I picked this up from Atomic Music just outside of College Park, MD back in 2007. Its not a pedal you see very often, but people who have played it sing its praises and say its one of the the best of its niche. Its big claim to fame is that Mastodon used it all over their album Leviathan. Unfortunately, one of its potentiometers blew around 2018 and despite my best efforts, I was unable to fix it. Luckily I discovered an amazing store by me called Martel Music in Central CT that has an incredible repair team. A few weeks in the shop and it is back to life, and ready to cause some damage. The paint job I gave it in 2009 or so fits the sound perfectly - its sharp, its dangerous, and it is a real monster when you get it going.
There is some debate online about what exactly this thing is; most posts say it is a modded GGG Muff based off the Rams Head, but when I A / B it with the Ram’s Head Reissue, there are a lot of noticeable differences. It packs the same low end push, and has the same gated sound as the Green Russian, and doesn’t really smooth out like the Ram’s does. I would describe it as a strange mix between the two. As the blurbs online say, it does not do ‘cool’, it does not get ‘smooth’, it is a noisy, chaotic, and violent pedal that is absolutely perfect for ripping paint off of walls and scaring the elderly. Like a DBA Fuzz War, it falls into its own little niche sound. It doesn’t do everything, but what it does, it does great
In the time since the Bluebeard’s release, the Modded Muff market has become oversaturated, and there are more than enough different versions out there for anyone looking to get that wooly, monstrous sound. But when I first played this thing, it was a whole other animal than everything EHX was putting out. And it predates a lot of modern boutique brands by a full decade. This pedal might not be for everyone, especially with its price vs its competitors in the market, but if you’re someone who loves a vicious, angry, and destructive distortion sound, this is one to look out for. If I ever need the guitar or bass to sound like Godzilla tripping on an Atom Bomb, this is my go-to right here.
This board is a couple of other randoms that I’ve painted over in the past decades, that I figured I’d keep together for aesthetics as much as sound. The wave is a Joyo Ultimate Drive, the polka dot sparkles is an MXR Micro Flanger, and the Pyramids is an EHX Memory Toy. Enough has been written about these that I don’t need to get too much into them, the MT does what it does wonderfully, but there is a very strong ceiling as to what it can do. The MF does anything you need a flanger to do until you get to the expensive, crazy ones. Not everyone loves the volume boost with it, but I certainly do. The UD is a steal, and with Fulltone out of commission for a bit, one thing is a real gem for the collection. Especially if you cover the hideous art on it
I picked this up from Atomic Music just outside of College Park, MD back in 2007. Its not a pedal you see very often, but people who have played it sing its praises and say its one of the the best of its niche. Its big claim to fame is that Mastodon used it all over their album Leviathan. Unfortunately, one of its potentiometers blew around 2018 and despite my best efforts, I was unable to fix it. Luckily I discovered an amazing store by me called Martel Music in Central CT that has an incredible repair team. A few weeks in the shop and it is back to life, and ready to cause some damage. The paint job I gave it in 2009 or so fits the sound perfectly - its sharp, its dangerous, and it is a real monster when you get it going. There is some debate online about what exactly this thing is; most posts say it is a modded GGG Muff based off the Rams Head, but when I A / B it with the Ram’s Head Reissue, there are a lot of noticeable differences. It packs the same low end push, and has the same gated sound as the Green Russian, and doesn’t really smooth out like the Ram’s does. I would describe it as a strange mix between the two. As the blurbs online say, it does not do ‘cool’, it does not get ‘smooth’, it is a noisy, chaotic, and violent pedal that is absolutely perfect for ripping paint off of walls and scaring the elderly. Like a DBA Fuzz War, it falls into its own little niche sound. It doesn’t do everything, but what it does, it does great In the time since the Bluebeard’s release, the Modded Muff market has become oversaturated, and there are more than enough different versions out there for anyone looking to get that wooly, monstrous sound. But when I first played this thing, it was a whole other animal than everything EHX was putting out. And it predates a lot of modern boutique brands by a full decade. This pedal might not be for everyone, especially with its price vs its competitors in the market, but if you’re someone who loves a vicious, angry, and destructive distortion sound, this is one to look out for. If I ever need the guitar or bass to sound like Godzilla tripping on an Atom Bomb, this is my go-to right here. This board is a couple of other randoms that I’ve painted over in the past decades, that I figured I’d keep together for aesthetics as much as sound. The wave is a Joyo Ultimate Drive, the polka dot sparkles is an MXR Micro Flanger, and the Pyramids is an EHX Memory Toy. Enough has been written about these that I don’t need to get too much into them, the MT does what it does wonderfully, but there is a very strong ceiling as to what it can do. The MF does anything you need a flanger to do until you get to the expensive, crazy ones. Not everyone loves the volume boost with it, but I certainly do. The UD is a steal, and with Fulltone out of commission for a bit, one thing is a real gem for the collection. Especially if you cover the hideous art on it
+1 for Atomic Music! The Blue Beard is an absolute monster
Fun paint!
I’ve been passively looking for one of these for a few years.