Gilmourish

Article updated October 5 2008

The Big Muff was introduced by Electro Harmonix in 1971 and it soon became one of history’s most beloved and biggest selling stompboxes. There are tons of different versions out there in all shapes and colours, - originals, clones and boutiques. In this article I will try to give you some tips on how to get a killer Gilmour tone and shed some light on the differences between some of the more familiar models.

What’s that noise?
Most high gain pedals are often called “fuzz”. The term seems to cover everything noisy as it fittingly describes the tone, - fuzzy. But this causes a lot of confusion, especially when you want to describe the differences between each pedal. There are mainly three categories: overdrive, distortion and fuzz. Perhaps you want to throw in a booster there as well.

I would place the Big Muff somewhere between a fuzz and a distortion. It’s perhaps confusing but the tone is definitely close to a fuzz, yet the pedal has much of the same construction and character of a distortion.

Fuzz or Muff?
Whether or not you should use a Big Muff as a replacement for a fuzz (like the Fuzz Face) depends on how authentic you want your sounds to be. I recommend having both a fuzz and a Muff on your board as they do sound quite different. David used a Fuzz Face as his main lead pedal from 1968 to 1975 and the Big Muff from 1977 to present. Of course, since 1977 David has been playing the old solos with a Muff and I think we can all agree that it sounds pretty good… but for authenticity, you don’t get that screaming saw-like tone of a fuzz from the Big Muff.

Building the tone
David has based most of his tones on a combination of both a Muff and a booster or overdrive. This adds more character and sustain and by having several overdrives on your board (or two similar pedals set differently) you can add different “flavours” to the Muff. I recommend having at least one overdrive or booster placed after the Muff. This needs to be a fairly transparent unit like a Boss BD-2, Chandler/BK Tube Driver, Klon Centaur or a Colorsound Power Boost. You could also use a Tube Screamer, Boss SD-1 although I’d be careful using pedals with too much mid tones… perhaps only for the 80’s and 90’s tones.

Warning: People often ask why their Muff sounds like a bee’s nest, - all fuzzy and muddy. The fact is that a Muff needs to be driven quite hard to get that super smooth, sustained tone. As with most of these old beasts, it was designed to be used with clean tube amps and the louder you play the more the saturated tubes reacts with the Muff and vice versa. And by loud I mean REALLY loud. A classic Electro Harmonix or Sovtek Muff is perhaps not the ideal choice for playing at home where you have to consider family and neighbours. In that case I’d go for a RAT, which is one of the most versatile distortions ever made. It sounds equally good on a small transistor combo as on a large tube stack and you can get some really nice Gilmour tones with it. More on that in this article.

When using the Muff in a combination with an overdrive, I recommend two setups:

- The settings listed here might not automatically apply to your rig as you may have a different guitar, pickups, amp etc than David. Also keep in mind that with low output pickups like CS 54/69 you’d want to turn the Muff gain all the way up, but with hotter pickups like the EMGs, you’d want to roll down the Muff gain to about 50%. Find a setting that fits your setup.

1. Warm, slightly dirty tone for PULSE
BIG MUFF - gain 50-100%, tone 20-30%, volume 50-60%
OVERDRIVE - gain is depending on how aggressive the pedal is, - you want a mild overdrive about 30-40%, tone 40%, volume 50-60%
- I would also add a warm compression (CS-2) and a hint of mid boost with an additional EQ (especially for some of the vintage Muffs).

2. Bright, punchy tone for Animals, Wall and On an Island
BIG MUFF – gain 50-100%, tone 40%, volume 50-60%
BOOSTER/OVERDRIVE – gain, this should be as clean as possible without getting thin (find the sweet spot before it distorts), tone 50%, volume 70%
- I would also add a bright, deep compression (MXR Dynacomp or Demeter Compulator).

Some also prefer to have the clean booster/overdrive in setup 2 in front of the Muff. I think it sounds better having it after, but do some test on your own. Keep in mind though that if you’re using a fairly “weak” overdrive, you might loose a lot of tone by having it in front of the Muff as it doesn’t manage to break through. A Colorsound Power Boost or a Tube Driver will have no problem with this but I think you’ll get a more pronounced attack when they’re placed after.