cdwillis
Well-known member
I posted a build report on these on Reddit and realized I never posted on here.
I've been experimenting with a bunch of big muff stuff for a few weeks now. For whatever reason I find it fascinating to see how the different values in certain sections tweak the sound. The pink enclosure houses the first violet rams head circuit and the violet one is the second version if you look at the schematics on Kit Rae's page:
http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part1.html
I bought BC549c transistors for these, but used sockets to experiment a little. Right now they have these hot 2n3904s I got from Tayda. Almost all measure around 427hfe on my cheap tester, which is way out of spec according to the data sheet, but I've ordered around 75 of these and there have been maybe 5 that have measured lower that 427ish. The BC549c transistors had a wider range of measurements so I wanted to use matching transistors for a head to head comparison. I also ordered some 2n5089s from an Ebay vendor in China, but they're all measuring around 350-360hfe, which seems like a 2n5088b range. No idea why they were badged 2n5089.
The v1 is brighter and has a tad more bass. I think it would probably sound better in a band mix than the v2. The bassier side of the tone sweep seems a little more useable on it than the v2. The v2 is a lot smoother. With the tone knob set at noon it seems really dark switching immediately from the v1. I think the 560pf caps give it an almost cocked wah sound because of some kind of peak frequency it's creating. It sounds really cool for lead lines. I'm not sure how much it would poke out in a band mix, but it is an awesome sound. The tone pot has a slightly smaller sweet spot range than the v1 I think. I could seem someone liking this for a Gilmour tone. The bass is a tad tighter on the v2 than the v1, in a band mix you'd probably never notice at all though.
Here's a little shot of the two of them before I did the offboard wiring:
Another thing was that I wanted to experiment with the carbon film resistors. The tolerances are 5% vs the 1% for the metal film I usually use and I've heard they are noisier. I didn't find these to be any noisier at all. I didn't bother checking all of them for spec, but the couple resistors I tested were within 1%. The four band color code is easier for me to read than the 5 bands on the blue background of the metal film ones. The red switches are Tayda's 3PDTs which I'm trying out. It's still got a click, but it's softer to engage than the blue ones I usually use. They're rated for 30,000 clicks, but I'm not sure I like the feel as much as the 20,000 rated blues ones.
I've been experimenting with a bunch of big muff stuff for a few weeks now. For whatever reason I find it fascinating to see how the different values in certain sections tweak the sound. The pink enclosure houses the first violet rams head circuit and the violet one is the second version if you look at the schematics on Kit Rae's page:
http://www.bigmuffpage.com/Big_Muff_Pi_versions_schematics_part1.html
I bought BC549c transistors for these, but used sockets to experiment a little. Right now they have these hot 2n3904s I got from Tayda. Almost all measure around 427hfe on my cheap tester, which is way out of spec according to the data sheet, but I've ordered around 75 of these and there have been maybe 5 that have measured lower that 427ish. The BC549c transistors had a wider range of measurements so I wanted to use matching transistors for a head to head comparison. I also ordered some 2n5089s from an Ebay vendor in China, but they're all measuring around 350-360hfe, which seems like a 2n5088b range. No idea why they were badged 2n5089.
The v1 is brighter and has a tad more bass. I think it would probably sound better in a band mix than the v2. The bassier side of the tone sweep seems a little more useable on it than the v2. The v2 is a lot smoother. With the tone knob set at noon it seems really dark switching immediately from the v1. I think the 560pf caps give it an almost cocked wah sound because of some kind of peak frequency it's creating. It sounds really cool for lead lines. I'm not sure how much it would poke out in a band mix, but it is an awesome sound. The tone pot has a slightly smaller sweet spot range than the v1 I think. I could seem someone liking this for a Gilmour tone. The bass is a tad tighter on the v2 than the v1, in a band mix you'd probably never notice at all though.
Here's a little shot of the two of them before I did the offboard wiring:
Another thing was that I wanted to experiment with the carbon film resistors. The tolerances are 5% vs the 1% for the metal film I usually use and I've heard they are noisier. I didn't find these to be any noisier at all. I didn't bother checking all of them for spec, but the couple resistors I tested were within 1%. The four band color code is easier for me to read than the 5 bands on the blue background of the metal film ones. The red switches are Tayda's 3PDTs which I'm trying out. It's still got a click, but it's softer to engage than the blue ones I usually use. They're rated for 30,000 clicks, but I'm not sure I like the feel as much as the 20,000 rated blues ones.
