modding a behringer muff clone.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:19 pm

hey all. i got a behringer big muff clone in trade from othomas2, thanks again. i've had it a couple of weeks now and i've been playing with it on and off. i quite like it, me and fran tried it against a made by mike green muff clone and a russian big muff. it kinda sits between the two, not too off the wall and not too polite. it's a nice balance basically. the one little problem i have it that the signal bleeds through when you switch the pedal off. the switch looks like a DPT stomper from the outside, but inside it pushes down on the kinda switch you see in a boss pedal. is there any way i could mod this pedal to stop the bleed through?

Post by **Doog** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:32 pm

The bypass is proper crap on those things- mine didn't bleed the fuzz into the clean,but took a HEFTY amount of top end off when it was in the chain and powered. Took less when the pedal had no power going to it when bypassed.. very odd.

I think converting it to true bypass shouldn't be too tricky, but not as simple as just changing the switch alas.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:44 pm

i've noticed the top end loss, though that's not too bad for my amp. it tends to be very bright. i've noticed it depends what you have the pedal set to as to how much bleed you get.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:03 am

You'd have to find the input and output to the circuit and tap off those points to a 3DPT rather than the current tossy electronic switching they've put in (and screwed up). It wouldn't be a no-brainer, but it should be possible.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:27 am

could i send it to you mike? i'm crap with a soldering iron. will give you dollar and mexican hats for doing it

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:54 am

I could have a go for sure, could be fun.

Do you think you could snap some pictures of what it looks like inside. It's probably SMD which is a cunt to work on.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:55 am

give me five and i'll take a few snap. cheers mike

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:41 am

hope these are ok, if not tell what angles you need.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:44 am

BACK UP, BACK UP!

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:59 am

I can see enough to know this will be a bastard. In future use the macro (close up) function on the camera and wait for it to focus before snapping.

The jacks are soldered directly to the PCB. This means that I would have to desolder them to make the pedal true bypass (as their connectivity would then be governed by the 3PDT), however this is not an easy task to perform without damaging that slave PCB. I would have to get them off clean and then replace them with new jacks (which might not fit without touching the PCB there) and hope that the DC jack can hold that PCB itself. The other possibility is that we might get lucky and that connector with wires to th eother board might have wires that connect to the jacks that I could grab hold of.

On the main PCB it's all SMD which is very hard to work with without breaking, it might be difficult for me to find the effect input and output on this.

My first feelings are this:

1. It's going to be a pain to work on
2. As a result, Mike will need paying
3. Also I won't know the extent of whether it is possible until I have it in my hands
4. Is this cheap POS worth it?

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:13 pm

i don't mind paying you for doing it, i would to any way mike. sounds like a really pain in the arse compared to maybe just getting a big muff or getting you to build one. sorry about the blurry photos, ever since i've dropped it, they tend to be very blurry. give me a real camera any day.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:58 pm

It will be tricky, but should be possible, it just depends whether you think it's worth like Â£30 to sort out, compared with paying just a little bit more than that to get a Green Big Muff from Tim...

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:12 pm

... or stick it in a diddy little effects loop. Add a mix control to the loop to make it a feedback loop, and you can choose to turn your muff into a muff-flavoured fuzz factory. Link here.

Not wishing to take business away from Mike or Tim, obviously...

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:15 pm

Oh yeah, that's a great idea.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:22 pm

That reads as being really sarcastic, happily.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:37 pm

I was being serious.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:03 pm

I know.

Unless you're doing it again.

Can you please make your sarcasm/irony/humour more obvious, a la silly_rabbit_dude. Perhaps put 'I'am making sarcasmlol' or 'jk irony!!!' after you're posts.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:08 pm

I post emoticons for no man.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:13 pm

And for that I respect you. I wire my exclamation mark key to give me a large electric shock.

Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 3:17 pm

Euan posting pictures of him in that hat has the same effect on me. Thank God for Adblock.