Electro-Harmonix Double Muff

The box works really easy. Just one knob, one selector switch and that's it.

The box doesn't work independently: the amount of distortion changes when you change the volume on your guitar. So when I just want to put my guitar a little harder, the distortion increases. That can be quite irritating, but sometimes heaven.

I use this stomp box with my Gibson Nighthawk and some different amps (mostly Vox, Fender and Samick). With tube-amps the sound is warm and brings character in your sound. With a transistor-amp, it sound more like noise.

The doesn't make any sound when turned of. But I usually have it switched on with just a little distortion because I am in love with the character of te stompbox.

I always gig with this box, now for half a year. It never let me down.

I always try to guess how a stompbox will survive and I give this one about 5 years.

Never needed customer support

I play most of all pop rock, now performing for my second year. It is a great match, it is now a part my sound. My other gear includes a Gibson Nighthawk, a Vox Valvetronics amp.

If it was stolen, I would buy another EHX effect for I need the tone. Problebly this one, because it works so easy and I don't like endless time trying to find my sound. This box is a part of my sound.

Compared to some boss pedals or line 6 distortion it had more character.

three knobs seems easy enough. try using it alone first and tweak your settings without looking too much at the dial numbers on your amp or the pedal. this pedal will sound different with every guitar, pedal, amp, and variation of the three that you use, so i recommend spending some time just listening to setting changes (rather than using pre-sets).

someone said they bought this pedal because they wanted the neil young "into the black" sound. that pretty much sums it up. you have to tweak your amp settings to get it to be bassy enough though. this pedal can be very trebly if placed at the end of an effect chain. place it second in the chain, right after the wah.

i don't recommend it for straight up guitar fuzz. i think it functions much better as a lead pedal. the big muff (with an eq run after it) is much better at plain fuzz (think weezer pinkerton, neil young tone on weld).

it is noisy, but that is why i bought it. i use it in front of all kinds of stuff: snarling dog wahs, heavy delay, chorus, tubescreamer, etc. this pedal is good at getting gnarly sounds, but not so good at getting refined fuzz or distortion. i guess that is why it is called a "double muff".

i run it through a single coil strat for added noise and feedback. my amps are typically 30 watt 1970's traynors and fender twins.

built much sturdier than the non-NY big muffs. i always have a back up because i break a lot of stuff.

this is where too many of my fellow reviewers tell the rest of us that they 1) play all styles of music (very well and for a very long time), 2) have more guitars and amps than leo fender, or 3) harp about how in the old days the things they played through were built out of pristine redwood from an extinct elfin forest and nowadays we have just lost the drive to make things the american way. tell that to flint, michigan my friend. oh wait. sorry. i too am being an asshole.

anyways, i recommend this thing as a noisy lead pedal (which is what I wanted) or as a novelty distortion pedal. if you want a more balanced and versatile fuzz than go with the big muff.

I think that this pedal is pretty easy to ue after screwing around ith it for a few minutes. In single muff, the Muff 1 knob controls the volume and the distortion. In double muff, the Muff 1 knob acts more as a volume, but still controls half of he distortion, and Muff 2 controls the layer of sludge you can get on top of normal distortion.

I can most certainly get that broken up distortion I've been looking for. The pedal is a little noisy if you have amp distortion on too, which I assume most people wouldn't do but I do. I usually run this through an Orange 30 watt combo amp; it sounds great.

You can certainly use this for a gig.

Haven't dealt with Electro-Harmonix.

A great pedal for dirty to filthy distortion.

I wouldnt say its easy to use, maybe not as straightforward as looking at it would suggest.
In single muff mode one knob controls the output of the muff, in double one controls the volume and the other controls the amount of second muff added.
The thing with this pedal is it is very dependant on what gear you are using it with.

I wanted a retro sounded for just one or two songs my band does and it achieves this pretty well. Its much better when used as a boost on your amps overdrive channel, seems a bit thin on the clean channel. There are a few variations in sound as you twiddle with the knobs and switch, but the big difference comes when you change pickups / guitars. This sounds completely different with a strat to a tele, for my ears it makes bridge pickups a little tinny sounding but adds some real beef to neck pickups.
It doesnt sound like any other overdrive or distortion pedal, I would say its a fuzz pedal with buckets of fuzz.
i dont think it adds extra noise but all my guitars have lace sensors, poor pickups make everything sound worse than it is.

No reliability problems. battery seems to last well. Wish manufacturers would decide on a power adapter standard. This is a male (crybaby wah) type not a female (boss) type.
Seems sturdy and tough to me, and has survived a pint of guiness kicked over it.

Not used.

I love the retro look, the name, the wooden box it comes in, and the fact its a bit different to your standard fare. It seems good value i think i only paid ??34 brand new cant quite remember but thats the area. dont know if id buy another would probably try something else, but only because i like a change.

This pedal provides the neccecities needed for a very unique kind of fuzzed distortion. The only minor, and I use the word to it's fullest potential, minor compaint I have come to know after two years use with this particular pedal: The actuvation slider switch for the second muff, But I usually end up usuing only the first muff in conjunction with my personal amplifier on the verge of shimmering clean near- breakup, this really does add cream to the crop, with only the single muff, the second really is not needed for most situations in my gigs.

The sound of this pedal is very excellent, (when using the single) untill the dial is turned past, ok say around one 'o clock, there is a certain "constipated bumble bee" sound as I would describe, which manifests itself after this point, but nevertheless, it is unique sounding; some people may like this (I do at times) and some don't.

Excellent true bypass, really reacts very well with volume petometers on your guitar, if turned down on double mode, you get the crisp-est clean you can hear, very unique, and then you could say, turn back up for a very raunchy ball of beautiful distortion pushed past the comprehension of man, sound.

I haven't had to deal with the Electro Harmonix staff, but the pedal is bult 'very decent'.

Good, very good for what it does, but it is still a high gain/ fuzz box, you can get a certain amazing clean sound with your guitar volume turned down, but otherwise, it is a pedal you like or dislike. have fun.

Two gain knobs (Muff 1 & Muff 2) and two switches (Effect On/Bypass & Single/Double Mode).

It's easy enough to dial in a wide variety of sounds. Muff 1 sets output level in both modes; Muff 2 is redundant in Single mode and affects the input gain of Muff 2 in double mode.

The manual states in Double mode, Muff 2 sets the output level of Muff 1 but I think that's an odd way of putting it. (Maybe I'm just being picky)

I give it an 8 for the basic reason that switching the 'Double/Single' switch with shoes on is nigh on impossible. I'd have preferred a regular footswitch to toggle modes with.

It's worth mentioning at this point that I play bass and have so far been dissapointed with every distortion pedal i've used.

Ok so I took the pedal out of its wooden box, plugged in and instantly managed to dial up some lovely fuzzy QOTSA tones from subtle 'Burn The Witch' stuff to heavier 'Skin on Skin' growlyness.

The distortion sound doesn't sap my low end like most guitar pedals and doesn't have a dissapointing blend control like most bass pedals. In a nutshell it inhances my tone instead of stamping a brand name on it.

I'm currently using a Tanglewood warrior III that has electrical problems. Basically i have to roll the treble off otherwise I get a really noisy signal. However I have used this pedal with a P-Bass and got amazing results.

My advice is get a smart gate or something similar because, especially in long signal chains, this thing is the noisiest pedal I've ever used. At high gain settings it seems to compress the signal somewhat and when not playing hisses at the same level as the bass' output!

I give the Double Muff a 9 on sound purely because the tone section on the original Muffs has been completely removed. It reacts very well when used with the passive tone control on my bass but I'd still enjoy a promitive eq section on the pedal itself.

I wouldn't stamp on this like I would a Boss or MXR/Dunlop. The thin metal housing seems flimsy and after only two weeks of ownership i can see the metal bowing around the foorswitch.

The plastic casing on the underside was warped on arrival and the whole build seems a bit light.

Also the screen printing scratches too easily; not that this is a major hassle as the controls are memorable if it were to wear off completely.

I would, however gig without a backup. Unless I jumped with both feet on this, I can't see it breaking mid-gig. I think i'd notice when to get a new pedal to replace this one.

I am, however worried about its overall longevity and that's why I'm only giving it a 7.

Never dealt with them.

Right now I'm in a synth-led indie rock band. Our musical scope, however is quite wide. I hardly ever like playing bass clean so this pedal's perfect for adding a little crunch when needed and a nice mid rangey growl for heavier sections.

I've been playing guitar for about 12 years and bass 3 of those and this is by far the nicest distortion tone I've come across.

My current rig is as follows:

Tanglewood Warrior II Bass > Boss TU-2 Tuner > Boss SYB-5 Synth Bass > Dunlop High Gain Volume > EHX Double Muff > MXR Phase 90 > Boss CH-1 Chorus > MXR Bass D.I. + > Laney Bass Amp.

Even though, as I said earlier, this is the nicest distortion I've come accross, if it were lost/broken/stolen I'd invest in a couple of Russian Big Muffs and a line selector pedal for the extra versatility in tone offered.

As mentioned in the Ease of Use section, I'd prefer a footswitch to change between Double and Single modes, but I can see why EHX have opted, in such a compact unit, for a switch that can't as accidentally be pressed.

I've never been subject to a distortion so dynamic and attentive to my playing as this. It's not so easy to hide behind as some other units and really accentuates my playing style. As a result I've become alot cleaner in the way I play.

The Double Muff can either sit back in the mix or become a dominating part of it. In this respect it has become a major tool to go to when writing bass parts.

Overall I'd love to see an eq section on this pedal, something that so far is only available by buying two Big Muffs, but for 32 quid (the cheapest pedal, not made by Beringher, I've ever seen) it's well worth having a look at.

Very easy- One switch, two knobs- However to acheive a good sound other effect pedals/amp-built overdrive may be needed.

First things first: This is an AMAZING pedal! I've been using it for a year now so I think I am allowed to say what I think about it. This pedal can be used from Jimi Hendrix Fuzz to Metallica like distortion. I play alot of Queens Of The Stone Age and Foo Fighters myself and I find if I turn down the tone on my guitar, these sounds can easily be acheived.
!!HOWEVER!!
I found it VERY hard to get much distortion on its own, with absolutely no help from the amp. If you have a good sounding, non-bland amp (modelling amps would work too) with built in distortion/overdrive then this is fine, otherwise you need to buy another pedal to boost this one.
If you play bass this pedal gives the perfect amount of overdriven deep+throaty bass without any help. Very good for a Nick Oliveri bass sound, especially for songs like "Give the mule what it wants", "You would know" or "

Not only has it been great this whole year but I've only ever changed it's battery three times!

Electro Harmonix are very friendly. I dont know how much support they'd give though, I've never had to use the waranty.

This pedal is BRILLIANT, its fuzz, its gentle overdrive, its metalic distortion. Unfortunately the pedal may need a little push. The best thing about this is that No-one uses it. It's the most accesable and cheap electro harmonix pedal avalable yet everyone prefers to use the over-rated Big Muff. My friend bought one after seeing how good my sound could get and naturally thought this would be better. Despite its need for a boost, my Muff sounded much stronger than the classic. Use this for an Unique but varied sound

Pretty easy to obtain decent tones from this box,( particularly fuzz
if that's your cup of tea.) Cleans up nicely with the guitar's volume
knob like any good fuzz box.

Very noisy on its own....I have a Ross distortion box in front of it
which acts as sort of a noise suppressor/limiter. I also use an old
Boss CS-1 compressor in front of it. It is pretty tweakable tonewise
this way. Otherwise, particularly on Muff 2 very noisy. I can get some
decent fuzz tones from it(which is the sole reason I bought it.)

Seems fairly well made. It's my first EHX box so I'll enter "No Opinion".

Absolutely no idea, but for a $65 pedal I really don't think I'd
bother.

Excellent value for the price. A decent fuzz pedal with true bypass.
It really is noisy, though. Some sort of noise suppression device
is needed.

It's simple to use, really, but kind of hard to understand. In single muff, mode you just get more boost as you turn the knob up. Double muff is less straight foreward. The knobs both do the same thing but in series. I find I kind of end up using Muff 1 as a master volume and Muff 2 to control the distortion. Really, I just move them around until they sound good, which isn't hard but the dynamics of the pedal do change a lot and it's not so straight foreward as pedals w/ a gain, tone and volume knobs. You basically have two volume knobs here that interact.

Despite the guess in check methodolgy you have to use to get it set *just so*, I think it sounds pretty great no matter what in double muff mode. It's a little fuzzy (less so than a Big Muff), a little overdrivey and a little bit like a distortion pedal. I've found w/ my amps (Bassman 100 into six twelve inch speakers among others), it has plenty of low-end, tons of harmonic richness and responds well to palm muting. It's not as tight as, say, a Rat or a Metal Zone but has a warmer.

I don't get much use out of the single muff mode. Actually, I never use it. It would make a cool lead boost, I suppose, and sounds pretty decent for bass.

A lot people seem to have trouble w/ this sounding thin which is entirely not the case w/ mine so either theirs lemons or you just have to happen to have an amp that works well w/ it.

I use it w/o a backup all the time but probably shouldn't. EHX makes some great sounding stuff but it seems like the cheap out on the construction which makes them unreliable to some extent. Just because it's made out of metal doesn't make it sturdy. I shudder to think of all the metal-cased BOSS pedals in the great pedal grave yard.

Never had to deal w/ them.

I use this for some metal but I don't go for the typical scooped high-gain sound that's common. I like a more vintage (but still saturated) distortion sound--more "hard rock" than metal. I love it's thick rhythm sound for powerchords and it's overdrive w/ a fuzzy edge gives a unique character vs. pretty much any pedal you can get on the market. I wish it was called something other than the Double Muff; it seems like that makes people come into it expecting the wrong things.

I got this sucker for forty bucks and I would have been happy to pay twice that. I suppose I would like some tone controls but that might just mess up the mojo it has w/o them. Simple is often best. If you happen to have a setup this will work well in, it's a real treat to play w/ though it's not versitile enough to work in every rig.

Cannot be easier. Two knobs, one selection switch, power on/off.

I am using a Gibson SG Standard > Fender Champion 30W solid state amp.
The pedal as two modes - the double and the single.
Singel - Deactivates the "MUFF2" knob, so the gain/volume will be now controlled using the MUFF1 knob. Yes, gain AND volume. Lack of volume control becomes the "single" option to be unversatille, if a balance between the clean and the overdrive is required. However, the sound is accaptable for it's price. A very fair booster, a bit crunchy but I guess that's fine.

Double - Activetes the MUFF2 knob. Now, the MUFF1 will be used as "pre-gain" and the MUFF2 as "post-gain". If you like to blance between the both channels- You would be needed to balance between MUFF1 and MUFF2- Higher volume at MUFF2 will increase the volume and lower volume at MUFF1 will decrease it. The sound using the double opetion remainds me the Boss DS-1.

Seems pretty solid. This one is 3 years old and looks like a new one.

Lack of EQ and volume makes this pedal very unversatille. Don't let the name confuse you!
I wouldn't define it as a fuzz. It is booster and distortion, but none of these two options are versatille.

I wouldn't buy it again. Overall, it has pretty fair sound, but even at it's price you can find better stuff. However, this is a second-distortion. Don't use it as your major one.