Green Russian choices

[SumOne]

I've had the EHX Bass Big Muff (and deluxe) but am looking for something a bit smother and fatter sounding, warm fuzzy harmonics without being synthy or farty- which I think leads me to the Green Russian. My search has led to:

 

- EHX Green Russian 

- Earthquaker Hoof

- COG Tarkin

- Way Huge Russian Pickle

 

EHX sounds good but is it too muddy not having mid control? Same with Way huge. Because of that I'm leaning towards the Tarkin with its mid switches, but it costs nearly double the EHX and has at least 6 week wait time. Or perhaps the Hoof, but that costs even more. 

Any other suggestions? 

Edited November 11, 2020 by SumOne

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 10, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[SumOne]

13 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

If I didn't already have five Big Muffs, I'd be looking at the EHX Deluxe Sovtek.

The Fredric Effects Green Russian is great, too. More mids and lows than most Muff variants, with a grittier breakup, a touch of overdrive to the fuzz! I'm currently working through selling some pedals, but I'm obviously a bit of a Muff nerd, so they're further down the list, along with any compressors. Let me know if you might be interested though. Sometimes I need a kick to make a decision! 😄

Nice one. I think I might be overthinking it a bit, obsessing over fuzz while I should be working from home during lockdown!  But yeah, the EHX deluxe Sovtek might be what I need for my slightly OCD pickyness about fuzz (also ideally trying to keep pedals small to have as many as possible on my board though!). I'm interested in 2nd hand so give me a shout if you sell any, I'm considering anything in the list above, or possibly others.   

[stelios82k]

I had EHX green russian reissue. I was ecstatic about its sound. Heavy, full, just pure awesomeness. But when I tried it in a mix there was no way I could make it stand out.

I thought the sovtek deluxe could do the job. Excellent sound sculpture options, and while sat comfortably in the mix the sound isn't the same as the green Russian reissue. There was no "balls" to the sound. Big let down and big pedalboard real estate.

A friend of mine had a Way huge russian pickle that didn't like for guitar. I borrowed it and instantly became what I was looking for. The sound was even better that the green reissue and sat very good in a mix with the tone knob alone. Somewhere red afterwards that is slightly less mid scooped than other russian clones, but I cannot possibly verify that. 

The Cog i have heard it only through youtube and i must say, it is possibly the best of all but a used Russian pickle might be your best bet right now. 

 

All of this tried with a precision into Boss BC1x, into Fuzz, into Bass driver DI.

 

Good luck!

 

[SumOne]

^^^^

Thanks for that, very helpful.

The issue of the EHX Green Russian working in the mix is what I was worried about. I think the tone is pretty much exactly what I'd want if just listening to Bass,  but would want to also be able to enhance the mids to cut through in a mix. It's a shame the deluxe doesn't have the same tone.

It's good to hear that the Way Huge is decent, that possibly makes the £125 price tag vs EHX £75 justified. I couldn't make out much difference via Youtube between the two but it's difficult to compare without playing them yourself.   

I've sent a message to Cog to see about Tarkin availability, at £130 it's probably worth it at £5 more than the Way Huge to have mid switches. Possibly they could do something custom like add a sweepable mid (but that probably starts getting too expensive).

The Hoof seems decent but at £160  I'm not sure that's justified.  For that price I could get the EHX and an EQ pedal after it to boost mids.

The Orange Fur Coat (£110) also seems interesting, but loses low end when the Octave (up) is used.

Edited November 11, 2020 by SumOne

[Stofferson]

I had the green russian, sounds fat and a lot beefier than the bass muff, I flipped to the sovtek deluxe, great as it has the clean blend to retain lows and the mids too, it is a large pedal though.

 

Best way to get the small green russian to work is chuck it in with a clean blend.

 

I had mine in a loop of a boss ls2 with the 2nd channel left empty to preserve lows, if you need extra mids get a cheapish EQ pedal in the same loop after the muff with your mids, alternatively an octave up.

 

Currently using the fur coat, great sound, very different to the muff and works great on bass but does need the clean blend to really stand out.

Yet to find a good bass fuzz that stands out on its own without the need for extra pedals with clean blends, more mids or octaves.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Stofferson

[SumOne]

Cheers. Yeah I'm now thinking a mixture of pedals is probably my best option: Start with something fairly cheap like the EHX Green Russian which has a great tone for just Bass then perhaps add an LS2 for some clean mixed in to help definition and thump, and EQ pedal for the mids when it needs to cut through the mix. 

This does man my shopping list is now 3 pedals rather than one! But it's about the same price as getting the Hoof, and has the added flexibility of potentially being able to use the LS2 and EQ for other pedals.

 

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by SumOne

[Stofferson]

11 minutes ago, SumOne said:

Cheers. Yeah I'm now thinking a mixture of pedals is probably my best option: Start with something fairly cheap like the EHX Green Russian which has a great tone for just Bass then perhaps add an LS2 for some clean mixed in to help definition and thump, and EQ pedal for the mids when it needs to cut through the mix. 

This does man my shopping list is now 3 pedals rather than one! But it's about the same price as getting the Hoof, and has the added flexibility of potentially being able to use the LS2 and EQ for other pedals.

 

 

Apologies! But it's the price of tone.

I ran that setup for years, it works great, that's the only thing holding these pedals back is a good clean blend and more cut through EQ. But you can potentially get all 2nd hand for a great price.

[SumOne]

1 minute ago, Stofferson said:

Apologies! But it's the price of tone.

I ran that setup for years, it works great, that's the only thing holding these pedals back is a good clean blend and more cut through EQ. But you can potentially get all 2nd hand for a great price.

Yeah, I think this is the way forward. Anyone selling EHX Green Russian (or perhaps the Way Huge Russian Pickle, or possibly Orange Fur Coat) , LS2, multiband EQ, give me a shout.  

Or perhaps Cog will be able to somehow magic this into one pedal for me, but I imagine it will be more cost and less flexible than getting 3 separate pedals.

[Doddy]

Although not Green Russian style, I've found that my favourite couple of Big Muff type fuzz pedals are the Greer Tarpit and the Nine Volt Pedals Fishing Is As Fun As Fuzz.

The Tarpit is crazy good. It's based on an op amp Muff and has a ton of gain, but also sounds great at lower settings. To my ears it doesn't lose much bass at all. It's my favourite fuzz by a mile.

The Fishing Is As Fun As Fuzz is a Civil War style Muff, that isn't quite a fat as the Tarpit but it's still got a really good amount of low end and sounds like a really good Big Muff should.

I've got a bunch of fuzz pedals and these are my favourites. I think they both blow the Bass Big Muff away.

Just something else to consider.

[SumOne]

Cheers for the input everyone.

I went for something I wasn't considering this morning:  the MXR Brown Acid Fuzz - I'm a fan of MXR pedals and as it's new rather than 2nd hand or imported/custom built it's not really a hassle to just return it if it's not right...I'm fussy  so might well return it. Realised the other day that I return about three quarters of all the pedals I buy and have sold quite a few others after owning them for a year or so. Currently have 6 pedals and have owned about 30, so only about 1 in 5 stick around long-term.

 I'm expecting I might need to get a 2nd hand LS2 at some point. 

Edited November 11, 2020 by SumOne

[dannybuoy]

Depends where you're trying to get the muff to sit in the mix - if you want it to cut through the upper mids then you'll struggle - turn the tone up too much and you lose low end. However, leave the tone around noon or below and you'll completely dominate the low end and low mids - it'll be heavy AF but more like a low rumbling growl that stands out in its own way down low rather than 'cutting through'. I had to experience the EHX Green Russian at high volume before I could appreciate it!

[0175westwood29]

fuzzrocious grey stache is worth looking at! having the mids control really helps also the crimson from JHS