J Mascis Ram’s Head Big Muff Pi by Electro-Harmonix

“That’s my sound. The Muff is always on,” J Mascis told EHX.

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Electro-Harmonix seems to debut new pedals so often that if you blink, you run the risk of missing one. From distortions to effects and everything in between, one may wonder just how the company can churn out new designs with such frequency while still retaining the top-tier quality and innovation they are known for.

The Big Muff series is no exception. Whether it’s an in-house new spin on an old and trusted model, collaborations with amplifier manufacturers, or joint efforts with world-renowned artists–in this case J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.—the Big Muff series has something to offer for everyone.

Iterations of this tried-and-true design have graced the pedalboards of both pros and novices for what seems like forever, and EHX is showing no signs of slowing down the allocation of their resources towards evolving and improving upon this beloved fuzz/distortion box.

Let’s see what this new collaboration between EHX and J Mascis has to offer.

Features

J Mascis himself purports that “The Muff is always on; all distorted sounds begin with [it].” The singer and principal songwriter of alt-rock giants Dinosaur Jr. notes that ever since he was growing up, a Big Muff has been ever-present in his chain. His signature model is based off of the revered 1973 V2 Violet Ram’s Head Big Muff, with the aim to be a bit more articulate than other versions of the iconic stompbox.

Mascis’ version of the BMP can fit snugly onto your pedalboard with its unobtrusive 4.5 x 2.75 inch footprint, and will look pretty doing so thanks to its elegant white and violet finish. In line with just about every other version of the Muff—barring the Deluxe Big Muff Pi and Deluxe Bass Big Muff Pi which feature added controls—you won’t find anything to tweak here past the bare-bones Sustain, Tone, and Volume knobs.

The volume knob is self-explanatory, while the Sustain knob will not only alter the obvious sustain of your signal but also take you from cleaner, less saturated territory all the way to full-on fuzz. As you move the Tone control in a clockwise direction, your signal transforms from hefty and bass-heavy to a more articulate, treble-focused tone–the focus of Mascis’ vision for his signature model.

The pedal is fully analog, mono, true bypass, and runs on either a 9V battery or via a 9.6VDC-200mA power supply. And although this pedal is tiny, I had a feeling what it is capable of may not be so–I was excited to put it through its paces. On we go!

In Use

The obvious starting point was guitar through the BMP. With the pedal zeroed out (all controls at 12 o’clock), I was immediately greeted with a warm, almost tube-like tone. With some light tweaking of both the Tone and Sustain knobs, which were rotated clockwise to about 3 o’clock, the quality of the overdrive emerged rich, thick, articulate (there’s that word)–and the breakup had a lush, almost creamy quality to it. My initial sense of this pedal is that it serves best at mid-to-aggressive gain settings where some authentic, tube-like overdrive is needed.

Make no mistake: this pedal can be in your face just as well. Cranking the Sustain knob proved crucial in instances which called for highly present, non-apologetic fuzz. Some finessing of the Tone knob is warranted as you dial in your desired amount of gain, but I generally found it to live in the 1-4 o’clock range in most applications.

Even in lighter, bluesier settings, the BMP proved highly useful–this isn’t just a distortion or fuzz machine. For some clarity here the Tone knob favored brighter settings, and it was no problem to conjure up a crisp, clear crunch-like tone for rhythm tracks. The pedal responds fantastically to dynamic input as well, specifically in lower-gain scenarios; play lighter for little to no breakup, and dig in for that extra bit of teeth we all need sometimes.

And although guitar is indeed the focus instrument of this review, I couldn’t wait to see what kind of breakup the BMP lent to bass and keys.

Bass I found to need far less of the Sustain (gain) knob in order to get adequate, mid-to-aggressive style breakup. Although I would say guitar responds better to the Big Muff Pi (naturally), it was no slouch with low end demands. I found the initial response of the BMP (literally, the volume envelope) to be the least pleasing of its qualities on bass, however once notes settled into their regular decay the pedal produced the same rich, creamy quality it does on guitar.

With respect to keys, I love overdriving them. Organs, rhodes—you’ll find me reamping keys quite a bit. I was looking forward to seeing what the Big Muff produced in this regard. The result was as expected: full, tube-like, and highly usable in mix settings. Contrary to what I found with bass, the pedal’s reaction to keys was smooth and consistent, probably because the keys were pre-compressed going into the pedal. With a bit of drive via the Sustain knob, and some light finessing of the Tone knob for balance, rhodes, organs, and synths cut through dense mixes with ease.

To Be Critical

If I were to even say I have any qualms with the J Mascis Big Muff Pi, they would be related to my use of bass with this pedal—but this pedal is made for guitar! Any preceding notes regarding its immediate response to low end information with a high dynamic range can easily be solved with pre-BMP compression or simply checking out a bass-focused offering of the Big Muff by EHX. I chose to put non-guitar sources through this pedal for fun, and found by and large that it was a major success, which only adds to this pedal’s overall functionality. This pedal will certainly see use in all sorts of tracking and reamping applications.

Summing it Up

There aren’t many pedal manufacturers I trust the way I trust Electro-Harmonix. Not only are they always bringing new and exciting offerings to the table, but they are doing it with the same innovation and no-compromise ethos that they have become known for. Not to mention, their products don’t break the bank. With their entire Big Muff line situated between $85 and $150—with the J Mascis model at $131.50—calling their pricing fair would be an understatement.

This pedal should find itself in use with far more than just fans of Dinosaur Jr. The sonic footprint of the Big Muff is unmistakable; you’ve heard it thousands of times, even if you don’t know it, and its quality is of course massively palpable in this J Mascis iteration. I can’t wait to see what EHX releases next and who they will choose to collaborate with in the future.

Dan Gluszak is a producer, mixer, and engineer based in Los Angeles, California. He also doubles as a touring and session drummer.

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