Electro-harmonix Triangle Big Muff

At long last, a reissue of the original Big Muff

The Muff Fuzz was so named by EHX founder Mike Matthews because of its “muffled sound”, and the Big Muff was a big box, three-control evolution of that first circuit. Designed by Bell Labs engineer Roger Myer – not to be confused with Roger Mayer, of Octavia fame – the original perfboard version was released in 1969, with Mike hand-wiring much of the first run, including one for Jimi Hendrix. Because of its triangular control layout, this came to be known as the ‘triangle’ Big Muff. Although the originals differ greatly, with as many as 17 different versions and sets of component values known, this reissue is the authoritative modern version.

With all that history, and such a wide range of sounds to aim at, it should come as no surprise that the triangle has to simply plant a stake in the ground, choose some values and split the difference; it’s specifically based on an original perfboard model owned by Big Muff collector Kit Rae, as well as an early 1970 PCB model. Three of the most characteristic properties of the triangle sound were smooth highs, warm bass and comparatively low gain. Those certainly are in evidence on the reissue; even with the tone control dimed, the sound isn’t the nails-on-blackboard scratch that it would be onother Muffs – even if it’s still not a useful tone. With the sustain all the way up, the classic Muff ‘violin’ sustain leaps from the speakers. Interestingly, with the sustain down, the triangle functions better as a low-gain drive than some other Muff variants like the Russians, which only really sound good when wide open.

Alex Lynham

mike hand-wired the first run, including one for jimi hendrix