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Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi

23 ratings | read 6 reviews

Dial up that slightly torn speaker sound or dial in total Germanium "Satisfaction."

The Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi overdrive and distortiuon pedal is a classic 1960's overdrive based around a hand-selected germanium transistor. To g...

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Mike Kerr

On right hand side of mike's pedalboard you can see this pedal
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Details

Description

Dial up that slightly torn speaker sound or dial in total Germanium "Satisfaction."

The Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi overdrive and distortiuon pedal is a classic 1960's overdrive based around a hand-selected germanium transistor. To get the best results from the E-H Germanium 4, just set aside some time to practice in a quiet room-just you, your amp, and the Germaium OD. The interaction of each control will reward you with many different flavors of exceptional vintage overdrive.

In addition to a Gain control, the Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 overdrive lets you control Bias for attack and the circuit volts for that sweet spot found when a battery's voltage dips.

The Gain control adjusts the amount of input signal that is fed to the Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4. The more the knob is rotated the harder the germanium transistor and drive components are hit. The Bias control adjusts the current gain that is sent to the Germanium transistor. It works together with the Voltage control to attain the over all tone. The bias control works specifically with the Germanium transistor. The Volts knob controls the amount of voltage that is applied to the Germanium OD. Set at full, 9V is applied. When set at minimum, 3V is applied. By limiting the voltage a number of interesting saturations can be set up for variations in tone.

A footswitch turns true bypass on or off.

The Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 runs off of a 9V battery or you can connect a 9VDC adapter capable of delivering at least 100mA to the 9V power jack. The optional 9V power supply from Electro-Harmonix is 9.6DC-200BI (same as used by Boss and Ibanez) 9.6 Volts DC 200mA. The AC power adapter must have a barrel connector with center negative. The battery may be left in or taken out when using an adapter.

Specifications

True bypass
Gain control
Bias knob for putting your sound right at the edge of break up
Volts knob for reducing battery voltage
Countless germanium variations at the touch of a knob
Tough and compact die-cast chassis
9-volt battery included

6 reviews

fedemoroz

151

Beautiful od/fuzz box

I found in this pedal what I was looking on the ZVex Fuzz Factory. It seems to be a stranger for the Big Muff family. To me, it sounds like a modded Fuzz Face or Tone Bender. You can get a nasty but singing 60's/70's fuzz tones. It fuzzes, but the 6th string still breathes. I use mostly the Distortion side, but the OD is quite useful for some mild distorted parts.

+2

11 months ago
- 0 Comments
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liam082

214

Nothing special

I'm not really sure what I was expecting from a vintage style overdrive and distortion in all honesty, my solid state amp does not take it well at all. Theres a lot of tonality options with this pedal, It sounds great through a tube amp but through a line 6 solid state it sounds really quite crap. I don't really use it anymore but going to give it another chance when i get a tube amp in a few months. On the Overdrive side you have volume, gain, bias and tone. The Overdrive works quite well as a clean boost with the gain low and gives a pretty good crunch, the Overdrive works nicely with my amp, the distortion does not. On the Distortion side you have Gain, Bias, Volume and Volts. The voltage option is quite cool can turn it quite low and have a dead battery sound and get anything in between too. The distortion doesn't work with my amp at all but it works amazingly with a tube amp. In all honesty though this pedal isn't for me but I will give it more use when I have a tube amp as it sounds killer with one

+2

about 1 month ago
- 2 Comments
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jimmarchi1

you could probably make it work better with an SS amp if you had it modded a little, the muff side is definitely designed for tube amps, not sure about the OD, but probably for tube amps too.... a heads up, the main difference between the TS808 tubescreamer and later TS9 is that the 9's output stage was tweaked to work well with the popular solid state Roland Jazz Chorus amp of the era, an 808 sounds amazing through a tube amp on the edge of distortion as a dirty boost (if you like TS sounds), but the TS9 plays well with ANYTHING producing all of the distortion itself. A change in output impedance from your EHX pedal might go a long way towards making it interface with your SS amp.... or buy a tube amp, there is a reason that this almost 100 year-old technology is still used by most guitarists.

about 1 month ago

liam082

I could do but not sure if I can be bothered to as my solder iron work isn't the best really. I'm getting a tube amp in February anyway so I look forward to giving it another chance also want to try a TS9 one day to use a boost for lead work and just push the front of the amp into a slight crunch but putting off getting any new effects till I have a tube amp. Though if I can be bothered I may mod the EHX abit

about 1 month ago

daniel_molnar

217

Good

Not the traditional Big Muff sound I was looking for, more of an overdrive fuzz.

+1

about 1 month ago
- 0 Comments
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dzacki3

130

A very usable dual channel overdrive/distortion pedal, does everything from mild overdrive to heavy distortion beautifully.

+1

over 1 year ago
- 0 Comments
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danu_mahardika

145

Cutting edge muff

Yang keren dari pedal ini adalah knob Volt nya yang bisa disetting hingga max ke kiri dan menghasilkan sound seperti efek mau habis baterainya. Jadi "brebet" dan keren

+1

8 months ago
- 0 Comments
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axeman

177

Awesome

In this day and age pedal builders are building them smaller and smaller, as they understand that real estate on your pedal board is hard to come by and they've addressed it here. How you say? This is a huge pedal you say? Yes, it's a big one, but it's a two in one distortion/overdrive pedal and it's fantastic. If you have a chance to play with one, check it out.....I doubt you'll be disappointed.

The Germanium Big Muff Pi overdrive and distortiuon pedal is overdrive based around a hand-selected germanium transistor. This pedal is one of those ones where you will find yourself constantly turning knobs and seeing what kind of sounds you can get out of it. One of the best things I can say about it is you get a lot of vintage overdrive tones with this one.You also have control over the Bias to change the attack and helping you find your sweet spot. Gain control is something else you have control over with the Germanium Big Muff. You can literally control how the gain is sent to the germanium transistor effecting the tone of your guitar and the pedal itself is true bypass.

+1

6 months ago
- 1 Comment
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jimmarchi1

is it discrete germanium transistors or germanium clipping diodes? on both sides or just one side? what would you compare the overdrive side to? is it TS9ish or maybe more of a DOD OD250 thing? Does the big muff side sound like a current production muff or does it have more of its own voice? How are you using it?

6 months ago