Smallsound/Bigsound Mini
This is the Smallsound/Bigsound Mini. These have not been made for a while now.
They retailed at $180, but the used market often sees them sold for over $300.
Let me start by saying that the hype is real. This pedal is as good as people claim it is,
and when you have to spend $300 to get one, you can consider it money well spent.
People will tell you it works as a clean boost, as a low gain overdrive, as a high gain overdrive and as a fuzz. Furthermore they will claim that it does all these things exceptionally well, in fact so well that they cannot really say they prefer one thing over the others.
I want to say all these claims are true, or at least I want to say that my experience with the Mini is the same.
You have Volume and Gain (big knobs), and Bias, Bass and Treble (smaller knobs).
The bias knob does bias the clipping stage, bass is a bass knob pre clipping and treble is passive (cut only) post clipping.
The real magic, however, happens in the interplay with gain and bias, and that is surprisingly easy to set. I don’t know if you’re old enough to have experienced an old school radio, one with a frequency knob – but the bias knob feels a lot like that. You turn the knob and there’s static, you turn a bit more and suddenly, there it is – of course did you not react fast enough and went over it, but you carefully turn it back now and easily find it. You do something similar with bias. Turn it a bit ANDTHEREITIS oops, too far, carefully back one or two increments and bam.
No matter how much amount of grain you select to blast into your signal, the Mini is one of those pedals that sounds fine at home and while not giving you a glorious bedroom tone with magic sparkles on top, it certainly gives you a great bedroom tone. However, throw it into a mix and you realize that’s where it belongs and that’s what it’s made for. In a mix this thing simply kills.
If you came here with your mind not made up whether or not you should buy a SS/BS Mini and you’re still looking for a sign: This is it. This is the sign. Buy the Mini.