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I realize that the topic of Big Muff Pi versions is immense.  I tried doing some research, but there' just too much info out there to sort through all the noise and find what I need.  So, my apologies for asking a stupid-simple question.

What version of the Mudbunny is close to a normal US-made big-box BMP?  My kids have me on a Red Hot Chili Peppers kick, and I love John Frusciante's fuzz sound on Stadium Arcadium and the subsequent tour.  It's my understanding that it was a normal big box, I'm guessing early-2000s era.

[Seven]

Update from previous post.  Lemme see...  counting OD, distortion and fuzz?  Seven.

• SD-1 w. C6 mod (presently on board)
• SD-1 w. homegrown HAM mod
• Eternity clone
• DS-1 Recto mod
• DS-1 stock
• RAT clone (presently on board)
• BBE Free Fuzz

I can't believe we've never had one of these.  More plausible, I couldn't find it, but I really did look.

Anyway, here's mine, featuring my new Slow Lorus:



I'm thinking of trading down from the DD-7 to another DD-3, I don't need the extra features and the input/output cables mess up the board's feng shui.

All the other pedals are wired from the back.  The top deck is a 1/8" aluminum plate, which takes the place of all the pedals' back plates.  Wiring exits the pedals through grommets, and are wired together under the deck.   I've been building pedalboards like this since about 1980.  I was inspired by Andy Summers' Pete Cornish board, and Pat Travers' similar (thougn non-Cornish, I believe) board.  I liked the idea of integrating all the pedals into one big unit. However, Cornish's method of removing all the pedals from their cases and substiuting custom-drilled, Dymo-labeled aluminum plates seemed like a lot of work, and not terribly attractive. It occured to me that I already had a great means of mounting and labeling the controls - the pedals enclosures themselves.  So, I came up with a means of integrating them on a common ground plane with a built-in power supply.

These days, with all the commercially-availabel pedalboards, power bricks, wiring kits, velcro, etc. it's nuts to make a board this complicated.  However, I'm kinda set in my ways; I have more inertia than intelligence.  

I just wish I had room for my new Fat Pants.  It sounds great, but didn't have enough oomph to use as a solo boost, so it failed to knock the SD-1 out of its spot.

Looks like I need to place a Small Bear order for (1) 50K pot. (Goes to have head examined.)

Having owned a few original Rats over the years, I know how the cut control works, and mine is wired in true Rat style: counterclockwise is brighter.

The problem I'm having is that full CCW is not bright enough, and the upper half sweep in the CW direction is unusably muffled.

[Any suggestions for a quick fix?]

I spent some time playing my new SLow Lorus (see link below) through my 18 Watter clone today.  Overall, it's what I wanted; an outrageous, harmonically-comples distortion pedal.  I can see why Adrian Belew thought of Rhinocerous noises when he played his Rat.

I'm trying to compare it to my old '80s small box Rat, which is tough because I sold the Rat years ago.  The SL seems kind of muffled - plenty of dirt, but not much fizz if I turn the cut control down (in the "bright" direction).  Only about the first 20% of the cut pot is useful - the rest has too much blanket over it.

I want to mount it on my pedalboard tonight (a semi-major undertaking... don't ask), but first I'd like to make the range of the cut control a bit more useful - a bit brighter at the bottom, and more usabale sweep.

Any suggestions for a quick fix?

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=2040.0

You might have to file its leads down so they fit through the holes in the board, but it'll work just fine.

Me too!  I love that a guy his age can still be so excited about a song that he can't help playing air guitar to the record.  My other favorite part was the look on Edge's and Jack White's faces when Pagey started playing Whole Lotta Love.

Xssive is a graphic designer by trade, and a hell of a photographer.  Somewhere around here, I have a couple of bogus Schecter decals he made me for my goldtop PT.  One of these days, I'll put a really nice neck on it, and use those to make it look really authentic (right now, it has a Fender MIM neck).

You should see the superstrats he builds.  They make ME want to play hair metal, and I'm a Tele geek!

Edit:  Check the "Photography" section here http://www.1320designcompany.com/ and browse the slideshow.

That Xssive guy at the Duncan forum has a HUGE pedalboard covered in leopard-print fabric.

Edit: Found a picture.

I swear to God that's a typo.

I finally made time to clear out some pedal-project backlog.  Here's my take on the Fat Pants.  It is named, obviously,  after the foremost song by the foremost user of the EP-3 Echoplex which inspired the circuit (not to mention the awesome movie he appeared in recently).



Switchable cap values are 22nF, none, 56nF.  Preliminary testing through my Vox Amp Plug (Marshall version) indicates these settings correspond to "bright", "fat", and "really bright", respectively. I don't know if I'll ever use the 56nF position, but I'll leave it - probably can't get that cap out without ruining the other one.



I went with the 50K volume pot spec'd in the Fart Pants V1 documentation (this is a V1 board I've had sitting for a year.

I have yet to play it through my 18 Watter, but plan a big shootout this weekend.  My pedalboard has room for two boost/dirt pedals and I have to select from this, my new Rat clone (see other thread), my old Nutrino, and a couple of modded SD-1s.  Should be fun.

Are any of the MadBean projects similar to a good old-school Distortion+?  Lately, I've been working on learning all the songs on one of my favorite obscure '80s albums, Martha and the Muffins' Danseparc. Their guitar player's dirty tone was classic Distortion+ through a big clean amp: Fender Twin or Roland JC120. Distortion+ through the Jazz Chorus is a great sound.  Also, I recently read a great review of Whirlwind's modern take on the Distortion+.  It got me interested.  My first good pedal was a D+, back in 1977-ish.  Wish I still had it, or at least remember what it was like.

The D+ is a simple circuit, easily implemented on perfboard, but I prefer PC board.  So, are any of the MadBean clones of booteek pedals, really a clone of a clone of a Distortion+?

If not, any chance we'll see one in the future?

Nah, that's the chaise lounge in out family room.  There's a guy who goes by the handle Xssive on the Seymour Duncan forum who builds his own versions of '80s-vintage Charvel superstrats; gorgeous guitars.  He's also a great photographer and often uses leopard-print fabric for his backdrop.  I use the chaise lounge as a gag-homage to Xssive.  He also sold me the neck for my goldtop Schecter PT, which by the way, I have yet to try through the Rat.

Old Orange amps are the bomb.  You should see my Nutrino, and the graphics I used for "Drive" and "Glass", here: http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=12.0.