Electro-Harmonix Sovtek Deluxe Big Muff Pi Fuzz Pedal with Mid-Shift Reviews

I can tell you guys it's everything there just turn the knobs and release the power. From box straight to the Pedalboard!!!

I've owned a few fuzz pedals over the years that were kind of fun but this fuzz is the one for me. The tweak-ability is what makes the difference. The blend knob and gate, albeit simple in concept, put it over the top. I can get hellish death/doom tones that still sound punchy and tight when palm muted. I just run it through my normal high gain tone on my amp (maybe dial the gain back a smidge), tweak the pedal's tone to taste with the blend knob at ~60% and the gate just high enough to clamp when I'm not playing and that's the sweet spot. Most classic fuzz tones you could want are in there as well and even some HM2ish tones, with some messing around with the mid knobs. This is just a beautiful box of filth that will stay on my pedal board for a long time.

i was planning on buying the rams head reissue. i have the BMP w/tone wicker and wanted one with just the standard "volume-tone-sustain". for some reason, went with this instead. definitely no regrets. i can go on and on about this pedal, but i won't. for your sake.

Beyond blown away by the versatility and sounds I can get out of this pedal. The tones you can get out of it as a stand alone fuzz/sustainer are absolutely beautiful. I can also get downright filthy doom tones if I crank it up and stack it in front of my amps distortion. The gate is something I never thought I would use, but it is absolutely amazing when it comes to the filthy stuff. 10/10 buy it you won't regret it.

...gem of a pedal! It's like the muff x10! You can scoop the mids or boost the mids. With the right overdrive (I use a dunes by earthquaker) it can turn into a really amazing distortion that would sound good with metal and hard rock. More people need to be looking at this pedal. Get one; you won't regret it.

The regular Deluxe Big Muff is based around the nano NYC Big Muff circuit, while the Sovtek Deluxe is based around the Green Russian. It's a little smoother with more low end and midrange than the NYC. With only a few minutes of fooling with settings, I'm was really pleased.

I expected more of an extreme boost in high end from the wicker switch. It's noticeable, just not what I expected. It also seems to raise the noise floor of the pedal a bit.

The gate knob can give you some real staccato sounds on higher settings. Keeping it around 8 or 9 o'clock seems like the sweet spot for keeping my single coils quiet while still letting notes ring out naturally.

Blend knob mixes in clean signal, which is pretty nice if you're using this with your bass.

The mids section is what sets this apart. With the low Q setting it selects a bigger section of midrange to boost or cut, which sounds better to me than high Q which has a narrower frequency to boost. You can play rhythm with the regular scooped mids then hit the boost to stand out for solo spots. Low Q with both mids knobs around 1-2 gives a real raunchy sound that's not like any big muff.

I love it. My only complaint being that I wish the input/output jacks were top mounted instead of on the side so it took less room on my pedalboard. It's not a deal breaker, just preference.

Very few reviews will I give 5 stars on. This, however, is one of them. The original Sovtek Big Muff "Civil War" has always been my favorite circuit. I was very and pleasantly surprised by this new reincarnation of that pedal. So much tonal options to dial the tone in exactly how you want. This unit is a real bargain in today"s mostly-overpriced effects. Just grab one. You"ll see what I"m saying. Perfect for achieving those elusive Gilmour tones. Well done EHX and thanks to my long time Sweetwater man, Brain Looney.

With this sounds you become the new David gilmour with that pink floyd sound.
Nice fat tone buttery smooth distortion
Creamy rich sound. Awsome sustain.
But this pedal. ..

Really cranks out some nice tones, from mild OD to sweet, sustainy fuzz. Does require a bit of tweaking, but isn't that what the knobs and switches are for?

I own all the new reissue big muff versions, including this one and the recent Green Russian reissue. I recently did a side beside comparison of this one next to the green Russian (just to confirm they were basically the same pedal, with a mid boost, so that I may remove the green from my rig). However, I am disappointed to report that they are NOT the same. In fact the only way you can get them to sound identical, is with the Soviet deluxe "Mids" engaged with the two mids level/mids freq both set to noon. So this pretty much makes the mids boost useless as you have to have it always engaged at this settings to have the original Green Russian sound. With out the MIDS engaged, the pedal is much muddier and weaker than the Green Russian, pretty much useless in a mix as well, again unless you engage the MIDS. Maybe some people can get it to work for them for what they need though, still a great sound. Just not what I needed. If you are like me, just keep or buy the Green Russian Reissue and use a boost pedal when needed. (or switch between the Green Russian and the Rams Head) Another great pedal, and cuts through extremely well.