That should yield a solid low end thump (the kind that punches and not farts) and cut through nicely.

I'd also agree with dead donkey, you're always going to struggle with getting a thick, punchy sounding using a Jazzmaster, like using a hammer to open a bottle.

Tone is subjective though as always so this is just my opinion.

fortuneg

I was always under the impression that the Foo Fighters used a Mesa Dual Recto for their distortion sound on TC&TS (I can certainly nail the sound with my dual), the only pedal I recall them using was a Proco Rat for the self titled album..

seachto7

Paolo_M wrote: »

To me bottom end doesn't help guitar to cut through in a mix.
In fact I'd go as far as to say that it hinders guitar cutting through.

Mids are what give a guitar cut without harshness.

Too much lows before the amplifiers power amp leads to mush, flab and no cut with a band, though it might sound good in a bedroom.

If it were me I'd put a GEQ after the Muff, cut everything below 250Hz, boost around 500 - 2kHz and leave the rest level, perhaps cutting 16kHz (if you have it) to cut down on fizz. Then I'd wind the lows right up on the amp.
That should yield a solid low end thump (the kind that punches and not farts) and cut through nicely.

I'd also agree with dead donkey, you're always going to struggle with getting a thick, punchy sounding using a Jazzmaster, like using a hammer to open a bottle.

Tone is subjective though as always so this is just my opinion.

cheers, I'll try out that EQ suggestion later. Yes, I would agree the jazzmaster has as much to do with it...
I'm on the look out for a cheap semi hollow next year to counteract my jangle.. I do love the Jazz sound....

Sandvich

The newer big muffs are a bit "Muffled" sounding compared to the older muffs but had more fuzz and bite. Consider getting it modded.

A muff can sound weird if you try and bump the mids though, I've found, so it can be hard to get them to sit in a mix. Sound good once you do though.

seachto7

Yeah, I've heard songs with a distinct "there's a big muff" and it sounds pretty good, it's like there's almost (possibly a gate on it..?)

Do you know the song Snowden by Doves. There's a bit in that, a break, with a few distorted chords ringing out, about half ways through. it sounds to me like a big muff...that;s what I'm trying to get at too...

zafo

Punch in my experience usually comes from the mids, the big muff has a mid scoop so you're not going to get punch with it, this is especially true with the newer muffs which also lack a certain clarity. I'd try boosting the mids on your amp to try compensate for this or get either your muff modded or buy a something based on the older muffs like a ram's head or triangle. You'll be amazed by the difference.

Sandvich

"Punch" comes from the lower parts of the upper mids. Somewhere between 1000 and 2000khz maybe.

Of course people have all kinds of crazy definitions, but generally tones that are called punchy go up in that area. Generally yeah it is a mid range thing though.

red_ice

What version of the muff do you have? Is it jap/us/Soviet?

The muff is a fuzz pedal, it adds warmth and low end to everything making it a bigger sound.

seachto7 wrote: »

Jack white gets a similar live sound I think.

look into square wave synth stuff if you are looking to get his sound. On a bass, heres what it sounds like

go to 0:40

jackwhite rinses the square waves. i do too, its where its at imo

seachto7

It ain't the soviet one. i think it's the US one... not 100% sure, I don't have it to hand...

cheers for the heads up on the mico synth, that's kind of along the lines of what I'm looking for.

yer man out of jon spencer blues explosion gets a cool sound as well, not sure if he just plugs straight into an amp or not..

RGDATA!

deaddonkey wrote: »

I doubt that a plinky sounding jazzmaster is going to do it for you

jazzmaster owner here - you're going to struggle to get that sound out of one of these unless you change the pickups, which is something totally worth doing if you like the feel of your guitar but are outgrowing the sound

seachto7

no :eek::eek:, I love the sound of the jazzmaster, so defo ain't going to change the pickups...I'll experiment with some more guitars I guess....

fincollins

seachto7 wrote: »

no :eek::eek:, I love the sound of the jazzmaster, so defo ain't going to change the pickups...I'll experiment with some more guitars I guess....

:eek: amen to that!

im a fellow jazzmaster/big muff owner myself, and i think the JM is more than capable of reaching that sound! look at my heros j mascis and sonic youth...they both get pretty powerful sounds outta their rigs:

j mascis has literally like 20+, all vintage and modded to jazus -





thurston moore uses russians and old US ones i think -




You might find some info on here if its any help...:)


:cool:

matthayward

I'd say a lot of these guys (like Jerry Cantrell on Jesus' Hands) use it as a booster pedal. I got good results by rolling off the gain of my Marshall JCM800 Stack and starting at '0' on the Big Muff, then blending the tube overdrive of the amp with the pedal.