hello folks. i am new to this ehx forum and also new to the use of the muff.  my introduction to the muff is a fluke and a long story…nothing to do with the pumpkin’s claim or any muff user for that matter. i do wonder though reading from other post what has caused the latest influx of muff use. was it a guitarist or band? there is a demand ,what is the cause. is this demand 20 years old? (ie: the pumpkins siamese record)

I don’t know about any recent influx of use. They have always been popular. I think the reason so many people like them is that, once you learn to tame one, they are awesome sounding pedals.

i dont know, but the reason i bought mine was because i heard that John Frusciante uses one and then i listened to demos and it sounded amazing, so i decided to buy it.

but i dont really know any other bands that i listen to a lot that use the big muff besides the Smashing Pumpkins, White Stripes/Raconteurs, and i think Ok Go used them.

back in day of the first L.A metal invasion of the early eighties,maybe late 70’s , where was the muff? you would read about the marshall ts-9 combination or mesa boogies. i did see a sovtek ad in a guitar world mag (93) . it stated the mig amps and at the bottom above the tubes…the sovtek big muff pi. was there a mob using muffs pre pumpkins…just curious.i just love em.the tone wicker is a bit different though. do you guys like them?

David Gilmour was using it long before the LA metal scene came about.  I don’t really think a BM and 80’s hair metal really go hand in hand.

They were not used much in the eighties that I remember, but the eighties were not the best time for guitarists who would have used that sound, and EHX was not in business for most of that time either. But the eighties is when the value of the old Muffs started to increase. The nineties brought them back to the market, and back to the fore front with a lot of grunge/alternative bands.

Here is a partial list of some Muff users.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/music_big_muff.html#MuffUsers

I bought my first one on the sole reputation that Mudhoney used one,I never even heard it (aside from on Mudhoney records)...I just “knew” it would be good and thought any pedal that looks that cool has to sound good.
13 muffs later and I still haven’t been proved wrong!

inspector fuzz - 13 March 2010 06:44 AM

back in day of the first L.A metal invasion of the early eighties,maybe late 70’s , where was the muff? you would read about the marshall ts-9 combination or mesa boogies. i did see a sovtek ad in a guitar world mag (93) . it stated the mig amps and at the bottom above the tubes…the sovtek big muff pi. was there a mob using muffs pre pumpkins…just curious.i just love em.the tone wicker is a bit different though. do you guys like them?

you also have to remember that they were only reissued 10 years ago…. so there wasn’t as many around before that, all through the 90’s (when I first really wanted one) they were pretty hard to find here in the UK.

Even the Sovteks? They started production in 1990. I assumed they were widely available in Europe by the mid nineties.

I remember playing a V1 green sovtek in 98 here in Australia. First muff I ever played too.

Kitrae - 13 March 2010 07:02 PM

Even the Sovteks? They started production in 1990. I assumed they were widely available in Europe by the mid nineties.

They weren’t that common, I don’t ever remember seeing them in shops. It’s only really the last 5 or 6 years that EHX have got a largish market in the UK. I have no idea if they had a UK distro or who they were back then but they were not widely available like Boss, Dod, Ibanez etc. Maybe only shops that stocked sovtek valves could get them or something.

Kitrae - 13 March 2010 05:35 PM

They were not used much in the eighties that I remember, but the eighties were not the best time for guitarists who would have used that sound, and EHX was not in business for most of that time either. But the eighties is when the value of the old Muffs started to increase. The nineties brought them back to the market, and back to the fore front with a lot of grunge/alternative bands.

Here is a partial list of some Muff users.
http://www.kitrae.net/music/music_big_muff.html#MuffUsers

whoa!!! how is your muff stash mate? very nice. i am blown away with the history and who uses the muff. did boston use the muff say on the first recording? anyway , i am stoked to be apart of it. i don’t know if the collector thing has bit me…maybe it has( two ruskies,a reissue and a tone wicker). how are them big black russians! way nice. like my green one but black. wow. i may look into the bass muff being what they are based on. cheers kitrae. i did read your site months ago which was so informative. your site also helped me put ebay back into perspective. i actually walked away from the search for awhile. again, thanks for the information and replies. thank you to all of you muff folk who have filled me in…i will persevere with my tone wicker. it’s just so convient being it has a boss type 9vac adaptor jack.aloha.

Well in stores in the Netherlands, I didn’t see EHX until 3 years ago or something like that, before that shops had to import them from Sweden, most shops weren’t willing to do that, but I guess that problem is solved bij now..

inspector fuzz - 14 March 2010 06:07 AM

whoa!!! how is your muff stash mate? very nice. i am blown away with the history and who uses the muff. did boston use the muff say on the first recording? anyway , i am stoked to be apart of it. i don’t know if the collector thing has bit me…maybe it has( two ruskies,a reissue and a tone wicker). how are them big black russians! way nice. like my green one but black. wow. i may look into the bass muff being what they are based on. cheers kitrae. i did read your site months ago which was so informative. your site also helped me put ebay back into perspective. i actually walked away from the search for awhile. again, thanks for the information and replies. thank you to all of you muff folk who have filled me in…i will persevere with my tone wicker. it’s just so convient being it has a boss type 9vac adaptor jack.aloha.

Glad you liked the site. If I remember right, that Boston guitar sound was a 70’s Marshall amp with an attenuator on it to soak up the power from the tubes and give that amp on 10 sound at low volume. I think Tom ran that into a wah pedal with a fixed setting to get the mids tone he wanted. Some of that stuff does sound Muffish, but it wasn’t a Muff

Kitrae - 17 March 2010 01:15 PM

inspector fuzz - 14 March 2010 06:07 AM

whoa!!! how is your muff stash mate? very nice. i am blown away with the history and who uses the muff. did boston use the muff say on the first recording? anyway , i am stoked to be apart of it. i don’t know if the collector thing has bit me…maybe it has( two ruskies,a reissue and a tone wicker). how are them big black russians! way nice. like my green one but black. wow. i may look into the bass muff being what they are based on. cheers kitrae. i did read your site months ago which was so informative. your site also helped me put ebay back into perspective. i actually walked away from the search for awhile. again, thanks for the information and replies. thank you to all of you muff folk who have filled me in…i will persevere with my tone wicker. it’s just so convient being it has a boss type 9vac adaptor jack.aloha.

Glad you liked the site. If I remember right, that Boston guitar sound was a 70’s Marshall amp with an attenuator on it to soak up the power from the tubes and give that amp on 10 sound at low volume. I think Tom ran that into a wah pedal with a fixed setting to get the mids tone he wanted. Some of that stuff does sound Muffish, but it wasn’t a Muff

i was just wondering with the boston sound being my cover band went and learned more than a feeling. the small clone and muff was just about there. maybe a bit more bottom. bass player was not to happy. ha ha.

i ‘ve been on ebay usa. a heap of muff. maybe i am bitten by the muff bug.

I guess one of my favorite Muff users would be Mr. Gilmour. He’s learned how to tame one for years.
I have Big Muff w Tone Wicker, and also the Double Muff. Two different beasts all together, but they sound well in my setup.