For the price, there is none better.
Model Year: 1973
Price: $45.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar center
It works well even when My bass is way downtuned. I play metal on it and it
works great.
This thing is not gonna break because you literaly stomp it.
Got a Boss ODB-3 not a 'old skool' a sound-good pedal tho just different. Better if it had ac power in.
Model Year: 2006
Price: $110.00 Aus (new)
Where Obtained: Music vindaloo-Ebay seller
Tone, Vol, sustain( fuzz) only battery powered-tho I might mod this.
Use w/ my EB MM Stingray5 & Squier standard 5 sounds grat & old school straight away! Play Funk-old style & modern Rnb, rock. Sounds gr8 on Larry Graham style funk bass licks
No programms. EZ 2 get sound - sus-off, tone-off, vol 12 oclock = Bass fuzz heaven!
Looks to be fine- I've only used it on a few gigs so far tho, but as w/ all EHX stuff= big solid & chunky!
This one goes to 11! The Muff is a classic and sounds like no other.
If you're looking for cold, "clean" hi-fi distortion don't buy it. Otherwise, I strongly recommend getting this one!
I think you won't find a better distortion in this price range - it's built solid and sounds excellent.
Where Obtained: EBay seller
It has 3 switches -
Volume / Sustain / Tone allowing to (you may have guessed it) adjust the output volume, Sustain/amount of distortion and tone (from "f'd up amp" to sawtooth).
However, this version (the Russian built) may only be powered by a single 9V battery, so I can only give 4/5 points here.
The pedal is a one-of-a kind distortion/fuzz box that delivers a warm - dirty sound.
Mainly built for guitar, it also does sound very good with basses as it won't cut the low end as many other guitar pedals will do.
I play rock music and use it with my 3 basses:
Ibanez SR506 6-string; Aria Pro II Magna Series 5 string; Jazz Bass copy with Bartolinis. My main amp is a Marshall DBS 7400 + Marshall 4x10" cab.
It combines very well with my Dunlop Bass Crybaby 105Q wah pedal.
It is really easy to use and you can find a good sound in no time. 3 knobs - that's it.
It's built very solid, metal case, hard plastic chickenhead-style knobs, metal footswitch.
Overall I think this pedal is a great pedal to have. Every player should have one because you never know when you may need that specific distorted tone. I would stay away from it however if you dislike muddy distortion.
As well if you dislike non-crips distortion then stay away from it.
Other then that, it is a great pedal and I am glad I made the purchase!
Model Year: 2002
Price: $89.95 Canadian (new)
Where Obtained: Music Stop ( www.musicstop.com )
I am reviewing a Russian made version of the Big Muff Pi. It is basically the exact same pedal except for it has a black metal covering and there is some Russian font on the bottom. It is also cheaper but upholds in my opinion, that same classic muddy Big Muff tone.
Feature wise, this thing is as simple as they come. It has three adjustment knobs and an input / output jack. There is a knob for Volume boost, Tone, and Sustain. You can use the pedal for any of those three, it's distortion, sustain, or it's tone / volume boosts.
The pedal takes a 9 Volt battery. A high quality battery such as duracel or energizer will last a very long time in the pedal. When the pedal is on standby you can still channel a signal through it without using up battery power. I really like that feature. There are no AC adapter power inputs so you can forget that.
This pedal does an amazingly good sound at what it is meant for. Reproducing that bad-ass, 70's style distortion that we have all heard at least once in our lives.
This pedal is great for R&B, Funk, Rock, Classic Rock, alternative, prety much everything. It is an "all-round" pedal.The tone can be modified extremely in order to suit your specific needs.
Effects wise it's not much. Just that classic distortion that so many artists have used in the past thirty years.
You can hear the Big Muff in action here:
http://www.ehx.com/ehx2/Default.asp?q=f&f=%2FCatalog%2F04%5FDistortion%2F04%5FBig%5FMuff%5FPi
No computer stuff here folks. You don't need to know how to program a VCR to operate this pedal. I think a toddler could do it.
It can take a considerable amount of time to get that right tone your looking for, but time is something you probrally have lots of. It is worth the extra fooling around to achieve the right sound.
It is by far the easiest pedal I have ever used in my life.
They build these pedals like little tanks. They are not called "Big" Muff's for nothing I tell you. I've already given mine a few good accidental smacks and it's not so much as scratched. Most of Electro Harmonix Products are prety heavy duty, this pedal is NO exception!
Nice stron pedal if you want a tuff fuzz box
Price: $60.00
Where Obtained: eBay
It has a amp knob which is the volume, a tone knob which is tone, and a sustian knob which would be the amount of dist, some call this fuzz others dist. others overdrive, its not over drive, its more fuzz at high settings and a dist at lower. i bought this looking for a light fuzz, this is not it, its much even at its lowest setting
Its nice, like i said it can be much some times but if you want that meaty fuzz sound then get this. some people say it kills your tone when off, i have noticed a differance but i have not been able to tell if its good or bad
Basic 3 knobs...and one is volume
Solid steel box, the input jacks on mine are realllyyyyy tight, i have to pull really hard to get them out, which i guess is good
I chose this model for its cliff burton-esque distortion, so for me, it gets an excellent, but if you do live gigs, the bit about the cord coming out easy may be a problem (hence very good score)....but then, whats a little duct tape cant fix???
Price: $55.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Musicians Friend online
Has Volume, tone, sustain, is battery powered. The features are fine for me, tho someone looking for something more high tech, probably would not like this. For me, this is all i need, and its about 50 dollars less than newer high tech ones as well.
I practice with a little 25 amp, and i think it sounds great. It is a good solid model to get if you just want sustain (distortion), no other fancy bells and whistles. It does just that to great effect, in my opinion. Will give you early metallica distortion that cliff achieved.
Basically, just plug and play. only three knobs to use, and you will most likeyly only use tone and sustain, to affect the highs or the lows, and the level of distortion. you wont need the volume much unless you have an awesome setup for huge sound.
Extremely heavy duty in construction. you could use it to hit your guitarist over the head, and then keep playing...Only problem is, your cords may slip out if your moving around alot or get your foot caught....so this section doesnt get and excellent rating.
I like it better than the Fulltone Bassdrive I owned. The Big Muff has more sawtooth-like tone than the Fulltone and that's what I wanted. Listen to BFF Whatever And Ever Amen.
Price: $25.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Pawn Shop
My rating is based on what the unit needs -- fuzz and tone. Not excellent because the highs are more midrange.
My rating is based on the my needs. Not excellent because it can easily be too much real and the lowest setting is still pretty hot.
If it were stolen i would buy a new one as soon as i could. The only thing that could be better is if it could pick up the REAL low stuff. But the best part for me is the warm sound it gives. But rember this what i think,go try it for yourself!
Price: $74.50 (new)
Where Obtained: Riley's Music Shoppe
This pedal has 3 controls:volume,tone,sustain. You can use AC or battery.
I use it on my small 25 amp and it sounds good. It has a very warm sound that is good for lots of styles. The only thing that is bad about the sound is that if you tune down it can get muddy.(a 5-string might not sound good on it)
Its was very easy for me to use. I got it out of the box and in 2mins i had the sound i was looking for. Just fiddle a little bit with the tone and sustain and your set.
I have not played live with it yet but its made of good feeling metal and EH is know for good construction(but not for good soder work)
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