Are we angry about this? - TC TonePrint Complaints

[infamousalien]

I have to find it funny that on a forum of pedal nerds not one of you knows why a big muff is called a big muff...

What I heard was because it made the amp sound muffled. Not sure if it’s true though.

[jrfox92]

I have to find it funny that on a forum of pedal nerds not one of you knows why a big muff is called a big muff...

What I heard was because it made the amp sound muffled. Not sure if it’s true though.

So, yes, but.
First there was the Muff Fuzz, Matthews named it a “muff” because in his words it had a “funky, soft, muffled sound”, but, there's also the fact that the Big Muff started life as the Guild Foxey Lady.
Thus, it's quite likely the name was purposefully a double entendre.

[Ugly Nora]

It was named Big Muff because of the pussy association. While it is very likely the genesis of the name was inspired by something innocuous like a muffled sounding amp, once they realized the double entendre potential of that name they knew they had a winner. Do we really think they were stupid and didnt know the implication of the name Big Muff?

[BetterOffShred]

It was named Big Muff because of the pussy association. While it is very likely the genesis of the name was inspired by something innocuous like a muffled sounding amp, once they realized the double entendre potential of that name they knew they had a winner. Do we really think they were stupid and didnt know the implication of the name Big Muff?

Once again, this.

Google image "muff pie" .. Yeah.

[lordgalvar]

I thought Ima Hogg's (the Texan) son, Muffin, was one of Mike EHX's early investors and Mike named it after him as a way to give thanks. I think that's where the Hog's Foot booster's name came from too.

[codetocontra]

I am retroactively offended about the Big Muff name because I didn't know what it meant when I asked my poor mother for one at Christmas when I was like 13. Also, how awkward for her to go to a guitar store and ask the cover band burnouts for the pedal.

Fuck you Mike Matthews. Fucking creep.

[Jero]

For timelines sake, let us not forget there was a little overdrive pedal by the name Muff Fuzz...before there was a Big Muff. Take from that what you will.

[repoman]

Outrage is peoples hobby these days.
Its never rooted in anything virtuous to be offended by shit like this.
It's rooted in control, people that would spend the time to get this pedal changed do not care about any sort of problems it would potentially cause (they make those up anyways), its about the ability to control other people because businesses cave all the time in this day and age from outside pressure with the internet and all. Now they get to masturbate their ego a bit from having a tiny, tiny part of impacting something greater than themselves. Getting a guitar pedal with a dumb name changed. So brave.
The sorts of people that pursue these courses of action are deeply perverse and hollow.

[ProCarsteNation]

Google image "muff pie" .. Yeah.

Yeah,
did that....
surprising lack of vaginas

mostly guitar pedals & actual pies/muffins with little bits of double entendre strewn in


tbh I'm a fairly stupid person
I only understood what the name BMP was about until loooooong after I owned that pedal

is BMP a kind of joke I would chuckle at "amongst men"? possibly
is it one I'd make "amongst men"? less likely but not impossible

And I'm 100% sure similar things are happening "amongst women"

And I agree with aens-wife here, why shouldn't they?
Just know your audience, don't be (too) stupid, don't be mean


And while I do think that it is a smart idea to look at what kinds of words we are using and whatnot,
I feel we are currently going a bit overboard with that

[youtube][/youtube]

[ProCarsteNation]

You can't see the difference between naming a beer dick smasher and this add? There's a pretty huge difference, besides which genitalia are referenced.

well dang, I'm not sure I can...? Do I lack some context?
What makes it more OK for a dick to be smashed than a pussy to be melted?
If anything, wouldn't the melting be pleasurable for the pussy but the smashing quite painful for the dick?
Then again anything done to anatomy can be consensually & pleasurably done for some people, so more power to them

[Faldoe]

I'm very worried that Satchel doesn't understand female anatomy.

I think it’s a stupid name.

If a female musician released a tone print called “dick breaker” would anyone care? At the same time I could see people arguing - effectively or not - how pussy melter in a sense reinforces the more rigid and or subtle forms of male oppression or sumpremacy.

TC Electronic is just kind of dumb theae days so is anyone that surprised?

[Benn Roe]

But the problem is, by calling for bans against Pussy Melter, and not something like the Big Muff, is you are still saying your values are more important than other people's values. That is to say, I gaurantee some woman somewhere is offened by the name Big Muff. First of all, not only is it a pussy reference, but the majority of women shave these days. So, it is also an old outdated stereotypical pussy reference. But you (and I am using you in the generic sense by the way), for whatever reason are not offended by the name Big Muff. So, you drew a line in the sand and said Pussy Melter is bad, and Big Muff is good. Why does your value system get to decide that for me? Why can't I decided what is good and what is bad for me?

I can't tell how much of this argument you actually believe, and how much is meant to be provocative, but nobody is trying to decide what's good or bad for you, because it isn't about you. In fact, I doubt anyone would make a fuss at all if the toneprint went back up on the site with a different name and description and no association with Satchel, because it isn't about the toneprint either. It's about marketing in ways that indicate to women that they're not part of the club. You're right that being opposed to that infringes on the values of others, but only if their values include the belief that women should leave playing guitar to the men. Do you believe sexism is a value that should be tolerated? The Big Muff has nothing to do with any of this, regardless of the origins of its name (which I frankly doubt have much to do with female anatomy), because vaginas aren't the issue. As far as I'm aware, Sovtek and EHX never marketed the Big Muff by saying anything like "muff-expanding tone to help you get between her legs". That would be problematic. I've never heard anyone complain that hearing the name of that pedal made them feel excluded, but maybe I'm off-base.

Do you want to know the real reason people are attacking Pussy Melter and not Big Muff? It's because the Pussy Melter pedal/algorithm or whatever it is probably sounds like crap and is most likely never going to be used by anybody. In other words, there is little to personally lose by having it banned. On the other hand, probably half the people complaining about the Pussy Melter use, or have used a Big Muff or Big Muff clone and it is a core component of a lot of people's sound. Therefore, there is a lot to personally lose if that was banned. Heck, doesn't Dwarfcraft have a pedal based on a Big Muff?

Nobody gives a fuck about how the toneprint sounds because it's not at issue. If the Big Muff had been called the Pussy Melter or otherwise marketed as women-need-not-apply, there would be outrage over it too. I can't say how history would have been altered, but I'm sure the circuit would have perservered under a different name for the reasons you mentioned. I'm not sure why you think that amounts to hypocrysy on anyone's part.

The ironic thing about this whole situation is that if this uproar didn't occur, it wouldn't have been a blip on anyones radar and would have died a quiet death on its own because it was just plain stupid. But thanks to the "Streisand effect", Steel Panther is probably more popular than ever. TC Electronics, probably not so much though. They'll probably take a bit of a sales hit.

This not being a blip would have been way more insidious, because many woman who stumbled upon it would have been made to feel shitty and/or quietly question their involvement in a hobby they likely enjoy. Blowing this up in a spectacle shows those women it's not something guitar culture at-large will tolerate anymore, which is great.

[Benn Roe]

Outrage is peoples hobby these days.
Its never rooted in anything virtuous to be offended by shit like this.
It's rooted in control, people that would spend the time to get this pedal changed do not care about any sort of problems it would potentially cause (they make those up anyways), its about the ability to control other people because businesses cave all the time in this day and age from outside pressure with the internet and all. Now they get to masturbate their ego a bit from having a tiny, tiny part of impacting something greater than themselves. Getting a guitar pedal with a dumb name changed. So brave.
The sorts of people that pursue these courses of action are deeply perverse and hollow.

This is bleak and baseless nihilism. Do you not believe sexism exists? Do you not believe it has power? You're right that it's about control, though. It's about people taking control away from people and companies that have historically put up walls or otherwise sought to make people feel shitty or incapable.

[Benn Roe]

You can't see the difference between naming a beer dick smasher and this add? There's a pretty huge difference, besides which genitalia are referenced.

well dang, I'm not sure I can...? Do I lack some context?
What makes it more OK for a dick to be smashed than a pussy to be melted?
If anything, wouldn't the melting be pleasurable for the pussy but the smashing quite painful for the dick?
Then again anything done to anatomy can be consensually & pleasurably done for some people, so more power to them

The context you're lacking is that nobody has ever told a man that he should leave beer-drinking to the women, and if they had, the name dick smasher likely wouldn't reinforce that for him. Hell, if anything it implies that drinking it will smash your dick because it's so strong, or whatever, which arguably puts it in the same camp as pussy melter in that its target audience is (seemingly thoughtlessly) men. Women HAVE historically been made to feel that rock music is played by men, and that their only meaningful means of contribution is to swoon and open their legs.

[rustywire]