Siren Pedals Midnight Train Fuzz

The controls

The Midnight Train keeps the classic three-knob Big Muff layout, with a Mids switch added on top¹²:

The Mids switch is the pedal's addition to the stock circuit. Pedal of the Day called it "the secret weapon here is the Mids toggle switch, a much-welcomed addition to an already fantastic pedal"², and gearnews.com's Jef described it as letting you "choose between stock, low-mid bump or high-mid bump setting"¹. That matters because the original Civil War Big Muffs "can be heavy on the bass frequencies and also squash the mids"³, so the switch gives players a way to add midrange back in where the original design cuts it.

Beyond the controls, gearnews.com noted that all three launch pedals have "pedalboard friendly top-mounted jacks" and that each unit gets its own unique and intricate artwork¹.

Where the circuit comes from

The Midnight Train is based on the Civil War Big Muff, an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff variant. Kit Rae's Big Muff timeline explains the name: it is "Commonly referred to as the 'Civil War' Big Muff for the blue and gray US Civil War colors used"⁴. Anasounds' history of the Big Muff traces the variant to the Red Army Overdrive, "which became the Civil War version of the Muff a year later"⁵, and notes the nickname came from the pedal's two colors, light blue for the Union uniform and gray for the Confederate uniform⁵. gearnews.com gives the same account of the blue and gray paint job recalling the North and South⁶.

The design has been revisited by other builders as well, such as Buffalo FX's Patriot MkII, another boutique Civil War Big Muff fuzz²¹, so the Midnight Train is one of several modern takes on the same voicing.

Fuzz or distortion?

The Midnight Train is a fuzz pedal: Premier Guitar's launch piece called it "a fuzz pedal"⁷, and gearnews.com likewise reported that "the new Midnight Train is a fuzz pedal"¹. Pedal of the Day placed it in the wider fuzz/distortion family, noting "there are many companies who produce their individual takes on these excellent fuzz/distortions"², and pointed out that the Fuzz knob was labeled Distortion on the original Big Muffs². In practice it is a Big Muff-style fuzz, a circuit that blurs the line between the two categories.

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