Muffin Fuzz variants

[PanamaScoot]

I’m sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I searched through a few posts and didn’t find what I was looking for.

The Muffin Fuzz build docs have several variants listed, most of which do not match the names of past Big Muff variants.

Here is the list:
Triangle (familiar Muff variant)
Civilian
Green Russian (familiar Muff variant)
Bigger Muffin
Martian Fuzz
Double-G Overdrive
The Fox
Mask Us
Stomp ‘75

Could someone break these down for me?
I have a very general idea of the difference based on some parts from the BOM but I’m very much a newbie to pedal building and have 0 electrical engineering knowledge

I want to build a big muff but I have no idea what the differences are and I can’t justify building 12 just to find out

 

[Coda]

Civilian- Civil War
The Fox- Guild Foxey Lady
Mask Us- J. Mascis ‘76 Ram’s Head
Stomp ‘75- 1975 Violet Ram’s Head

 

[Nic]

Muffin Fuzz Inpsirations...

I plan on building the "Triangle" version of the Muffin Fuzz soon. The inspiration for this one is pretty obvious. However, what are the other versions inspired by? Some, again, and kind of obvious. So far I figure the following: Green Russian: Russian Muff Civilian: ? Triangle: Triangle Muff...

forum.pedalpcb.com

 

[Coda]

Muffin Fuzz Inpsirations...

I plan on building the "Triangle" version of the Muffin Fuzz soon. The inspiration for this one is pretty obvious. However, what are the other versions inspired by? Some, again, and kind of obvious. So far I figure the following: Green Russian: Russian Muff Civilian: ? Triangle: Triangle Muff...

forum.pedalpcb.com

That guy is pretty smart…

 

[PanamaScoot]

Thanks for your help! My forum searches were too generic it seems, should have searched some specific variant names instead. I appreciate you pointing me to the previous posts about my query.

Looks like I have some YouTube videos to watch to help me decide!

 

[mdc]

Based on the name, I'm guessing the Stomp 75 is the Stomp Under Foot '75 Ram's Head?

 

[DeadAirMD]

I built the Stomp 75 and I absolutely love it. Amazing for chords and especially for solos.

I'm a nutcase so I bought a second muffin board and I'm going to be socketing most of the board to be able to switch components in/out to try out the rest. The ones I like the most I'm putting on switches so I can blend them or just switch to whichever version I want.

 

[cdwillis]

All the different parts interact to sound a little different, but when you compare the different muffs look at the clipping diode caps (C5 and C8 on the muffin pcb). They make a big difference in the overall sound of the muff. 1uf will be the tightest, 100nf is kind of the middle of the road muff tone, and the 47nf caps there make it sound a lot thicker. Other parts can be tweaked to compensate, but switching just those caps out on the same pedal will yield considerably different bass responses.

 

[DeadAirMD]

A perfect opportunity to put those 3 caps on a switch!

 

[cdwillis]

Put the first set of diodes on a switch and you've got yourself a Supa Tonebender mod.

 

[PanamaScoot]

Now how exactly would I make any of these more suited for the low frequencies of bass guitar? I believe cdwillis basically answered this question already but if you could explain it like I’m an idiot that would really help

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

Now how exactly would I make any of these more suited for the low frequencies of bass guitar? I believe cdwillis basically answered this question already but if you could explain it like I’m an idiot that would really help

None of those are what I consider "top tier bass muffs." Adding a guitarpcb buffnblend to any of them can help but that's not really my thing. I used a green Russian on bass for decades and it's my favorite on that list but the persica is the best muff variant for bass at ppcb, imho. It's based on the opamp muff though so you can't use that muffin board.

 

[cdwillis]

I dabble in bass and was excited to try the green russian muff, but I was just disappointed. It only sounded good to me with the sustain down for a little extra grit. Maybe bass players were so starved for dirt that they settled on it as the least bad option. Buff n Blend would probably make it useable.

 

[PanamaScoot]

I was under the impression that most guitar-based circuits could be converted to bass with a couple key capacitor changes, allowing more low-end? Is this just an oversimplification of things?

Seems like almost everyone suggests a clean blend for a fuzz to be better for bass, and that makes sense to me. But as far as a fuzz pedal without a clean blend option, is there a way to make it a “bass fuzz” the way I mentioned or is what I heard hogwash?

 

[Mentaltossflycoon]

I was under the impression that most guitar-based circuits could be converted to bass with a couple key capacitor changes, allowing more low-end? Is this just an oversimplification of things?

Seems like almost everyone suggests a clean blend for a fuzz to be better for bass, and that makes sense to me. But as far as a fuzz pedal without a clean blend option, is there a way to make it a “bass fuzz” the way I mentioned or is what I heard hogwash?

Yeah it seems to be hit and miss with that approach. You can improve things in some circuits but I never loved the results from the few times I tried that. I was on a "blend free bass fuzz quest" a few years ago. My favorites tend to be either Frantone or Dunwich based circuits. Moonn Lofran being #1 for me. I probably should've mentioned it first but the effects layouts widogast is an excellent bass muff without a clean blend.

 

[PanamaScoot]

Thanks everyone for the input! I’m a guitarist so the bass muff is not a priority, but you’ve given me some good information to go on when I’m ready to tackle a bass project

 

[jimilee]

Did anyone mention the double muff?