This is the first time I've had one of these original Electro Harmonox Big Muff pedals into the workshop and I was keen to take the lid off and peer inside!
"It's very noisy, so when we kick it in... you may not be able to hear that noise, but it's very *_KSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!_* ... very noisy." 😂😂😂 Stuart's sound effects are always my favorite parts of his videos --- eloquent troubleshooting notwithstanding.
Interesting old technology; PCB laid out using Mylar tape with no solder mask. Curvy traces you don't see anymore. Thanks for opening that up for us, Stuart!
Stuart, I'm glad you chose to do this one. These are a different pedal than most. I'm surprised the customer didn't want to get rid of the noise. Although, it may change the sound a bit. Nice to see something other than an amp.
A question for viewers: what's the baddest-ass distortion pedal you ever played through? For me, it was a "Super-Fuzz", made by Shin-Ei and branded LRE for Lafayette Radio Electronics. Whoever designed it must have taken "go big or go home" as their personal mantra. HUGE sound, bordering on terrifying, and definitely not for the faint of heart. And for those who perhaps live on the other side of the Pond, or otherwise aren't familiar with Lafayette Radio Electronics, they were a chain that sold both name brand audio and electronics equipment, and their own private label stuff, including do-it-yourself kits, and parts. A better version of Radio Shack, really, but not as common or well known, although lots of people shopped with them by mail order.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , yeah, as far as I know they were strictly a USA chain or franchise, but definitely outnumbered by "Rat Shack" (Radio Shack). Take a look online at some old Radio Shack or Lafayette catalogs and you'll be amazed at some of the stuff you'll see in there. In the late 1950's, Radio Shack actually sold Scott and Fisher tube hi-Fi equipment!! Historically the best known electronics kits, and parts, for hobbyists came from Dynaco, Knight, EICO, Scott, and Heathkit, but Lafayette sold plenty as well, at least in the New England area.
Believe it or not, I found a rams head BMP thrown out next to a bin on one of my 2020 lockdown walks! It too was noisy, not from the transistors but the carbon resistors and a couple of bad caps. Replaced parts and made a pretty penny on eBay!
Like a lot of early guitar pedals, my recollection is that these don't have true bypass and are never really out of circuit even when you shut the fuzz effect off with the foot switch or put it in "bypass" mode with the slide switch (and if the battery is low or dead, the pedal won't pass full signal through to the amp). A proper DPDT stomp-switch and some rewiring could fix that .....also, I didn't recall these needing for a jack to be inserted into it for the Big Muff to actually turn on (please, no sexual innuendos here!), which in my opinion is one of the dumber aspects of many pedal designs. Better to have an actual on-off switch and a power-indicating LED, as well as an LED to indicate when the effect has been engaged with the footswitch.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , The automatic on-off from inserting a plug into the female jack was fine when people were only using 1 or 2 effects pedals, but once they started using 3 or 4 or 6 or 8 pedals, and mounting them all to a board for convenience, it became more difficult to unplug them after a gig ---- which is probably when guitarists started using external power supplies for their effects. And then there are the bedroom players who don't gig with the equipment, and don't have to disassemble everything and pack it up for transport when they finish playing, and would probably prefer to leave everything plugged in together, but that kills their batteries!
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 DC power supplies, no matter how well filtered, always carry the possibility of injecting hum into the pedals before you even reach the input of the amplifier. There's also a possibility for ground loops between the pedals, especially with the input jacks being used to switch the ground side of the voltage on and off. Anyway, it would be easier to unplug board-mounted pedals if the input and output jacks are on the rear of the pedal, but many pedals have the jacks on the sides of the pedals, which are typically crammed together tightly on the pedal board to save space. My advice: unless you have a tech who specializes in such things building your pedal board for you, stick to using batteries. A worst case scenario would be if somebody used a *switching supply* to power their pedals instead of a standard transformer type power supply. I can't even begin to imagine how much audible noise would be generated by a switching supply driving 3 or 4 or more pedals, before the input of a Marshall stack!
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , some people claim that pedals powered by batteries perform differently ----- perhaps "better" ---- because batteries have higher internal resistance/impedance and cause power-supply sagging and resultant audio compression, similar to the softer, spongier attack of playing through an amp with a tube rectifier versus one with a solid-state rectifier. Also, a few well known players such as Eric Johnson prefer the "sound" of zinc-carbon batteries over modern alkaline batteries. BTW, if I remember correctly, the earliest version of a Big Muff ran *directly off of mains AC* and not from a battery! It had an actual mains power cord and built-in transformer for the 9 volt supply....
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 It did sound very noisy. There has to be a point at which the "vintage" quality is out weighed by the noise. He could probably sell it for a ton and get a few different pedals to try. The modern op amp big muff might be quieter.
You mean to tell me you're an electronic sky? And you don't own a power supply that you can power that pedal with what kind of electronic specialist are you
You are correct. Not much to that circuit. Simple solid state circuit. A rather pedestrian design. Just an average (actually less than average) fuzz/noise pedal. It’s amazing what people will pay $600.00 plus for. All over some make believe magical voodoo. A fool and his money are soon parted.
Compared to all the other over drives out there that are basically tube screamers with one op amp and some clipping diodes, this doesn’t seem pedestrian. It’s not complex but it is a bit of an unusual design for it’s time.
Nonsense. Do you think of pedals in terms of a depreciating asset, or something we know, use and love and want to own? These aren't some flash in pan fad items that won't have any use in five years. Worst thing that could happen is you will break even if you ever decide to sell it.
"It's very noisy, so when we kick it in... you may not be able to hear that noise, but it's very *_KSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!_* ... very noisy."
😂😂😂
Stuart's sound effects are always my favorite parts of his videos --- eloquent troubleshooting notwithstanding.
Thanks Phil!
Great video. Keep 'em coming!
Thanks!
You were making my anxiety skyrocket when you suggested new, low-noise transistors!
Yes sorry about that. Can I suggest PMRTNT? Post Muff Restoration Trauma Neutralisation Therapy? Works every time.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830
Lol!!😂
Interesting old technology; PCB laid out using Mylar tape with no solder mask. Curvy traces you don't see anymore. Thanks for opening that up for us, Stuart!
Yes I used to make boards like that myself back in the day!
Stuart, I'm glad you chose to do this one. These are a different pedal than most. I'm surprised the customer didn't want to get rid of the noise. Although, it may change the sound a bit. Nice to see something other than an amp.
Yes most pedals are not easily fixable as they have a lot of micro electronics in these days.
Great video I wish I had bought a dozen of them when I was a teenager people are paying big money for the original big muffs
Your fellow countryman David Gilmour has done wonders with that fuzz box!
Interesting. It was probably ok in its day, but pretty awful these days. I wouldn;t give it house room!
A question for viewers: what's the baddest-ass distortion pedal you ever played through? For me, it was a "Super-Fuzz", made by Shin-Ei and branded LRE for Lafayette Radio Electronics. Whoever designed it must have taken "go big or go home" as their personal mantra. HUGE sound, bordering on terrifying, and definitely not for the faint of heart. And for those who perhaps live on the other side of the Pond, or otherwise aren't familiar with Lafayette Radio Electronics, they were a chain that sold both name brand audio and electronics equipment, and their own private label stuff, including do-it-yourself kits, and parts. A better version of Radio Shack, really, but not as common or well known, although lots of people shopped with them by mail order.
Interesting. I've never heard of Lafayette Radio Electronics.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , yeah, as far as I know they were strictly a USA chain or franchise, but definitely outnumbered by "Rat Shack" (Radio Shack). Take a look online at some old Radio Shack or Lafayette catalogs and you'll be amazed at some of the stuff you'll see in there. In the late 1950's, Radio Shack actually sold Scott and Fisher tube hi-Fi equipment!!
Historically the best known electronics kits, and parts, for hobbyists came from Dynaco, Knight, EICO, Scott, and Heathkit, but Lafayette sold plenty as well, at least in the New England area.
Believe it or not, I found a rams head BMP thrown out next to a bin on one of my 2020 lockdown walks! It too was noisy, not from the transistors but the carbon resistors and a couple of bad caps. Replaced parts and made a pretty penny on eBay!
Nice!
I remember building my first fuzz distortion on just two transistors BC 249
Yes me too! 200 gain in 1 stage, 200 in the second. That's x 4000 - that'll do it!
I have a evh flanger and big muff germanium 4 pedal in need of repair, is this something you could advise on?
Hi David So much depends what's wrong with them. The older the pedal the better the chance of repair. Are you in the Reading area?
Stuart ukguitarampguy I’m from Essex way near London. What do you think would be best option?
Nor worth driving over. You could post them? At the very end of each video there is a splash screen, you can contact me via the email adress on there.
Like a lot of early guitar pedals, my recollection is that these don't have true bypass and are never really out of circuit even when you shut the fuzz effect off with the foot switch or put it in "bypass" mode with the slide switch (and if the battery is low or dead, the pedal won't pass full signal through to the amp). A proper DPDT stomp-switch and some rewiring could fix that .....also, I didn't recall these needing for a jack to be inserted into it for the Big Muff to actually turn on (please, no sexual innuendos here!), which in my opinion is one of the dumber aspects of many pedal designs. Better to have an actual on-off switch and a power-indicating LED, as well as an LED to indicate when the effect has been engaged with the footswitch.
They added this feature on most edals quite simply because guitarists continually forgot to switch the thing off. Next time out - flat battery!
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , The automatic on-off from inserting a plug into the female jack was fine when people were only using 1 or 2 effects pedals, but once they started using 3 or 4 or 6 or 8 pedals, and mounting them all to a board for convenience, it became more difficult to unplug them after a gig ---- which is probably when guitarists started using external power supplies for their effects. And then there are the bedroom players who don't gig with the equipment, and don't have to disassemble everything and pack it up for transport when they finish playing, and would probably prefer to leave everything plugged in together, but that kills their batteries!
@@goodun2974 Good point. I hadn't thought about that. Hardly anyine uses batteries these days.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 DC power supplies, no matter how well filtered, always carry the possibility of injecting hum into the pedals before you even reach the input of the amplifier. There's also a possibility for ground loops between the pedals, especially with the input jacks being used to switch the ground side of the voltage on and off. Anyway, it would be easier to unplug board-mounted pedals if the input and output jacks are on the rear of the pedal, but many pedals have the jacks on the sides of the pedals, which are typically crammed together tightly on the pedal board to save space.
My advice: unless you have a tech who specializes in such things building your pedal board for you, stick to using batteries. A worst case scenario would be if somebody used a *switching supply* to power their pedals instead of a standard transformer type power supply. I can't even begin to imagine how much audible noise would be generated by a switching supply driving 3 or 4 or more pedals, before the input of a Marshall stack!
When the chap you took your Big Muff to calls you asking what kind of pedal it is. 🥴
You can pick these up any day of the week for about 80 American.
Alot of people only use batteries in old guitar pedals. Mains power is supposed to be not good for them.
Big Muff is a fuzz pedal.
th-cam.com/video/st_T934i4RE/w-d-xo.html
Hi Paul. I think that must be a myth. 9V DC is 9V DC however it's derived! Happy to be proven wrong with some evidence though.
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 , some people claim that pedals powered by batteries perform differently ----- perhaps "better" ---- because batteries have higher internal resistance/impedance and cause power-supply sagging and resultant audio compression, similar to the softer, spongier attack of playing through an amp with a tube rectifier versus one with a solid-state rectifier. Also, a few well known players such as Eric Johnson prefer the "sound" of zinc-carbon batteries over modern alkaline batteries. BTW, if I remember correctly, the earliest version of a Big Muff ran *directly off of mains AC* and not from a battery! It had an actual mains power cord and built-in transformer for the 9 volt supply....
@@goodun2974 ah interesting thanks. Maybe the battery was also mostly flat and giving 7V or whatever and that also affected the sound.
I would have let you change the transistors.
It’s probably easier to just get a different pedal than mod a vintage one.
He may be back....
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 It did sound very noisy. There has to be a point at which the "vintage" quality is out weighed by the noise. He could probably sell it for a ton and get a few different pedals to try. The modern op amp big muff might be quieter.
Don't do it......start with the resistors and caps, one at a time!!
You have probably ruined the tone replacing those screws, Stuart.
Damn, DAMN. I KNEW there was something subtly different about the sound afterwards....
@@stuartukguitarampguy5830 it was those JIS screws--shoulda scrounged up some cheap US 70's *vintage* screws. 🤣
You mean to tell me you're an electronic sky? And you don't own a power supply that you can power that pedal with what kind of electronic specialist are you
You are correct. Not much to that circuit. Simple solid state circuit. A rather pedestrian design. Just an average (actually less than average) fuzz/noise pedal. It’s amazing what people will pay $600.00 plus for. All over some make believe magical voodoo. A fool and his money are soon parted.
Compared to all the other over drives out there that are basically tube screamers with one op amp and some clipping diodes, this doesn’t seem pedestrian. It’s not complex but it is a bit of an unusual design for it’s time.
Nonsense. Do you think of pedals in terms of a depreciating asset, or something we know, use and love and want to own? These aren't some flash in pan fad items that won't have any use in five years. Worst thing that could happen is you will break even if you ever decide to sell it.
listen to geek usa by the smashing pumpkins and say there's not much to the circuit lmao