Product reviewsElectro-Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi Distortion Guitar Effect Pedal

Electro-Harmonix Black Russian Big Muff Pi is a Distortion/Sustainer

Product Information
The Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi Russian Black (4-screws) and small yellow lettering is a distortion/sustainer/fuzz guitar effect pedal suitable for studio and recording theatres. This Electro-Harmonix guitar effect pedal effectively replicates the sweet singing tone of artists. The three Chicken toggle control switches of the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi enable you to produce superior harmonic distortion or sustain. You can optimize the long sustain, while maintaining the right amount of harmonic distortion, created by this distortion guitar effect pedal, using the sustain control switch. The Electro-Harmonix guitar effect pedal has a tone control that helps you to control a range of sounds, right from a warm bass to a crisp treble.One thing that guitar player dislike about this model is that when playing live their is a lack of mid tone. I notice it a little,but over-all this is an amazing pedal. You can also easily mod this pedal.
Overall, you can purchase this model pretty cheap on ebay.I give this Black Russian Big Muff Pi a thumbs up and rate it a 4+. The Volume contol has to be turned up to a certain gain in order to hear sound.

Product Identifiers
Brand Electro-Harmonix BLACK RUSSIAN
Model Big Muff Pi BLACK 4 SCREWS

Key Features
Type Distortion/Sustainer/Fuzz
Power Supply BatteryRead full review...

Electro Harminix Big Muff Pi distortion pedal

Listened to several different distortion pedals before deciding this one and decided it matched my playing style and sonic needs the best. Really liked the vintage fuzz this pedal offers. Not necessarily one dimensional, but this pedal is for distortion. Same kind that Billy Corgan likes. Also great with grunge poprock like Weezer. Turn down the volume and tone and you can achieve Jimi types of sounds. Sustain--strum a chord, pop down to the pub, come back and it's still going. Great with my rig: 1989 Fender American Standard Strat, 40 watt Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (all tube). With my amp, I have a clean and overdrive channel. OD tends to be a little cleaner than the Muff Pi fuzz, so I've drastically expanded the distortion options available to me. Have not found that the Muff Pi goes well with a phaser though. Dunno if that is because of the way I've set up the pedals (order, and straight from guitar, not into the preamp-postamp loop), or intrinsic to the pedal interaction. Ok with my wah. Better by itself on the bridge pick up, full tone. Really do appreciate the amount of vintage crunch this pedal affords. Can coax some Tony Iomi out of this pedal as well. All good, buy it if these styles appeal to you, you won't regret it.Read full review...

Great value, great sounding pedal

I've been wanting to build a fuzz face and was skeptical of this kit because it was so cheap! Looked too good to be true. Was able to put it together in a couple of hours, all components were labeled, which was very helpful. Instructions are lacking but if you've build a pedal before, you can figure it out. Sounds excellent. The enclosure is powder coated nicely. I used a different 3pdt because the one that came was a little shady, but other than that, I'm very satisfied. Will probably buy more from this seller.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: ttonepedal1018

EHX BASS Big MUFF Pedal

I was just looking into youtube for this pedal.. you can see a lot of videos of this pedal, so i got to get it.
But when i got this pedal here in Ebay oportunity, this thing just Blew me away!
it´s MUCH better than the videos!!
Bass muff is a great pedal and so easy to use, it has just a trigger button, with 3 knobs, Volume, Tone, and Sustain, and Either if you use them in BOOST or DRY mode, you can dial so great tones on it.
one thing im Pleased about: a lot of pedals you can use with BAss Guitar, TAke away Bass frecuencies, BUT This pedal Adds a great distortion, a great Drive, WITHOUT taking away the subtones, the bass frecuencies are great still with all the distortion dialed.

This pedal is a GREAT experience, you can use it in recordings just getting in the middle in the mix, great for using it live.
This is a pedal you MUST get.Read full review...

EH BigMuff Distortion for Bass.....Good perchase for me

I felt that for the upcoming Abusers show in Columbia,Mo I would need something special to broaden certain aspects of my sound and after trying several other pedals the one that by the end of evaluating pedals the EH Big Muff was the best choice. I already use a Soviet made BigMuff and have for close to 10 years now and it is my favorite fuzz box. Compared to how they use to make boxes for EH, the new one's came off as very lightweight which is nice but it felt like it may not survive a really good tour. Sound wise it was just what I was looking for and it had some nice features which will be useful both on stage and in the studio. And given it only cost 90 bucks or whatever it was totally worth it, for me at least and that's all I really care about but I will be happy to give Clifton NewJersee's two enthusiastic thumbs up for this purchase. Happy trails y'allRead full review...

Big Muff

This is exactly the type of fuzz I was looking for. Any pedal by Electro Harmonix is top notch at a reasonable price.

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: jjc2-aurora

The best distortion/Fuzz pedal todate

This is just a great pedal! The sound is clean and you can go from a warm ( not muddy)distortion to a clean crisp distortion with just a turn of the knob. The Big Muff PI is called a distortion pedal but really it is a Fuzz pedal.David Gilmour used it on the albums “The Wall and Animals” and most recently on his 2006 tour. Other artist includes Carlos Santana, Thin Lizzy, Kiss and Ronnie Montrose. The Big Muff was later an integral part of the sound of many alternative rock bands through the 1980s and 1990s, being used extensively by The Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr., and Mud honey. In fact, the band Mudhoney loved the pedal so much that they named an EP after it, Super fuzz Big muff. While not a big fan of the pedal, Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain insisted upon recording the Nevermind album song Lithium as a clean recording with bursts of fuzz with a Big Muff Pi. Singer-songwriter John Martyn also paid tribute to the pedal by naming a song after it. Robert Sledge, Bassist of the since disbanded group Ben Folds Five, used the pedal during recorded and live performances. Jack White of the White Stripes has also made the Big Muff an integral part of his garage rock sound. The only thing that I do not like is that it uses a different A/C adapter then most pedals so will have to use a separate power source in you pedal board for it, but it is so worth it. If you are thinking of buying one stop thinking and but it already!!!Read full review...

Innumerable amounts of tone options.

Have been looking for a fuzz/distortion for quite awhile that can go from a warm fuzzy overtone to full on distortion. With the blend knob to control the wet/dry mix, noise gate and switchable crossover, you can carve out just about any
tone you want. Check it out on YouTube. Good, solid construction and for $120.00, there's a lot of value there.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: new | Sold by: geartree

Buy used and vintage or go boutique, but stay away from this farty mess.

The current iteration of the Big Muff is a poor approximation of the tone of it's legendary predecessors. All these folks claiming how great this unit sounds have likely never played a 70's or 80's Muff side by side with the current reissue.
Compared to a 1970's Muff this unit sounds like a mushy pile of poo.

For a few bucks more check out one of the many outfits who are building far superior reditions of the classic Muff circuit. Stomp Under Foot and Skreddy are building pedals which capture the searing tones of the vintage Muffs, and take them even further.
Now, if you can get your hands on a Sovtek Muff, those things most often sound amazing!Read full review...

Classic Gritty Fuzzgasm

I decided to buy this wondrous stompbox because I found out it was at the heart and soul of MANY of my favorite guitar tracks both OLD and NEW, and that some of my favorite artists coveted this little box of awesome. 3 knobs. The left one controls volume, the middle "TONE" knob can bring you from throaty growl to raspy grit, and the rightmost "SUSTAIN" knob basically controls how much the signal is overloaded, taking you from a dirty yet mellow sound, to an all out distorted assault. Lead runs and solos get nice and mean but really sing. Sing is the best word I can think of to describe the lead tone you get out of this thing. It offers great sustain if you dime the sustain knob. My personal favorite setting is Vol: 75% (or 3o'clock) Tone: 9 o'clock and Sustain: NOON. Im in love. Its a must have pedal for anyone that has ears. I'll NEVER get rid of it..Read full review...