Big Muff V5 (1979)

The Muff with Many Faces 

We assume that by reading this you know that an EHX Big Muff is the best-selling Fuzz pedal of all time and that many different variations exist. We’d also assume that most people reading this aren’t exactly clear on what those differences are and are looking for a little further clarity.

Based on that, you’ve come to the right place … kinda!?

The reason for the hesitation is this, there are many versions of the Big Muff, (V1,2,3,4,5,6 and so on) within those we have other lines such as “The little Big Muff” etc. And if it were that clear then life would be easy however within variations such as the Version 6 Big Muff components changed on a whim, as did the designs.

Most V5 and V6 Muffs used the large black “Hockey Puck” style knobs whereas a few used the Daka Ware pointer knobs as seen on the much earlier Muff Versions.

Most strikingly the often named “Reverse Logo” Muff was black with a white logo and Pi sign featuring a large red area by the footswitch, however many were in the standard famous unpainted enclosures featuring the normal red logo and Pi sign with a black area by the footswitch.

The V6 saw a mainstream return to the transistor-based circuit and sounded much closer to the version 3 Muff. Despite the appearance variations, the V6 was the first Muff to see all versions using the same schematic. This led to most V6 Muffs sounding constantly the same, that tone being like the V3’s but with more gain/sustain on tap and more grit in the breakup.

The tone bypass switching borrowed from previous versions took the tone out of the circuit giving more clarity and a boost in volume and midrange however it does sound much less “muffy” in this mode.

A superb Op-Amp tone bypass version. Compare it to the V4 and others on TonePedia.