Thought this might be a good community discussion. I'm finishing a few different big muffs this weekend and I've never had good luck swapping transistors, always end up back at the usual 2N5088 no matter what variant they are going into. Any effort at sourcing lower gain transistors similar to the coveted transistors in the old Ram's Heads, etc... has lead to really weak sounding circuits.
The best muff I've ever played is probably the Stomp Underfoot IC muff. Different beast, but they sound great.
I use different transistors depending on what I'm trying to achieve.
I've tried nte123 and it actually sounded just like a box of rock with the gain maxed ... after that I just went with 2n5088s on transistor muffs. I also prefer the IC muff, it was my first pedal back in high school.
Quote from: juansolo on June 24, 2016, 05:57:05 PM
I use different transistors depending on what I'm trying to achieve.
^^ This guy has made a TON of big muffs, and I'd have to agree, both for this application, and in general. Blacksmiths don't use just one hammer.
Well then post your favorite for certain applications! Like I said, I've been using 2N5088 utilities for awhile, would like to try some others. For example, I'm building a big muff for my lady friend who started learning guitar and has been playing doom metal songs in C tuning. So I want to make something that gets her close to this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ZCQCC7FEo
Lori for that band plays a vintage big muff.
I built up a Grind Customs ultra stoner mark2 with some BC109C's I bought from GCFX and it's got doom for days. I'd give those a whirl.
I've also done 2n3904's in the first two pushing two high hfe npn germanium transistors I got from small bear to recreate the earthquaker hoof. I like that a lot but it's not as doomy as something like the ultra stoner.
Quote from: disorder on June 24, 2016, 11:34:32 PM
So I want to make something that gets her close to this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9ZCQCC7FEo
My favorite Big Muff variant that I've built is the "King of Muffs", which is listed on JuanSolo's Big Muff spreadsheet. I used three 5088's in Q1-Q3, and then an MPSA18 in the gain recovery stage Q4.
And just to throw out another option, a lot of the "sound" it seems like you want to go for would be better suited for the Creepy Fingers Doomidrive (which was based off the Univox Uni-Drive). It has a huge bottom end and sounds almost exactly like that Acid King song. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymRNQ9YUvBk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymRNQ9YUvBk)
And here's a link to a layout: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/01/creepy-fingers-doomidrive.html (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2014/01/creepy-fingers-doomidrive.html)
It's hard to tell really. There's always some time involved between swapping trannies and I find the differences usually so marginal that its basically confirmation bias. I've built two Skreddy Mayonaise III pedals, one with the uber duber transistors you're supposed to use, one with BC550C's, they sound basically the same to me.
And even with two identical pedals there's usually some differences because of component values as I got two Skreddy P19's where to me one sounds better to the other. Methinks the only way to be really sure is to record a guitar riff into a looper, then record using one set of trannies, then with another set, and do a blind listening test so you don't know which is which. And unless you got the golden ears of the Gods I'd still say the differences will be too close to call.
Quote from: Aristatertotle on June 25, 2016, 12:07:09 AM
I built up a Grind Customs ultra stoner mark2 with some BC109C's I bought from GCFX and it's got doom for days.
It excites it for days! Very large! ;)