Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (Reissue)

It has three knobs(Volume, Sustain, and Tone), all large enough to be used by barefeet if neccisary(sp). in my opinion there is no way to get a bad sound out of it. However, it is my experience that when the sustain is all the way down(to the left) there is no note. I assume this is because the note does not sustain at all when the sustain is gone. Slightly annoying so it loses one point.

Can you really judge the sound quality of this? It does what it was made to do, which is to make a guitar signal bend to the power of the big muff.
I use this with my bass(hamer short scale) and it is probably the most fun thing to use as far as bass effects go. The tone knob is very very very morphagious, in other words tone all the way down is just pure bass tone mayhem, and it starts to get sharper and lose its punch the higher you go up, but it still sounds reallly F***in cool no matter where the tone is.

BTW, I'm using the Black reissue 'cause i think it sounds much less trebely and contained than the NYC one, My belief is that a fuzz box should not be completly controlable, thats part of the appeal. I would choose the black one over the sliver one everytime.

As it does as a distortion/sustainer, well i wish my girlfriend was as dirty as the tone this beast puts out and the sustain is a good minute long at full.

If its true that it was made out of old Soviet/Russian tanks i think its reliable, but then again I don't ever remember someone talking about the outstanding strength of Soviet/Russian tanks either.
I have to gig without a backup because I don't have another one.

Never dealt with them, since I bought this used.

I play QOTSA fuzzy heavy rock, old school punk/ punk era music (Misfits, Richard Hell and The Voidoids, etc.) and Pixies style loud/soft music. The Muff Fits all of them, although depending on the style it is used more sparingly(loud/soft) or almost all the time(fuzz rock). This will fit more or less into pretty much any style of music, with the possible exception of Easy Listening. Bottom line, I absolutly Love this Muff!

Simple to use, as has been said. Three knobs, one footswitch, though the input and output jack sockets are backwards, that's not too much a problem.

This is the current Sovtek (Russian) reissue in a plastic-coated aluminium (I think) casing.
I've been after a particular buzzing and sharp distortion sound for a while now, taking note of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd's sounds on parts of The Wall.
This pedals does it all thankfully - it has a nice trebly sound with the tone knob turned all the way clockwise which with a bit of phase gets you the Another Brick Part 2 chorus sound. Perfect.
It obviously does a lot more and thankfully there's no unwanted noise - keeping the volume knob at a reasonable level that is.
With a bit of compression this fits into an effect line beautifully.

It does need to be stressed again that this pedal has a very distinctive sound, and really ought to be one of many in a guitarist's setup.
I like the idea of having more than one distortion type at my disposal and this one cuts through the others for a nice, tidy and occasionally muffly sound. It growls.
I'd recommend a bit of reverb to add space to it though, as it's dry sounds only seem to work within a wet mix.
It's also great fun for the Bass, any Muse fans will find what they're after here.

Choose your sounds carefully peeps.

It's pretty bloody reliable. As mentioned earlier, it seems to have heavy plastic-based paint over thin metal, so it's a little stronger than it looks.
I'm not into stamping full-blooded onto my pedals, but I'm sort of confident this one would manage.
I would use this at a gig, though I'd be weary of technical hitches, you can never be sure. It's very distinctive though, so I'd be happy enough given it's build and value for money.

I've not had any dealings with Electro-Harmonix, but I got a small folded warrenty card with this one, though I didn't sent it off just after purchase, so I'm fudged.
Still... ho-hum.

This fits my musical styles and aspirations and is easily my favorite distortion. It's an acquired taste though, some people won't like it's harsh, buzzing sound.
If you're after the 70's Floyd sounds then go for it, if you want metally shinanigans then go for something a little more obvious. Boss do plenty to cater for that stuff.

It's cheaper and harsher than the US reissue, but I've no major gripes with it.

Really easy to get awesome tone outta this thing. Just sit there and play with the 3 knobs till you get it right.

'61 Gibson SG reissue->Muff->40w Pignose Tube amp. I too have a green soviet model of this pedal. It's really easy to coax an awesome soud from this pedal. Great sustain, smooth compression, and screaming distortion.It's raw, but then again that's the point of distortion....

I had it for 6 years without any problems, then one day it just stopped working. There is no visible damage to circuit board, and all wires are okay too. It will pass the sound through the peal, just no switching the effect on. I'm going to change the switch soon to see if that is the case, but for the 56$ I paid it's really reliable.

From what I hear don't bother with EH support.

If i lost it I'd get a new one. Mine is busted right now and I'm in the process of getting a new one. When the other one is fixed then I'll have 2!!! I'm in a Hard Rock 70's styled Glam Rock band so it helps get that ballsy 70's rock tone that other pedals just cant get. I've played pedals from 30 bucks to 400 and the Muff tops them all.

Has three knobs, and I found the sound I wanted pretty quickly.

I'm using a Gibson SG Standard, from guitar to amp my effect chain goes like this Dunlop Cry Baby -> Boss CS-3 Compressor/Sustaner (Japan) -> Big Muff Pi (Russia) -> Boss BF-2 flanger (Japan) -> ISP Tech Decimator noise reduction pedal -> Guyatone MD-3 delay -> Crate GX-15 practice amp or Marshall VS100 half-stack. The Big Muff overall is pretty quiet by itself I think, when the compressor/sustainer comes into play it's a job for my ISP :) The Big Muff certainly isn't for everybody, but I get THE sound I was looking for, it just sizzles. Like one guy said you can get a early Black Sabbath type of sound out of this thing. Something I would like to point out is there is no AC jack, but I am amazed at the battery life of this unit. I play a LOT of guitar, many many hours everyday. I'm still using the same 9volt Energizer battery I put in it two or three weeks ago! Ohh, and in reply to the guy that said it made his Dunlop wah sound like a cheap volume pedal: Yep, it will.. I have to assume you put it before the wah. Any distortion pedal will make a wah sound exactly like "a cheap volume pedal" or "synthy" coming before the wah.

So far it has been reliable, but I can hear something is loose rattling around inside it... so I just don't know at this point. I really don't like the "feel" and the crunch sound it makes when you plug the cables in. It feels kind of cheap and hollow. It has worked great for the whole month duration I have owned it. So, I'm kind of right in the middle when it comes to determining the reliability. It'll be just my luck, it'll break the day after the warranty ends.

I play mostly hard rock with some classic elements, so my distortion sound is key, and I have been very picky about finding the one for me. I probably went through a dozen different units before I found this one that I consider to be "the one". I wanted that chunky sizzly fuzzed out sound; kinda a Mudhoney sound, and that is what I got. Overall, I love it, I am very happy with it.

Three knobs. All described before... How could it be easier and remain versatile? Only wish it had adaptor jack, but you can plug adaptor to battery socket, because it has stands... Nice.

My steup is:
Squier Strat >> Big Muff Pi (RU) >> George Dennis GD60 (Wah) >> Custom amp (AC-30 preamp, 2xel34 power amp into Weber Silver Ten & Weber Blue Pup)
The sound could be describe as great. If you want that tone Edge (U2) had during solo in Sydney on Love Is Blidness, get this pedal. If you like fuzzy distortion with lows, deep lows, get this pedal. I set the sustain three o'clock, volume at 12 o'clock and tone to 8 o'clock. Great for fuzzy rhytms or smooth leads. I love this pedal. Ultimate pedal for me. Essential for my sound.

It doesn't feel as safe as USA RI looks but... I baby my pedals... common if it broke down it could be a bad one or all Ru's are crappy.

I have never dealt with them, and I hope I'll never have to.

The style I play depends on songs. Certain songs are rock'n'roll, some are jazzy, some are bluesy, some are more folk-like... Generally I could compare our sound to U2 a bit. Pedal is really great in my gear. I will buy Deluxe Memory Man and will rebuild my Boss BD-2 to TS-808. Anyway, I use Big Muff on three songs and will you it more. I love it, really. I only wish it had an adaptor jack.

It only has 3 knobs, but you can get a muddy crappy tone if you dont have the settings set correctly.. depending on the application of course.

My setup is PRS Tremonti SE->BOSS TU2 Chromatic Tuner->Crybaby wah->big muff->Randall RG100SC. I use this as both a solo boost and for rhythm, but usually just use the Randalls onboard distortion for rythm if the particular song has palm mutes. In saying that, this thing was not designed for pop punk or nu metal type stuff because it doesnt have that whoosh sound you get when palm muting. Anyway, Ive found that this pedal has an amazing tone, i love this thing. It also makes my solid state Randall sound like it has tubes if you set the settings right. And even sounds better when the amp is cranked?? weird.. and its solid state.

Actually, I was a little displeased with the quality build of this thing. Although the box it came in was really cool, this pedal feels like its made out of cheap plastic. Just doesnt feel sturdy and metallic like dunlop crybaby wahs do for example.

I cant answer this yet.

I play rock.. and well, a lotta different stuff. And like I said, this wouldnt be a good pedal for any type of music that consist mainly of palm mutes so that kind of lowers its over all versatility. But I dont mind since I usually use this as a solo boost. Ive been playing for I guess around 4 years, other gear I own is a Fender 4x12 which I havent run this thing into yet but im sure it would sound great. For its price of roughly $50 you CAN NOT go wrong.. I fell in love with this thing as soon as I got it.. you can go from a classic clapton lead to a korn rhythm if you set the settings correctly.

on/off
input and output
3 knobs, volume, sustain (gain), and tone. pretty easy. whoever rated ease of use a 3, is a moron.

Great sound, better than the USA Big Muff RI (soundwise). It can be nasty and fuzzy or smooth and creamy. It can be noisy, but thats expected seeing as though it's a distortion unit. I used this with a Fender amp and an SG and a Strat. Great sustain out of this thing, great for leads. can be muddy for rhythm if you dont tweak it properly. for what its supposed to do, it sounds perfect. its obviously not the perfect tone because that is subjective. also, no one believes in ONE perfect tone.

holy piece of shit, Batman! as someone said earlier, the input and output jacks are soldered right on to the soundboard. which created a problem when the damn output jack broke on me. not only could i NOT replace the jack, it basically ruined my whole damn pedal! i rigged it to work but shortly after, my on/off switch shot craps on me. so i got that fixed and later the pedal just fell apart. all within a year. i know not all of the big muff pi RI pedals are this bad, but C'MON!!! i don't trust them anymore.

Quite sad really. I loved this pedal. After this one broke i got the NYC big muff pedal, but it wasnt the same. the russian SOUNDS better but the NYC one is BUILT better. well, i sold the NYC one, now i'm in the dilemna of which one i'm going to get. I know that the chances of me getting a piece of crap russian big muff are pretty small, but i'd feel safer with the NYC. plus, i didnt like how the russian one didnt have an adapter jack and the output and input jacks were reversed compared to the norm. i've been playing for 4 years, i think and this pedal definitely remains close to the top of the list as far as sound goes. in fact, i also had a fulltone distortion pro that sounded great, but it shot craps on me. maybe i just bad luck with good sounding pedals... ah well. i think i'll get me another NYC big muff.

Three Knobs may be easy on a boss pedal, But this pedal will really seperate those who can find tone from those get lost in it. It's not easy to use. You really have to think about the mechanics of what the pedal does and get creative to find it's place in your setup.

This is the bazooka of distortion. It has only one mission, smack your signal so silly that it becomes a sustained buzzsaw that cuts through any mix with a GIANT WALL OF ROCK POWER. So, There are a fewe catches to this thing. I use laney tube amp with a Vox cabinet and that is really loud, Now This thing will suck alot of power out of your signal when it's not on. So I compensate this by getting the hottest pickups I could, Tele Texas specials in my main guitar. And Seymour duncan distortions in my slide guitar that I replaced the ceramic magenets with alnico 2's. This is a simple change. So in that the big muff kind of mellows these pichups out and I get a very pretty sound that doesn't make my clean channel breakup. I also put an old Ibanez compressor in front of the big muff. So I'm cramming this thing with a strong pickup signal that gets calmed down, and then The compressor takes that signal and shoves it through the muff. I turn the volume to about 2 o'clock and the sustain to about 9 o'clock and the tone at 3 o'clock. This makes my sound trebbley enough to cut through anything my drummer does. (He love's my tone and raves to everyone we meet about my rig.) And I still have way more than enough bottom end.

This box was designed in the 70's and it looks the part. I do depend on it, but if it breaks I can fix it with a saudering gun and some patience. I don't rely on companies to do what they already don't want to do. It hasn't gone out yet. nuff said

Who cares?

I play clapton style blues with a shred metal influence. Nothing to fast but impressive enough to be cocky about. My Tone is wonderfull and I have yet to meet the band I couldn't cut through like a chainsaw and leave them slack jawwed saying "What the !@$#%$#% was that!" Your pedals do what you tell them to. try putting them in different order. Or try thinking about you signal. Is it stong/weak, bright/dark, thick or thin or muddy? Think about it. You'll get it.

Mine is Russian re-issue. Black with 3 knobs Laney-like, yellow litering says Big Muff, Pi, distortion/sustainer, electro-hramonix.... and something in Russian (probalby "made in Russia") packed with big wooden box (great). It's so easy! 3 knobs: Volume, Sustain, Tone. There's no manual because everybody could use it without any problems! :)

Well, at first: I am using Fender '84 Telecaster with Seymour-Duncan Distortion humbukcer in the bridge. My amp is pure tube Dynacord REX (head) from 1965 (40W on 2xEL34) going thru Marshall 1960AV 4x12 cab.

Pedal is noisy. But, man, every distortion pedal is noisy! Sound GREAT GREAT GREAT! This was the sound I was looking for. In the past, I used Exar Distortion, Koda Super Overdrive, Boss DS-2 and dist. from Marshall JCM900. Big Muff kicks them all! I can get exactly the same sound as Weezer on "Blue Album" and "Pinkerton", also very good sound for Ozma and The Rentals stuff. And probalby perfect to Placebo too! One thing - if you turn the Sustain (means drive of course) down to "0" you'll have plenty of distortion too. Oh, by the way, don't turn Tone knob after a half because is really thin-sounding then. I always keep Sustain knob at maximum, Level at 2/3 and Tone near to 1/2. Sound BRILLIANT!

I would say, yes, I can depend on it. It's HUGE. About 2 times larger than a Boss stomp box. It will be my fav pedal from today. Also I looked what's inside and it looks good. There's a lot of free space inside. Battery is well placed with "hooks".

I've never dealt with them and I will probably not :P

I was looking for a Weezer sound, and I found it. I was looking for creamy distortion with balanced highs and lows. I got it with this pedal. I got the sound I was looking for years.

By the way IT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE A NORMAL DISTORTION OR OVERDRIVE! It sounds really different comparing to Boss, Marshall, DOD etc. For example - you cannot palm-mute even if you have a killer-output humbucker and even Sustain is set to maximum position! So forget playing punkrock like Green Day, Blink-182 or Offspring. This baby has only ONE colour of the sound. You can get early Weezer snd Placebo stuff playing power chords and nice oldies guitar heroes sound (Hendrix). Also good for Pink Floyd solos - remember "Sorrow" from "Delicate Sound of Thunder" (live album, 1988)? - The intro describes Big Muff sound as much as Weezer's "No Other One" from Pinkerton album.

This pedal sounds awesome - every time you play the same chord, Big Muff sounds different - that's cool. It's not normal pedal like Boss DS-2 which sounds good but sound is the same in every situation. Big Muff rocks!

easy if you know how to tune you amps knobs.

this review is for the Black and yellow one. ive played it through a fender deluxe 1x12 and a marshall JCM800. its prety usable for both amps. the output could be little better, the tone knob is pretty well laid out, its sensitive and usable. the gain is nice and crunchy. to me this pedal could hang with most metal music(no scooped mids stuff) and is ideal for hard rock,blues and grunge.

seems like it is build well

i just bought one but im returning it ONLY BECAUSE i think the MXR Distortion + is better for me. However if you dig crunchy non-basey fuzz, get this. It really does suit many forms of music.basically anything but nu-metal stuff and speed metal. its a must for retro musicians and collectors of vintage kind of stuff.Like i said i would keep it had it not been for the MXR D+, I would buy it again in the future.