Electro Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi

This little unit has been truly tried and tested. A child of the original Big Muff Pi, there really isn't any remote competition for bass fuzz effects when it comes to the Electro Harmonix Bass Big Muff Pi.

Electro Harmonix are one of the best in the business when it comes to effect pedals, and really put in the effort to ensure quality in all their pedals.

Firstly the sound. This thing can range from a light touch of high end fuzz to just slightly color your bass sound, to a crunching low or mid range Rumble distortion that will have you tearing through riffs. The addition of a three position flip switch allows the user to change the mode of effect they desire. The three modes are bass boost, dry and wet.

The build quality is fantastic on all EH products. No plastic here, the pedal body is made completely from die cast metal and so it can take quite a beating. The rotary knobs for the controls are premium plastic and give a good resistance when turned. To end, I just love the graphics EH use on their pedals. They are funky and fresh and really make the pedal stand out among the rest.

The only criticisms I would have is that it can take a bit of tinkering to find your desired sound even with just 3 variables on the device, but this has to be expected and oa not entirely a bad thing. As I have said the range of sounds this little unit can produce is vast, and that's a big achievement coming from just a small pedal. I would have like however some presets on the pedal just so I could quickly change to a new sound if I were playing live, but this is just a personal note.

I would highly recommend this pedal to live and studio players alike, as there is really no alternative. And at that price? You would be mad to pass it up.

I've been using a Boss Bass OD for YEARS. I also gave the GT6B a go, for a long time, but I couldn't get a consistent sound I liked out of either!

On recommendation from a friend, I ordered the e big muff on a whim. I was not disappointed. Going from the GT6B to this was a real pleasure. Bare minimum of controls, which is underwhelming, yet there is more than enough room to play around and find exactly what you're looking for.

I gigged it for the first time last week. I play in a blues rock cover outfit with just one guitarist, so the big muff does a great job in filling out the sound while himself is having an old solo or two. The optional boost also allows for an extra kick in the sound too. Amazing value.

The only thing I didn't like about it was the feel of the metal - nails on chalkboard kind of effect. But, that's just me. Also, there is no way to easily change the battery quickly, four screws need to be undone. I find this mildly inconvenient.

I use this Big Muff Pi with a Peavey Millenium AC 5-string bass guitar and an Orange Crunch amp.

This fuzz pedal offers a wide variety of sounds, from the most discret to the most extreme.

Three modes are available: "Normal" is the effect only, "Dry" blends the effect with the dry sound of the guitar, and "Bass Boost" re-introduce some low-frequency content to the fuzz when the tone is set quite high.

There's also three knobs, Volume to set the output volume, Tone to control the overall frequency content of the sound and Sustain to control the amount of distortion.

The "Dry" mode works well with a small amount of Sustain to give an extra bite to your regular bass sound in finger-style. The Normal and Bass Boost modes are more suitable for pick-playing. Normal sounds great with a good bit of sustain and when playing in the higher part of the neck (for Black Dog-style riff for example). But be careful when adding loads of sustain, it becomes quickly very noisy.
I wasn't convinced with the Bass Boost mode, but it's probably a matter of taste.

Hardware-wise, the overall is very sturdy and feels reliable. The major issue with me is that there is no easy access to the 9V battery with no specific compartment. So you have to unscrew the 4 screws at the back and open the box to access it. At that price you would expect that kind of feature. That's why it loses 2 stars in the Features section.

To summarize, a solid pedal with an overall good sound and enough parameters to tailor it to your needs, but the lack of a battery compartment is a big drawback to me, despite the included 9V battery that lasted quite long.