About Big Muff Pi and “true bypass”. I’ve had an older version of the Pi (switch with 6 lungs) for a few years and it effected the bypassed tone a great deal: the sound was muddier and it cut the highs significantly, seemed to “eat the sound” so to speak. This problem occurred with a 9V battery and with adapter.
So… I bought the latest version of the Muff Pi (the one that should be “true bypass” according to EHX). Well, it’s not. It also cuts the highs, but doesn’t eat the sound nearly as much as the older version.
I have lot of pedals in my pedalboard, but all the testing was done with just a VOX ac 30, Fender Jazzmaster and the Muff.

The bottom line: This pedal effects the bypassed sound only that little that now I can deal with the muff being a part of my board. It’s a lot easier than dealing with no Big Muff at all…still love the sound of the pedal.

I was watching a few midtown videos on youtube and came across this music video and i think i see an old big muff pi at 3-4 seconds. not sure if it is though. can anyone tell if it is?

yeah, so I just recieved an email response by mr Sel Belamir, the guitarist and singer of the band Amplifier… as i guessed, the sound on their first album is a Big Muff (some vintage model, he didn’t specified)

so it’s probably solved

I have been agonizing for weeks about which fuzz pedal to get. One thing I discovered is that most of them are MAD expensive. I couldn’t find one cheaper than $150 (Fuzz Face RI, MXR, a few others). The rest of them were closer to $200 and more (mostly boutique). I liked the idea of a BM but was concerned about the fact that some people refer to it as a overdrive/distortion pedal. The Volume, Tone and Sustain knobs would imply that as well. I already have three ODs – OCD, Full Drive II & a Tube Screamer plus a compressor (Analog Man Bicomp). I didn’t want a duplicate of what I already had. Of course I was watching YouTube vids but this didn’t satisfy me. Finally I bit the bullet and bought a new BM. I got an incredible deal – 56 bucks! Well, suffice it to say, when I got the package yesterday, I brought it home and played all night! All my worry was for naught. This thing is about fuzzy as I could want. Who cares what the knobs say? For the record, mine is not noisy at all. And when I run the OCD in front of it, the roar is completely over the top!

Sorry to blather on. By the way, here is a great demo comparing the “Ram’s Head” BM to a current version. The vintage pedal blows the current one away. But, not having a vintage Muff to compare mine to, I’m very happy with my new pedal. This clip is by gearmanndude who makes the best pedal demos on YouTube (along with Proguitarshop.com).

maybe they should just reissue all of the versions, then i think everyone will be happy.

then they should just deal with it and be happy that EHX even reissued them 😆

I would go straight for the Metal Muff, in fact I have twice. I do have a few vintage Big Muffs, which I use as well, but in the event of a choice the Metal Muff is the one to go for I think. It is simply fantastic due to the amazing number of different sounds, moods and tones it has to offer. From screaming banshee to grinding death metal, sweet fuzz to acid distortion…the list could go on. The knobs give you full control of the sound you want…and on top of all this lovely mayhem the Metal Muff offers the Top Boost with adjustable volume and dedicated foot switch. So all in all it offers Volume, Top Boost, Treble, Mid, Bass and Dist control knobs, a bypass foot switch and the Boost foot switch. It is not too expensive either..Go for the Metal Muff.

Get a Tone Wicker. It’s what $80? And sounds great, especially for the money. I got mine for $60, and I use it a lot even though I have a lot of other fuzzes too. It’s a fun pedal.