Billy Corgan talks about the Big Muff

[metalmariachi]

LOL Thought they looked young, but I had just seen something with Keith Richards in it so every body looks like a kid after that.

MM

[darryl2113]

In all of my research, fuzz just wasn't that big in the repertoire of effects for SP, which is ironic consider how synonymous the big muff and fender blender are with the band name. Basicly one album out of their whole 6 album career featured heavy fuzz use. And when they play songs off of that 1 album live they use preamp distortion instead of a big muff. I was even shocked to find that the main riff for heavy metal machine was not a fuzz pedal, but a small solid state marshall combo (like a mosvalve or something) coming out of the headphone jack straight into the recording console. So, needless to say there is plenty of marketing hype about the pedal (not pointing fingers), but its fun to know that this began literally months after siamese dream was released. Dinosaur Jr. and David Gilmour made much more extensive use of muffs than SP. It makes me giggle to see how much those skreddy pedals go for when the man himself comes out and says he just used a plain old BMP. Market how you will, but I think some names sell devi's pedals a bit short, lets face it, if Corgan had access to a rocket and a dream mangler back then, SD would be a totally different record. I think devi's pedals, in the right hands, can actually create something new and different. Not just copping tones from yesteryear.

[Roseweave]

Yeah, it is kind of odd how we're all Pumpkins fans here when they're not exactly the most greatest example of fuzz use.

Fuzz in general doesn't get used super often though. It can be difficult to write songs about it and use it in a mix.

[Ghost Hip]

I've noticed once mellon collie touring started their live sound was way better, more full. during Gish and Siamese Dream it was pretty thin guitar wise. However I'm prety sure the fender blender was used on BWBW and other songs. Maybe not as a main dist/fuzz, but the vibe is all over some of the heavy tracks.

[Roseweave]

I've noticed once mellon collie touring started their live sound was way better, more full. during Gish and Siamese Dream it was pretty thin guitar wise. However I'm prety sure the fender blender was used on BWBW and other songs. Maybe not as a main dist/fuzz, but the vibe is all over some of the heavy tracks.

The Fender Blender is really "The" SP Fuzz, I think they've used it as far back as Gish.

The problem with the Big Muff is the Fletcher Munson curve. It attacks fuzzes hard. There's also a degree of anality too - it doesn't sound the same live, even if it's kind of the same, I still don't like it, lets use proper amps, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SuZ083hmFo

Honestly this sounds kind of awful...

[ohsojayadeva]

the thing that kills the big muff live is the MASSIVE mid scoop. in a rehearsal room you can live with it, just turn up. in a bigger room, the sound just disappears and you're left without any of the frequencies that the guitar is supposed to be covering in the first place. no definition, just EEG EEG EEG EEG EEG.

[Roseweave]

the thing that kills the big muff live is the MASSIVE mid scoop. in a rehearsal room you can live with it, just turn up. in a bigger room, the sound just disappears and you're left without any of the frequencies that the guitar is supposed to be covering in the first place. no definition, just EEG EEG EEG EEG EEG.

The Big Muff is good for kind of "surrounding" the sound so it's not such a big issue if you're using it like that.

I'm getting a mid switch put on my Russian Muff to help combat this. I'm really worried about my Devi fuzzes though. At least they sound the same more or less with the mids boost, Big Muffs change character.

[Spiteface]

Here's an old photo that got me curious, taken from a show on the 1999 "Arising!" tour:



There are a few other shots of his pedalboard from that time, this is probably one of the better ones. To be honest, it's a surprise that he even has his pedals in front of him like that. The Muff's there, so he may well have been using it post-Siamese Dream. There was also this picture I found of his pedalboard (from some pumpkins site that escapes me right now) which I'm assuming is from around the same time (some notes for Machina tracks are written down there, not sure they're settings for the muff though)...

For a while, until I saw the recent blog showing off Billy's Big Muff (the one in the above picture may well be that same pedal), I assumed it was a "Creamy Dreamer" modded pedal until recently (Didn't the Creamy Dreamer thing come about around 1999, or at least the story that Billy and James allegedly had one of them? correct me if I'm wrong here).

Yeah, all the talk about ONE Pumpkins album featuring this sound heavily, when even not long after Siamese Dream came out, Billy was saying how the Muff didn't sound good live. Mad. I still love my Muff, then again, I've only ever played one gig in my entire life (I was in a band briefly at Uni, did one gig, didn't even have a name, the gig sucked but at least I did it ONCE!), I used a muff then, but I was greener than green anyway.

[Blurillaz]

What's the 3 knob boss pedal that's first in the chain?

[ohsojayadeva]

FZ3. i know that darryl2113 mentioned that the everlasting gaze / hmm tone was a marshall combo... but i've ALWAYS heard it was the FZ3, the Creamy Dreamer, and something else that escapes me stacked.

[devnulljp]

I want to know what that muff pictured is.
Red/Black and ON/OFF switch…so first thought was a v3 3003 in red/black case — but a 3003 ram head would not have the sustain all the way up in that position because of the way the pots are loaded on the board—in fact that position would be sustain at minimum, which doesn't seem right for Smashing Pumpkins.

The only other on/off red/black muff I can think of is the v4 IC version

[devnulljp]

For a while, until I saw the recent blog showing off Billy's Big Muff (the one in the above picture may well be that same pedal), I assumed it was a "Creamy Dreamer" modded pedal until recently (Didn't the Creamy Dreamer thing come about around 1999, or at least the story that Billy and James allegedly had one of them? correct me if I'm wrong here)

He never used a creamy dreamer. That was a kid in Canada, Jeff Doucette, who pumped the DIY forum guys for info then marketed some mods as associated with SP. Read more here. Pure BS.

[Spiteface]

I can't access that link for some reason.

I remember the Creamy Dreamer story, I also remember reading much later on how the guy basically was claiming Billy had one. The version I heard was that he DID send one to him, but Billy didn't like it, and it still didn't stop the dude marketing it like it was the great secret to the Pumpkins sound.

THEN I found the truth about the whole thing, and how the guy's name is mud, basically, passing off some DIY mods as his own work.

[devnulljp]

What's the 3 knob boss pedal that's first in the chain?

Looks like he has a pair of NS-2s

He's also got a DC-2 on there. Just sold mine and regretting it already...

[Blurillaz]

What's the 3 knob boss pedal that's first in the chain?

Looks like he has a pair of NS-2s

Those are last in the chain.... I was talking about the 3 knob DS-1 layout one. Apparently FZ-3.