Members Uma Floresta Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Gutshots (I saved these from someone's ebay auction): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KRAA!! Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 ^^^ That one's been modified, at least the switch and I think a few capacitors aren't stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoboPimp Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 psychoacoustics are a bitch...Originally posted by gold_soundz How you can love the IC muff and hate the USA muff is a mystery to me. I have both and they sound very similar - the differences are pretty subtle. My non-guitar playing friends think they sound the same. The biggest difference is the boost-like bypass on the IC model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KRAA!! Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by RoboPimp psychoacoustics are a bitch... I have to admit that in many situations a Boss SD-1 can work better than an IC Big Muff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Seth Carmody Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! ^^^ That one's been modified, at least the switch and I think a few capacitors aren't stock. Well, it's been TBed. Mine was a creame board (same 1322 number though), but it had the big orange cap on the back like the one in the photo. It's possible the Green caps aren't stock but the rest looks original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSage Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! I have to admit that in many situations a Boss SD-1 can work better than an IC Big Muff. Interesting...So you're saying that sometimes you want overdrive and sometime you want fuzz or distortion?That's kinda like saying that in many situations chorus works better than flange. They're different, though related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by MrSage Interesting... So you're saying that sometimes you want overdrive and sometime you want fuzz or distortion? That's kinda like saying that in many situations chorus works better than flange. They're different, though related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSage Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! The ICBM doesn't have quite the same amount of roar that the old one does, in regular or tone bypass mode. Interesting... I did an A/B test and found them identical...I know others have, as well (they had a big manpile get-together at Euthymia Erik's place to play with pedals and amps). Maybe your old IC muff was modded? Either that or chalk it up to component drift...the QC wasn't exactly stellar back then, which is why you have a lot of duds and a lot of diamonds in the rough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSage Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by gold_soundz How you can love the IC muff and hate the USA muff is a mystery to me. I have both and they sound very similar - the differences are pretty subtle. My non-guitar playing friends think they sound the same. The biggest difference is the boost-like bypass on the IC model. Psychoacoustics.... Heh. They're both distortion/fuzzes. And if you turned one on and made me guess which it was, I most likely wouldn't be able to tell. But I did the A/B testing thing and you definitely pick up on some differences when you're doing a side-by-side comparison looking for differences. Yeah, non-guitar playing friends don't care. But non-violin playing friends probably couldn't tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a Suzuki. That doesn't mean the differences aren't there, or that they don't matter to people who care about them. I think it's great when people can't tell the difference between two pedals...that means they're most likely going to be happy with the cheaper one! For the rest of us, we have to decide whether the difference in price is worth the difference in the sound we hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 I'll see if I can grab a re-issue to do a side by side comparison.....I just remember the reissue muff being very "nu-metally"...........I did own the reissue when I had the bandmaster, but now I'm using the blonde tremolux and maybe they sound better together....or maybe I'm just crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KRAA!! Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by MrSage Interesting...I did an A/B test and found them identical...I know others have, as well (they had a big manpile get-together at Euthymia Erik's place to play with pedals and amps).Maybe your old IC muff was modded? Either that or chalk it up to component drift...the QC wasn't exactly stellar back then, which is why you have a lot of duds and a lot of diamonds in the rough. I don't know for sure if the old Muff I have has been modified but I'm pretty sure it has some different component values compared to the ICBM. The two pedals have much different output levels and clearly don't sound the same. The old Muff I have sounds noticibly smoother and rounder than the ICBM. If they're not next to each other I wouldn't know the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSage Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by inscho I'll see if I can grab a re-issue to do a side by side comparison.....I just remember the reissue muff being very "nu-metally"...........I did own the reissue when I had the bandmaster, but now I'm using the blonde tremolux and maybe they sound better together....or maybe I'm just crazy I've played with enough muffs (huh huh) that I can tell within a few minutes whether or not I'm going to like one. I didn't like the new Little Big Muff at all...too muddy or flabby or something. Analogman is working on a mod for it, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSage Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! I don't know for sure if the old Muff I have has been modified but I'm pretty sure it has some different component values compared to the ICBM. The two pedals have much different output levels and clearly don't sound the same. The old Muff I have sounds noticibly smoother and rounder than the ICBM. If they're not next to each other I wouldn't know the difference. Well, the obvious difference is that the old Muff probably has transistors, compared to the ICBM's IC chips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KRAA!! Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by MrSage Well, the obvious difference is that the old Muff probably has transistors, compared to the ICBM's IC chips. The old one I have is an IC model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Seth Carmody Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! I don't know for sure if the old Muff I have has been modified but I'm pretty sure it has some different component values compared to the ICBM. The two pedals have much different output levels and clearly don't sound the same. The old Muff I have sounds noticibly smoother and rounder than the ICBM. If they're not next to each other I wouldn't know the difference. Though I didn't have an ICBM to compare, the way you describe your unit about sums up how I'd describe the one I had. I've read a few people talk about the ICBM (and hence by extension the IC Muff) beng fizzy. Mine had not fizz at all, even with the sustain maxed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 mine isn't fizzy either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSage Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! The old one I have is an IC model. O Rly? Then yeah, there's very little difference, even in an A/B test. I like the ICBM better for Erik's quality control and the footprint size (the old ones are easy enough to true bypass). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KRAA!! Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by Seth Carmody Though I didn't have an ICBM to compare, the way you describe your unit about sums up how I'd describe the one I had. I've read a few people talk about the ICBM (and hence by extension the IC Muff) beng fizzy. Mine had not fizz at all, even with the sustain maxed. I agree. The ICBM is fuzzier than my IC Big Muff. I'll open up the old big Muff tonight and look to see if it has any obviously different components.The picture of the circuit board above doesn't look like the one in my vintage Big Muff. Maybe there was more than one version of the IC Big Muff with slight component changes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vigor&kandor Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 I have an IC big muff with 'Tone Bypass' as well. It sounds great as a overdrive/distortion. Tone Bypass is the way to go. I read somewhere that the IC muffs have only 3 gain stages, instead of the regular 4 stages. Anyways they rock hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrSage Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! The picture of the circuit board above doesn't look like the one in my vintage Big Muff. Maybe there was more than one version of the IC Big Muff with slight component changes? Definitely. I've seen at least two versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by vigor&kandor I have an IC big muff with 'Tone Bypass' as well. It sounds great as a overdrive/distortion. Tone Bypass is the way to go. I read somewhere that the IC muffs have only 3 gain stages, instead of the regular 4 stages. Anyways they rock hard. agreed...it makes a nice distortion, but I'll need to spend more time with it to find a usable overdrive sound.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KRAA!! Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 try lowering the gain on the muff almost to zero, then boost the front of the muff with a rangemaster type pedal. Doing this will give a very very smooth lead type sound. Mine is almost useless with the gain that low before being boosted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members inscho Posted December 6, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 Originally posted by KRAA!! try lowering the gain on the muff almost to zero, then boost the front of the muff with a rangemaster type pedal. Doing this will give a very very smooth lead type sound. Mine is almost useless with the gain that low before being boosted. oooh ok..yeah, by itself anything below 9 o'clock on the gain is pretty useless. unfortunately I don't have any boosts to try this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KRAA!! Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 BYOC? I haven't tried it with a clean booster pedal, just a germanium boost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gold_soundz Posted December 6, 2006 Members Share Posted December 6, 2006 But I did the A/B testing thing and you definitely pick up on some differences when you're doing a side-by-side comparison looking for differences. I think it's great when people can't tell the difference between two pedals...that means they're most likely going to be happy with the cheaper one! For the rest of us, we have to decide whether the difference in price is worth the difference in the sound we hear. Yeah I agree with all of that. Thats why I own a US Muff RI, an IC Muff and a Rams head muff. I was more just championing the RI, which I have been using over the vintage ones recently. I think its just a bit silly to say old muffs are amazing but RI muffs are gash. I think I need to try a triangle muff. I may make it my only pedal purchase of 2007... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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