The Big Muff π Page News
The Definitive Big Muff Resource and History
Contact: nasnandos @ kitrae.net Copyright Kit Rae.

VISIT MY SWORDS, KNIVES and FANTASY ART WEBSITE www.kitrae.net

November 2011

• In September Electro-Harmonix president Mike Matthews did an interview on internet radio station www.livefromrocknrollranch.com. At the very end of the interview DJ Pieter Holland asked Mike what was in store for the future of Electro-Harmonix. Mike then went into talking about the some of the Big Muff versions and ended saying he was "thinking about bringing out a more advanced model with some additional features"! Mike was talking about an advanced Bass Big Muff. I will post more news on this as it becomes available.

• In the Big Muff Users section I have added few pix of Jack White's pedal board from earlier this year when he toured with rockabilly legend, Wanda Jackson. Jack is now using a Tone Wicker Big Muff. He produced, played on, and toured with Wanda for her new album, The Party Ain't Over (Third Man records/Nonesuch). EHX president Mike Matthews sent one to Jack some time ago, but this is the first time is had appeared on his pedal board.

August 201

• The J Mascis interview arrives. I have been wanting to interview the Dinosaur jr frontman and Big Muff collector for many years, and J was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule recently to talk to The Big Muff Page. Here is the full article on J, his Big Muff collection, Dinosaur jr gear, his new solo record, and the new Fuzz Munchkin pedal from Tym Guitars, a replica of his favorite Ram's Head Big Muff. There are also pix of some of J's rare Big Muff pedals from his huge collection.

July 2011

• Stomp Under Foot is auctioning a very special 1973 Classic Series Ram's Head "Brick" Muff with the one of a kind Pink Floyd/Gerald Scarfe graphics that I applied. It is up on Ebay now, HERE. Gary was a David Gilmour/Pink Floyd fan, played in a Floyd tribute band, and an all-around great guy. He was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and was told he had only months to live. Sadly, Gary passed at the young age of 45 on Sunday, February 27, 2010. Gary is survived by his wife and their two children. All proceeds of the sale will go to the family of Gary Halloran. Here is an article on Gary and a review of the SUF 73 Big Muff replica.

•I expanded the Big Muff Clones section to include the Ibanez/Maxon modified Big Muffs and the Hohner Tri Dirty Booster.

•Added V1 and V2 Big Muff pcb layouts to The Big Muff Circuit section.

•J Mascis' of Dinosaur Jr is a huge Big Muff user and collector. J's favorite Big Muff is a V2 "Ram's Head" model, which according to him sounds very different from all his other Big Muffs. Tym Guitars of Australia, who have worked on and repaired J's Big Muffs, are making an exact replica of J's V2. The hand made pedal is called the Fuzz Munchkin, with graphics by J Mascis. It will be made in a limited run of 300. Thanks to Tim for the photos.

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June 2011

• Schematic added to the V2 section for the "47" Ram's Head, one of the earliest Ram's Head circuits in the V2 Big Muff enclosure, circa 1973. Several people have sent me photos of their identical 47 Ram's Heads, so named because of the .47µF, .047µF, and 470pF caps, and 470k resistors used in the circuit.

April 2011

• More information on how the Big Muff circuit works has been added to the Big Muff Circuit section. This time around I have focused on a few key components that have the most affect on the tone.

• The David Gilmour Ram's Head Big Muff section has been updated and expanded with additional information. Thanks to Pete Cornish, Bjorn Riis, and John Roscoe for assistance and thoughts.

• Stomp Under Foot has announced that another replica of a Big Muff from my collection will be added to the Classic Fuzz pedals line. This one is an early 1970s Triangle, one of the few that I have found where EHX actually repeated an exact schematic in production. This is slightly different from what you typically think a Triangle sounds like. Only five will be made.

• Due to many emails I recieve on the subject, I have added a section for Replacement Big Muff parts, and where they may be found. This covers switches, pots, knobs, jacks, and screws.

February 2011

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• A V1 Triangle Big Muff circuit guide has been added to the Big Muff Circuit section • Clips were scattered around my website, but I never posted a full review of my Stomp Under Foot '73 Ram's Head (the Brick Muff). Many have asked, so a review and clips are now posted in the Vintage Muff Clones and Muff Inspired Pedals section • Another mystery solved. It was a bit foggy in the past, but after finding mutiple examples, I can confirm there was a tone bypass V3 Big Muff - no, not a V6 circuit, but an actual V3 circuit board with the tone bypass switch, graphics, and non aligned pots. It appears the rumor that the V3 never actually stopped production when the V4/V5 op-amp versions werre made was true. Pix of a few examples are in the V3 section.

• Due to numerous emails asking "which Big Muff should I buy, for such and such Gilmour tone", I added my recomendations for different Big Muff choices HERE

January 2011

•Happy New Year!

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•New circuit pix have been added to the V1, V2, and V3 section. Pix include a photo from ebay of one of the last V1 BMPs with "reactor tower" knobs seen on the early V2 BMPs, and a few photos of V3 circuits with "tropical fish" tone capacitors taken by my friends on the UK Stompboxes forum. There are also a few new pix of second edition V1s with unmarked green caps, electrolytic caps, and other non standard components, previously thought to be after market replacements. It now appears these are actual production V1s.

•In an effort to reduce email questions about the subject, I have expanded the article on the Sustain Punch Creamy Dreamer and moved a portion of it into the Russian Big Muff section. The Creamy Dreamer was a short lived boutique Big Muff, based on the Russian Big Muff, that was sold from around 1998-2000. It was created to reproduce some of the Smashing Pumpkins guitar tones, and was controversially promoted as being endorsed and used by the Pumpkins, which apparently it never was. There still seems to be much interest in this pedal, so this is all the information I have about it. For info about the real Smashing Pumpkins Muff, which was late 70's vintage Big Muff Pi, see this article.

•The website has been optimized again and split into more pages so they load faster.

December 2010

•The V4 and V5 Op Amp Big Muffs section has been cleaned up and reorganized with some new photos of each model. Enough information has come to light in the past few years to confirm for me that these two versions were likely made simultaneously starting in 1978. The V4 on/off switch version seems to have been phased out in 1978 or 1979 and the tone bypass version remained until around 1981. The section is arranged so the four circuit types used are pictured in the order they were released. Three of the four pcbs used can be found on both models.

•A Muff and Fuzz Timeline has been added here. This is a list of all the market release dates for Electro-Harmonix Big Muff and related Muff pedals, which also includes most of the major fuzz pedal release dates from the mid sixties to the mid seventies, to put everything in context.

•New Civil War Big Muff Youtube added celebrating this early Russian made Big Muff.

November 2010

•Review and Youtube demo added for the TopTone DG-2 pedal, which is based on the Cornish G-2 pedal, on of David Gilmour's favored pedals on his last tour. Dave Kilminster is using this pedal for most of the Gilmour solos he plays on Roger Waters' The Wall show, touring the US now.

•You may have noticed the top menu directory has been expanded to include other versions of the Big Muff. Due to increasing interest in info about the Deluxe Big Muff, vintage Little Big Muf, Muff Fuzz, and others, I have decided to add more sections. These new pages will be completed over the course of 2011.

•The Big Muff made the cover of Premier Guitar magazine this month. Great interview with EXH founder Mike Matthews inside and a review of the Freeze pedal. A custom "Pedal Issue" Big Muff was created with special graphic designs specifically for the cover photo shoot. Photos of the customized Big Muff are in the V9 section. Several of this cover version Big Muff were made and Mike and the crew at EHX were gracious enough to send me one of these rare pedals.

•RAM'S HEAD BIG MUFF SELLS FOR $2247 on ebay ! - V2 Big Muffs have typically traded for $400-600 on ebay.com in the past few years, but in October a nice example of a V2 Big Muff with reactor tower knobs and 1973 pots sold for a whopping $2247. That's over double the highest price that V1 Triangle Big Muffs have traded for. Other than the fact that the V2 had some .47uf capacitors, which are not typical, there did not seem to be anything special to warrant such a high price, so the buyer must have really wanted it!

•New photos added of a vintage "reverse logo" V6 Big Muff to the V6 section, with gut shots. Another perf board first edition V1 Big Muff has been added to the V1 section, with gut shots.

•New pix added for other color variations of the vintage Civil War Big Muff and a new youtube for the CW Muff, and AnalogMan Sunface BC109 added.

October 2010

• I have posted my review of the new Germanium 4 Big Muff in the Modern USA Big Muffs section. Even though this is not a traditional Big Muff at all, I like it.

• Vintage 1974 EHX ad added to the V2 section, showing the "reactor tower" knobs used on several EHX products, most with the word OFF missing from the graphics. This helps date all EHX pedals made with these knobs. They only seem to have been used in 1973 and 1974.

September 2010

• Some information about vintage knobs and those numerous '66 pots has been clarified in the the V1 and V2 sections. More pix of different circuits and knobs have also been added to these sections, including another Violet "Ram's Head" Big Muff. I was finally able to try out a real vintage Violet that has the actual component values of the common Violet BMP schematic. It sounds very similar to the Pete Cornish P-1, which is reportedly a high end replica of one of David Gilmour's favorite Ram's Head Big Muffs, so likely David's Big Muff had very similar component values.

• A scan of the receipt and check for the Triangle Big Muff that Carlos Santana purchased in 1971 has been added to the V1 section. Thanks go to to Mr. Matthews!

August 2010

• The V2 Ram's Head Big Muff section was due for an overhaul, so it has been revised in places in light of new info dates supplied by other collectors and some new discoveries I have made from recent V2 trades. To simplify identification I have named three "editions" based the ON and OFF labeling and ink colors used.

• The V4 and V5 Op Amp Big Muffs are no longer made by EHX, but Stomp Under Foot and Euthymia both make excellent replicas of these unique sounding Muffs. See my review and sound clips of each in the Vintage Muff Clones and Muff Inspired Pedals section, and get your fix of Smashing Pumpkins tones.

• Check out the Big Muffs currently listed on ebay here, the best place to find vintage and new Big Muffs for sale.

July 2010

• The Germanium 4 Big Muff is now shipping from EHX.

• Instruction for how to disassemble a vintage Big muff have been added to the site here.

• PCB pix and PCB numbers added to the Russian Big Muff section section showing the three different PCB's used for Green Russian Muffs. Some other PCB pix added to the Russian Big Muff section section as well.

• Several people have asked what the Big Muff block font is. It is a modified version of ITC Pioneer.

June 2010

• Information on the new Germanium 4 Big Muff is now in the Modern USA Big Muff section. Some interesting news is that Bob Myer, the original Big Muff circuit designer, is also one of the designers responsible for this version, along with Daniel Shin, who headed the project. Thanks go to Bob and Daniel for their time answering questions about this interesting new addition to the Big Muff line. Hopefully sound clips will be coming soon. Approximate availability date is late June.

• Added some clips in the Transistors and Other Components section comparing one of my favorite 1973 Big Muffs with an exact clone made using modern components made by Matt at Stomp Under Foot. Is there mojo in the old components that make it sound better than the new? Listen and judge for yourself.

• Sound clips and a review of the Pete Cornish P-1 pedal have been added to the Vintage Muff Clones and Muff Inspired Pedals section. The P-1 was based on several of David Gilmour's (of Pink Floyd) vintage Big Muffs that were sent to Pete from David in the mid 1970s to make an improved and road worthy Muff for David to tour with. It sounds very close to some to the best V2 Big Muffs I have played.

May 2010

• Raw V2 Ram's Head, "Violet" Ram's Head, and Civil War sound clips added to the Sound Clips page. Clips comparing the V2 to Pete Conrnish P-2, and Sovtek Civil War Muff added to the Pete Cornish P-2 section. Review of the Pete cornish P-1 Ram's Head Big Muff clone and sound clips added to the Vintage Muff Clones and Muff Inspired Pedals section, as well as info from Pete Cornish about how the P-1 came about, and other info about David Gilmour's V2 Big Muffs added to the V2 section. Due to the numerous questions I get about the Big Muff circuit I have added some easy to read illustrations about the circuit and it's components to the The Big Muff Circuit Guide.

• Sound clips and review of the Pete Cornish G-2 germanium Muff added to the Vintage Muff Clones and Muff Inspired Pedals section. New pcb pix added to the V1 and V2 sections. Info on reading Stackple pot codes added to the Reading Pot Date Codes page.

April 2010

• I rearranged the V2 Ram's Head section a bit so the photos are in better order to the realease dates, and updated some of th information regarding dates. I also added photos and circuit trace of a really nice sounding V2 with '73 pots.

• A dded clips to the Sound Clips page comparing the V8 Russian Big Muff (now discontinued) to the Bass Big Muff to illustrate how similar they are for guitar.

• Added more pix of J Mascis favorite Ram's Head Big Muff, courtesy of Tym Guitars. Tim at Tym is working on making a clone of this Big Muff for J. Tym Guitars also makes several vintage Big muff clones, as well as other vintage pedals clones, all with some of the coolest pedal art I have ever seen. They can be found in the pedal section on their website.

THANK YOU! - Thanks to everyone who has emailed this year about how much they enjoy the website, and thanks to all who have contributed so far this year.

March 2010

• I added more pix and info on Jack White's Big Muffs in the Big Muff Users section. Thanks to Mike at Analog Man for the pix and info regarding the Muffs he has worked on for Jack. If you ever wondered about the odd sized enclosures for Jack's Muffs, they are not stock. Analog Man reboxes them in sturdier enclosures because Jack crushes the stock EHX boxes. Also, Jack currently uses the V9 reissue Big Muffs. Stock, except for the Analog Man box.

• Soundclips for every Muff version are now complete for wet solo lead tones on the Sound Clips page. Raw Big Muff clips still in the works, hopefully I'll start posting them soon. I added updates to the "Civil War" and green Russian Big Muff circuit information. Added new photos to the Russian Big Muff section , and V1, V2, V3 Muffs on the Vintage USA Big Muff section, and the V9 in the Modern USA Big Muff section . More V1 and V2 alternate knob pix added to the Vintage USA Big Muff section.

• I added links to Dana's Big Muff schematics, articles, and mods website. He has schematics for all the vintage USA and Russian made Big Muffs, as well as instructions for many mods.

February 2010

• Updates to the Hendrix and Sovtek Big Muff sections with new info and history supplied by EHX founder and owner Mike Matthews himself. New info added to the V1 section from THE man behind the original Big Muff, Bob Myer, inventor of the Muff circuit (thanks Bob!). New info added to the Bass Big Muff section, including some information about the design of the Bass Big Muff graciously supplied by E-H designer John Pisani. Russian Big Muff battery door pix added to the Russian Muff section. Lots of soundclips added to the Big Muff Sound Clips section, with many more to come.

• Soundclips and gear reviews of some vintage Muff clones by Stomp Under Foot, Blackout Effectors, and Pete Cornish have been added to the Vintage Muff Clones and Muff Inspired Pedals section.

January 2010

• Happy New Year! I added some details and regarding different foot switches used on the Russian Muffs, pix of vintage USA muff knobs, noted which Muffs were true bypass and which were not, and some info about power supplies. Mike Matthews clarified a confusing details about some of the last Russian Big Muffs made. The reason the foot switches were changed from the large Russian switches to the small USA/Mexican made switch was due to the Russian foot switch factory going out of business. Mike also shed some light on why the Russian pedals were discontinued.

• I added some new V1 and V2 circuit pix, showing the wide variety of values used. I revised some details about the V1 and V2 "editions", including the "violet" Ram's Head edition. I think this was likely not a real factory schematic change, but just a color change. There are many violet V2 Muffs with varying component values, just like any other V2 Muff, though I have seen a few that have values close to the schematic. I added some pix of those different circuits.

• NEW BIG MUFF IN THE WORKS!!! Mike Matthews spilled the beans about a soon to be released germanium based Big Muff to Guitar Player magazine at the 2010 Namm show. Mike called this the Germanium 4 Big Muff. I'll post news about it as info becomes available. Mike Matthews and Bob Myer also confirmed that the first production Big Muffs were made in 1969, and Mike lays the blame for the 1971 date popularly used on himself.

December 2009 - Mini interview with Big Muff/Deluxe Big Muff op amp circuit designer Howard Davis added to the Vintage USA Big Muff section.

Was there a TONE BYPASS V3? I have seen three examples of V3 transistor "3003" Big Muffs with tone bypass switches, and both "AC" and "TONE BYPASS" printed on the face. Is this a legitimate version, or are these just Muffs cobbled together from different versions? I am trying to determine the answer to that mystery. Howard Davis, Manager of Analog Circuit Design for E-H from 1976-1981, thinks the tone bypass may have already been in use by E-H before he designed his op-map V4 Big Muff. If that is the case, why did E-H drop the bypass for the V4, then add it again for the V5 around a year later? Stay tuned, and if anyone can shed any light on this one, or if you have one, let me know.

November 2009 - The mystery is solved! The first Big Muff was manufactured and sold by 1970, not 1971. This means Jimi Hendrix could have used one before he died in the Foxey Lady studios, just as Mike Matthews has always claimed. The actual first production year was confusing because of conflicting dates stated in various websites and books, most stating 1971. Thanks to all the V1 owners who chimed in verifying the year they bought theirs as 1970, and thanks to Carlos for his 1970 Manny's Music reciept for his V1 Triangle, pictured in the Vintage USA Big Muff section .

The Siamese Dream Muff - Another mystery has been clarified - Billy Corgan's huge sound on the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream appears to have been created with the much maligned V4 op-amp Big Muff, or possibly a modded V3, though NOT a V1 Muff or creamy dreamer modded Muff as popularly believed. Billy has finally cleared this up and I have photos of his actual Big Muff with his typical settings in this article. I also added some Pumpkins sound clips of that version.

I have also verified that E-H did ship some early V9 reissue Muffs with old style V3 knobs as late as 2001. Later V9 Muffs have the common flat topped, hockey puck knobs. Photos of the knobs used are in the Modern USA Big Muff section

October 2009 - The Big Muff Page was getting too large for one page so I have split it up into three sections - one for vintage USA Muffs, one for modern USA Muffs, and one for Russian made Sovtek Big Muffs.

Sovtek Big Muffs are Discontinued - It appears the rumor is true. The Sovtek Muffs have not been available for quite some time in Europe and the are now no longer being offered by EHX in the USA. Many other Russian made EXH pedals are bing discontinued as well. I have seen no official reason from EHX yet. Many dealers still stock them, but prices are sure to go up in coming years.

September 2009 - I added some soundclips to the Muff Inspired Pedals and Clones page. Marc Skreddy was kind enough to send me a prototype of his new Pig Mine pedal to test while I was waiting on the one I ordered from him to be made. Some of my demos can be found on the Skreddy Pedals website.