Two Big Muff Pi's ready to rock. (Danube and Sour Grape.)

[xefned]

I heard you guys like build reports, so here's my first official report. Since I've never owned a Muff, I figured I'd build two—one opamp, one transistor.


Sour Grape Fuzz (compare to: K**l*y rotten apple)
It's gnarley. The mid bump / scoop is the best I've heard on any pedal. Both positions are distinctly great. (On a lot of pedals, I find these switches to be borderline useless.)

Before boxing:



After boxing:



Glamour shot:



Impressions: the top 10% of the buzz pot goes wicked hot like it jumps into saturating the clipping LEDs so it takes a real smooth touch to make subtle adjustments up there. On long sustains, there's a very subtle pulsating fade out as the clipping dies down. This may be the sort of glitchiness that people like about the original circuit. Overall, I'd recommend the @!#?@! out of this relatively easy build.

Bonus: the two 3mm LEDs light in time with your playing, for folks who like to light up eyes on their artwork.

 

[xefned]

Yet Another Big Muff.

Danube Fuzz (compare to: Skreddy P19.)

Smooth. Mid-hump is less eye-opening than the Sour Grape, but the sustain has a nicer tail. It's enchanting with the tone rolled down into the murkier zones.

Inside:



Outside:

 

[xefned]

I built one with an "outtie" DC jack and the other with an innie, so I'm officially agnostic about that debate.
Although if I'm honest, the outtie jacks look slightly more masculine.



I use big boxes for everything because:

1. I stocked up on blemished 1590bb enclosures back when Mammoth was practically giving them away.
2. I get more space for wiring
3. They're harder to lose … and most importantly …
4. Mini pedals have less tone!

Fun fact, I sloppy drilled all 4 audio jacks and filled them with JB Weld.



Thanks for listening.

 

[xefned]

On long sustains, there's a very subtle pulsating fade out as the clipping dies down.

They both have pulsating tails. I'm talking on *really* long sustains. This must be how Big Muffs sound.
I'm beginning to think you should never trust your first impressions.

Second impressions: These sound damn similar. You would never need both. The Danube has less extreme tone controls which means there are no truly unusable settings. The Sour Grape's extreme ends of the tone knob get you into settings you'd never use in real life.

If life were neverending, I would build two more muffs just to compare them to these two. But I must wise up and move on to the next adventure.

I initially used an ON-ON switch (2 positions instead of 3) for the Sour Grape and I liked it that way because it gives you the 2 mid extremes without the mid. I later watched a video that showed it having 3 positions so I replaced the switch with an ON-OFF-ON. More flexibility, but that middle "off" position is the least inspiring of the 3.

I'll be back later to disavow my 2nd impressions and give you my 3rd. Happy new year droogies.