Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n

Easy. Just like adjusting your amp.

Pros:-
Does what it says on the tin: a very nice imitation of that slighlty gritty Marshall or chimey Vox (depending on how you set it) OD/distortion. Sounds really nice with some delay to give a nice fat but edgy (not in the U2 sense) lead sound. Plenty of gain; goes from slight overdrive to full blown distortion.

Cons:-
This pedal does not do smooth; there's always some grit present and I personally found the pedal to be far too bright unless the treble was set below nine o'clock, which limits what you can do with it.

The pedal is supplied as standard with two 12AY7's which is just plain wrong. I highly recommend changing the right-hand 12AY7 for a 12AX7 or ECC83. This smoothes and warms the tone nicely. Changing the left hand tube doesn't make much of a difference.

Good sturdy build quality and no problems in the six months or so that I had it.

Sold it recently to help pay for a TC Electronic Nova System but if I ever go back to using individual pedals the English Muff'n is definitely a pedal I would consider owning again.

It's easy to use. It just has a few knobs. No brains required. Just turn them and listen to the way your sound is manipulated. If you can't operate this, you are a total knob.

Let me start by saying that this is one of my favorite pieces of gear I own. I have to admit, I was very confused when I first read about it. I didn't know what "british" amp it was taking its inspiration from as "british" is a tad vague. "hmm, If I buy this, I will either sound like hendrix or the beatles, but which?". The price was right so I took a chance and am very happy I did. My ears hear great old school marshall tone.

I didn't really like this as a distortion pedal into the distortion channel of my particular amp but love it into the clean section. I've come to treat this pedal not as a "distortion pedal" per se ,but rather, as a preamp in and of itself. A preamp in pedal format. In other words, I no longer think of it as a distortion pedal. I use distortion pedals into it and use it as like a I would an amp's preamp section. Sounds great without distortion pedals in front of it too.

It is capable of a decent amount of old school marshall like distortion and the lead tone is very charismatic and melodic and lively.

How reliable? I have had it for well more than a year and I have had no immediate technical concerns or issues. I have no opinion here. It's too early to tell. Will it work 5 or 10 years from now? We'll see cause I intend to keep it that long. I'm sure any competent tech can fix this if something goes wrong.

I thought of contacting them once to find out what tubes its supposed to come with stock because mine came with different tubes than what their ad copy stated. Mine came with two 12ay7's while the ad copy said "12AY7 cascading into a 12AX7". Then I heard other people saying they have (or put) two 12ax7's in theirs. But, in the end it didn't matter. I've got a lot of tubes and have had fun experimenting with them. I never contacted them and don't know what level of support they give customers.

overall I am very happy with this device. It's The most tone per dollar I have ever paid for.
I like this so much I have considered buying a dedicated power amp for it. Until then, It sounds great into all of my amps.

Pretty easy to deal with this stompbox. 3-line EQ, gain and volume.

Using it thru Gibson SG Standard to Marshall TSL602 tube combo. Sounds great on combo's clean channel. I could vary sounds from clean with a lil breakup to fat-sounding distortion you can fing in those ol' Plexi heads with lo-wattage.
I can nail the sound of great clean guitar wich suits both rhythm and lead styles of playing (Beatles, Stones, U2, Smiths) Then it goes crunch and dist. They're also great for punk rock and good ol' hard rock. From AC/DC and Black Sabbath to NOFX and Offspring. The most I like about is the FAT creamy sound which also sounds good with my girlfriend's Gibson SG Bass.

Played about 5 gigs thru it. This power supply makes me mad 'cause I'm afraid it'll break up some day and it's hard to find.

Never dealed with EHX but those CD's with demo videos and those guy from 65Amps 're cool.

I like to play many styles of music from early Beatles to Foo Fighters and Offspring. It's suits well. The controls are easy to tweak so I can just dial into my amp and play wonderful stuff. I'm playing for 12 years and as I've mentioned before I owe Gibson SG Standard guitar (worked for it as seafood processor in Alaska, hehe) and also some EHX fx-boxes: Holy Grail Reverb, Pulsar Tremolo, Clone Theory Chorus/Vibrato and DOD EQ.
I've changed my VOX Bulldog for it. I wish it has 2 channels (as Vox) but the sound is still better :)

Easy. Like dialing a good sound out of an amplifier, the controls are similar to a lot of basic guitar amps.

Great sounding pedal, or a preamp if you like. Variety of the tones is amazing, you can go from just very slight tube warmth to fuzz-like tones. Also if you have an amp (especially a tube amp) that has only volume and tone controls, this is great pedal. cause you can control treble mid and bass too.

My main amp is Fender Pro Reverb 1973 (no master volume) and I play mostly Les Paul and Stratocaster. This pedal is a very good match for this gear.

Only negative thing I can say about the tone controls is that the treble is just for boosting, not for cutting, cause when treble is on 0 it is already quite bright.

I've had it for about 4 months. No complaints, everything is working great.

No experience.

I play retroish rock, with this pedal I'm usually going after Jimmy Page circa 1973 type of sound, and it works really good for me.

I've played guitar for about 20 years and this is the first overdrive pedal I'm really quite happy with. It is not for every type of music or for everybody, I would imagine, but for what it is, it is great.

You can dial in some good settings the more you play with it

I think this pedal sounds pretty good at getting you a British crunch like from a vintage Marshall.
I wanted a pedal to help my Fender tube amps (Blues Junior, Deluxe Reverb) sound more British when I played rock otherwise I love my Fender amps for blues/jazz.
NOTE - when played through the Blues Junior or Deluxe Reverb (Vibrato input) it does not sound that good with this pedal or any other overdrive/distortion pedal because of the bright capacitor which gives you an awful high end sound, so I modded my amps to engage or disengage the bright capacitor when I want.
The bright caps on Fender amps only sound good with cleaner sounds for that sparkly high end but with gain it is not very pleasing.

The only problems with this pedal are:
- the ****** Electro Harmonix 12AY7 tubes it comes with
- the pedal also is too trebly. Best to turn treble control down to zero

** I recommend replacing the first tube (one on left) with a TungSol 12AX7 which gives it more gain and tightens up the high end. The stock Electro Harmonix 12AY7 are low gain tubes and have a very loose splatty high end. If you want that old Marshall crunch use the TungSol 12AX7.
** I tried two 12AX7s but it was too much gain and you could not get a cleaner crunch so a 12AX7 in the left and a 12AY7 (or even 12AT7 which has a bit more gain than 12AY7) in the right sounds great.

My favorite setting for getting a good crunchy overdrive from a fairly clean tube amp is:
OUTPUT - 3 o'clock
GAIN - 9 o'clock
TREBLE - zero
MID - 3 o'clock
LOW - 8 o'clock

If you turn up the LOW on this pedal too much it makes your low end loose and muddy, it is best to turn up the bass on your amp.

So far so good with mine.
But our local dealer here in Canada said they have sent quite a few in for repairs

No idea

I play vintage and modern blues, swing, be-bop, rock n roll, rock and vintage metal (70's-80's)
I have been playing for about 25 years and am a tone nut. I think a players tone is more important than his skill for getting noticed - although I have both ;>)
For tube pedals I have tried the Vox tube pedals which I was not too impressed with / the Radial Tone Bones which I like as well but are a bit nasally sounding and noisy / the Seymour Duncan tube Mayham pedal which is the ********* pedal on earth, the websites video makes it sound good but I could not get a good sound out of it.
I would like to try the Blackstar HT tube pedals but no local dealer carries them and I do not want to commit to buying one until I can hear it myself.

I give this English Muffin tube pedal a rating of 8 as it could be better, but so far the best one I have tried. I really like that it uses high voltages to drive the tubes which gives more of an authentic amp sound and I like the fact that you can easily swap the tubes.

Input and Gain with an EQ to use underneath it. Can't say much here as it's not rocket science.

Well I borrowed this from the Music Lab as they've been kind enough to let me try out pedals whenever I want. I tried every single distorotion/overdrive pedal that they have including a Boss OD, MXR hendrix octave fuzz, and many....many more and I have to say that this thing is fantastic! I am running through a '74 plexi 50 watt with a fender 50s strat. I played with this pedal for about 2 hours and just loved the range of sounds you can get on it. With the gain on about half, the input on 3/4, and all eq down except a touch of bass and mids you get an awesome Hendrix "Bold as Love" sound. Flip your guitar toggle to bridge and now your playing "paint it black" by the Stones.

Turn the gain almost all the way down and the input all the way up, dial in some bass and a bit of trouble and now you've got a fantastic SRV sound......through a marshall plexi???!!! Yes that is what totally blows me away with this pedal. It has a great range of sounds which DOES NOT MUDDY UP my marshall. In fact, it is a very clear, punchy sound. Of all the pedals I tried this was the one I could put down. I will go back and buy it today.
If you are looking for more of a distortion versus a drive you might want to try the EH hot tube as it looks exactly the same with an added drive knob on top of gain and input.

It didnt break after 2 hours. That's all know on this.

Couldnt tell you.

I play a range of music from country, blues, to jazz and rock. I could see this pedal having multiple uses depending on my setup for that particular night. I've been playing for about 10 years and have acquired several pieces of vintage gear throughout that time. If I bought this pedal and it was stolen I would just freak out cause I barely had enough money to buy it the first time. I imagine this pedal could only get better with different tubes in it but by no means is that necessary. It cooks straight out of the box.

This is a pretty interesting pedal design. The volume and gain knobs work like usual, but the EQ section is in what I guess is referred to as a "tone stack" configuration, which means that it is an integral part of the amplification circuit. I've never had any experience with this design before. With treble mid and bass all turned all the way down, there is no output even if the volume and gain knobs are cranked. The default position is mid turned all the way up and the bass and treble knobs all the way down. I've never used a tube pedal before, and it is *very* interesting the way this works when compared to solid-state pedals. The output volume of the instrument feeding the pedal, the volume knob on the pedal, the gain knob on the pedal, and the EQ settings all affect the sound. And it isn't just about distortion. The actual sound of the instrument can be changed in a way that I don't know how to describe in terms I'm used to using. You can get a lot of tube-overdrive distortion from this pedal, and I love it (it sounds like "real distortion" to me, which makes sense since it's distorting using the "proper" technique of overdriving tubes), but there's a whole world of sound alteration in this pedal that doesn't have anything to do with what I would normally associate with overdrive. You could say it truly is a preamp pedal with a lot of character, which can very powerfully shape the sound of the instrument feeding it. I give it an 8 for "ease of use," which is in my mind better than a 10, because it means that there is some subtlety and nuance in the way it's used.

I play guitar and keyboards through this pedal. One thing I was very interested to note is that, unlike with my solid-state distortion pedals, I don't have to use a noise gate on this one. I guess that's because, when the tubes aren't actually being driven by a signal, they're not making a lot of noise. The circuit is quiet, much quieter than transistor or diode pedals I own.
This pedal, like I said above, can do some pretty kooky things to the sound fed to it. I was a little disappointed to find that it's easier than I had expected it to be able to make the distortion from this pedal sound a lot like the distortion from my other pedals. Grainy and not-smooth. Maybe the solid-state pedals really *are* good at emulating tube distortion! At least at hight levels. But they are not capable of just grabbing the sound and taking it into weird territories. Actually, this pedal has made me realize that simply cranking an amp into distortion is a pretty superficial aspect of the whole "rock" sound, and that most "distortion" pedals just trade on that most superficial aspect of that sound. There is a lot to the tone shaping that happens on the way to full-blown distortion. It makes me want to explore other tube preamps and maybe tube power amps.
I have already found other pedals to get the "sounds of my favorite artists," but I can honestly say that this may be the first effect I have bought that makes me feel like I am taking ownership of my own sound. It really goes in deep, unexpected, non-superficial directions. It's the first effect I've used that makes me feel like, "Oh, I get it." It has, for want of a better word, authenticity. It's not emulating a sound, it just is exactly what it is. Which, as a musician, is what I aim to do too. As I grow musically and begin to differentiate my own musical identity from that of my influences, this pedal was just the right piece at the right time. It is a partner as I move into unexplored psychological territory.

It seems rugged as hell. I mean, the knobs themselves, when you turn them, feel so solid and smooth that they feel like some kind of military bunker equipment. In pictures, the tube guard looked a little flimsy, but it is tougher than snot. The box is this thick, solid metal. The whole package is obviously designed to last. I would have no hesitation taking this to a show. I've never actually tested it or abused it or anything, but like I say it just gives the impression of strength.

Never contacted them.

I play kind of, like, whatever you want to call it. Rock, pop, eletro-funk disco metal. This pedal is really the Sound of the Modern Era, so if you play anything remotely popular, it is bound to suit your needs. I've been playing about ten years, and gone through a wide variety of pedals from Boss, Digitech, Ibanez, etc. This is actually the first piece of tube gear I have ever bought.
This pedal is really essential to my rig now. If something happened to it, I would definitely buy another one. I also would like to check out the Mesa Boogie V1 Bottle Rocket after trying this one out, seeing as how there is apparently a lot of potential for sound out there with these types of pedals that I didn't know about.
There's really nothing wrong with this pedal. I still have this vision of the ultimate in creamy honey-glow timbre that this pedal doesn't provide, but it is way off the charts compared to what I was accustomed to in drive pedals. Not only does it easily add to my music-making, it really *is* my music making. As far as I am concerned, it belongs on every track of every song.

This thing is easy alright!
it's like setting up your amp: gain, volume en EQ.
It's a very versatile pedal, take your time to finetune the EQ's to get a wide spectrum of different overdrives.

I use my muff'n with a DeArmond Starfire special of a Fender Tele, through a Randall RG50TC, most of the time with a EH holy grail and a compressor.

The tubes sound great, and are easy to replace, but i've got the standard tubes in them now.
For 'american' overdrive i just use the disto channel on my amp.

Like said before, this is a brick.
I don't use any backup for this pedal (as it's so versatile you should have to own 3 different pedals to ack this guy up ^^), i don't think i can easily break this badass.

Haven't sent a lot of e-mails, but i've always got good replies.

I play in a postrockband, and i can really use a good muff that i can tweak so my pedalboard doesn't get too big :p
I really like EH-effects, i also own a holy grail, a wiggler, and a 16seconds digital delay.
Other effects are a line6 echopark, behringer tuner and compressor, and a dunlop wah.
Also a Boss GT8 for studiowork.

The only thing i really don't like about the English Muff'n is the power supply with the 2pin connector.
The only thing that can power my whole effectsboard is a Burkey Flatliner pro, because it has a 1000mA output, what the muff'n needs. But i had to make my own cable to connect the muff'n, and i don't like making my own stuff :p

It's a great pedal, really versatile.
Easy in use, but fun to take your time and tweak.
I would definitely buy another one if this was broken (not most likely :p) or stolen.

Easy to get a great authentic tube distortion from crunch to high gain that will mesh well with a variety of amps IF you take the time to understand the very interactive and sensitive tone controls. With a bright amp like my little fender amp, you will surely want to keep the treble on zero! The midrange carries a lot of high end with it starting around 10 oclock and it is very interactive with the bass knob. And for godsake don't neglect to try 12ax7's instead of the stock ay7's!

I first want to give a big thumbs up to Electro Harmonix for their modesty. Although I liked it immediately I was fully prepared to open it up and find that this was yet another low voltage diode and op-amp assisted tube-fraud. Boy was I wrong! This is a full blown tube preamp running on HIGH VOLTAGE (280 Volts) which is accomplished with a large torroidal transformer inside. EHX strangely does not bother to mention this HUGE selling point. I have read ignorant complaints about this pedal being unnecessarily large. The pedal couldn't possibly have been made any smaller to contain a complete high voltage tube preamp complete with beefy power supply caps.

I gave this pedal a very difficult job and it came through with flying colors. For fun I recently bought a cute little Fender Champion 600 which has a fantastic chimey clean tone but is absolutely incapable of generating crunchy type distortion. Pedals that normally send my vintage marshall into distortion bliss like my old DOD 250 and vintage MXR distortion II could not put a dent in it. So I wanted a distortion box that could generate a fully cooked natural tube distortion and deliver it to the front door.

I was not trying to turn a 5w tube amp with a 6 inch speaker into a marshall. Instead, I wanted a pedal flexible enough to blend in with the personality of my amp and this pedal does just that. I get great old Zeppelin approved tones with this pedal and there is enough gain for fairly saturated soloing as well. The tone controls are so active that I thought for sure they were active meaning powered, thus I erroneosly assumed there might be an op-amp powered eq section inside ala ADA MP-1 etc. But amazingly they are passive.

For perspective I also tried it into my tweaked-to-perfection early 70s spec Marshall 50w half stack. I normally get my tone on that amp by overdriving it hard with a vintage DOD FET preamp pedal (a very simple pedal with only 5 parts inside). I could not get quite the same clarity to my guitar tone nor the attack but I got a fully respectible high gain marshall tone. This is no fault to a deficient design just that a full preamp with a complete tone section going into a another amp with another tone section could not compete with the purity of my FET boost straight in. That doesn't mean I could not easily great 80's modded marshall metal tones because I did! It was a bit noisy but two cranked tube preamps stacked together what do you expect? (You should be very suspicious of ANY high gain tube distortion pedal that ISN'T noisy).

So, I think the best use for this pedal is probably for non-master volume type amps that cannot generate much if any distortion on their own.

Now some tips. I swapped a higher gain 12ax7 in the first position which brought me more clarity to my guitar tone and better dynamics. Then I swapped the other one and got more of the same. I think it sounds MUCH better with 12ax7's and to my ear lower gain tubes just crap down the sound making it less responsive and sort of honky. There is also some bizzare interaction with the voicing of the treble knob and a fender amp. With a Blues Junior and my little Champion, the treble knob adds in heinous buzzy "kazoo" like texture that completely overpowers then entire tone. Into my Marshall this was way less noticable but even then anything beyond 11 oclock was ugly. Thus I keep the treble on zero and the very interesting midrange carries enough high end starting around 10 oclock so all is well. Like all pedals I'm sure this one will not provide stellar results with every amp and guitar out there.

I know the folded sheet metal box annoys some but I think I think its fine. A steel box this size could have added a LOT to the price too. Oh, I forgot to mention it is indeed true by pass by using a TPTT switch and confirmed with my own very descriminating pair of ears.

As of this writing I am still waiting for an e-mail response to a question after several days. It was a tech question involving modding the tone stack that migh require some head scratching so I we'll see.

I actually find the slight crudeness somehow reassuring because it gives a human element with personality. I like the looks and vibe of this thing. EHX's 70's mad scientist stoner image gets on my good side. I will probably wind up tinkering the tone section slightly, revoicing the rather savage treble pot in particular. I think this is amazingly innexpensive considering that it is a high voltage all tube preamp not to mention MADE IN THE USA for which yours truly will always happily pay more for.

I'm in my 40's and have been playing a long time. I'm usually pretty hard to please and have no tolerance for cheesy sounding gear. Most other tube distortion pedals just can't resist the temptation to blow a good idea and you get a pedal using a tube as little more than a pilot light. Not this one!

5 knobs..

this is a response to the "Roger" review below...,

A. He didn't say what type of amp he was playing it out of. (i'm using a PRS Swamp Ash Special into a bunch of stuff, the muff'n tubed with 12ax7's, a bunch of delays, into a fender "twin" with a thd hot plate)

B. He didn't try to retube the pedal which literally turns it in to a different pedal (sound wise).

C. Unfortunately some people don't have the finances to go out and buy a Marshall tube amp/ arsenal of amps.

D. He seems like a "overdriven tube amp, SNOB."

The right pedal in front of a decent tube amp will give you a great sound, and I guarantee you most people in the audience wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Unless you have all kinds of money to buy a bunch of different amps, a tube amp ran clean with decent od/distorion pedals (fulltone, barber, EH, Zvex, etc...) in front will more than get the job done, I don't care what you "tube amp od snobs" say.

and the English Muff'n does get the marshall sound with 12ax7's!!!!!!

great

great

GO BUY IT AND TRY IT!!!!, ignore the haters below.

This pedal makes good sounds automatically. It is incapable of making a signal sound worse going out than when it went in. Probably a pair of these should be a part of every home theater setup.

I use this pedal for a very specific purpose, so this review should be read in that light. I use it essentially as a DI box to record synthesizers and drum machines direct to tape. I bought the thing specifically to provide smooth, continuous low-level distortion that simply cannot be emulated by solid-state effects. I use it especially to provide overdriven harmonics between high notes played simultaneously on the synths. When turned down low, the effect is basically added sweetness and more definition. As the gain goes up, the overdrive becomes completely aggressive. The high-string harmonics on some Pavement songs set me on the quest that led me to this pedal, and it delivers 100%. As opposed to every solid-state distortion-fuzz-overdrive effect I've ever used, this is way WAY more sensitive and precise and exact and smooth, etc.

This is surely as reliable a design as is possible given that it holds two tubes. I wouldn't dream of gigging with it; the very idea seems crazy. But as a piece of studio equipment, it is tough enough.

I asked them to point me in the direction of some primo high-gain 12AX7s and 12AY7s, and they hooked me up. The fact that they manufacture the 12AX7s I needed helped.

I play zombie hypnosis drone carols. This pedal does exactly what I need it to do. The other distortion pedals I've stuck with are: Boss MD-2, Ibanez FZ-5, and Danelectro DJ-1. They are all great pedals that provide me with basically the entire range of overdriven sounds that I need. I love them. They are cheap and effective, but they all fell short in the one area I needed most: subtle, low-level overdrive. Every one of them is great at mid-gain and high-gain distortion. The problem is that, at the lowest levels, they're either already breaking up (FZ-5 and MD-2) or going from zero to grain with no in-between (DJ-1). With the English Muff'n I can get the organic, living warmth and depth to perfectly suit the juicy globularity of my analog synths, while also getting into some serious overdrive. The dual-stage preamplification circuit in this pedal is a unique and living thing that can't be duplicated even by single-tube designs. When I need it to go over the top, I just chain one of my other pedals behind this one and turn it up. If these other pedals (or any other solid-state I've used) are buckets of rocks and dirt, this is a bag of ultra-fine cake flour. Expensive, but mandatory.

This is a follow up to my previous review.
I've used this pre-amp for about a year and a half now, and I love it just as much if not more than I did when I got it. It is so easy to get a great overdriven to light distorted tone out of this thing.

It really shines on the Vox AC30 or Marshall JTM tones. With higher gain tubes, you can almost hear a JCM800 hidden in there.

Since this is a pre-amp, don't forget to try it directly into your power amp in if you have an effects loop. This unit can take the place of your existing preamp.

Love it. It gets gritty, but stays smooth at the same time, very musical.

No problems so far - a year and a half and still going strong.

So far so good.

Electro Harmonix is a cool company. I hope they are always around.

It's like an amp: GAIN, HIGH, MID, BASS and OUTPUT. Easy.
You don't need to read the manual.

I'm using it with a Jazz Bass with EMG pickups. My amp is a Markbass SA450 with a Markbass Standard 106HR cabinet. My pedalboard has the following stomp boxes: EH bassballs, Boss OC2, Morley Pro Series II wah/vol,EH English Muff'n, EH Big Muff, MXR Phase 90 and Guyatone MD3 delay.

No noise issues. I think that's quiet for an overdrive/distortion box. If you crank the gain to the max you'll get a little noise, but this is normal in a distortion device.

This pedal really adds balls to my sound without sacrifying low end. If you turn up the LOW pot you'll add more air to the sound, the MID pot adds more muscle nicely and with the HIGH you controll the attack content. I think this box is one of the best overdrives for bass that you can buy (However it's designed for guitar). The sound can be warm and subtle or agressive and gritty if you want, it's very touch sensitive.

The box is made of aluminium and the tubes are protected by a special grill. Tubes are fragile and shock sensible... but the overall sensation it's well constructed.

Not needed

I'm playing stoner rock with a new band. I was playing funk before: www.myspace.com/politicalamitymusic

Fantastic value. A real tube preamp/overdrive under 200 bucks. Sounds rich and full.

I read almost all of the below reviews, and because they were overwhelmingly positive, I bought the EM. Then I promptly sent it back. It's better to tell you what the EM is not, first:

1) it's not a Marshall stack in a box. Nope, doesn't even come close. If you think it is, you need to go play through a stack at performance volumes, to establish a baseline for the Marshall tone. It's hard to divine such a thing from recordings of your favorite players. The recording process heavily alters the tone.
2) the tubes that come with the EM (12AYs) on their own will give you a very tame Vox AC30 tone, and really nothing else. They will also come close to Angus Young's ka-chunk, when he's playing with the guitar dialed back to five, in order to get under the vocals.
3) it won't make a good amp sound better. If you have a Marshall, Mesa, Soldano, etc. and like the tone, don't waste your time. It will not improve it, and will muddy it up, most likely.

Ok, in all fairness, here is what the EM is:
1) Noisey. Period. No way around it, and I like most EH products.
2) Brit sounding yes, but it will not supplant a good throaty amp. It won't even come close. Marshall it ain't.
3) the EH is really a tube preamp for "tubifying" a mid-to-low quality amp. Probably might help most cheap SS amps. However, why don't you save that $200 and just get a better amp?
4) Kind of wimpy, and not in a good vintage sense. There are tube boosts out there with roughly the same technology that will blow the doors off this box. It might sound better with 12AXs, but then, why don't they sell it with these tubes?

Oh, but it is easy to use...

See "ease of use".

Don't know.

Again, don't know.

See "ease of use" for the story. This box is probably not what you're thinking of, unless you want the "Vox" sound, but don't want to actually go buy a Vox (they're not that expensive, incidentally). But again, to dispell any rumors, this is not Marshall tone. It would require a retube with 12AXs and probably a boost up front to get anywhere near Marshall territory. Just being honest...

It's very simple to get a good sound and to change valves.
Eq controls are very reactive and interactive, you have to understand how they work.

This is a real preamp but it's a pedal. Tubes work, use it with a valve amp to get the best. I use it with a fender blues jr, they work so well together. Changing tubes (one or both) with 12ax7 you'll get more gain, in every way great tones. It has a lot of dynamic.

Eq is so sensitive and is interactive, will give many different shades of sound.

Great british tone, like the best marshall and vox tradition learns...

If you want a great distortion pedal, with true tube preamp stage (not hybrid like many others and not with tubes for marketing....)and with a great british tone, with a lot of dynamics, buy it.
It's very versatile, you can change tubes for different tones.

Easy to use, nicely laid out & visible. I wish the T-former was not a wall-wart but rather built in to the unit. Basically this is a full-function pre-amp with the british O.D. raspy tone dialed in. Changing the tubes requires a screwdriver for the shield. Better if it were thumbscrews perhaps. Comes well-boxed with instructions and EH literature.

Slightly noisy when engaged, but it nails the british Vox/Marshall tone to a tea. I've plugged it into a bunch of different amps and it turns them into redcoats every time. I actually A/B'd this with the Seymore Duncan Tube Classic overdrive i bought & used the SD but after a while went back to GC and exchanged for the English Muffin. I like the tone better. It can be harsh and raspy, but working with the knobs that have extreme tone ranges, one can clean it up well. If you like the Tom Petty sound (which i do), you'll appreciate this pedal. Gives a nice jangly overtone to the cruchiness regardless of amp/guitar/speaker combination, and fattens up the overall sound in a good way.

I'va had it for a year with no problems. I have several other overdrive pedals just in case.

Electro Harmonix is a great company!

This pedal has a very unique sound that no other pedal i have tried has. Although it nails the british sound, it also adds something different - it's hard to describe. I like pedals that inspire me to play differently than i normally do. The fun thing about this pedal is that it works great for country licks and chicken pickin'. I think this is due to the subtle compression it has similar to old british tube-rectified amps. I've become a bit of tele-spanker recently and this pedal really works well with it through any amp. I'm not a molten-metal fan - this pedal gets close to early metal, but it has enough grind for most styles of music. I wish it had an on/off switch so i wouldn't have to unplug the wart when leaving for any length of time.

Operation is pretty simple. There are 5 knobs basically just like a preamp on any amplifier, output, gain, hi, mid and low. The more gain you dial in the greater distortion you get, etc. It's very simple to use. EHX manuals are pretty simple and straightforward not a lot of fluff.

I use this pedal for bass and it sounds really good with little to no noise. I can get a nice smooth subtle overdrive that is responsive to picking dynamics. The harder the attack the more it breaks up. It just sounds real nice and natural without being a raging fuzz. I also like to use it to fatten up the Big Muff Pi I have for when I want a more concentrated fuzz tone. I have tried literally every overdrive available (both boutique and production models) for both bass and guitar and I truly like this one the best. I run this with a Stingray bass into a GK 1001 RB-II head and a 212 NEO cabinet. It adds some nice subtle dirt and a fat tube tone to the GK head. I like the clean sound of my GK but for certain songs it just needs a little dirt and that's where this comes in.

I think it should be OK. I have it housed on a pedal board that is transported in an ATA case that is pretty solid. The tubes are protected by a steel cover plate and the box itself is pretty solid. I am worried about the power adapter jack because it is a little jiggly. I would recommend buying a spare 12V adapter for it because I have heard they can be a little flaky. I keep a Analogman modified Tube Screamer with me as a backup but I don't think I would need it.

I have never dealt with them. I bought this at a Guitar Center store and I have never been real impressed with their level of service overall.

A great sounding overdrive pedal that uses real tubes for a natural overdrive sound. It can fatten up your existing tone and warm up a cold solid state amp if you are using one. It is, in my opinion, the best sounding overdrive pedal available and I have tried about 100 of them.

Simple - output knob, gain knob, and low, mid, high controls. and a foot bypass switch

use those controls with your guitar volume and tone and you can make a great variety of sounds, with just this unit. I'd imagine if I added a reverb or chorus, I wouldn't need anything else.

The dual A7Y tubes (pre and post) make for a very rich sound that sounds good through almost anything - my 9V Fender mini twin included. Whatever volume, you can get a good sound for lead, rhythm and anything in between. I play through this and the mini twin and am quite happy with the sound.

just got it, dunno. construction is fairly solid with a decent seeming shield over the exposed tubes

They responded fast and answered the basic questions. But this unit was designed for swapping different tubes: You can use 12AX7, 12AT7, 12AY7, 5751 (and most any tube in the 9A pinout/12 volt filament family) to customize your tone. And they were not very helpful in supplying info on what tube configurations produce what kinds of sound. I was given the "trial and error" brush off answer.

I am a jazz trained heavy rock guitarist. Been playing 10 years. Most of my good gear (gibson SG gothic, 67 fender twin with tremelo) was stolen - I'm down to a Dean Vendetta, and old 80's electra, a fender mini twin, and a peavy practice amp. Also have a yamaha mt50 cassette 4 track, ART SGE mach ii, and some software (guitar rig, guitar synth).

I do love the 60's British tube sound and this unit beats any amp simulator for richness of sound. I also found the concept of it being purposely designed for swapping tubes to be a big factor. Anything that can make a 9V battery powered mini amp sound that good is worth gold. I would definitely get another.

I had looked at the other muffs, but the tube swapping on this one sold me. Beats any digital amp modelling simulator easily. Simply - it has killer sound, which can be easily adjusted from lows to highs. What I dislike is tha it runs on 12V AC and uses an AC/AC adapter. So it's not very portable. It doesn't seem difficult to build a 12 DC to AC inverter that could run of any laptop battery or a 12V ;lantern. Yes it uses 1 amp, but if you could get 20 minutes of portable use I'd be happy. My other wish is that it had an integrated spring reverb system for the complete distortion plus reverb sound.

Regardless, I love this unit. Dual tube sound in a muff sized box just can't be beat.

I'm about to get some A7X tubes and try different configs for the pre and post tubes - different tube brands and age. I'm leaving my email address in case anyone else has tried swapping tubes and wishes to share notes.

It is a no-brainer to get a good sound of of this pedal. Nothing fancy. No patches to save. Just dial it in and go. The manual is exactly one page. Who needs firmware when you have replaceable tubes?

I can cop Hendrix, Page, and Blackmore with ease using this pedal. You can tweak all kinds of classic rock out of it. Put a little boost in front of it and enter Sabbath territory.

My typical jam setup:
Gibson SG Special (498T/490R)-> Boss Tuner -> Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster -> English Muffin -> Boss Chorus -> Boss Delay -> Holy Grail Reverb -> FRONT END OF CLASS A TUBE AMP.

I play rock and blues. This is a good pedal for what I do. I've been playing for many, many years. I own a small collection of Gibson guitars, a Vox AC30, A Crate V-16 Palomino, a V-Series VFX5212 (modified), a Vox ToneLab, and a closet full of stomp boxes including original EH products from the early 70's. If this pedal were lost or stolen, I'd replace it for sure. I love the look, the feel, and the tone. I hate the power supply plug.

Simple, if you know how to use an amp.

This thing sounds amazing, it turns any thing you have in to a "marshall stack" tube or solid state. It is like cheating the whole "tube amp" concept. I have a 12ax7C in the pre, and a 12ax7R in the post gain slot. Changing the tubes on it will give you a totally different distortion. I have mine set up so it is really heavy sounding. it's true bypass to.

no issues yet, EH has an awesome track record

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This is hands down the best distortion pedal I have every heard. If you like marshalls you'll love it. Go buy it. I've been playing for 12 years and play in a very contemporary worship band (I switch between playing lead guitar and spin' tables). I also play in a very heavy post hardcore band. Any way, it fits every thing. It's tube, truebypass, and "britsh sounding". What more do you want. STRONG 10!

This thing is sooo easy to use. I have a ton of effects, but I decided to keep it simple. I am playing a PRS Santana SE through a Peavey Classic 30. The only other effect I am using with it right now is a Danelectro PBJ delay. I started out with the eq controls all set at 1:00, and the gain at about 11:00.

This thing sounds sweet right out of the box, but I opted to swap the tube right under the Bass control for a 12ax7. This gives me just a little more gain. This thing sounds killer with the mid scooped a little, say, 9:00. A nice beefy rhythm sound. To get that nice searing lead tone, just turn the mids up to around 2:00 and voila.

I had no problem coaxing Clapton, SRV, and Page tones out of this little box. I also maxed out the gain and blew through "All the Small Things" by Blink 182. Just awesome!

Seems strudy enough.

They have responded to about half of my emails, so I rate them a 5.

I play rock and also blues, and I would definately but another one. You can get a selection of tubes ranging from 12au7's to 12ax7's and customize you're own gain factor. If you can find a tube gain factor chart on the net, you you'll be all set. This is a tube tinkerer's dream.

Not the easiest to use since this is a tweaker. Can sound real harsh or real warm depending on how you set it. Plus you gotta fiddle with the amp a bit too to get the best sound. I use mine with a deluxe reverb.

The sound quality of this pedal can be anywhere from 1-10 in quality depending on how it's set and what guitars are used. Very touch sensitive, reminds me a lot of a jcm800. Sounds pretty good in a deluxe reverb, sounds even better when I plug my DR into a 2x12 cab. I would love to try this in a bigger amp since the deluxe reverb has a tendency to sound bright with any distortion/od pedal (also have tried Jackyl and Hyde, Bad Cat X-treme, and Emma distortion pedal). Sounds best through the normal channel since the reverb channel makes it sound a tad tinny and also a bit noisy. Seems to like Les Paul style guitars more than strats which is to be expected for something mimicking the British sound. Does not have a lot of gain on tap but does real well for classic rock and can sustain real well for the amount of gain it has. Eventually will try it with 12ax7's to see if it can get a bit more of a kick. As I said earlier it's very touch sensitive so good technique is crucial for making this pedal sound good (not as forgiving as solid state distortion). Since this uses preamp distortion you kinda need to crank the amp a bit to smooth it over. Not a problem for a DR but might be for some higher wattage amps. Try it with your amp before you buy. This pedal is for those seeking the classic Marshall to JCM800 pushed with a pedal type tones. Not for skull crushing metal and detuned stuff.

Only had it for a month and so far so good.

have not dealt with EH yet.

Very good pedal. Seems to beat all other pedals for authentic tube tone but it's a one trick pony so it won't get the 10. I also have a JCM800 2204 but it's broken at the moment so have not tried it out with this amp yet. I also own a Jackyle and Hyde and the EH smokes it (though the Hyde would win for more metalish, bassy gain). The only tube pedal I've tried is the Badcat X-treme tone. The X-treme tone is a bit more warm and versatile but a lot more expensive and seems impossible to find in stock anywhere.

Very easy to set-up and operate. Manual is really not necessary and it isn't much since it is so simple to operate. Great amount of control of tone and distortion level. Easy access to supplied pre-Amp tubes.

I think that the sound quality is between a 9 to 10 if this is what you are looking for. This is pure 60-80's British Marshall/HiWatt etc. and if this is what you want in sound than you will love this pedal. A bit pricey at $150+ but it is worth it in my book. I treat it like an amp and place it prior to my tube amp (using it through the clean channel). This means that I have effects before this bad boy, even other distortion pedals and compressors etc. Set up your rig this way and you will understand its use.

I have played for over 30 years and remember my Marshall Plexi head and the fact that I had effects prior to the head, even distortion. A TUBE Screamer prior to this pedal or an Old MXR Distortion+ will make you think of the guitar greats of the 70's even at low volumes (the main strength of this baby by the way, controled volume and feedback). No additional distortion pedal prior to this Bad Boy (using its settings only) and you will hear Badfinger, Bad Company, Faces, almost any Classic rock sound of the 70's. The Metal Sound of the era needs additional boost from a second pedal set sparingly before the English Muffin, which is what the greats did even into the 80's. Do this and you will get the logic of this pedal and its versatility.

I would like the wall wart to be more standard plugged instead of the special plugs that were built into this and fit into the unit itself. It is ruggedly constructed, but the power supply issue would make me feel better.

Can't tell you much about this, but they have dealers everywhere.

Look, not to be preachy but like so many of you I went the way of digital effects and amps and this baby going through a real Tube Guitar Amp has blown me away. I went digital to control volume and sacrificed tone for less feedback. This pedal has made it easy to tweek lower volumes and maintain great tone. I am very pleased with its sound and versatility.

I love the Classic Rock stuff all the way to the modern things out. My set-up allows for all types of sound and I would miss this if it was stolen. I get Marshall tone at any volume with this puppy which I have strived to accomplish for many years. The Marshalls of today do not come close to the older heads. That is why the JCM 800's and the older Plexi's are getting top dollar. This pedal comes real close in tone with no need for a Power Brake to get reasonable volume (Club Volume that is)and killer tone. You can use a great clean amp and get the tone you're looking with a great deal of control.

This thing is so touch sensitive that its practically crazy, and you'll pretty much have to tweak it to a different kind of hell for every amp you plug it into. I'd say the learning curve is about the same as trying to find the sweet spot on a new amplifier. Has 2 12AY7s in it that give it a smooth Marshall Plexi-like overdrive. If you put 12AX7s or ECC83s in there, this pedal gets a LOT heavier and basically provides as much kick as a more modern Marshall does.

I LOVE THIS PEDAL! Sorry, had to throw that out there. I'll run through the different amp/guitar scenarios here. My main guitar is a Gibson SG with P-90s.

Solid State Marshall practice amp: this is the reason I bought this pedal. My neighbor didn't like my tube amp cranked, and I wanted tube tone at low volumes so I could practice. Hooked it to the clean channel (which is completely sterile on these amps), knob tweaked it for half an hour or so, and suddenly had bargain brand Pete Townshend tone. Yes! I wouldn't record with it but it was great for practice.

2005 Traynor YCV50Blue: first off, I had issues with this amp and recently blew it up, its in Canada being fixed. On the clean channel after I retubed this amp (GTECC83s and GTEL34M-XF2s), this pedal was to die for. I almost wanted to just use nothing but that tone and entirely neglect the dirty channel on the amp, which was more harsh and metallic. This gave a creamy classic distortion, the spring reverb in the amp made it chime nicely, and if I rolled off the volume knob on my guitar, I got a better clean tone than just the clean channel alone (much more spanky and dynamic). When playing harder rocking stuff on the dirty channel, I used this pedal as a booster for solos, and it made the guitar scream quite nicely. Was a bit too bright for anything heavy though.

Early 70s Ampeg V4: borrowed this from a friend for a show after I blew up the aforementioned Traynor. I must say, this was the best scenario I put this pedal in. The V4 had a slight breakup when you played hard, was loud as hell, and had a ton of low end. I barely had to knob tweak my Muff'n, this was the one amp where it sounded good pretty much everywhere. The amp would get about twice as loud upon stomping on the pedal, and give a roaring hard rock tone, kind of in between King Crimson and stoner metal stuff. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I didn't want to give my friend his amp back. My solos that night rang through crystal clear, not abrasive but very loud, the rhythms filled the bar, loved it.

1972 Traynor YBA-1 Bassmaster head: just got this head back from my dad, put my Groove Tubes that were in the newer Traynor in it. Must say, its a much better, although less versatile amplifier. Still knob tweaking the pedal on this bad boy. The amp itself has an early Marshall-like distortion with Fender Bassman-style cajones (and I'm running it on a Sunn 4x10 cab). This pedal, when used with the kind of amp it tries to immitate, acts as a hell of a booster. The distortion increases considerably, and the guitar kind of jangles a bit more through it. Really breathes an extra bit of life into the tone, and makes it good for a loud climatic part, although I wouldn't recommend running it full time in this application (the Ampeg on the other hand... yes).

It hasn't given me any trouble yet. I've gigged it several times and practiced with it a lot.

I love this pedal, its the only distortion pedal I'm presently using. I'd recommend it for anything needing overdrive that isn't metal. If I lost it, I wouldn't even consider a different fuzz box, I'd be ordering one of these as soon as I had the cash. I'd say its great for anybody wanting to make a clean amp sound like a Marshall, people who want tube tone in their bedroom, people who want a bit of a boost on their distortion that wont just explode into earsplitting feedback, and anyone who just loves 70s rock tone. You have to knob tweak it like crazy, but its so worth it.

My Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n was easy to use, right out of it's wooden box-a nice touch. There's no way to store patches, it's old school, like me. You could always use a piece of tape and mark it, or just memorize where you like the settings. The manual was comprehensive and really good.

Sorry I'm going to have to tell you the truth. I sold it on eBay as soon as I could. It sounded very compressed and hissy to me. It sucked the tone of the guitar/amp combination I used.
If you have a good tube amp, you really don't need this effect.
I have to say, I've heard solid state amps sound as good. Not very impressive. Plus it's the usual EH cheap metal housing and quishy feeling rotary pots. I felt like I could break it after a few gigs-just in normal use.

I wouldn't gig with it period.

Never used them.

I ran the Muff'n through a Gibson RVT 30 head, a Magnatone M10A, a VOX AC-15 and a Fender Super Reverb.
Pretty disappointing. I prefer my Keeley modded Boss Blues Driver (which is solid state) over this any day.