Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (Reissue)

3 knobs. I was able to get the sound I wanted within seconds at the store.

This is the black Russian Muff. I spent a long time researching fuzz pedals to see which one would give be a thick nuggets-era fuzz, and allow me to use controlable feedback, and this does both. I played some others, but this is excactly what I was looking for, and at a great price to boot. It's certainly not "pristine sound quality," but that's the point. Able to produce great thrift-store buzz like Beck, and raucious feedback peels a la Syd Barrett, but also usable stum-fuzz like Jeff Mangum.

I've had it for about six months, so I'm not qualified here.

don't know

I play psych-pop/fuzz-folk, and that's what this pedal does. I've been playing for 9 years. I don't consider myself a guitar player, I'm just a musician who happens to play guitar a lot, so I can't speak for you strict guitar-o-philes. They probably have some digital Line-6 pedal or 60's fuzz-face with transistors made out of condor-teeth or something anyway. But it helps me make music, and that is what matters. I wish it had an adaptor plug, but I can live without one.

Well it has three knobs (volume/sustain/tone) so its pretty easy to get your sound out of it.

At first i didnt really like this big muff. It was way to blurry/muddy. But after a few days using it and trying a few settings i found the sound i wanted. I play alot of smashing pumpkins, nirvana and silverchair. Billy Corgan uses an old one (must be the us version though). A little note here: its not a pure distortion pedal, i think its more of a sustainer then a distortion pedal. I used it in combination with my Boss DS2 and man, the tone is brutal! Very very fuzzy so you can use it as a fuzz box too!

Its absolutely reliable. Its build like a tank (its russian so who knows :p). Knobs do look a little bit fragile but who cares... id definately gig without a backup...

When i got the pedal it didnt have a 9V connector so i was kind of worried about that. I contacted EHX through email and got a reply within two or three days. Very quick...


And no, it doesnt have a 9V connector, so you have to use batteries...

Good pedal, built like a tank. I bet it doesnt fit in anyones effectcase cause its huge!! Its great for dark tones, or in combination with another distortion pedal. Also, if you use a stratocaster and you dont really like the distortion that comes out of your amp you should buy this effectbox, it adds alot of sustain! If i lost it id be bummed, but probably id buy the usa version next time. There also seems to be a "double muff" so id go for that one :D... never the less, if you can get your hands on it for a descent price id go for it!

Now here is the catch Ease of use it is stupid simple looking but you have to mess with it a little to find its place in your chain on your pedal board as well as your amplifier setting, once found mark it and leave it for your rig and amplifier it is set!! If using another amplifier and setup it may need to be tweaked again!!

Depending on what amp you?re running this through it has its own sound!
I have the Flat Black frosted Russian model I picked it up at a local Pawn shop for $20.00.
I am running it through a BUDDA Verb~Master 18 Watt 4x10 Amplifier and it simply kicks ass.
I have Three Srtatocasters with various different sets of single coil pickups from Fender custom shop Texas specials to Rio Grand Muy Grande Tall boys and Half Breed!!
I have a Telecaster with a Kinman lead pickup and a Believe it or not GFS Austin Mini humbucker in the neck position This mini bucker is the Sweetest Mini Humbucker I have ever installed into a guitar and cheep in price too, Guitarfetish on Ebay sells them works great on a Tele!!
I also own a 1980 Les Paul with Seymour Duncan Seth lover in the neck and a Covered JB in the bridge; I have an ES-335 with SD Seth lovers in both positions!!
A various array of Pedals and a slew of amplifiers!!
My opinion as far as what pickup sounds best with this pedal is a Humbucker hands down! Power Cord heaven and leads with the JB sound screaming I can dial in a lower sustain on the Muff and get that Dickey Betts and Marshall tucker Les Paul lead adding a Boss EQ helps to fine tune this sound to a Tee!

On the road Dependability?
First thing I would replace is the Cheesy Plastic input output jacks, and yes this can be done with a fine tip soldering iron and some wire and good metal jacks also a steady hand helps!!
Go through it and look for cold joints and tighten things up also install a true bypass setup with a 9v adapter!!
No pedal is dependable Cheep or Expensive they break when you don?t need them to!!
(Always have a backup, you don?t have one the FX Elves will get you trust me, or some Ass Hole with a pitcher of beer will have a bead on you walking to there table!!)

Never had to use it!! and I don't Speak Russian!!

R&R, Blues, Metal, Jazz and country 25+ years!
Over the years had lots of stuff some I wish I never got rid of!!
Nothing to compare it with Fuzz Face is a piece of Trash in my opinion! This box is a BIG MUFF!
Has a Usefulness like all pedals but if you are a sloppy player it will let every body know it!!

I had an original early 70's Muff Way back when (JEEZ I FEEL OLD!!)
And I hated it, but I had a EH Electric mistress at the time too and That was the best Damn flanger I owned!

very easy to use, level adjusts volume, susutain adjusts sustain/distortion, and tone adjusts the tone. easy to find yr sound. very easy to find the mudhoney sound ;)

i use this with a strat, a doubble fat strat, a p-pickup bass, and a gretsch electromatic bass. it sounds good on all of 'em, it does what it is supposed to, distorts and sustains. on bass you can make it sound kinda like a synth sound.

hell yeah its dependable! little black box, easy to kick the knobs out of setting if you don't look where you step, but whatever. if you're wild then rig up a guard like on them little dano pedals so you dont f-it up. i have read some complaints about the plastic inputs but i have had no problem with them, inputs are really easy to replace if they ever broke so don't let that deter you.

never had to...

this is a good pedal, i like a variety of distortions and this is good by itself or used in the next level up with another distortion pedal. i love to kick my boss overdrive/distortion on and then throw the muff on top and rock my soul to pieces. it also makes great feedback if you crank it up!

This is for the Russian Green pedal. Very easy to use, and alot more tones available than most people think.

Totally disregard that earlier review saying these pedals sound bad and aren't rare. Its a freakin Big Muff. They have their own sound, if you don't like it, get a different pedal. This pedal can do anything from Black Sabbath (Guitar and Bass), Pink Floyd, Grunge, Santana, you name it. Yeah it does not sound like a distortion pedal or an overdrive or a metal pedal. It sounds like classic Hard Rock Fuzz. I really like my Russian Green pedal, I have tried out several at shops over the years and never got sold on one, till I found this one. The tone knob sweeps from very bassy to bass-middy to middy trebly to trebly punky. Just a slight turn gives you quite a bit of variation. Alot of people have said this pedal is made for singing leads but does not work for power chords. What the heck?? All I use mine for is power chords and riffs. I don't actually like the lead sound as much as the power chord sound. It just nails that dark angry Sabbath tone from Master of Reality. I don't know where else you can get that kind of sound. No digital processors can get that.

Pretty tough.

I play rock and instrumental music. I am a Stomp Distortion Box freak. I have at least 10 different ones for different applications. Real Tube OD, Tube Screamer, Sonic Distortion, Grunge, Wasabi OD... Most of them can be made to sound like one another to some extent. This one is in a class all by itself, I can't get this sound any other way.

The three knobs are straight forward and easy to use. I spent about an hour fooling about with it to find some good settings.

I play a rickenbacker 650 through a fender DeVille combo. This pedal sounds GREAT. With the sustain cranked up and the tone a little above half way, you can get great sounding bar chords and leads. It's more versatile than a fuzz face, and with a bit of adjustment, you can just the sounds you want. I'm not into metal, but you can definitely get that sound with this pedal. My guitar doesn't produce a lot of noise, but even so, I am surprised by how little noise i get when it's cranked up. If you're looking for long sustain, this is DEFINITELY your pedal. You can also turn the knob down a bit and get a nice distortion sound that let's your guitar's tone cut through.
Also, it sounds fantastic in front of some light chorus.

I'd use it without a backup. It's a very solid little thing. The battery seems to live a long life. I wouldn't hit it with a baseball bat if i were you, but other than that it's not gonna break.

Never had to deal with them.

I play rock and alternative rock. I usually play clean, but this is a perfect pedal for when i need some big sounding powerchords or solos. If it was stolen, i'd be very sad. I really don't have the kind of money to just go get another one right away, but i'd definitely get another one as soon as possible. My favorite part is the tone knob. Moving it about and adjusting the EQ on my amp, i can really get a good variety of fuzzy or slightly funky tones. I love the sustain, so smooth sounding. I'd like it to have a switch to scoop at the mids, but nothing's perfect. I was recently recording a song using some mild overdrive, and it sounded good but really was just lacking that special something which can make a song. I put my guitar through this pedal instead, and it sounded great. Full, expressive, and pretty dirty, if you want it.
Lovable, hateable, it's really all a matter of opinion. All i can say is that I highly recommend this fuzzbox.

This review is for the green russian big muff. Easy to "use" getting a good sound is another thing.

This is the worst big muff ever built. If you pay more than $40 for one you are a fool, because that's what I paid for mine brand new in 1993 and it wasn't on sale. These sound god awfull. They can barely play two notes at once. They are also NOT rare in the least. There are hundreds of thousands of them out there. There are way more of these than dod grunge and even vintage bigmuff pedals in the world. They are common don't believe the hype. A local music store used to pay $10 for them and had a stack of hundreds in the back. This is like the metal lunch box fad. a few people buy as many as they can find for nothing then artificialy boost the price claiming they are rare. If this is rare than so is your stryper tape!

It will dependably sound like a wet fart.

Looks cooler than a road kill or dod pedals. To bad it sounds worse! Don't say tonesnob didn't tell you so foolish child!

you will spend 30 minutes to get a god sound

My setup: fender strat plus u.s.a./cry baby wah/big muff sobtek(black paint)/small stone Sobtek/Dunlop rotovibe/boss delay, chorus, flanger/marshall valvestate 8080
Sound quality:Is the best fuzz/distortion I have played in 10 years.I dont like boss distortion pedals like metal zone/ hevy metal/distortion. I like rat and z vex fuzz Too.
I can play my strato with a chili peppers sound and when y turn on my Big Muff it sound like Kyuss or queens of stone age guitar sound.Then My strato sounds like a Les paul with a lot of sustain and become in a realy fat monster. You can sound like the doors, sonic youth, Kyuss, queen`s of the stone age, king crimson, hendrix, smashing punkins, primus.
I have a big fat sound with more personality than boss pedals.

Is god I never have a problem with it in a gig.

I`m from Argentina.....Forget it.

I play funky psicodelic indie and dark mixture. I have playing for about 10 years an the last 5 I have played with my big muff. This fuzz help me to sound more personal, heavy , raw and strange than others stomp box that i have trayed.
If it were stolen I will try to find the same big muff because is the only distortion with I can sound like me.

very easy to use. nothing really to discuss. three knobs; volume, sustain, tone. tweak those knobs to get dirty leads to thick distortion.

my set up is; G&L Legacy with emg sa-dd6 digital delay-mxr dyna comp-big muff-ds1 distortion- fender deluxe. this is the distortion i have been looking for. of course i am always evolving, but at this stage in my evolution, this is awesome. my boss distortion is great, but i got to say, for what i was looking for, the big muff is it. it is pretty noisy, but all distortions are, and for a distortion unit, it really isn't that bad. just as all the other ads and reviews say, you can dial up anything from classic to modern rock. for my style it is perfect. i am in a band and we do all origanal tunes and this unit is perfect. if you're into distortion\fuzz, this is your unit

it seems dependable, but the construction could have been a little better. it will defenatly go wherever i do

can't say

great unit!

So easy even a woman can work this thing.

I expected to get a fuzzier sound out of it. I couldnt get anywhere near to 'Siamese Dream' sounds or Mudhoney's 'Touch me I'm sick'.
I'm using a cheapo Epiphone strat knock-off and a Behringer Ultratwin 210 2x30W amp with this pedal. I'll buy a better guitar soon and will see if my opinion of this pedal will change with it. Sofar I am slightly disappointed.
I think I'll try a USA reissue as well soon.

Box and switch seem to be sturdy enough. Input/output jacks not so good. Battery compartment is a joke.
Talking about batteries, this baby drained a brand new battery within a week while it was not in use/ switched off!! NOT COOL! Now I have to unplug battery after use. Jees.
Like I said, I'm gonna try the USA version. Should easily beat this POS when it come to quality.

I guess I should e-mail them.
We'll see.

Nothing to add.
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