Wren and Cuff worked hard to gain their reputation as 'Muff masters' by literally hand-wiring hundreds of Muffs and Muff-related pedals and they pride themselves on truly digging into the vintage units they recreate and go to great lengths to duplicate all aspects of the original circuits to the best of their ability. After all the Muff type pedals built under their brand, the Tall Font Russian was the toughest pedal to nail. While most guitar players consider the old Russian 'Civil War' fuzz pedals to be the absolute best, there is also a group that prefers the first green Tall Font Muff pedals (with the screws on the side) built in Russia. After a precise investigation, Wren and Cuff found that both versions are very similar in tone, parts, and values. Very close. But the highs are more present and clearer in the Tall Fonts resulting in an openness in the highs unique to this pedal. They're generally not as dark sounding, which gives them a slight gritty edge and a rudeness, which is not found in the 'Civil War' Muffs. The tested vintage units all had some inconsistencies in the used parts and even the pots, so Wren and Cuff went with one particularly sweet sounding pedal and matched the gains as closely as possible by using a mix of transistors and an important biasing resistor and a capacitor that were a much different value than stated on the components and schematic. Each Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian features specially modified pots that are responsible for keeping the low-mid range from getting to mucky and which are also a factor in the more over-drive type quality these Russians can produce. This boxy-growl also helps make them particularly great on bass, and fantastic for growling, raunchy, less friendly guitar tones with a nasty snarl. The lows have an overdriven compression that keeps things tight, and the highs have a rich upper-harmonic thing going on that'll make one understand the affection some have for this pedal. The mids have the standard Muff-scoop but it is not as pronounced as some of the other generations. Add to that a less gainy / fuzzy tone overall and you end up with a unique Muff with a character all its own.
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video (Bass) - Bass Stuff
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video - Mike Hermans
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video - gearmanndude
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video - musictoyznetwork
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video (Bass) - TheSoundOfRescue
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo / Review Video (Bass) - GuitarChimp
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video (Bass) - bassfuzzcom
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video - Iga Massardi
Wren and Cuff Tall Font Russian - Demo Video - ProGuitarShopDemos