Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi

It ain't that hard... plug in and go!!!

OOH!!! I want this thing to have my kids...!!! This is an original EH Big Muff i got for $150. I swear to god, if you are into that "alterna-sound" (Especially Smashing Pumpkins) THIS IS THE PEDAL FOR YOU.

I would depend on my Muff for anything, at first though, it looked a bit unsturdy... but it's NOT!

No need... besides, they went out of business. Iheard that SovTek can fix problems for you though.

This thing was worth every penny. If i lost all my effects in a fire, this would be the first one i'd buy again. I had a boss overdrive distortion and I thought that was great, but BOY WAS I WRONG!!! The Muff just opens a big ole' can of whoop ass on the boss. Like i said before, I you like Smashing Pumpkins (especially Gish and Siamese Dream) GET THIS PEDAL!!!

Duh... Plug it in, and press the switch. I've got the one with big block lettered orange "Big Muff", and an orange, swirly looking Pi symbol. Anyone else got this one?

It is very noisy with the sustain turned all the sustain all the way up. But it made my guitar ring for days at a time!

I'd trust thing thing anywhere. Not much to it inside to break. I did have to fix it once. The circuit board is held in place inside via the pots' leads. From turning the sustain pot too far, the circuit board cracked right at the lead. I simply soldiered a wire to where it was to go.

They're out of business. I don't need it though, having a basic understanding of electronics.

This is an awesome pedal. My main influence is David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and he has used it since he's been with them. It's easy to get other peoples sounds, but also easy to create your own. Try it with a WAH!

Very simple to use as said before. I didn't write this for ease of use or sound or anything like that. I just want to let people know to check these guys before buying them if possible! Read on.

Again, everyone who offered opinions were right on the money. Great fuzzy distortion ala Smashing Pumpkins. It is real messy, though. Noisy, that is-- but it is to be expected.

Ok. Here we go. I have an older model (small lettering with ram's head). I just got it today and was syked to try it out when phhbbbbttt-- nothing. Didn't work. This model requiresyou to completely open it up and expose its guts to check the battery and to replace it. See, some E-H pedals differ. My 79 Small Stone is like this, but my 79 Small Clone chorus has a trap door on the bottom for the battery. But anyway, it turns out that one of the wires which leads from the circuit board to the battery was completely disconnected! Soom after, the other wire also came off! There were also two other wires inside that were ready to come off soon. Well, I have a friend who knows electrical work, so he soldered everything back on and it works fine now. The wires are soldered on good as new-- maybe even better than they ever were. It also looks like someone *may* have fooled around with it inside a little, but I don't know. This is my first major problem with an E-H pedal, though. Just be warned, they're not all built like tanks.

Never dealt with 'em

I LOVE these old E-H pedals. All of my effects pedals are E-H except for a Boss DS-2 distortion pedal. The Big Muff sounds kinda like that, but more fuzzier. Again, these pedals can be tempermental. My tone knob completely switches sounds when it gets half-way up. This may be on all of them, but I don't know. I would definitely buy another one and any other E-H product.

Pretty darn simple. Volume, Tone, Distortion, and a tone bypass switch. Don't need a manual.

Great nasty super fuzz sound! Sounds similar to a tube screamer or a Turbo Rat pedal but with different overtones, and dynamics. Great for Jimi Hendrix sounds or "Death Fuzz" Smashing Pumpkins sounds. But to truly get a good Smashing Pumpkins sound you need to run it through a Marshall stack or some sort of good all-tube half stack in order to get that real meaty sound. But this pedal sounds pretty good through almost any amp. But DO NOT get this pedal if you're looking for heavy metal distortion. This is a fuzz pedal and does not provide the bone crunching scooped mid sounds needed for heavy metal. The Boss Metal-Zone and the SansAmp GT-2 are two excellent pedals for that purpose.

I have an '81 model and it's still tickin and I've never heard of anyone else having reliability problems. Theyre pretty tough little guys but for the price these are going for, try not to stomp on them too hard.

As everyone knows, EH is out of business, but from what I hear Sovtek does repairs on the old pedals. Hope mine never needs any.

I'd probably buy mine again for the same price I paid for it, but I also recently bought it for a very fair price ($100). Most people that are selling them are asking between $150 to $200 for them. My advice, yes they're nice fuzz pedals but they're nothing revolutionary, or totally mine blowing. I suggest instead that you buy either a Turbo Rat pedal, or even better, get a SansAmp GT-2 pedal. The GT-2 will give you 3 completly different distortion sounds, provide good direct recording sounds,and also when you putit on tweed amp mode and high-gain mode, and also adjust the eq, it will give you a good fuzz pedal sound that really roars, and is warmer sounding then the Big Muff. Alot more bang for your buck! I will never sell my GT-2! But still, the Big Muff is a pretty darn good fuzz pedal that will always give you great cheezy, wacky, and super cool sounds.

I modified the tone in my '69 model by putting a capasitor in the circuit.Now it's even fatter sounding,and sounds especially nasty in front of a Dunlop Cry Baby. uit.Now it sounds especially nasty in front of a Dunlop Cry Baby.

If you dig big fuzzy fuzz then you'll have no problem with getting lots of good sounds. Obviously no patches, it a pedal damnit. I got mine used as most of you have, after all this thing is the same age as me, so there's no manual, and I've never seen one either, but knowing what I know about EH they would've had some weird stuff about violins.noneed

My unit is from 75,it has the small red letters, it is quite noisy but what do you want, it's FUZZ! I wouldn't say EH was that careful about designing the bypass part in their pedals,when bypassed there was still constant hiss coming through, if you can figure it out it's not too hard to put a DPDT bypass switch in to cure that.

Well after all this thing is still working after 20 years, when I got mine the bypass switch was crap but it's easily replaceable. EH for some reason used these crappy plastic shafted pots that break much easier than metal ones, so don't wail on the knobs too hard. I'd use it anytime anywhere though,get a Sovtek one for backup maybe

EH went out of business in 84 so if it breaks thats tyoo bad for you unless youre an electronics type person.

FOr 50 buck I'd buy it over and over again, i dont' like paying 150 for one pedal which is what youre likely to pay, i just got lucky at a guitar show when I ran into a guy selling some of his pedals that he didnt want anymore, it had no knobs though, but radio shack knobs work fine for me. Average price now is 150-200 bucks.

very easy to get it to sound good, because it sounds good at all times. youjust turn the tone knob and make sure the volume is up.

its noisy it will control your sound to the full, the distortion surrounds your tones and scrambles it.

it has never failed me, it does change from day to day on how the distortion sounds

out of business

yes, it is a major source of power. I hook it up to mikes, keyboards, and record players. it sounds cool with anything, but best with bass. It is uncomparable, it blows away the remakes. I wish it had all the knobs that the Big Muff deluxe has. It is the driving force behind me. I wish I had more information on all the electro harmonix products, their stuff is crazy. J Mascis of dinosaur Jr. uses a Big Muff and so does Mike Kunka of godheadSilo.

There is only 3 pot.Level,tone,sustain for days!!My unit has a switch to bypass entirely the tone pot:I always use it in this position

This is the FUZZ. The sound is warm,full end endless cool.If you like Hendrix or Mr.Corgan this is the unit for you. It has only a problem:the dynamic.I wish it had the dynamic of a TS9.It sounds better with the tone switched off.

My unit date from 1978 without any problem

Not as retro as I expected but I love it. Very musical.

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