So, the second BM clone I worked on was the ambitious project of the SuperFuzz BigMud. This was one of those "imagine if you .......... and , why hasn't anyone done this ?" type of things. You'd be amazed how many of those turn into actual products for me ..........
My friend Tony and I were talking one day and I mentioned how the Mudhoney EP Superfuzz Big Mvff had got so many guitarists into Big Mvff pedals in the late 80's and early 90's. I got to thinking, had anyone ever made these pedals in one enclosure before ?
It seemed like the thing to do. Tony was completely up for it as he does all my artwork and LOVES working on these pedal designs. I'll leave it to him to fill you in on the design process for this one, but as you can see, the EP artwork was a huge influence.
This was my moded "triangle" BM again with a Shen-ei FY2 circuit that I was already using in my Fuzzilla pedal. I used the FY2 instead of the later six transistor Superfuzz circuit because I loved its "rawness" and it reminded more of that Mudhoney sound on those early recordings. When I was working on the prototype it seemed like a match made in heaven. The nasty 60's Shen-ei fuzz combined with the big fat thick Big Mvff worked so well together. I tried the FY2 first and after the BM and couldn't workout which I liked more (although I think after sounds better now) so I made the pedal as two separate pedals that you can link with a patch lead to run in either direction.
The pedal itself came together quickly and when Tone sent the artwork over, I loved it........... It was SO COOL and exactly what I was hoping for. It was so Mudhoney and suited this style of pedal so well. This is where I first used the name "Big Mud" as I knew I couldn't call it a BM, even though Mudhoney had used the word.
The Frankenstein playing the Mostite was hand drawn by Lenny from Tumbleweed years earlier as a Tym Tee shirt and Tone had "re-invented" it into the pedal artwork.
I was still making all the enclosures by hand back here and this was just a double size box made of stainless steel to house the two pedals side by side. It was a time intensive and reasonably expensive pedal to make so I decided I would only make ten of them as pedal making was still very much a hobby for me when I had spare time (as it still is really) and I didn't have a lot of spare time and I didn't know if anyone would actually want one?
Well, all 10 sold out before I made them, but I still decided not to make any more and concentrate on making other versions of the BM circuit to find my perfect one, and so the story continues.