Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi

I have the black Russian reissue that I got a year ago. Best money I've ever spent on audio gear. There's only 3 knobs so you'll only be messing around with it for a few seconds until you find a good setting.

I've got a 50th anniversary strat and a 30 watt Marshall practice amp with all EQ knobs turned up to max. With only 3 knobs on the pedal I was surprised to find how many different sounds I could get out of it. I play alternative and hard rock, and a bit of metal. Bands like Deftones, old Silverchair from Frogstomp, Filter and Smashing Pumpkins are what I try to emulate and I can nail their guitar sound 90% of the way at worst. You could use an equalizer in-line with it to squeeze a little more out of it but I don't have one and I very rarely consider getting one. The only way this pedal is noisy is if you use cheap patch cords, you live under power lines or have your pickup selector in the wrong position. I don't find that the sustain goes on forever as some reviewers mentioned, it last probably 3 or 4 seconds before it starts to fade away.

It's hurt me more than I've hurt it when i smash my foot on it or accidently kick it. It shows no signs of wear or anything. I swear it was designed by NASA. I don't really like the lack of a DC input but a 9 volt battery lasts 2 months for me.

Never called them. Never needed to.

I've only been playing for 2 years and I'm getting compliments left and right about my playing ability. I think it's due to the cool sound I get from the Muff. The thing has such good sound you can't quit playing because you want to keep hearing it. I've heard a lot of people say they used a Boss DS-1 and then they switched to this. Good idea, considering it costs half the price and sounds better. Quite a thinker.

Stomp on it and you get a sound :)
3 knobs: volume, distortion, tone
one makes it louder, one makes it more heavy and the last one bassy or trbly :)

Well, the reason for writing this review is that I once bought a reissue and today I got the Original One.. At first I was angry cause it seemed to sound like the reissue.. but after some switching between them I found some small but major differences!! The reissue sounds more harsh and has less sustaaaaaaain :)
The green old one seems to have a lot more volume and sounds warm on the one hand but harsh on the other.. even the internal circuit is different than the reissue!!
If you have the chance to get the vintage one, you should prefer it!
And even if it looks fu**ed up like mine, it sounds much better and that's what counts !

build Like russian tanks :)

I just bought it yesterday, and I have already found my 'perfect' preset. This is actualy my third distortion/drive pedal, but it realy stands in all aspects.
I am using the latest US built model.

I just use a squire Strat plugged in to a Laney HCM30W amp, and I with my other pedals it realy sounded that way, but with my new bigg muf it sounds almost like a vintage strat through a JCM800!!
I just bought the pedal yesterday, but I have already fallen in love with the sound of this superb pedal.
I have been looking for a pedal with could mimic the sound of David Gilmour and also Iron Maiden, and finaly my search is over.

n/a

just bought it yesterday

I was searching for a good distortion for quite a while now, and tried all sorts of pedals with were a lot more expensive than the bigg muff, but I when I finaly tried this precious gem, I was convinced.
I am playing for almost 6 years now, and I play all sorts of music, from Pink Floyd to Rancid to Iron Maiden, and Bigg Muff has it all!
I also love the fact that it is a quite big pedal with bigg knobs, this adds to the ease of use of Bigg Muff

No need for a manual! Three knobs, volume, sustain and tone. Its quite easy to use, but it takes time to figure out what tone you really like.

I use various guitars with it. My usual setup is: Epiphone Les Paul Custom -> Big Muff Pi -> Boss DS2 Distortion -> Boss DSD2 Delay/Sampler -> Dunlop Crybaby -> Danelectro Milkshake Chorus -> Pearl Flanger. The sound quality is great. Its very close to my Valvestate 8080 distortion. I also use a boss ds2 but its sound is alot different. I usually play alot of Smashing Pumpkins/Silverchair/Nirvana. This is as close as it gets.

Theres one annoying little thing about it, or actually two: it takes time to figure out what sound you want. My suggestion: write it down. The second thing is, that its too freakin big! It almost didnt fit on my pedalboard! Thats why im rating it a 9.

Its russian, its black, and its constructed well... I think it would last a lifetime.

Havent dealt with them.

Overall its a great pedal, its endless sustain gets you what you want. It can be used for all kinds of music styles, from 90`s punk/grunge, to nowadays gothic. It has a few minor things that i dont like, such as: the size of the pedal, the fact that it doesnt have a adaptor input, and the "easy to move" knobs. Im rating it a 9. Really worth the money. If someone stole it i would concider buying it again.

Message to Godmachine review posted below- I've got a BMP just like the one you were describing with the mostly silver face and the little lamb/ram/lord of the rings looking head in the bottom corner. A pot shaft on mine was broken also and I sent it to Analog Mike. He fixed it by just replacing the pot shaft without having to desolder the original pot! Amazing to me. Works great again. Thought you should know. I'd keep all your BMPs in the best shape as possible and AMike does nice work. I have no idea what specific components mine has, not sure I care. It sounds outrageous and wonderful/unpredictable as you describe. Wouldn't trade or sell it, nor would I true-bypass it. Putting a more focused OD/Disto/booster/fuzz/etc in front will actully make it track better, should you want that at times. Great with wah pedals.

It kills me every time I play it. I pretend I'm traveling to other galaxies. Noisy as hell but who cares.

I don't exactly take this one out too much. It's old and you know what these are built like. Please be careful with the good old ones.

I love this company and their history. Great to see them on the scene again. I've met Mr. Matthews' daughter at the guitar shows, she graciously is involved in promoting their current products, nice gal.

I've been playing for 33 years. Guess I wouldn't change anything on it, it is what it is. Any change would spoil it's essence, warts and all. Buy a boutique hot rod remake or something for heavy duty usage. Never have tried the reissues. When I hit the switch on this motha, it takes me way back to when things were less refined/overdone. I feel like a kid first trying a fuzz and feeling the otherwordly energy. Go there if you can.

This one is from the mid 70's, three knobs, 2 switches, no ac input, moslty just brushed aluminum with a little rams head in the lower right corner. The 3 knobs are big and have a red stripe on them. The tone control operates backwards if you ask me, it gets bassier as it's turned to the right.

Played it last night for the first time in years again. Using a 2000 Fender American Series Stratocastor and a 2000 Fender Princeton 65 watt combo amp my results were mixed. I know this has the FC2339 germanium transistors like my other 70,s Big Muff that does sound PERFECT this one, for some reason, has just a riduclous amount of gain or compression. I'm sure Smashing Pumpkins would love this one for some wierd solo or something but, man, it's just "out there". The lower notes seem to dissappear in some kind of harmonic cancellation and as I move to the higher notes they get louder and clearer. Chords are blurred and seem to self distruct in a cloud of harmonic chaos. The tone knob seems to have a big impact not only on the bass , treble adjustment but on how notes are impacted by the harmonic cancellations. Just tons and tons of harmonics and compression. Notes are destroyed at the atomic level and then reassembled in random madness. A solo can be undefinable and then suddenly Carlos Santana breaks out of the mud with a sonic scream that is articulate and percise.
Attempts at reducing the sustain amount only lead to a lack of distortion and sustain. The harmonics and harmonic cancellations remain. There is no setting tha can be found that might be considered "conventional".
I have 3 old Big Muffs from the 70's and while they are all very similair they are all also very different. Do any two sound alike?

My favorite has the fc2339 transistors and has the large Big Muff logo on the front with all that black background. That pedal sounds just like all the great Hendrix solos but this very similair pedal is just crazy. Maybe like two Big Muffs in line. Just madness!

I just broke the volume pot on my favorite and am having trouble finding a replacement. it was my fault that it broke. I could have been more careful. I think these boxes are fairly reliable. The one of switch is also starting to become intermittant in operation [old aerospace terminology].

never tried

I've been playing guitar since 1969. I play in a Christian band and we do a show every Sunday night. I'm not a Christian but these people are great friends of mine. I just can't understand why they believe what they believe.

I love my Metalzone pedal and my 1979 DS-1 pedal as well as my vintage Big Muffs. I also think the DOD Grunge pedal is very cool. I don't get hung up about any one sound. I could easily use a different guitar and amp and distortion box for every song I play. I'm into variety I guess.

The Big Muffs do supply two very exciting tonal qualities. One is that they can be very wild sounding, with blazing, screaming solos that just sustain forever and have crazy harmonics jumping out everywhere and two, they can be extremely raw, fat, natural....a unique tone of the Big Muff that no other pedal I have ever tried has even come close to. While every other overdrive or distortion pedal seems to cut the tops off the high and low frequencies (what distortion IS) the Big Muffs seems to avoid. It's like distortion without distortion. Why, even the old original box goes on about how the Big Muff is not really a distortion device but a sustain device that gives guitar solos a hummingbird like charecter.
God, those guys are a crack up! But one thing I have noticed is that these Big Muffs all sound quite different.
The DOD Grunge pedal does have a similair characteristic of the Big Muff and I would say is inbetween a Big Muff and a Boss pedal.

I would never rely solely on a Big Muff for all my tones but they sure are fun and interesting. Every time I plug one in I'm playing all kinds of wild stuff for at least a couple hours.

I've tried the green Big Muffs (just didn't like it one bit) and a New York Reissue and found them to be dissappointing. I suppose the New York Reissue was ok but for some reason it just lacked some excitement...just alittle to safe sounding.

I guess I like the unpredictability of the older Big Muffs. You can hit a chord and it just might dissappear on you....or go into a solo and blow off the ears on the first 10 rows. You just never know whats gonna happen!

...now that's entertainment!

This is an early '70s unit I bought used back around '76. It has the black and red graphics. Easy if you understand it.
Plug it in switched off and get your straight amp sound with both pickups and all the guitar's knobs on full. If your amp has 2 input channels, like a Twin, jump them together with a patch cord. Put the Muff's tone at 12:00 and the sustain at 9:00, turn it on and dial the volume up to solo level. Switch to the neck pickup and bring up the sustain while rolling off the fuzziness with the tone knob until you find the sweet spot. You'll know when you find it because there will be smooth endless sustain and your pants will be a little wet. If you've got your levels set right you should feel your hair move a little with each note you play.
Once you've done the neck pickup, switch to the bridge p/u. Sounds like crap doesn't it? You're on the right track then. This is where your wah pedal comes in. Switch it on and if everything is set right you should be able to get the dogs barking down the block. If you're really lucky you might be able to pick up radio transmissions. Yes? Then congratulations! You now have the authentic tones of classic rock at your fingertips. Roll up a fatty and celebrate!

Well, I've been using the same one for what, 28 years? I guess the "sound quality" is good enough.
If the Big Muff <pi> has a sound of it's own it must be "brrrararhrrr", or something like that. The sound of 200 million mosquitoes farting is the best way to describe it. What it's really all about is what it does to the amp you're pushing with it. Legendary tones can be had with really crappy amps. If noise isn't beautiful to you buy another pedal.

Can you depend on it? This is why $300 boutique pedals with point to point wiring and military specs make me laugh. This thing is a tin box with the cheapest components and wiring that could be had at the time; it's been stomped on for 30 years, about 50,000 times by now. Never even cleaned the pots except by turning them. Still works perfectly like the day I got it. Maybe 20 years ago I ripped out the battery connector and twisted on a 9 volt power supply.
As a back up, if it would fail during a gig, I use the "true-bypass" feature: (ie. I disconnect and play without it!) If you can't finish the gig because your fuzzbox failed your problem is more than "gear-deep".

I don't believe in customer support. Why should we burden manufacturers with our petty questions when the internet is chock full of people who know everything and are always willing to tell you anything you want to know. It's a no-brainer!

Ah the crux. To understand the Big Muff <pi> you have to kind of imagine yourself back in the early '70s. Back when Clapton was God, many people looked down on Hendrix a bit because he "used effects". It really wasn't until Electric Ladyland that he won over the majority of guitarists. Strange but true. He was perceived as a novelty.
Most players back then used a Fender or Ampeg combo; buying a Marshall was a big deal, they were expensive and much more amp than most needed. EH came along, add some acid and weed and the rest is history.
This pedal is about extremes and pushing everything that comes after it. Once you''ve got it happening it becomes a part of you. Then you'll begin to understand the meaning of space and time as well as your place as matter within them.
Or you could try jazz...

3 knobs. volume, sustain and tone. pretty easy i'd say! the only thing that is vaguely annoying is the lack of DC jack but the fuzz circuits use so little power, a battery will last for years.

mine is the green russian one. I had a black re-issue but i wanted to try out the green one because i heard it's the best of the lot. I a/b'd it with the black one and there's not a lot in it. i think where the green one excells is the tone knob, it is quite a bit more useable. i found the black one had a sweet spot where it would sound cool but when i took it to either extreme it sounded lame. this one on the other hand, i can get a lot more usable tones out of.

i use it into a rocktron piranha pre-amp and marshall power-amp. if i use it through a clean setting on the amp, it is very smooth sounding. but i also found that if i set the pre-amp to an averagely distorted setting, and then use the muff in front but set to about 1/4 sustain it gets a lot more raw grungy sounding.

it's only noisy when you crank it, but not too bad. i've yet to see a maxed out fuzz pedal with no noise!

man, this thing is so overly engineered! apparently it's made from melted down tanks and bits of russian space ship. i don't know if thats true but it weighs a ton. its easily the heaviest and sturdiest of all my pedals, mostly EHX. i haven't had it too long so i cant really say how reliable it is for gigging, but i definately trust it's not going to break in a hurry.

I've never dealt with EHX directly, but i did have a question about one of my other EHX pedals which i sent to this guy someone told me about - Ron Neely (theehman@ronsound.com) and he answered it in about 5 minutes! i would recommend speaking to him about any technical queries.

this thing rocks. full stop.

Piece of piss to use, just plug it in and off you go!

The distortion pedal I'd always wanted and never quite found, until now. It's only noisy in the way intended. It always sounds great, lots of different applications. Even just through a tiny practice amp, it totally kicks ass! You can do Mudhoney, Stooges, Jimi feedback stuff, Cream-era Clapton, or just sludgy RAWK. You can riff for hours with one of these.

So far, so good

None as yet.

I play all sorts of styles. I guess this pedal is only really useable on about 5% of what I play, but for that 5% its perfect. I use it with an SG, my beloved Guild T100 (Bigsby's good for controlling feeback), also good with a cry baby. I'd definately get another. I've used a Daddy-O and a Vox Distortion booster, and a Boss distortion, and they always felt tinny, soul-less, no character. This rules. It would be nice if you could lessen the sustain, so that you could just have a little of it - the gap between clean and even low-level fuzz is quite a big gulf.

Like everyone else has said....3 knobs, 1 switch, 2 plugs. Doesn't get much easier. No manual but then again if you need a manual to work this thing you probably need a manual to put your pants on. Mine hasn't been messed with at all and it doesn't need any changes done to it.

I use a '71 Fender Stratocaster and a friends Jap Strat for a back-up. I use it on a Peavey Express 112 and 80 watt single 12" crate. Lets face it....there is always a little noise coming in when you're playing out so considering its pretty darn quite. The best setup I've found for it is volume cranked, sustain cranked and tone half way.

No problems yet. I heard the old ones have wiring issues but everything I've heard latley tells me the wiring on new ones is fine. I always have my channel switch on my amp as backup but I don't think I'll ever have to use it. I tend to baby my effects to ensure long life so I haven't really put it to the test.

Haven't dealt with the company and hopefully won't have to.

I love this thing! Highly recommended for its wide range of tones...blues, metal, grunge, anything. If this was stolen...i'd first hunt down and kill the theif if i could but if i couldn't I'l buy a new one. The sustain you get is the best....makes a compressor/sustainer useless in my setup. I've been playing for 10 years with various other pedal (DS-1, hyper metal) and this is my favorite. I bought it after wondering what distortion smashing pumpkins used on siamese dream. After playing with it for a while I found their tone and a lot of others. Don't pay over $55 bucks! Music will try and charge more but either online or at larger music store you can find it for the standard price of $55.00 (US).