i've had my eye on the muffuletta for a while. all the classic muff circuits in one pedal? seems like a no brainer - even if i end up using only one setting. but just having played it for a few minutes i feel like every circuit is unique and they are all useable. the russian setting has that nice dark smoothness to it, the rams head is rich and colorful, the civil war has awesome aggression and grit, the pi circuit has that over the top noisy character, the jhs setting actually stands out nicely having the power of the pi circuit without as much noise and some of the grit of the civil war setting, and i really dig the fat slab of the triangle fuzz. it'll be fun to see who comes out on top with my band rig.
i wasn't aware of the cheese ball until i started more seriously researching the muffuletta. this is a clone of the lovetone big cheese - a somewhat fabled fuzz from the 90s, now discontinued that will run you about a grand used. i pretty much instantly fell in love with this fuzz. it's got an interesting control setup where in addition to output, gain and tone you have 4 gain stage settings (off, 1, 2, 3). at the highest setting the fuzz starts to gate itself. having such a range is really nice for dialing in the sound you're looking for. this can be a very aggressive fuzz - brighter, grittier and noisier than a muff, but also very colorful and musical.
my intention was to use the muffuletta with the band and keep the cheese ball at home for bedroom playing, but it may end up happening the other way around - or they'll both end up on my band board. i'll have to have a shootout at my next practice on wednesday.
both pedals look and feel fantastic. i may have opened up a pandora's box for the fuzz world - they've quickly become my new favorite effect. but it seems these two will definitely meet my needs for the time being.
