Big Muff Shootout: Vintage V.S. Reissue

today I'm gonna take the new electro-harmonix big muff reissues and face them off head-to-head Celebrity Deathmatch style against a vintage originals it's gonna get real really real [Music] I got some new toys in the mail and have to tell you the story so I'm walking through name and I see the brand name teiescope I was like what I haven't seen Vasco ever only on the old guitars that I have that were like from the 60s and 70s well I saw these pedals on the table I got really excited so I got in contact with these guys got these three pedals this is the boost it runs at nine or 24 with a toggle here and then you have an EQ toggle this is the fuzz which is an octave fuzz can't get enough of it it's very very Fox tone machine and awesome and then this is the analog delay with a modulation setting that's super cool and unique as the repeats go the pitch changes on your repeat and look at the enclosures look at this it's amazing they're like slick alien batteries it looks so good let's play the Billy [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Before we jump into shooting out the new electro-harmonix big muff reissues with the original classic units I want to tell you about my rig and what you're gonna see in here I'm using a Revelator guitar bridge pickup only and I'm not going to touch those controls so there's no manipulation going on with the guitar I have a clean 40 watt tube amp so all distortion or fuzz is coming from a big muff and then I'm using my switchback device here it's to send and returns and I'm gonna put the new reissue units in the green light so I have the switch on top of the ant when I click it it'll go from green to red and the red is the classic so green is new red it's the old unit just remember that and you can follow along visually and audibly and just know that shooting out two pedals of any sort can be difficult because even off the same assembly lines you can have small differences so I don't want you guys to get hung up on where pot locations are as you're looking at it because that really doesn't matter some of these pots are old the knobs are put on in different locations and that just isn't how you shoot out a pedal it's all about what's in the circuit and what the circuit potential is and I'm gonna match them up how I know to do that I'm also gonna max out the fuzz and the sustain controls and that opens up that potentiometer that part of the circuit gets it out of the way and you get to hear these big muff versions in their fullest potential so with that said I think we need to get with it I think it's time you guys ready the very first comparison we're gonna do is the new big muff triangle reissue and the original triangle big muff so the triangle big muff is the version one Mike starts electro-harmonix in 1968 and then they come up with the big muff in 1969 this is actually a 1972 unit and there's over like 17 variations of the V one you can even find them that say guild because Mike Matthews made pedals for guild and just put their name on them so this is actually the same exact pedal inside and out as a true eh triangle v1 so you can find those out there upon shooting these out seventy-two compared to this just didn't fill identical it didn't feel the same there was a gating effect that this had on the decay that I just couldn't match up and then I'm on the phone with Robert Keeley one day and he mentions he has an original 69 so a very very rare unit this is it this is it against the 72 so 69 72 but what's really fascinating is the insides so the 69 has a perforated circuit board and then this is a printed circuit board so this thing is really really rare and it's obviously what they base this upon I've seen some reviews online talking about this doesn't sound the same or whatever but people aren't using the original like the og triangle big muff and I think that's really important you'll also notice that the controls are labeled kind of crazy on the 72 and all other big muffs forever its volume sustain and tone but on this you have volume sustain and fuzz so for 1969 for one year the big muff tone control was called fuss I don't know why you just do what you want to do [Music] the next comparison is the op-amp big muff reissue with a real deal 1978 version 5 op amp big muff so this was made from 78 to 80 and it's actually v4 and v5 so the differences are the v4 of the op-amp this switch is on and off for the power which is quite useless and I think that's why they changed it to a tone bypass so you can completely remove the tone the reissue has that as well so this is called an op-amp big muff because it's the only big muff ever to not be powered or amplified with transistors it's done so with op amps operational amplifiers that makes it different a little bit it's still a big muff it's a little more abrasive and the tone control is really wide now this pedal was kind of overlooked built for 2 years but the Smashing Pumpkins used at billy corgan specifically and it became like a cult classic and really collectible pedal so much so that the reissue is the color of a pumpkin you put two together [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's is the green Russian reissue and a 94 green Russian big muff these are made from 94 to 2000 the are version 7 but there's technically different versions of version 7 they're cosmetic differences like the font or maybe different knobs different colors of green it's really important that you can pair these together and not try to compare the later models that are in black because they are a little bit different these were made in st. Petersburg Russia they were made in the electronic factories there that Mike took over and started building his products this actually says electro harmonix soft tech top tech stands for Soviet technology and there's funny rumors about these are old tank parts or landmine cases but that's not true it's just the way that Soviet electronics worked and some of their enclosures and things and they're really cool and as a matter of fact another little tidbit this actual unit is the one that I replicated in the muffuletta so when you turn to the star setting on here it's the green Russian what's you [Music] [Music] Hey [Music] you [Music] [Music] the Nano big muff so this is based around the classic New York City big muff pi silver enclosure black and red it's the most familiar of all big muffs this particular one that they're basing this off of is made from 2000 to current and it is different than say an early 80s like this 1981 big muff notice that this has no LED and this does that's kind of how you tell the newer 2000s from a vintage original and they do sound a little different this is designed by fran of Frant own electronics she worked for Mike Matthews and designed this over the course of a few months and she has really incredible pedals of her own you might see those unto use market but that's what's going on here [Music] [Music] [Music] some of you guys have noticed that there are JHS modifications to all of these reissues they're really fun I put in some crazy features on each one they're pretty unique to each other so check those out there's a lot of good videos we'll put some links down there we're actually sold out of these and we probably will be for a couple months but a lot of our dealers may have them their own reverb so go prowl around and find them I know if you're into big muffs these are some really cool sonic features for that and you know if you're in the future we're probably not sold out but like you needed to know we were sold out because when you buy one you'll feel good about buying it when we weren't sold out so it's kind of like you're not in the past but you're in the future and the future is my future too and everything's fine there today's record time is brought to you by the Smashing Pumpkins Sammy's dream I have to be honest I really only got into Mellon Collie and the infinite sadness and that was for a short period of time and I never really heard this record I got it about a year ago and its really really good I'd heard cherub rock but there's so many other great songs on here and this album is made by that op man big muff so in the comments below I'd like to know about your favorite recordings where big muffs are prominent and your favorite artists that live by that pedal and then if you haven't listened to this if it skipped you buy or you just haven't heard of it go check it out Smashing Pumpkins I'm mr. e I want to leave you with a quote from the great Mike Matthews himself in an interview he said take five big muffs off the same assembly line on the same day and they might sound a little different I think that's amazing and I think it's really important to grasp that fact about the big muff and it's circuit and how many different versions are and even within those versions there's slight parts differences and some so I think they did an amazing job on these reissues I mean standing here playing them how they felt how the amplifier and the speaker responded to them I think they're perfect I don't think you could do them any better than if you've ever wondered about owning a big muff or checking these reissues out just buy them the price amazing and they're gonna make you happy and they will definitely make you like guitar more I want to thank Robert Keeley for that sacred version one that I showed you I'm gonna give it back Robert I gotta get to know it though so twenty twenty six to twenty thirty I don't know either way if you liked the episode hit like subscribe to the channel and there's a bell icon click that and you'll get notifications of every future episode and one more thing in the comments tell me your favorite of the four reissues super easy one two three or four we'll talk about it bye bye

Channel: JHS Pedals

Views: 421,126

Keywords: JHS, JHS Pedals, Guitar, Guitar Pedals, Electric Guitar, Guitar Effects, Guitar Player, Guitar Playing, Pedal Demo, Guitar Demo, New Pedals, New Guitar Pedals, Josh Scott, Guitar Gear, Music Gear, Guitar Tones, Pedal Tones, Good Guitar Tone, Best Guitar Tone, Best Electric Guitar Tone, Analog Guitar Tone, Guitar Sounds, JHS Guitar Pedals, JHS VLOG, JHS Videos, Big Muff, Electro Harmonix, Big Muff Reissue, New Big Muff

Id: 9OaLT-wVspk

Length: 13min 15sec (795 seconds)

Published: Thu May 16 2019