 | Electro-Harmonix
Big Muff
Any Gilmour fans will recognize this not so little shiny box from any of his pedal boards. The original 3003 version Big Muff from 1971. (Enter envious gasps and moans here)
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| Your shade of pale green is in this instance well justified. This is one of the most drool worthy boxes of joy we've ever featured in out 'Hot Pedals' section of the website. Mike Mathews designed this in the late 60's as the antithesis to all of the fuzz face type pedals that were being produced at the time and to this day the sound created from this stomper sees it held up as one of the greatest OD/Fuzz's ever made. It's all over many classic Pink Floyd tracks and is the Holy Grail for anyone trying to achieve that Gilmour tone. So what is it about the original in particular that makes it so phenomenal?
Well apart from the whole Gilmour association (in fact he has used loads of different Big Muffs from different years, not just this one) and being the rarest version, this pedal uses a different design than any other Big Muff ever made. Since its launch in 1971 the circuit has been endlessly tweaked with new versions offering everything from different transistors to op amp designed gain stages. Nowadays, even though the circuit still bears more than a passing resemblance the original the tone produced is fundamentally different. The original doesn't have as much gain as the later incarnations and although it's definitely still 'fuzz' there's no rasp, no harshness in the attack. Notes bloom and sustain effortlessly. It was originally designed to be a sustain pedal, but the undeniable fuzz tone has seen it re-categorized and I think it's possible that this led to the circuit changes, trying to coax even more gain out of it for the distortion hungry guitarists of the mid 70's. Many of the newer versions, especially the Russian Big Muff's are very dark sounding and could easily be used in an uber hard rock context, which is great if that's your thing but the original seems a bit more on the classic side of tone. 'Musical' is a word that gets thrown around a lot when describing tone but, in this context it's well deserved. Remember the Isley Brothers guitar sound on Summer Breeze? That's this pedal. There's a transparency to the note that traditional germanium style fuzzes don't have. Probably my favourite thing about this pedal is that nothing else sounds like an original Big Muff. It's a sound that inspires you to play melody, as opposed to licks, which to me makes it worth almost any asking price.
What should I pay?
You'll notice I said 'almost any asking price' as the prices of these are now going completely nuts. If you can find one, and they do pop up from time to time, a players example will be anywhere from £200-£300 depending on condition. If it's in great condition in original box, well you can spank my butt and call me Merrill if you get change from £400.
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