Electro-Harmonix has super-sized its Dual Op-Amp Big Muff Pi 2, giving this once lost fuzz pedal the full Deluxe treatment, which means the more features, more versatility on the Muff that offers more… Well, oomph.
There’s something about this Dual Op-Amp Big Muff Pi 2. Unearthed from a “lost” schematic while Josh Scott of JHS Pedals was researching his Electro-Harmonix book, this circuit was more aggressive, more physical in its fuzz.
The core sound is fantastic. The Nano three-knob edition was one of our favourite guitar effects pedals of the year so far. There is a three-knob version with a Wicker switch and switchable Tone. But this with the Wicker switch, expanded EQ options, footswitchable mids, an onboard noise gate and – crucially – a Blend control, this Deluxe edition might well be worth an upgrade.
It is a lot of pedal, the “final boss” of a Dual Op-Amp series that also includes Nano and Deluxe versions specifically designed for bass guitar.
Here you have options. There is a Volume control, a Blend for adjusting how much of your input signal you want to leave unfuzzed. There is the Tone and Sustain controls from the original. The noise gate is controlled by a single knob. Fully counterclockwise and it is off.
There are two knobs for those aforementioned footswitchable mids, with one controlling the level of the mids, the other selecting the centre frequency of the mids control, with a range approximately from 310Hz to 5kHz.
There is another High Q/Low Q switch for selecting narrow or wide bandwidths of the parametric Mids EQ. And you toggle all of this midrange sounds in and out with the dedicated Mids footswitch.
Some guitar players do not get along with fuzz pedals. Some complain about how it interacts with other effects, such as wah pedals, but oftentimes it’s a question of EQing, and finding the right sound to complement your electric guitar’s pickups.
Here, you have many options for tweaking, for blending more of that clean signal in so that your chords retain clarity and note separation, for adjusting the fuzz so that it blooms in those mids, a big thick fug of hard clipping, or that it’s narrow and scratchy.
The Wicker switch offers two alternate high-end voicings plus the original stock setting. Again, more EQ options, more versatility.
You can also hook up an expression pedal to control the Mids EQ by foot, which is pretty cool.
The pedal can be set to run with latching or momentary action. It has a buffered bypass and is powered by 9V DC from a pedalboard power supply – though an adaptor is included in the box.
All this might be worth the extra outlay, that little bit extra space on the pedalboard. The Deluxe Dual Op-Amp Big Muff Pi 2 is out now priced £189/$188.
For more details, head over to Electro-Harmonix.
