# Big Muff Russian V8



## chongmagic (Sep 14, 2022)

I am modifying a friends Big Muff Pi, Russian version 8 and the wires are so frail that the LED broke off from the main circuit board. I am trying to find where they  connect. Where I have them now the LED just lights up always. Any help would be appreciated.

Like this one:


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## Robert (Sep 14, 2022)

It has been a _long_ time since I saw the inside of one of these in person.... a _long time._

It looks to me like _maybe_ this wire should go to an offboard current limiting resistor, to the LED anode, then LED cathode to the footswitch.


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## chongmagic (Sep 14, 2022)

Trying to find a schematic for this one, does Kitrae have one by chance?


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## Robert (Sep 14, 2022)

Yep, although the LED / bypass path is a little confusing to me.


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## chongmagic (Sep 14, 2022)

Yeah the wires are so fragile in this one, it is driving me crazy.


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## K Pedals (Sep 15, 2022)

Here’s the footswitch

Let me know if you need me to trace a wire…


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## HamishR (Sep 15, 2022)

It shouldn't be too hard. Just look for the подключение светодиода and then just впаять туда светодиод.  I guess you could размягчить проволоку водкой or переделывать все это дело. It's up to you. Doesn't sound too tricky to me.


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## ICTRock (Sep 15, 2022)

There may be some useful info here but I bet I didn't get detailed enough ...








						Sovtek Big Muff Restoration
					

I recently bought a Sovtek v8 6 screw Big Muff fuzz pedal in “as-is” condition off eBay. I paid $62.20 shipped which is normally “too much” for a restoration job, but this w…




					cultofack.wordpress.com
				











						Sovtek Big Muff Restoration Part 2
					

If you’re still following along from part 1, we’ve settled on restoring some aspects of the pedal while modifying others as we see fit. The first thing I did when I got the pedal in was…




					cultofack.wordpress.com
				




I do remember selling this and buying the ehx green reissue and a rat2 from sweetwater with the proceeds, then modding both of those. I still have them both and they're amazing. I'd like to get a set of the smaller sovtek knobs for the muff but can't justify spending almost $30 on knobs


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## chongmagic (Sep 15, 2022)

This version already has a 3pdt foot switch, it looks stock. I think they used silk for wiring never seen anything this fragile. Lol.

I am going to look back at it again tonight, I should have taken some pics but some stuff came up. It does sound great, just need to get the LED working. 

В Советской России вас освещает светодиод.


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## chongmagic (Sep 15, 2022)

This is exactly the one I am working on.


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## ICTRock (Sep 15, 2022)

yeah I assume the dpdt switch in the one I posted links to was part of some ham-fisted unsuccessful repair work as I bought it in non-working condition. It doesn't match the original or any sovtek I've had my hands on.


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## Robert (Sep 15, 2022)

I'm trying to wrap my head around this schematic....  particularly the LED / bypass wiring.

The way this is drawn the LED would be lit (and brightness controlled by the volume pot) when the effect is in bypass.

Am I missing something?   I'm assuming the throw is drawn on the wrong node, and should actually be on the point that goes to ground.


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## benny_profane (Sep 15, 2022)

Looks wrong to me as well. It doesn’t make sense to have to LED go to output in bypass. Definitely think the node should be on the ground point.

EDIT: Is it wired like that on all of the Kit Rae schematics?


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## ICTRock (Sep 15, 2022)

the LED switch in that schematic is incorrect. In bypass the LED goes to effect out and doesn't reach ground to complete the circuit ... also I don't believe they ground the circuit input while in bypass.


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## chongmagic (Sep 15, 2022)

So here is what I got, finally took some pics.

Trying to figure out where this wire should go on the footswitch?






And some wires broke off the footswitch itself.


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## K Pedals (Sep 15, 2022)

That first wire looks like ground
I bet it goes to the top middle lug…


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## Dan0h (Sep 15, 2022)

Well if you guys are posting nice muff shots I’ll join too… the actual reason I don’t mind spaghetti wires.


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## BryGuy (Sep 16, 2022)

I have a black muff like that. I never play the thing anymore because the whole thing seems fragile. Got it new back in the late 90s. Everything but the led still works fine. I don’t think mine has a 3pdt stomp but I’ll take a look when I get a chance.


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## chongmagic (Sep 17, 2022)

So the wires are so brittle I am going to have to rewire the foot switch. Some of the footswitch wiring is going to the center lugs of the volume and sustain pots. Is this for ground? These are 100k pots would they be A or B pots?


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## chongmagic (Sep 17, 2022)

Also here is the back side of the PCB.





It looks like a trace was cut to the input jack. I am guessing the pink wire goes to the LED since it was battery powered by OEM?


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## K Pedals (Sep 17, 2022)

chongmagic said:


> So the wires are so brittle I am going to have to rewire the foot switch. Some of the footswitch wiring is going to the center lugs of the volume and sustain pots. Is this for ground? These are 100k pots would they be A or B pots?


Yeah that would be ground I assume… They all used B pots…


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## ICTRock (Sep 17, 2022)

unless you're super attached to having the original wire in there, I would unsolder everything and properly trace the pads. you're correct that the output jack trace shouldn't be cut like that and it appears there was some sort of repair or mod done there


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## ICTRock (Sep 17, 2022)

chongmagic said:


> So here is what I got, finally took some pics.
> 
> Trying to figure out where this wire should go on the footswitch?
> 
> ...


the wire you pointed out on the PCB should be the ground lug wire ... should go to the nut and screw on the chassis. on my resto, it looks like I used it for power supply ground


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## BryGuy (Sep 17, 2022)

Hopefully you got this sorted out. If not maybe this will help. Did this kind of quick so hopefully it makes sense.


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## Locrian99 (Sep 17, 2022)

Did they switch over to the 3pdt later in manufacturing.   I’ve got a pretty early 6 screw and it just has the dpdt switch.


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## chongmagic (Sep 19, 2022)

Locrian99 said:


> Did they switch over to the 3pdt later in manufacturing.   I’ve got a pretty early 6 screw and it just has the dpdt switch.



Doing some more research on this, it appears they did switch over to a 3dpt switch in the later versions. It appears that the trace was cut during manufacturing. 

I found this document online showing how to convert to true bypass. 





I am going to give this a go, it looks a little different from how it was wired OEM but it seems this one has been used quite a bit.


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## Feral Feline (Sep 19, 2022)

Please post a link to the doc. 
Cheers in advance


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## chongmagic (Sep 19, 2022)

chongmagic said:


> Doing some more research on this, it appears they did switch over to a 3dpt switch in the later versions. It appears that the trace was cut during manufacturing.
> 
> I found this document online showing how to convert to true bypass.
> 
> ...


Not sure why the screenshot didn't show up. Here is the link.



			https://singlecoil.com/docs/russian_muff.pdf


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## Locrian99 (Sep 19, 2022)

They are getting somewhat collectible, I was just going to make one up on vero with true bypass and and a mids switch.   Leave mine be.   But I do need to replace the battery snap.


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## Feral Feline (Sep 19, 2022)

"Getting"? 😺

If by the rise in prices and rise in number of people collecting them in the last 10 years... Yes!

Would love to have an original Black Russian. 😻


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## ICTRock (Sep 19, 2022)

Locrian99 said:


> They are getting somewhat collectible, I was just going to make one up on vero with true bypass and and a mids switch.   Leave mine be.   But I do need to replace the battery snap.


The black Russian muff is actually one of the longest running revisions of the circuit and ostensibly there's plenty of them around. That doesn't factor in perceived value, which is arbitrary and in my opinion very much inflated


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## Locrian99 (Sep 19, 2022)

I didn’t pay much attention to gear value for many years like 03-21.   I had my stuff and didn’t look for anything else.   Recently I’ve gotten back into it.   I’ve had mine since 2000, love it great little pedal I was pretty shocked when I saw it was worth more than 50$.   No point in altering it when I can just make one with the two mods I want cheap on some vero board.


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## K Pedals (Sep 19, 2022)

ICTRock said:


> The black Russian muff is actually one of the longest running revisions of the circuit and ostensibly there's plenty of them around. That doesn't factor in perceived value, which is arbitrary and in my opinion very much inflated


They’ve definitely gone up since I last checked…


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## Feral Feline (Sep 19, 2022)

Part of the reason I got into DIY: to make the pedals I cannot/would-not pay for. 

When ICTRock said the BR is one of the longest running revisions, I wondered if that meant extended beyond EHX to the clones — a quick spelunk of Kit Rae's site and ...
Whoah! I thought the BR was produced late 70's to maybe mid '80s, but right up to 2000!? Yeah, even before that factoid impacted my brain I thought ALL the old Muffs are way overpriced — but the market dictates ... just like a '59LP which I have a hard time accepting can fetch more than the price of the average house.


Anyway, regardless of price I love to see anything old appreciated and brought back from the brink of death such as Chongmagic's V8.


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## chongmagic (Sep 20, 2022)

So I decided to completely re-wire this thing. I am not sure if I am going to replace the pots or not, I guess I should. But the OEMS still work appear to be in tolerance. 

Putting in a Gorva 3pdt and drilled a hole for DC adapter, probably going to keep the battery connection. Hopefully it will all go back together again!


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## ICTRock (Sep 20, 2022)

chongmagic said:


> So I decided to completely re-wire this thing. I am not sure if I am going to replace the pots or not, I guess I should. But the OEMS still work appear to be in tolerance.
> 
> Putting in a Gorva 3pdt and drilled a hole for DC adapter, probably going to keep the battery connection. Hopefully it will all go back together again!


this is the better way because you get a more sane wiring of the LED and the ability to ground the circuit input in bypass plus the flexibility of having external 9v power.

also, unless those pots are really shot, it is better to keep them because the oddball shafts means that those Sovtek knobs are equally oddball. of course you can sell those to some grateful Sovtek Mig owner as well ...


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## chongmagic (Sep 24, 2022)

So I have this thing all wired up and working, however the LED is on in bypass mode and off when the effect is working.

Here is how I wired the 3pdt switch.

Should I move the LED wires down to the bottom lug?


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## Robert (Sep 24, 2022)

Why do you have two LED wires going to that lug? 

Where do the two wires go?


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## chongmagic (Sep 24, 2022)

One goes the the CLR and the other to the actual LED.

Can I just wire one to the actual LED?


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## jimilee (Sep 24, 2022)

chongmagic said:


> One goes the the CLR and the other to the actual LED.
> 
> Can I just wire one to the actual LED?


Yes


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## Feral Feline (Sep 24, 2022)

If the green wire on lug 7 (top right corner) is ground, move it to Lug 9 (bottom right) — that'll flip when the LED is on/off.


Just to clarify, if you run one wire to the LED, where is your CLR going to be? You need it somewhere on the LED, either before (leading to the anode) or after (on the cathode).


[Edit] The voice of reason is below.


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## Robert (Sep 24, 2022)

What you want is a wire coming from 9V going to the CLR, the other end of the CLR to the positive side of the LED, the negative side of the LED to that center lug of the PCB.


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## Robert (Sep 24, 2022)

I suspect that you have something like this right now:





This is what you actually want:


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## Feral Feline (Sep 24, 2022)




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## chongmagic (Sep 24, 2022)

Robert said:


> I suspect that you have something like this right now:
> 
> View attachment 32836
> 
> ...


I suck at schematics, I will look at it and try to figure it out.


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## Robert (Sep 24, 2022)




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## chongmagic (Sep 25, 2022)

Got it working thanks for everyone's help!

Rewired it completely, added a new 3pdt switch, LED, and added a DC jack. This thing sounds great, I hate to give it back! I guess I will just need to build a clone now.









						New item by Jonathan Freeman
					






					photos.app.goo.gl
				












						New item by Jonathan Freeman
					






					photos.app.goo.gl


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