Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi

If you have difficulties operating a three knob distortion pedal, I think you may need professional help.

I did knock off one point because the input and output are around the wrong way compared to Boss and MOST other pedal manufacturers. Not a biggie, just a bit surprising considering that my Russian Bassballs has them the "right" way round, and I can see a situation where if you're a bit tired or distracted you could inadvertently plug then in the wrong way round.

This one's the common Russian one.

I use this with Bass - a Fender Precision made up from about three other Precisions (all USA) which is my main gigging bass. My rig is (usually) a MarkBass SA450 into an Eden D210XLT or, occasionally, a Warwick 411 Pro.

I wanted something which could "sort of" sound like an old valve stack being driven way too hard while still retaining a solid well-defined and punchy bottom end.

I don't use it on everything, just some old classic rock numbers like Rock And Roll Hootchie Koo, Sunshine of Your Love, etc., with a Blues/Classic Rock Guitarist I gig with sometimes. Used *SELECTIVELY* it's unbeatable. It certainly gives ME the result I want.

9 because nothing's perfect, and it is a bit fiddly getting the volume just right so it sits in the stage mix.

It appears to be solidly built. I wouldn't carry a backup 'coz if it stops working, I'll gig happily without it although I would definitely get a replacement fairly quickly.

Dependable so far.

I've been doing gigs for 30 years, and do a LOT of casual subs and some session work as well as the three or four main bands I gig with. I play a bunch of styles: Blues, Country, Jazz, 50's and 60's Rock 'n' Roll, Swing, Heavy Rock. Only stuff I don't play is Metal and Modern Top 40.

As stated above, my main setup is the Frankenstein Precision into the MarkBass/Eden rig. I have a bunch of other Basses, Cabs and Amp setups for specific types of gigs, but 90% of the time this is what I'll show up with.

I only use the Big Muff for certain stuff and when I do it's magic. It just happens to fit the whole sound of the particular gigs I use it on.

It would be nice if it took a standard Boss type power adapter - it'd be easy enough to modify it to take one but frankly I couldn't be bothered.

If it was ripped off or if it broke, I wouldn't be devastated as I can gig without it but I'd get another one fairly soon.

It's definitely NOT for everyone, but it works for me.

Three knobs. The only three you will ever need. EVER.
Volume, Tone, Sustain (Gain)

First off, before buying this peice you need to know the difference between distortion and overdrive. This pedal basically takes your signal and sends it into orbit, it doesn't modify what's being pushed thru it (meaning more than guitar applications). This means you wont be getting your run of the mill barely distortion, no slight touch and get responce (no tapping or EASY hammer on's and pull off's), no palm muting. If you want a MUFF with these, i recomend the Metal Muff.

Another awesome thing about this pedal is, sence it boosts thru the roof, when having an even slightly overdriven amplifier, it feeds back. But, for some reason it isn't ear splitting, "i can't hear for the rest of the day" feedback. Once mastered, you can add awesome intentional feedback between riffs.

Set-up: Fender Princeton 65 (volume, treble, and bass all at about 7 1/2) > EHX Pulsar (original, not micro) > BIG MUFF(NYC) > Digitech Whammy WH-4 > Epiphone Dot Studio (Tomato Red) = Feedback generator.

Best pedal i've ever owned.

Have had for quite sometime and has NEVER had problems. I'm in a band where I use Big Muff, obviously, my memory is shot =\ ... anywho... I'd trust this thing with my life. No seriously, if some one tried to shoot me, I'd hold up my Muff and it would probably deflect the bullet. Die Cast aluminum housing. STURDY.

Never had a problem with my Muff. Never had to ask...

http://www.myspace.com/thecorpses
to listen to me and my muff in action

Pretty easy to get good sounds from this guy. Only 3 knobs, in fact it's very hard to get a bad sound.

I'm using a 1997 Epi Les Paul Standard Flake Limited Edition with a Fender Super 112 all tube 60w 1x12" combo.

My Big Muff is the black Russian one. Killer, unique, mystical sounds. It gives a nice variety of 70ish heavy psych stoner tones. I can easily nail the sound of Matt Pike (Sleep) and similar stuff. Only a few changes of pickup combinations in the guitar, a few tweaks in the Muff and in the amp eq and I have all the trippy sounds I ever dreamed to hear from my amp.

Very bass heavy, fucking great for downtuning (I tune down to C). This pedal can make your amp sound like is about to explode and can give you all the feedback you want, but at the same time it makes ZERO noise, which is absolute perfection (EH pedals are said to introduce lots of noise in the signal, that has to be the exception).

It's sound like a cross of a classic distortion pedal with a compressor, a bass booster and a certain amount of fuzz. I can get more classic 60's fuzz tones too (with the tone control in the treble side), but if you want 60's fuzz sounds you could be happier with a Maestro, a Fuzz Face or Mosrite Fuzz-Rite.

I'm in love with this pedal sound, don't ask me to be very objetive. Sure, you can't play metal or sound like SRV with it, but there are MetalZones and Tubescreamers for that. Buy the russian Muff if you want heavy psych, shoegazing or indie rock sounds. Period.

It hasn't died yet. Looks well built, but who knows. I bought second hand and works perfectly. The guy who sold it to me used it for a couple of years with no problems.

I would use it in a gig without doubt.

I live in Argentina and bought the pedal second hand. So...

I currently play Stoner-psych rock, this pedal is THE PEDAL for stoner rock, period. I had played guitar for 14 years, I also have a Vox Valve-Tone (Tubescreamer clone) which is great for "cleaner" blues-rock.

If it were stolen or lost I would buy another without thinking twice.

I love: The Sound, the sound, and the sound. It also looks cool and I love big things (big tits, big asses and big pedals).

I hate: no AC adaptor input, only batteries (I hate batteries). Also, no true bypass, but it doesn't sucks much tone.

Get one, it's cheap, it's terrific, it's really magic.

3 chicken head knobs that work their magic, and a big silver button.

absolutely insane. this thing could destroy worlds. smashing pumpkins, silversun pickups, sabbath, theyre all here. not brilliant for palm muting, but thats not my scene really.

any and all settings sound amazing, but i never turn the sustain down anyways, good thing since the cheap crap knob broke within a year.

bought a little big muff reissue, FAR better build quality, but just not as much rip-roaring sonic character as my black russian (which is the one im reviewing currently).

horrible! this is the 4th black russian muff, and its been a different problem every bloody time, all in relation to awful build quality.

1st: dropped it from a height of maybe 3 ft onto the CARPETED floor, one of the capacitors split open and it was no more. knew nothing of electronics at the time, so just gave it away.

2nd: It just quit working. nothing apparent looked wrong, the wires looked fine. gave it away again, and it turned out to be a faulty sauter joint in the 9 volt connector.

3rd: The IN/OUT jacks are made almost entirely of brittle plastic. the brackets holding them on just snapped off one day. no provocation, just drying/cracking of the plastic. took the hint and just resautered some new in/out jacks into it.

also, the sustain knob doesnt work right, it just spins and spins and spins. so, i spun it into the full-on-sustain setting (my favorite) and just superglued it in place. consequently had to resauter several wires that fell off their wimpy sauter joints during this.

if these didnt have such a heavenly sound, i wouldve moved on when the first one broke... much less cobbled my last one back together so many times. the quality control on these is just TERRIBLE!

its not just me either, im good to my ****, nearly obsessive. the fact is either im having terrible luck or they ALL suck like these ones did/do.

never bothered.

i wish these would stop breaking. but oh, that SOUND...

ive been using these black russians off and on since 2000, while messing with other distortions/fuzzes along the way: a Boss DS-1 & MD-2, a Marshall Jackhammer, an SPF Red Threat, a Tech 21 Sansamp, an MXR Distortion +, ProCo Rat, EH Little Bigmuff Pi Reissue, and others.

This thing still whoops *** on all of them, if not for it's simplicity and raging sound alone.

3 knobs, just twist 'em...

allright, in my endless quest to **** on self-serving "guitar players" who act like they know everything about gear and tone i've come to put yr mind at ease potential muff buyer... i don't play traditional rock or anything like that, i go to the goodwill and buy little kids toys and then get into the circuit board and **** everything up until it sounds weird... i use drum machines and i make digital hardcore... once in a while i plug in a guitar and play some chords and stuff to... i've had a big muff in my collection of guitar effects for 10 yrs, the one i have now is the cheapo russian black model, i've had us made and old green ones too... all of them have the big muff tone that's great and can't be rivaled... they're noisey and ugly and that's why they're great! if you're in yr bedroom trying to re-create dark side of the moon you wont like the intricacies of this pedal, go spend $300 on some stupid boutique ****, if you're a budding musician please do something that doesn't sound like guitar/bass/&drums because that's what everybody is doing and it's not interesting anymore... i've ran and owned a venue and played in rock style bands for years and nobody has the balls to do something different...

who cares, i work in a pawn shop and all pedals are $10 for me...

who would contact a company over something stupid on a $60 pedal anyways?

my guitar setup is like this
a bunch of cheap japanese copys that are modded
i have a vintage monty ward tube amp & fender deluxe 112plus
i have boss chorus, digital delay, power driver & turbo overdrive
tube screamer (over rated!)
60's moog-made maestro stage phaser
70's dod 690 chorus
earnie ball vol
vox wah
i use whatever's laying around next to my amp, i don't use picks, i use a metal lighter and/or my car keys to make noise...
i use the muff to distort the **** out of drum machines for an atari teenage riot like cluster**** and it's the best distortion pedal ever made (i've played hundreds!)
do yourself a favor and listen to anything devo (except whip it) and get inspired, if you really want to hear the "sound" of a big muff listen to some mudhoney, "superfuzz migmuff" is prbably the muff tribute album if there ever was one, anything by mudhoney features the muff, also listen to tad or older nirvana... the best band to ever play a note is sonic youth and they have used muffs off and on over the years... check 'em out!

Only three knobs but it has many available tones. Mine is a silver Russian model.

This thing is a 9 on sound but it is VERY noisy. When I first got it a thought it was junk. I was using it with a Strat with GFS Lil' Killers through a Fender Champ. Then I switched guitars and ams. Now I use it with a Strat with custom handwound singlecoils through a Sovtek Mig 50 with a Keeley Java Boost and a Boss NS-2 noise suppressor which helps with the noise but some feedback gets through. This pedal likes singlecoils much better than humbuckers. A Strat with good singlecoils shines with this pedal especially with a Plexi-style amp but humbuckers don't work well with it.

I play a wide variety of music both old and new. This handles both well. It is just so noisy. I would buy this again because I have never seen another silver Russian one so it may be worth a lot some day. I would not gig with this pedal. I have a Keeley modded DS-1 which i would use instead. I do like messing around with this pedal though. If you like fuzz, it sounds great minus all the noise. It would be an 8 overall if it was quiet.

This pedal is pretty simple to use. Just volume, sustain, and tone knobs. There is no user manual unfortunately, but you won't really need one. It honestly can't get much simpler. The only negative thing is that the input and output jacks are reversed from usual pedals, probably because it's made in Russia. This is why it's only getting an 8 instead of a 10. It makes it somewhat inconvenient to use with other pedals, if you like them in really specific order.

The one thing you really have to understand about this pedal is that it's sound depends almost entirely on your other equipment, pedals, order of pedals, volume, etc. I use a Schecter C-1 Exotic, Traynor YCV 40 tube amp, Keeley Boss SD-1, and this pedal as my equipment. This pedal sounds really, really good with my setup, but when I played it on my friends SS Marshall amp and Stratocaster, it sounded pretty bad. Overall, you MUST try it out with similar equipment to yours BEFORE you buy it, or else you could be very dissapointed.

If you do have the right gear to go along with this pedal, it will sound great. With a good tube amp and overdrive to fill the sound up a bit, you can get really good Hendrix-ish fuzz, and an almost perfect David Gilmour sound. The sound is really smooth and heavy. Also if you turn the tone up to full, you get a really good grunge and punk sound. I suggest you have an overdrive for your lighter riffs and chord work, and then turn the Big Muff on for solos. It's not that great of a rhythm pedal. The overdrive is a key factor, because for some reason it fills the sound out amazingly and makes the pedal sound a lot better. With the right set up, this pedal is pure tonal bliss.

This pedal can be noisy with single coil guitars, but it's not that much noise. It's bearable if you don't have everything turned up to 10.


Overall, I'm giving the sound a 9 because it really depends on your set up. It will either be perfect for you, or it will sound like crap. When you do find a good set up for it though, it will sound amazing.

The only issue here is the fact that there is no AC jack, and you have to carry 9v batteries around with you anywhere. This can be very inconvient for home practice, but with gigs it's no problem. So far it seems dependable. It's definitely sturdy, and would probably kill someone if you threw it at their head as hard as you could.

N/A.

You'll either love or hate this pedal. Remember to TRY IT OUT WITH SIMILAR GEAR TO YOURS BEFORE YOU BUY IT. If you find it suits your gear, it will be an amazing asset to your pedal board. Also remember to buy some 9v batteries, because there is no AC jack. If this pedal were stolen, I'd buy another one in a second.

Ease of use? There are three knobs. Each of which turns with little effort, but are solid enough to stay in position if stood on by an over-zealous foot.

The footswitch gives great feedback, unlike some "is it on?... did I press it hard enough?" pedals. In the case of the Big Muff - activating the switch feels like you're crushing a very small leprechaun. Trust me, that's the only way to describe it.

Being a Smashing Pumpkins fan the range of sounds this pedal offers could not be more perfect. As usual with these sorts of things it's horses for courses, but if you like sneering, rip-snorting, bassy, universe-destroying, grungey, herd-of-elephants-walking-over-your-testacles distortion then this pedal is for you. I happen to like that sort of thing.

My setup starts off with Epi LP Custom with SD Pearly Gates and Alnico II pro, but I'm forced to play it through a terrible 15-watt amp, the name of which I would not care to divulge, such is its awfulness. My tube amp, she breaks :(

Seems pretty solid but I haven't thrown it out of any windows or urinated on it yet so I can't comment.

I've had no reason to deal with them.

This is perfect for me but could be terrible for you. It's worth bearing in mind I haven't used a lot of pedals, but those I have tried don't come anywhere near this for the style of music I like to play.

I'm giving it a nine because it's not the most versatile. Great for grunge, but not much else.

I have the sovtek green one(vintage).Three knobs.No problems at all....

For me this is the best distortion ever...I really love Big Muffs sound and i think sovtek green is the best muff ever produced.
I use it with the tone knob on the left(max basses) and sustain around 2 o clock...It produces a really big distorsion with an endless sustain,anyway it is soft...i call this sound "the fuzzbed".
I used a lot of distortion pedals(boss ds1 and ds2,mxr dist+,E-H NYC big muff,subdecay blackstar,proco rat and dirty rat...)and this one is the best.
My set up is: Fender Telecaster custom '72--->Proco dirty rat--->sovtek big muff--->E-H Holy Grail--->E-H Flanger Hoax--->Diaz Texas Tremodillo--->E-H Small Clone--->Maxon AD 999--->Vox ac30
I've found my perfect sound...

Mine is 20 years old...it is a fu**ing tank...i depend on it

I play alternative rock/noise/psychedelic...simply perfect for my style...

Super easy. Basic vol, tone and drive.

I think the sound of this pedal is excellent. Big fat fuzz sounds great sustain. I brought this for a heavy fuzz tone, i have an aramat fuzz that i use which is brillant but wanted something even heavier!!

I run this through a Fender Vibrolux, 52 "keef" Jap tele with Humbucker and a boss delay.

If your looking for a subtle pedal that is responsive to volume changes etc this is not really the pedal for you. Don't expect it to be super useful for everything. It is not a jack of all trades but it is a master of one!!!

Amazing for big fat chords and leads!

Only had it a short while. We'll see. I don't think the case of the pedal is that great. It has kind of tin pot feel.

N/A

Great pedal. Although for RRP ??100 ($200) the build qual of the case is not that sturdy. Even my cheaper Marshall guv is made better i think. The sound quality is what it is about and i'm glad to say i'll use this for many years!!!