Big Muff Pi (big box) -- Worth buying?

[Blix]

I used to have an Arc Effects Big Green, best muff I've heard in person, with a very useful mids switch. Like an idiot I sold it.

 

[DrewJD82]

If I wasn't big on the NES cartridge, the PastFX stuff would definitely be appealing. The big box Muffs, like the NES cartridge, are mostly empty, but I still like them. Lol

The mini Fuzz Faces look stupid!

I can appreciate that!

 

[Dave Lewis]

The BM Pie is something of a rights of passage pedal for guitar players IMO.
It’s a great pedal to use nice big knobs but not very board friendly if you use lots of pedals.
That’s why EH have released much smaller versions over the years that do the same thing and better in some cases.
I’ve an original in my collection that I can’t get to at the moment but this one was to hand and hasn’t been out of its box in ages .
This thread made think I’ll use it this afternoon for a bit of fun.
For the price the big box Pie is still great value for money and if your into modifying pedals there’s loads of room inside and on top these

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

The BM Pie is something of a rights of passage pedal for guitar players IMO.
It’s a great pedal to use nice big knobs but not very board friendly if you use lots of pedals.
That’s why EH have released much smaller versions over the years that do the same thing and better in some cases.
I’ve an original in my collection that I can’t get to at the moment but this one was to hand and hasn’t been out of its box in ages .
This thread made think I’ll use it this afternoon for a bit of fun.
For the price the big box Pie is still great value for money and if your into modifying pedals there’s loads of room inside and on top these
View attachment 42324

I got one of the big box versions, but I may get a Caprid OG or two. I have a Pedaltrain Jr coming in that has room for two big box Muffs, a Centura, a Bluesbreaker, and maybe an SD-1W or an MXR CBAMOD.

 

[Dave Lewis]

I got one of the big box versions, but I may get a Caprid OG or two. I have a Pedaltrain Jr coming in that has room for two big box Muffs, a Centura, a Bluesbreaker, and maybe an SD-1W or an MXR CBAMOD.

The Warm Audio Centavo are outstanding pedals

 

[newpedals]

I got one of the big box versions, but I may get a Caprid OG or two. I have a Pedaltrain Jr coming in that has room for two big box Muffs, a Centura, a Bluesbreaker, and maybe an SD-1W or an MXR CBAMOD.

If the MXR is Custom Badass Modified Overdrive, it is rumored to be based on SD-1. It does have the 100 Hz knob, if I remember right.

The SD-1W custom mode also has some bass.

You can compare them and use only one, since they can be dialled in to sound similar.

I am guessing you have the OG Marshall Bluesbreaker. It's a beautiful sounding pedal.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

The Warm Audio Centavo are outstanding pedals
View attachment 42328

I have a Centura, but if I didn't, I'd contemplate a Centavo.

 

[EOengineer]

There’s something about the EHX big box experience that I enjoy, but the they are a nightmare on a pedalboard. It’s a cool sound though.

I ended up picking up the Russian Deluxe Big Muff and find that to be a more malleable version that provides some escape hatches to overcome common Big Muff pitfalls. In particular the mids and the blend controls were cheat codes for me. Blending a fair amount of clean guitar into the signal and hitting a slightly overdriven tube amp sounds WAY more usable for my needs than anything I’ve been able to get out of a Big Muff before.

 

[Zodiac]

I don't really use fuzz much, but I have one of these on my board just to satisfy that urge every so often. I run my tubescreamer clone ( ehx east river drive) in front of it and to my ears it sounds pretty good, but like I say, I don't really use fuzz much, so I don't really feel qualified to give a fully informed opinion.

 

[the swede]

The big box does a thing. It’s different than the small ones for sure.

There are a ton of muffins variants, the trick is finding the right one for you.

The main “food groups” of muffs are:
Triangle
Rams Head
Op Amp
Tall Font Russian
Civil War
Wicker
Modern

Each has a different tone and vibe

Im a noob regarding fuzz, even though my favorite pedal is the Carcosa… I’m not a fuzz guy simply. But I do wonder…

What does all of it mean? What is a triangle, why is there a “Russian”, what civil war, and what does “muff” even mean.

It all feels connected somehow… was there a Russian first, that went to war? Then he found a muff and decided a triangle was appropriate?

Or was there a “muff” first… like when god created earth. Let there be a muff!!!! Then along came the Russian and decided to start a war over the muff, but it ended with a triangle….

 

[Funk Soul Brother]

FWIW, spreading out the circuit in big box muffs has shown that, probably unintentionally, to lower the noise floor vs. cramming all the components together in a smaller box.

Something I read about with examples on FreeStompBoxes, a long time ago...

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Im a noob regarding fuzz, even though my favorite pedal is the Carcosa… I’m not a fuzz guy simply. But I do wonder…

What does all of it mean? What is a triangle, why is there a “Russian”, what civil war, and what does “muff” even mean.

It all feels connected somehow… was there a Russian first, that went to war? Then he found a muff and decided a triangle was appropriate?

Or was there a “muff” first… like when god created earth. Let there be a muff!!!! Then along came the Russian and decided to start a war over the muff, but it ended with a triangle….

The Triangle was (I believe) the first Electro-Harmonix branded version and was named as such due to the orientation of the three pots. The Ram's Head was named as such due to the Ram's Head in the bottom corner of the pedal and the pots were now in a line. There are apparently 4 variations of the Ram's Head circuit, but in general, all of the 70s versions are just "pick something close enough if we don't have an 0.47" or whatever. The OpAmp replaced transistor with integrated circuits/ICs (or OpAmps), which is how it got its name. I believe there is a second version that has a Tone Bypass switch, which basically removes the tone control circuit (it seems to basically move around a scoop across the frequency spectrum), thus giving the pedal more midrange. I think there may have been another version going back to transistors before union thugs and bank stuff caused Electro-Harmonix to close up shop.

The Russian stuff is kind of murky timeline wise to me, but eventually, the Sovtek/Electro-Harmonix Muffs ceased production and they were produced wherever they are currently made (probably China).

This is a more detailed story of the Muff versions as well as Electro-Harmonix as a whole: https://www.ehx.com/the-ehx-story/

 

[Baba]

So funny to think, I had a big box jawn back in like, '81. I think it was my first pedal, and I didn't know jack yet about tone, or what I had.

I couldn't tell you what happened to it, but I didn't use it for long, lol. I haven't used fuzz since

 

[AutomationBias]

Kit Rae's Big Muff site has a ton of information, too. I've owned most of the Wren and Cuff muffs. The ones I kept are the Tri Pie '70 and the Box of War.

 

[metropolis_4]

Kit Rae's Big Muff site has a ton of information, too. I've owned most of the Wren and Cuff muffs. The ones I kept are the Tri Pie '70 and the Box of War.

That site is awesome! I remember spending a lot of time there when I was discovering muffs. That big box Wren and Cuff Box of War was my favorite. Wish I still had it

 

[dronerstone]

Me and my then bandmate bought BM's at the same time around 25 years ago. I got the NYC version, he got the Black Russian, both came in wooden boxes.

For some reason, his Black Russian has always sounded "better", and he kept playing it, while I ditched mine because I found it to completely disappear in a dense mix with 2 guitars.

Didn't want to boost the mids or anything for it to work like expected, so the journey went on, and that particular NYC BMP has been sitting in storage ever since.

Not my cup of tea, ymmv tho.

 

[Cirrus]

My recollection of the black russian is that it had cleaner mids, I liked it a lot. Obviously I sold it for no reason.

 

[newholland]

i always found those to kinda suck just due to too much gain. the green russian muffs are better in general but only marginally for what i want to do on guitar, which seldom involves sounding like a garbage truck revving its engine.

i think it depends utterly what ya wanna do with it cause its more fileable under 'special effect' than 'dirt box' in my mind.

 

[AutomationBias]

It depends on the guitar and the amp and the signal chain and the speakers and the music you're playing, and the other instruments in the band... there's no one fuzz that fits all possible situations. I mean, except for the Fuzz Factory.

 

[greatmutah]

After having several of Stomp Under Foot’s muffs, I’ll never buy EHX again. They now do “vintage mini” enclosures which are halfway between the big box and regular size pedals. My Red Army and Astoria/Ram’s Head are outstanding.

Honorable mention goes to EQD for their Hizumitas. I don’t know how accurate it is to other Triangle Muffs but that thing is awesome.