When Smashing Pumpkins main man Billy Corgan told us he was working with Electro-Harmonix on a reissue of the Op-Amp Big Muff Pi back in October, we could scarcely contain our excitement, and now the official release of the legendary Siamese Dream-featured pedal has arrived.
Also known as the IC or V4 Big Muff, the Op-Amp Big Muff was famed for its use on SP’s pivotal 1993 album, Siamese Dream; its sound came from op amps rather than transistors, and featured three rather than four gain stages. The resultant tone was more compressed, yielding the wall-of-sound fuzz tones that Corgan made iconic.
“Mike Matthews, the company founder, actually contacted me because he felt we made [the op-amp Big Muff] the fuckin’ sound,” Billy told us. “That was an incredible honour!
“I told him I didn’t want anything [in terms of payment]: I want to [collaborate with EHX] because they changed my life. That sound is the sound!”
In the video demo with Reverb above, the guitarist enthused of the reissue, “The magic’s still in the box - I can still get what I’m looking for!”
Like the original, the new incarnation features sustain, tone and volume controls, as well as a tone toggle switch to bypass the tone circuit, while adding true bypass switching and a compact chassis.
The Electro-Harmonix Op-Amp Big Muff Pi is available now for $80.90 (approx £60/€68) - head over to EHX for more info.
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