Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi

Very easy to use. 3 knobs.

The volume seems to be a linear pot so it has plenty of range to it. The gain and tone knobs are log pots so a mid hump is probable. This is good cos its where the muff sounds best.

Could have more range on the fuzz knob i found.

Sound doesnt get much more fuzzed beyond 2 on the gain knob - it just adds a little more white noise.

Best settings for me are

volume : 10
tone: 1
gain: cranked

Good for solo work and sounds killer with a wah

Seems to react differently to single coils and humbuckers - but the differences are both amazing sounding so its a good thing.

Keep in mind that it is a heavily buffered fuzz so dont expect a gated sound like a fuzz factory face.

Use it all the time.
The case is a bit flimsy feeling but you can stomp as hard as you want and it wont budge. Its a brute of a thing to use.
Takes up a lot of room on a pedal board but its room well spent cos it looks mean as hell.

The paint job is rather nasty - small knocks come off as huge scuffs, but it all adds character.

Never had to deal with them yet, but i hear good things about the customer services.
All EHX pedals are tested before being sold anyway so chances are youl never have to bother with customer support for this particular pedal.

Bought mine for 30 quid - sounds amazing. Good mixture of nirvana/smashing pumpkins sort of heavyness. I use mine with an EHX HOG too to emulate white stripes stuff (octaves on Blue Orchid and whammy style on Ball and Biscuit and Icky Thump). Pulls it all off.
Doesnt take 2 minutes to find "your sound" either.
Uncomplicated, universal and a mainstay of many artists pedalboards - that should tell you something.

Also, dont believe the crap people say about it not sounding like the original - the settings just need tweaking a little more; it still sounds like a proper muff.

This is a very easy pedal to use - just three knobs and then two switches to switch the wicker on and off and to also bypass the tone control.

Very easy to get a good tone out of it and the manual is very good at explaining what each feature does.

Only reason I don't give this a 10 is because I think the unit could perhaps be manufactured to be slightly smaller but that's only a niggle.

Some people give this lower scores (like a 6 or a 7) but I'm not sure how this pedal could be that difficult to use - there are three knobs, two switches, in and out jacks and a power jack. What could be easier. I've owned a bunch of pedals and unless it's some mad delay or multi-effects unit I'd find it hard not to give any pedal a high score.

I use the following set up:

Mesa Boogie 1x12 Express 2:25 or Fender Deville 1x12 >> RV-3 reverb >> Verbzilla >> DD6 delay >> Voodoo Lab Tremolo >> Modded RAT >> Muff Pi >> HBE Powerscreamer >> Analogman Ibanez TS9 tubescreamer >> Barber compressor >> Fender Strat / Tennessee Gretsch / Rickenbacker 620

There are lots of ways to use a pedal, lots of different setups to use it with and lots of different settings to use. I'll just go into what I find it useful for and base my rating on that.

I use this as something to get a big chunky riff from (generally just using one string) and always on the neck pick-up of my guitars (esp a strat). I switch the tone-bypass on so I don't lose bottom or top end and I leave the tone-wicker on to get a bit of trebly highs on top of the fat sound.

I don't put the gain up past 11 o'clock really because I stick a tubescreamer in front of it (no drive - just a volume boost) and here is the result:

OMG...it's just a fat big rounded tone with a gritty edge to it. This works WAY better than my modded RAT (keeley'esque) and does wonders if you want a big fat gritty tone on your neck pick-ups. This sounds great without the tubescreamer boosting it but if you don't mind losing a bit of bottom end - the tubescreamer really pushes it to a big but beautiful sound.

There are lots of different tones with this that I'm still finding over the 8 months or so I've had this so for the price of this pedal - I'm going to give this a 9 as it's way better value than my power screamer or my RAT because of the versatility.

The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because of the big hum you get when you have it on a high setting but to be fair - without a built in noise-gate, you're never going to avoid this as unless you have it on 0 gain - it's uses A LOT of distortion.

BTW I hear arguments that this is a fuzz pedal and arguments that it is a distortion pedal. From what I've read, I believe this is a distortion pedal. I've owned a few Roger Mayer fuzzes (the best IMHO) and this doesn't really sound like them.

I think this pedal will become a fan favourite because of an excellent price-point.

I doubt you could break this easily. None of the knobs are loose and everything seems very well made. Having said that - I've NEVER broken a pedal but I'll give it a 9 as I think the footswitch may eventually break.

Never had to deal with them. I've heard their support is awful but I doubt you'd ever need it.

I play mainly alt rock and don't really get the chance to use this pedal much in my style of music as music as I'd like but when I need a big riff - this pedal is the one to use.

I've been playing for about 8 years and owned a TONNE of stuff for only 8 yrs playing so I'd say I'm fairly qualified to review a pedal. The only thing I'd probably ignore my review on is if you're REALLY into your guitar tone preservation (true-bypass lover) as I don't really care about that too much.

This is a great pedal if you want your own sound and a really versatile distortion pedal. You'd struggle to find a pedal that sounds like this at all - for whatever price.

If you want a big muff/fat distortion - just buy this - you can get the EXACT tone from a normal big muff on this too.

I'm writing about a 1974 Ram's Head Big Muff Pi that I've owned for decades. I've played a bit thru an even older model, the one with the knobs in a triangle rather than straight, and there seems to be some differences, but mine is the knobs-in-a-line ram's head model. And folks, there's some tricks to getting the best out of this pedal.

I'm rating ease of use a bit low, as it took me YEARS to figure out how to get the best use out of this thing; now that I know the tricks, I LOVE IT!

I mostly play Strats and Teles, but this can be cool with humbuckers, too, provided you put a bit of woodshedding in to get the best settings. Ampwise, I play various blackface Fenders (vintage) as well as stuff like Valve Jr.'s and assorted old single-ended class A amps. For this review, I'm pretty much referring to a recent gig with a '67 Fender Showman head thru a couple of small cabs w/ Celestion Vintage 30's.

The sound was off the hook! Very responsive and reactive, as you use the guitar's volume to vary the input signal...this is one of the keys to getting the most out of these vintage muffs. Backing down the guitar's volume smooths out the fuzz into more of a good, workable distortion even with chords. The downside being the overall drop in volume. I solved this by using a volume pedal after the muff, and setting my amp volume for the guitar-down, pedal-up volume setting. When I opened the guitar up, I could back down the pedal and maintain a fairly consistent overall volume.

Remember, this thing provides a fair bit of gain hiss, so I'm only rating sound quality a 9, although disregarding that I'd go 10++

Well, this thing is 35 years old and the only thing I've had to do to it was resolder on battery connection and clean the pots and switches. One of the reasons I did not use if for many years was the flimsy construction...I always felt a really good stomp on it would just flatten the thing. The couple of times in the past that it was part of my regular rig, I usually hooked it up late in the pedal chain, up on top of the amp, and manually turned it on and off, rather that using my foot. THIS HAS BEEN A MISTAKE! and one of the reasons I didn't GET how to get the most out of it. If I start playing out again, I'll probably use an ABY to create a little loop to bring it in and out with a more durable switch.

As far as backup, I'm in the process of working with an electrical engineer friend to see if we can revamp the newer "Little Big Muff" to sound and react like this vintage unit. I've hung onto the vintage Muff through thick and thin; if I lost it, I'd probably try to find another on eBay or something.

I have no idea. About a decade ago, I bought one of the russian reissues. I worked with it for several weeks and could never get it to act like the vintage. Some folks maintained that that version (green case, triangle knobs, very strange "button-like" footswitch) was supposed to sound and act more like the original muff, but that wasn't my experience. I ended up selling it to one of my students...I always felt a little bad about that.

I'm pretty much a blues-rock, classic-rock player. I've been a guitarist for 40 years and I've played through everything you can think of, pretty much. I've had Fender, Gibson, and assorted custom guitars; I've played a wide-range of amps, but after I got over having to have Marshall 50 and 100 watts, I've pretty much stuck to vintage Fenders and the ilk. Pedal-wise, again I've messed around with tons of stuff but I've almost always relied on the amp to get me the sound I wanted. I've worked with various distortion units and have some digital modelers but as far as I'm concerned, modelers are just that-simulacrums and not the real deal.

Managed correctly, this thing is amazing! I had read about guys like Duane Allman using nearly dead batteries to tame it down a bit, but my experience (see above) suggests that managing the input voltage is just as effective at rendering various settings reasonably useable. The vintage is very responsive to pick attack and makes the guitar really responsive. The whole reason I'm writing this review today is, I used it in a one-off performance yesterday, in a situation where at one point I had to play very clean and chimey, then later had to have a great, over the top solo sound. I couldn't find what I wanted with the modelers and, in a fit of frustration, decided to go old-school.

It was awesome. With the Muff out of the chain, the Showman and Strat sounded chimey and brilliant, perfect for the part I had to play. Later, I jacked in the muff and backed off the treble a bit, and turned off the bright switch. With the guitar backed down and the vol. pedal up I had just the right amount of distortion and responsiveness; when solo-time came, I rolled the guitar up and toed the vol. pedal back just a bit and the Strat just sang! I am in love with this thing!

It will be great if we can make the newer, more robustly-built models sound like this. If you can find a vintage for a reasonable price, GET IT!

3 Knobs plain and simple
BUT
I noticed that sustain doesn't make much difference when tweaked slightly, and the tone knob makes hardly any difference, I can only tell a slight change in 'clankyness'.
Also the volume knob is very tempermental, when it gets to just below 12 o'clock it starts to make massive volume jumps.

I'm using the Russian Re-issue (black, no wooden box) with a bass,
it's a vintage (1984) Fender JB Special with a passive EMG bridge pickup.
I also use a bi-amp setup and run the Muff through a Vintage (1974) Londoner L100A and have a Fender Rumble 2x10" running clean at the same time.
I'll go over the Parameters of the effect first:
Sustain: When turned low you the Fuzz becomes more overdriven and sounds a bit crunchier and the feedback/background noise is reduced alot however when the sustain is turned all the way up there can be a static-like background noise but the sound is extremely fuzzy and feedback increases the length of your notes, I usually keep it about half way but have recently started using it at full because I like the sound of half my signal being THAT fuzzy.

I've owned the USA muff aswell and found that when turned down the USA one became much more like an overdrive and wasn't fuzzy at all compared to the Russian one, the Russian also maintains alot more low end than the USA version though not enough that I would recommend to use this pedal without a blend pedal or a bi-amping rig.

Using this pedal I can get some sounds from popular band, Muse, but most of the Bass-fuzz parts are backed up with Synth from Morgan.

The Pedal has no DC input but I brought an adaptor (by a company called 1Spot) which I plugged into the Battery port to my power brick. I would and have gigged with this and it works fine, just the extra sensitive volume knob can cause problems in mixing etcetc.

Never had to deal with Customer Support.

The person who sold it to me gave me a circuit diagram for the Creamy dreamer mod but as I am using a bass I felt no need to get a 'Smashing Pumpkins' sound.

I play in a Post-Hardcore/ Emo/ Pop-Punk band and use this along with a BOSS OS-2 and a GT-6B(in studio/at home) and works fine as long as you can get the levels sorted out.
I've been playing about 2 years now and this is one of the best fuzz boxes/ distortions I've owned and is just so phat and big sounding, however the little time I've spent playing around with a guitar on it I've hated it and much prefer my fuzz factory for that.
Though I wouldn't dream of using one of them on basses *shudder*
I think this should have been shipped with a DC port and not one of those shitty tiny ones like ones on the US versions either but it's not a big deal to order a ??2 adapter.

You'll need to experiment a bit with the volume, tone, and sustain knobs to get sounds you're happy with, but it's not at all difficult or frustrating. Really, that's part of the fun with this thing. One bit of advice: Start low on the volume knob and work up--the unit can generate a whole lot of gain!

The muff I have is a recently manufactured Russian version, the black one. I play a Tribute Legacy through a silverface twin. Sound-wise, the muff is the real deal. It can deliver crunch, fuzz (though I don't think of it as a fuzz box) and a nice singing sustain (that is, a distorted rather than clean sustain). If you're into vintage heavy metal or the latest stoner rock, this box (or something like it) is a must. I played a US muff pi years ago, and the current Russian version is a capable of a darker sound. When I plug it in, I start play Black Sabbath riffs, and I'm not even a big BS fan. An important caveat: This unit is prone to noise and even radio signals when the volume is cranked

This rating is perhaps misleading--you could use it on at a gig without backup, presuming it's intact at start of the show. The problem with the unit is its durability, as described by many other reviewers. E-H should include a screwdriver and soldering iron with every unit! On my unit, first one of the chicken head knobs kept coming loose. Then, from my frequently having to screw the knob back on, a nut that held the pot onto the box came loose. When I tightened the nut, it moved the entire pot and one of wires attached to it was torn loose from the circuit board. I opened the box up and reconnected the wire to the board (with duct tape!) and saw how shoddily the thing is put together. Given this example of Russian electronics engineering and manufacture, it's no wonder the Soviets never made it to the moon.

My unit is a year old and past warranty, so I never communicated with them. E-H must not be too bad with customers; they've been around forever and are bigger than ever.

I like playing old blues rock, garage, psychedelic stuff and the big muff is a basic for that kind of music. It works very well with an Ibanez echo/delay unit I have, though when connected to a vox wah wah I do get a lot of hiss and other problems requiring that I tweak the knobs and go easy on the wah. I have a lot of fun with this box when it's working properly. It's reasonably priced, but when it dies I'll probably look for something else that delivers the same sounds--I'm not too handy with repairs!

* 1968 Rickenbacker 360
* 2004 American Fender Stratocaster w/ Rio Grande (Vintage Tallboy - Bridge & Muy Grande - Neck)
* 1982 Fender American Bullet Deluxe w/ Dimarzio Tone Zone S - Bridge & Dimarzio YJM - Neck)
* Mid 90'S Ibanez RG-570

Great Sound - thick but you can really get it to sing as well.

Here lies the problem. I've had the pedal for less than a year, and have really babied it. I've never even put it on the floor to step on the switch. It started breaking up and became absolutely useless (batteries or power supply) a few days ago.
I'm going to have to accept it's a lost cause and buy a Jimi Hnendrix Fuzz Face (which is what I should have really gotten in the fisrst place - but I tried to sace a few bucks)

I will not be replacing it....

Standard 3 knob pedal. sustain, tone and volume.

I bought this pedal off ebay, still had the wooden box that went with it. no instructions, but why need them when you have the internet?

this is definatley more of an overdrive pedal than distortion. That is, if you can convince the damn thing to give you a decent sound. It is also very tempermental. I've tried everything to get a decent sound out of this pedal. From chords, to batteries, to amps to guitars. The sound is choppy and like my drummer says "its sounds ratty" It has way too much bottom end. During a recording session, we had it hooked up to my Marshall G100r with 2X12 cab w/electro-harmonix speakers andit just wasnt producing a sound that was good enought o record with. So, The sound guy suggested using it on a Peavey 5150 and it sounded even worse.(Yes, it actually sounded shitty on a 5150) We eventually went with a BOSS SD-1 super overdrive and man,that did the trick.
The problem with this pedal, are the cheap parts and short cuts made during construction. If this tank had a dc9v input jack and true bypass it would probably be a better pedal, but as is, it kills the **** out of your tone and if you dont have a battery that it likes, then your going to get crazy and ****** sound.
I give this pedal a 5, when it wants to work for you, it sounds great but that's few far and between.

Case wise, yeah this metal tank was built well. Component wise.......HELL NO! If its gotten what it needs out of your battery,it will suck more tone when your hitting the stomp button and it sounds like you have a loose connection

dunno why bother? everyones pissed with Russia right now anyway.

I just bought a boss sd-1 super overdrive and a visual sound jekyll and hyde pedal. Far superior in construction and sound than this tone killing beast. If you want a pedal to mod, than this is the pedal for you. I havent decided this pedals fate yet. I may mod it or i may sell it to a basist friend, who has had more luck with it than I have.

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!!!

Ive got a USA re-issue of the big muff pi, i thought i would buy one and try it out despite all of the negative reviews. So let me cut to the chase. It is VERY difficult to dial in a decent fuzz sound. But once you find the sweet spot, it sounds pretty great. I was just about to give up on the pi, but i eventually found a way to tweak it for a sound that just about nails old sabbath.

Im using this with my 18watt plexi clone. The thing about the pi is, it will sound awful until you turn up the amp loud enough to get the power tubes overdrivng.. it just does not respond well with buzzy pre-amp distortion unless you like your tone anemic and shrill. I find my plexi responds the best to a volume boost, not so much with an increase in gain. I also found that the best way to set up pi is to have the volume almost dimed, the other two knobs might as well not even be there... if they are turned past 8 o' clock the only thing that happens more noise and over clipping. Even with the 'sustain' knob turned way down i find that there is still more than enough sustain. Mid stong speakers seem to complement the big muff. I find that this thing sounds alot better thru my greenback equipped cab. It sounds very harsh thru my T-75 cab...

It feels fairly solid; theres nothing rattling inside when you shake it or anything like that. It doesnt feel as robust as my old ibanez ts-9. The paint chips off easily...but the switch feels solid, still i wouldnt go stomping on it. I would say it is perfectly suitable for gigging.

Overall, i like the pedal. Its a little noisey, but once its tweaked to the sweet spot, its fun to pop the switch, belt out some power chords, and let the raw fuzz do its thing.

Very easy to use just three knobs: volume , sustain , tone.

My Big Muff is simply awsome, sounds great, a masterpiece! It's an original Big Muff I from 1971 (triangle knob version). David Gilmour is using now one like mine (2006).
My setup is all customized by myself.
Epiphone SG G400 (all customized with Gibson parts)
DeArmond Volume Pedal (As Gilmour's Live at Pompeii)
Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Wah-wah
MXR DynaComp Compressor
Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer
ProCo RAT II
Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi I
Boss GE-7
DOD EQ-660
Electro Harmonix Small Clone
MXR Phase 90
Boss BF-3
Boss DD-20
The Amp: Gianinni Duovox 100G Head (a copy of a Fender Twin Reverb)

I've made some minor improvement:
True by pass on/off switch
AC adaptor (since this Big Muff only runs with 9 volt batery)

This Big Muff is been working for more than 35 years, what makes it very, very reliable.
But, as all Electro Harmonix pedals, it seams to be fragile, so I will give it a 9.

I never use customer support since I fix, repair and make upgrades all by myself in all my equipment

To sound like Gilmour's or Santana's Big Muff you have to have one like this, it's very difficult to find one, and I am not selling it.
If I lose it I will kill myself, coz I can't live without MY PRECIOUS !!!

Three knobs, each one clearly labeled, doesn't get any easier than that. Black Sovtek. I paid a little more than I should because I wanted the wooden box.

I use an American Strat and a Guitar Research amp and a few other pedals that change according to the situation.

This is my third Big Muff over the years. The first one, the one with the small case and black print, purchased around 1972, was the best, but the tone potentiometer suffered a mishap when the plastic post broke off near the nut, requiring a sharp object (like a thumbnail or small screwdriver)to be placed against the plastic to turn it for different settings. The second, the larger one witht he red print and purchased around 1973, howled like mad when the sustain was turned up, not a nice, controllable feedback, more of a shrill squeal that would suit a noisy Helmet-type band but sound poorly in a more controlled, Fripp-like sound. This one does not suffer from either of those problems. Instead, it has a hum that becomes more pronounced as the tone is turned to the left from the 12 o'clock position (which is too bad for me because that is where I like it, right around 9 o'clock). The hum is not present when the unit is switched off. If not for this "feature", it would be right up there with my first Big Muff.

I would give it a ten because with that tone turned to 9 o'clock my sound is right where I want it to be, but that hum is annoying for any kind of recording. It comes very close to the sound I have been trying to achieve - that long sustain fuzz used alot by Jimi on Electric Ladyland and also by Fripp on early King Crimson albums or extensively by Steve Hackett.

This one is far more reliable than my older ones in the sense that it has metal posts on the pots that are far less likely to break. If I gigged I would use it without a backup.

Never tried. I don't speak Russian.

I play a noisy brand of music but I prefer the noise to be something intentional or accidental but not caused by a noisy box. This Big Muff, as I said before, would be the be-all if not for the hum, and I am not sure if that is a condition of all of them and most people just live with it or if I have a lemon. If it were stolen or lost I would probably get another because, so far, I have not heard a box that has THIS sound. The Big Boys (and Girls) don't use these because they are built like tanks, they use them because they sound so good. I also have a VooDoo Labs Superfuzz and it doesn't compare to the Muff, tone-wise.

3 knobs. Volume, tone and sustain. Sustain is the gain control, and you can get some very different gain voicings. Tone goes from very dark and boomy, to creamy and fuzzy. The volume also changes the tone considerably. At first I was a little dissapointed because I couldn't get quick and puncy rhythm sounds out of it... but then i realized what it was really meant for.

Let me tell you something, this fuzzbox is simply my favorite pedal of all time, and I've owned and tried MANY. This sort of sound is something you just can't get from an amp, or a multi effect, or anything that doesn't say big muff on it!
I don't like trying to emulate guitarists, but this vintage sound really jumps out at you. You can get a REALLY great SATURATED lead tone a la early Santana and David Gilmour. The notes sustain pretty much forever. The only problem with that is that the notes sustain too long for led zeppelin type leads, and if you want to play metal on this i suggest you think again.
At lower settings you can mimick Fuzzface type tones as well, just like jimi. And the pedal is much more versatile than most people think, you can get a really mean and nasty texas blues tone with one of these.
My favorite part of the big muff sound is the way the notes jump off the fretboard. it doesn't sound like the note is being picked normally. It sounds like the guitar is almost forcing the notes out.... its very difficult to describe, but trust me, you will hear it. Try listening to the outro slide guitar solo on the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Scar Tissue."

I use it with a telecaster, ----------crybaby-------ds-1----------treble booster-----------big muff--------boss ce-5 chorus --------- amp. It reacts decently well with other effects.... i usually run it with chorus to fatten up the sound.... not that its not fat enough, its just that I am always running with chorus and short delay to make the muff sound even biggern than it normally does. I don't like to give out 10s, but this deserves it. Just beware that if you turn the volume knob up all the way and you are using single coils, of course you'll get noise.

Made of nickel steel.... extremely sturdy knobs and switches.... these things have been around forever. I totally feel I can depend on it. I don't back up pedals, I can use a ds-1 to ***TRY*** to fill the void if somebody (a jealous guitarist) accidentally throws this one out of a window.

I've dealt with electro harmonix, and they are a great company.... i just hate how their 9volt adapter jacks are non standard... talk about pain in the ass! its worth it, for this tone.

I play pop, fusion, blues and rock. Been playing for a while, always testing out new gear to find "that" tone. My quest for "that" distorted tone is over. I've found it. It really inspires you to play more and more. I've had it for about a year, so this is not a honeymoon review. It really is a great product and invaluable to my sound. If it were stolen, i'd probably kill myself or something... then come back to life as a zombie to buy another one. Great sound that suits me perfectly. Like I said, i don't like to give tens, but this just plain kicks ass. Bravo, EHX!

Very simple - three knobs, you don't need to be a tech head to work this out - a 9V input jack would be good though

I run this thru a Laney VC 30 2x12" combo, with a Mexican Tele and the sound is great - sounds like classic grunge, Sabbath - very nice

It has broken down twice in two years - once the footswitch, once with the internal wiring, have been able to get it fixed both times, but haven't been impressed with this aspect of it

I've been playing Guitar seriuosly for the better part of 15 years and I love the sound for grungier songs - although I think the sound is pretty one dimensional - a TS 9 or Boss Distortion pedal would suit other styles better. Am a bit dissapointed with it breaking down but overall if you're after a fuzz rock or grungy distortion sound this is a great pedal

Like the other reviews say, this thing is pretty much the epitome of simple when it comes to overdrive/distortion. Three knobs, Volume, Sustain and Tone all of which are very self-explanatory. I usually leave the Sustain all the way up and play with the Tone to get the sound right.

This thing is great. I got it because of a Raconteurs song ("The Level") and I can get it to sound just like the solo in that song. Turn down the Tone and you can get a great Smashing Pumpkins sound. Turn the Sustain all the way down and you can get a totally different sound too. It is just fun to play with this thing.

This thing is made in Russia so it is pretty much bullet proof, except for the plastic input and output jacks. I'm pretty careful so I don't worry about gigging without a backup.

Never had to deal with them

I was looking for a vintage sounding fuzz and this thing is exactly what I was looking for and more. The only major downside is the lack of a 9v adapter jack. I might invest in something like the One-Spot AC adapter thing with a battery adapter.

Very easy to find a great tone to work with. Same three knobs as the USA Big Muff...Volume, Distortion, and Tone. Mine didn't come with a manual but you really shouldn't need one!

The distortion of this pedal is amazing to me. You get a lot of low end and mids with it. Highs get a little muddy when playing full chords, but for me, I only use this pedal in situations where I need power chords or leads.
As with most OD/Distortion pedals it does get a little noisy on high gain settings. Only not giving it a ten because I have yet to find something I can say sounds perfect.

I play Fender Stratocasters into an old Peavey Classic or Fender Chorus.

It looks like a tank, so it must be built like one.

Hope I don't have to deal with the company.

I play primarily high energy rock and roll. A little bit punk and a whole lot a love. I've been playing 13 years and other pedals I use are Boss TU-2, NS-2, LS-2, CE-2, RV-3, DF-2. Ibanez TS-9 (reissue), Tech 21 SansAmp Classic, Chandler Tube Driver.

It's as easy as it gets. Volume knob works for volume, tone knob works with how bassy or trebly does your fuzz sound. Sustain is for the amount of fuzz/distortion. Footswitch. I lost the manual for mine but it would be senseless to waste time reading it as everybody can use this right away. Getting good sound out of it it's not so easy, actually there's a lot of possibilities you tweak for an hour and only get one or two good sounds. But once you get to know it it shines.

This pedal can be used in two ways: when you use it on a clean amp, it is like a fuzz pedal. sounds like mudhoney's first album, some stooge's era ron asheton and a lot of classic rock sounds. No use in palm-muting when using it like this, and it rages and sings but doesn't scream.- now, when you get this on top of an overdriven amp you get the more sharp sounds, think dinosaur jr and nirvana "in utero" album. I'm running this with an Epiphone les paul studio and a fender cyber twin amp. when the clean channel gets hot on the fender this pedal rips. a turn off it seems to me, the tone and sustain knobs are not very useable before 10 o'clock. it is noisy like a distortion pedal is supposed to be, but it's not as feedbacky as other pedals i've tried.
like i said earlier, the only thing this pedal does, it does it with flying colors. it rules.

it doesn't look as strong as a boss pedal. it's made out of plastic and a metal layer bolted on. in/output jacks scare me. i would use it on a gig, i have a ds-1 for backup.

for the music i do in my band, which is punk rock/grunge if i have to describe it, it is a perfect match, it gives me the angry distortion i use and is noisy enough for out of control solos. i've been playing for 4 years, i had a crybaby wah and a ds-1 distortion pedal besides this thing, but the ds-1 is most suitable for playing mainstream stuff. if it was stolen i could do nothing about it since i got this in the usa and i live in south america (peru) and this boxes are not imported in here. i love the distortion onthis thing, but i don't like it being less versatile than average. if i compare it to my other distortion definetely this is unique, the ds-1 doesn't have it's own voice but the big muff is not so big on te range of sounds it's got. i wish it didn't chew batteries as it does, i'm going to buy a power supply soon. it helps me to get my music to sounds as it it supposed to: aggresive. this pedal is worth it, i love its sound.