Posh Pedals (2 Viewers)

[Goodbye]

Wouldn't be caught dead with a signature series guitar, signature pedal though... thats a differenter story...

So ……….. a few years ago I had the great fortune to meet and get to know J Mascis who was one of my guitar heroes. I came from a Ramones background where short, sharp melodic “pop” songs were the only thing I cared about and listened to. Dinosaur Jr changed that. They were the first band I listened to in a long time that actually played solos like “the good ol’ days” where sometimes, the solo was as long as the song. There was something about J’s solos that were ……… different to those 70′s excess coke heads that I still to this day can’t listen to. To say Freakscene changed my life is an understatement. I still vividly remember being at a nightclub (is that an old persons term ?) and hearing those opening chords to Freakscene and just thinking “what the F#*K is this” It still gives me chills to this day.​

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Anyway, a couple of years ago I was talking to J about Big Muffs, something he knows a little bit about. His collection of vintage Muffs is probably unequaled and it’s the cornerstone of the Dinosaur Jr live sound. J was telling me about “this” Big Muff that sounded …….. different than his other ones and how he used it in his live rig to get that sound. He said he hadn’t found another one that sounded the same so this was a special fuzz pedal indeed.​

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On the last Australian Dinosaur Jr tour we spoke about it again and it reminded me about how “special” that tone was. J’s live sound is so distorted, yet ……… clear. You can hear the Big Muff (and the Superfuzz and the ………) but you can still somehow hear the NOTES as well. It was THIS pedal that did it. This was J’s “sound” !!​

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So, to my surprise at the end of that last tour a package turns up at my workshop addressed from “J Mascis” and inside is THE Big Muff. WTF ? I get an email from J saying “The muff is having issues, can you fix it and clone it while your there ?”
This was/is a dream come true for me. I started out as a guitar builder and ALL of this sprung from that. I started building pedals as a form of therapy to get my mind off running a business. I find the methodical way of assembling pedals appeals to me. The electronic side is set and slightly repetitive and the enclosure and assembly side is still very hands on.​

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The first thing I did was open up the Big Muff to see what was wrong. It was a broken circuit board from years of being stomped on. This was a pretty easy fix and after an hour or so I had the pedal working again.
I plugged it in and ………….. holy crap, it WAS different from any other Big Muff I’d heard. It was ….. close to a Ramhead era, but also different ? Close to a version three, but a little different ? It was ………… Dinosaur Jr !​

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Then it was sitting down and working out why.





So, we left off the last story with getting ready to work out why J’s Big Muff sounded different ? I’m obviously not going to give too much away here. If I told you values and details, you’d all go and make your own ….. right ? I know all you “nerds” out there will want to look at pics so I’ll put a few in.

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From the outside and in it looked like a fairly standard, mostly original Ram Head era Big Muff. The PCB was the usual 3003 board that you’d expect.
You can see the PCB in the bottom left corner has snapped on one of the stand offs. This was why the pedal didn’t work when it came into my workshop.

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Let me say here that I am NOT and electrical engineer. I’m completely self taught in electronics, as with everything else I do. I’ve never done courses or been tutored on guitar building/repairing or electronics. I have had a working relationship with J for a few years now and have made him guitars and pedals in the past and we do amp repair work for him. So, I approached this project from the only way I know how and the way I look at everything I make. Let’s just make one !!

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I started by tracing out all the components. I am “familiar” with the Big Muff circuit thanks to making my own clones in the Big Mudds. I became kind of obsessed with this great circuit a few years ago before I even started using them myself.

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It took a couple of days to work out what was going on here ? (yeah, I’m slow) The values of components were close to other Big Muffs I had here. I tested J’s on the scope against a bunch of vintage Big Muffs and clones I had here. It was close to some of them. The D*A*M Ramhead is “close”. I had a version 3 Big Muff with a factory fitted Ramhead board that was “close”. MyRamhead Big Mudd was “close”, but none of them were THE SAME ?

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J’s Big Muff was pretty original with the exception of DC filtering added by someone when the Boss style adaptor had been added and a pot and slider switch had been changed. The rest was factory. Even had the original switch. This was a good sign because I knew (or at least thought I knew) what made a Ramhead era Big Muff sound like that. I’ll just make a PCB up with these values and I’ll have it ………. right ?

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Wrong. None of them sounded …… right. They were ……. close, but so were some of the other ones I had. I’ve personally traced out eight different Ramhead Big Muffs and seen other schematics on the net that don’t match any of them. To say EH were inconsistent is an understatement. This is why so many Big Muffs sound different to others. I don’t think there’s “good ones” and “bad ones”, just different.
J has A LOT of vintage Big Muffs and clones and he’s always said THIS ONE sounds different to them all. Does that mean only one was built this way ? Who knows ? All I knew was I had to find out why this one sounded different.

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I was getting nervous. The more I “messed” with this pedal, the more I was worried I was going to do something that changed the tone. This was one of my holy grails and I was poking around trying to find it’s secret. It took four days of building and tracing, and building again. Looking at circuits, staring at that PCB, measuring voltages, checking waves on the scope. I knew J wanted the pedal back, and preferably with a clone !!
Then I realized what was going on. Simple , right ? I made a PCB up and there it was. It was still “a little” off but there was that sound. Believe me, it was a great relief and not just a little bit of pride in what I’d done. Here I was discovering J Mascis’s live sound. ME !! In the late 80′s I would have killed to meet J, now I have talks with him about gear AND I get to make his pedal. I’m not too big to admit this is a very big honor for me.

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So, after several more PCB’s I had it. On the scope, in the workshop, in the practice room. There it was.
I made another one into one of my enclosures and packed it and J’s original up and posted them over to J, and waited, and waited. How close was I ? Was it “good enough” ?

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[Goodbye]

Well, here we are at the pointy end of nearly two years of research and development. It’s been time consuming and expensive but fun and taught me more about Big Muffs (and electronics) than I ever thought I’d know. Backing and forwarding with J to get it just right ….. and we got it right (see J’s endorsement at bottom) I’d like to thank J for letting me be the first builder to ever make an official J Mascis fuzz pedal. He’s been a hero of mine for years and Dinosaur Jr have been a huge influence on lots of what I listen to.​

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If you read my first two blog stories you’ll see what led up to this point so I won’t bore you with the hairy details. One of the reasons J (and Brett from Built to Spill) asked me to make their signature pedals for them is because they know and understand what it is I do. I make all my stuff BY HAND. I don’t get powder coated boxes and loaded PCB’s delivered to my workshop and assemble them here like other “boutique” manufacturers. I MAKE them all BY HAND. This is of course a very time consuming and expensive method of production in this mass produced world, but it’s the way I do things and some people, like J appreciate that. There will be people out there who don’t understand why I do it this way, but I’m not making stuff for them. The list of bands and my loyal customers who I do work for and are happy to pay (and wait) for my products is testimonial that there are still people out there who want products made like this.​

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So, I’ll run you through the process of making these pedals (all my pedals are made this way) so you can appreciate the work and time that goes into them. As you probably know if you follow my blogs I make as much as I can in house here at my workshop. The enclosures are hand folded stainless steel and after I drill all the holes to the correct sizes the adhesive printed aluminium faceplate is attached and the holes drilled through them. This is a lengthy process but I think my custom enclosures and artwork are part of the reason why my pedals are sort after and I’ve always wanted to make gear that didn’t look like everything else on the market. Once drilled, I take them to my assembly bench and start loading the PCB’s ready to assemble. The PCB’s are custom designed and made for me so once they arrive from being manufactured I load them with the components. I only use good quality caps, resistors and diodes in the PCB’s and Switchcraft jacks, good quality 9V adaptor and ROHS triple pole, double throw footswitches.​

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The PCB’s have the pots loaded and the enclosures are fitted with the switches, jacks, LED’s and 9V adaptor. Once the PCB’s have the pots they are fitted into the enclosure and then the hand wiring starts. I have designed this whole pedal around ease of assembly as I have NEVER had to make three hundred of the same thing before, so assembly time was obviously an issue when designing all the components. My runs of effects usually top out at around five at a time and sell before I can make more, so this is a huge undertaking for a manufacturer like me, but that’s what J wanted.​

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Each Fuzz Munchkin takes over four hours from start to finish (not including ordering and collating parts) so I’m doing these in runs of ten at a time. Working on those figures means that making ten of them is a full time weeks work. Because I also have two shops to look after and do repairs and other manufacturing I am estimating it will take me over a year to make all three hundred.​

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The official J Mascis Fuzz Munchkin comes with a limited edition T shirt only available with the pedal and have J’s hand drawn “Munchkin” printed on the front and are available only in, you guessed it, purple. The first one hundred pedals are serial “numbered” with song titles off all the Dinosaur Jr albums. These also have to be hand stamped adding more time to each build. As I’ve said this is a privilege for me and I’m so honored that J and I have a relationship that has allowed me to do this. I hope that people understand that when they buy something like this they are supporting a VERY small niche of a small market that still cares about what they do and why they do it.​

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There’s going to be people out there who don’t get it, who don’t want to pay, who will say “it’s a pedal, it should be cheap”. That’s fine with me. These people are usually the first ones to make or buy clones of new or exciting products when they hit the market and then the first to complain when small boutique makers close down and all they’ve got to choose from is Boss or Digitech. They have no forethought or understanding that supporting these small builders, like me and others like me, is actually in THEIR best interest. They say they’re passionate about gear but then undercut and compromise the very people who do this for them. I’ll never understand them and maybe that’s a good thing.​

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So, anyway, here we are. The new Tym guitars official J Mascis Fuzz Munchkin. Reverse engineered from the “ramhead” Big Muff J bought back in 1987 and has used as his essential live sound ever since. These, like all my effects DON’T take batteries and have external 9V power only. I have added more filtering to this circuit than J’s original had for people who use cheap power supplies. If you still get slight “squealing” with everything on full with a cheap supply it’s like any high gain transistor circuit, get a better power supply. The bypass switch bypasses the volume control completely so you can get J’s rhythm and lead sound in one pedal. J uses his Big Muff with a bypass loop with the volume down as his rhythm sound and then the pedal on full for his lead sound. The Fuzz Munchkin gives you both in one pedal.They’ll be slow in the making but be patient and watch the site for updates. I’ll do my best !!​

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“Tym tried to harness my sound in a little a box and I think he’s got it. Step on the Fuzz Munchkin for a good time. Dial down the volume for cleaned up rhythm then hit the bypass switch and the flood gates are open, the volume control dissapears, all sanity dissapears, its just searing lead tone cranked all the way up. So now if your sound sucks you must lay blame somewhere else, your amp, your pickups, your fingers, but don’t blame the Fuzz Munchkin.” J Mascis.


http://www.tymguitars.com.au/?attachment_id=4494​

 

[theoootini]

what a crock. does he say anywhere what made the sound unique?

 

[Goodbye]

You did read the part where he said he wasn't going to reveal that right?

 

[theoootini]

no i didn't.

are you going to buy one?

 

[mark]

the idea of bypassing the volume is great.

i dunno, the idea of boutique pedals is something many people scoff at, but I've bought a few and never regretted it. nice to read a story behind one.

 

[theoootini]

not doubting the guys sincerity, or that boutique pedals are undeniably cool and what not.

this unique sound was obviously due to an incorrect part, or backwards something or other. not sure i'd be willing to part with 300 bucks for the privilege of a backwards capacitor...

 

[Unicron]

not doubting the guys sincerity, or that boutique pedals are undeniably cool and what not.

this unique sound was obviously due to an incorrect part, or backwards something or other. not sure i'd be willing to part with 300 bucks for the privilege of a backwards capacitor...

I'm sure that someone will come up with a clone design for it soon enough.

 

[boneitis]

honestly, it was prolly just something like a bunch of weird value capacitors... I'd also bet that J doesn't own as many vintage muffs as say, pete cornish...

I would agree that boutique pedals are pretty much the only way to go and worth the (soemtimes) extra money.

 

[Goodbye]

I'd also bet that J doesn't own as many vintage muffs as say, pete cornish...

There's a video floating around the internets of J in his gaff with posh furniture, like a display cabinet for china plates that your mum would have, full to the brim with big muffs. Quite a thing to see.

 

[mel gibson]

 

[JohnnyRaz]

bar being in a cover band, why would you want to emulate J mascis's live guitar sound exactly?

cool story none the less, and yer man seems to have a cool little cottage industry going on there...

 

[Goodbye]

why would you want to emulate J mascis's live guitar sound exactly?

Why wouldn't you?

 

[JohnnyRaz]

Why wouldn't you?

because you might want to try to work out your own sound instead?

apart from not being the biggest mascis fan in the world, i dont get the whole signature series thingy. a mascis signature pedal is about as naff as a jimi hendrix fuzz in my opinion

(expecting instant abuse/ban)

 

[mark]

There's a video floating around the internets of J in his gaff with posh furniture, like a display cabinet for china plates that your mum would have, full to the brim with big muffs. Quite a thing to see.

I've seen that! it's class! Rows and rows of muffs! Think its on pitchfork.tv.

 

[Goodbye]

I've seen that! it's class! Rows and rows of muffs! Think its on pitchfork.tv.

Yeah, I think it was a "behind the scenes" thing when they were recording Farm upstairs in his gaff or something. Murph stuck in the box room, J in the hall... mazinness

 

[mark]

bar being in a cover band, why would you want to emulate J mascis's live guitar sound exactly?

Can't say i disagree, but unless you go down the road of getting something like the Brian May AC30,

where the sound of it is literally hard-wired in, you can always get your own sound out of a signature piece of kit.

I'm with you on the Mascis sound too btw. I love it, but there's no way I could use it.

 

[Goodbye]

because you might want to try to work out your own sound instead?

apart from not being the biggest mascis fan in the world, i dont get the whole signature series thingy. a mascis signature pedal is about as naff as a jimi hendrix fuzz in my opinion

(expecting instant abuse/ban)

Have you ever heard anyone sound like Jimi Hendrix by using a Jimi Hendrix fuzz pedal?

Same way I don't sound like Prince just because I got the same pedals as him.

That J pedal could be great fun altogether, and sher isn't that the main thing?

 

[shower another shower]

Just because I use Neil Peart signature sticks doesn't mean I'm gonna sound like him.

 

[therealjohnny]

These look very pretty

http://www.moollon.com/