Alex and his team at Anasounds have really surpassed themselves in delivering unto us the ultimate all-in-one Big Muff. The Full Story covers every key Big Muff variant launched from 1969 to 2000 - from the original Triangle variety through Ram’s Head (1972/73), Black & Red (NYC 2000), Opamp (1978), Civil War (1993), Green Russian (1994) and Black Russian (1998).
All this is achieved via 7 modular slot-in Tone Cards which each carries the full complement of discreet components for that variety of Muff. There are two slots inside the pedal - meaning that two cards can be deployed at a time - and either activated individually or stacked in series.
Controls - CHANNEL A } Out, Tone, Fuzz, Boost; CHANNEL B } Out, Tone, Fuzz, Boost (mini knobs), Engage Channel A Footswitch, Engage Channel B Footswitch, Germanium Boost Footswitch (Full Range through to Treble Booster).
Control-wise you get 2 sets of Out (Volume), Tone, Fuzz (Sustain), and Boost knobs - regular and mini (mini ones light up!). Where the Boost component is fully independent or else stacks into the front of the Muff gain stages. Channel A, Channel B and Boost can all be activated individually or in tandem.
The Boost is a proper vintage-inspired Germanium Treble Booster. It engages as Full Range through to Treble Booster where it can be deployed as an augmented volume and where you also access a four-way switch to progressively cut the lows, and a guitar pickup impedance simulator so that the boost and the fuzz reacts perfectly without having to place the Full Story at the beginning of your chain. There is a further internal trim-pot to manually adjust the Impedance.
This is a strictly Limited Edition Release of just 250 pieces - where you get two separate boxes, one with the Pedal in it, and the other with the additional Tone Cards. Two Tone Cards are already slotted into the pedal and so the remaining 5 are in the second box - while there is a dedicated slot in the box for all 7 varieties. Alex hints that we may very likely see further Tone Cards introduced at some stage too.
For now you get a beautifully elegant package of pedal and 7 Tone Cards all for the princely sum of €350. These will surely sell out pretty quickly so I guess you need to get your skates on! Needless to say I've of course already secured one for the reference collection - and I look forward to my forthcoming hands-on review once my unit lands. They're not expected to land much before August! Only available courtesy of the Anasounds Webstore - don't sleep on this release or you will surely miss-out!
Anasounds have a knack for doing these superb 'packages' and the attention to detail here is the high standard we've come to expect of Anasounds. I personally typically like an additional Mids control for my Big Muffs, while I feel the Boost / Treble Booster element is going to achieve largely the same sort of impact.
I'm really looking forward for this to touch down - are any of you Muff fans as excited by this release? For me it's the perfect cross between the JA Modular Fuzz and the JHS Mufuletta - with extra flavour generated via the independent germanium boost.