Kurt Cobain is associated with using the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi fuzz pedal, particularly in the studio at the Nevermind Sessions on the track "Lithium" and likely "Endless Nameless" which stemmed from a failed take of "Lithium." Although sources often debate which Big Muff version he specifically used, comparisons suggest that either the Triangle or the Ram's Head Big Muff sounded closest to his tone. However, the first version of the Ram's Head, featuring similar internal components, is likely the model he used, as noted on www.kurtsequipment.com.

In an interview with Phil Taylor, David's guitar technician. He is quoted in the article as saying : "PT: It think it's just pretty much him. He is obviously using a couple of effects, like a Big Muff and a delay, but it really is just his fingers, his vibrato, his choice of notes and how he sets his effects."

David Gilmour has been known to use the Big Muff on one of the most renowned guitar solos of all time, the solo from Comfortably Numb.

At 9:58 in this video interview, J Mascis talks about his Big Muff Pi Pedal, saying, “I got it in '87 on our first tour. Before that, I was using a Deluxe Big Muff and then I got that on tour and then I started using both of them, but I really like that one. From then on, I just used that.” He provides more detail at 10:34 saying, “It seems a bit clearer. It's really easy to play rhythm. That’s my main distortion for rhythm sounds and lead. Some Big Muffs kind of get really mushy when you're playing rhythm, it's hard to articulate the notes. That’s the main thing I notice about it.”

The Big Muff is demonstrated by J at 21:34.

Used with Parliament and Funkadelic, as mentioned by Collins in this June 24, 1978 Sounds interview, this excerpt from a 1979 Guitar Player interview, this May 1991 Musician interview, this November 1, 2010 Bass Player interview and this November 15, 2011 Funk U video.

Sounds, June 24, 1978, "Bootsy Collins: 'Don't Leave Home Without Your F.U.N.K!'" by Vivien Goldman

What are your favourite toys, really. I mean, apart from that joke buzzer and the toy gun...

Bootsy: "Apart from that..." (waves his dark red almond-toed boot in the air,) "It's gadgets. I've got a new thing that looks like R2D2, the Space Case. It's a bunch of different gadgets, a 3 way system, instead of one straight bass thing I got it set up – you'll be funked all the way up – with an MXR Digital Delay, an Eventide Harmoniser, a multi divider, there's three Big Muffs, Moreley fuzz, wah, three Mutrons, a coupla Space Echoes.

"It all comes out separately, I got 12 speakers so you might hear one thing out of this side and something else talking to ya on the other. In the middle of the concert hall I got this thing called the Space Station, so your ears will be going WAAAAANG. It's all in the space. I got the space spex, the space bass, the space case and the space station."

Guitar Player 1979, as transcribed on TalkBass here and here from a reprint in Bass Heroes: Styles, Stories & Secrets of 30 Great Bass Players

What kind of amps do you use in your setup?

The entire system is divided into three different parts - high, mid, and low. But we're not just talking about amplification, we're talking about the effects in each part. On my highs I use a Big Muff fuzz, a Mu-tron III [envelope-following filter], an MXR digital delay, a Morley Fuzz/Wah, a Morley Power Wah, and an Eventide Harmonizer. The Harmonizer sits in a case that looks like R2D2 from Star Wars. It looks just like a little robot, so I call it R2FunkU. There's a sign hanging on it that says, "Can I Play?" Inside of it, there's also a keyboard for the Harmonizer that enables me to preset harmonized intervals to what I'm playing. That way I can play a note and have a fifth or a third coming out at the same time.

All of that equipment just for the highs?

Right. For the mids, I have a Big Muff fuzz, a Mu-tron III, and an MXR digital delay. On the lows, I use a Mu-tron Octave Divider, two Roland Space Echos, a Big Muff fuzz, and a Mu-tron III. I keep all my effects in one box called the Space Case. The highs and mids each have an Alembic preamp, two Crown DC-300A amps, and four Cerwin-Vega speaker cabinets.

What's in each cabinet?

The cabinets used for the highs are called V-32s. They have two 12s, one midrange horn, and two tweeters. The midrange cabinets are basically the same, except there's one 15" speaker instead of two 12s. Those are called V-34s. On the bottom end are three Acoustic 370 heads and six Cerwin-Vega cabinets. Two have one 18" speaker and one 12", two more have an 18 and a 10, and two have one 18" and an 8.

Isn't that a lot of equipment for onstage?

I don't play it that loud. I've just got it there so that I don't have to strain the equipment and everybody can hear. As a matter of fact, the whole stage is set up like that. The guitar player, the keyboard player, everybody is set up like that so there is no real strain.

Musician, May 1991, "Bootsy Collins Effects the Funk" by Gene Santoro

"My role was pretty fluid in P-Funk. I got to play all the things I'd been thinking about: bass, drums, guitar lines, joking with the voice. I got a chance to experiment. I was always in Manny's [music store] checking out new stuff. Today, the things all sound the same. Back then, different gadgets had different sounds. But the Mutron was the one. I use it for talking without opening my mouth — letting the speakers speak for me. It's about the way you hit the string, the mood you're in. It's a conversation going on between me and it and the world. And then there was the Big Muff: It was raw and rowdy and loud, it'd irritate anybody — gnnnahhh! It got back my momma and everybody else who always told me to turn that damn guitar down.

"I had 18 speaker cabinets on the set then, with four super-clean Crown amps, three Alembic tube preamps and all that shit on the floor to give me the dirt. It was a big wall of sound, and I got off on it. Black bands at the time would have the cheapest equipment onstage; the singers'd be singing and the band'd be real hush-hush. I was so tired of that, I figured I was on a mission: Seek out and deploy emblems of the funk." Working now with a revived Rubber Band and rappers like Deee-Lite, he's still scouting hyper-space with that goal in mind. •

MUFFS 'N' MUTES

BOOTSY'S RIG is far from simple. "On the pedalboard I've got all the old stuff: three Mutrons, one Big Muff, a Yamaha distortion, an old rackmount digital MXR, the small Boss DD-3. I've got a few new Digi-Techs for rackmount: the Time Machine 4000, the Smartshift Bass Harmonizer, a stereo Rat, an FX-500B. I'm using Roland Space Echo — of course. I've only got two Electro-Harmonix Bass-micro synths left, and I can't find no more. At least I've got a million Mutrons and Big Muffs!

"My amps are the QSC 4000: They run my two sets of subwoofers, which are four 18"s in each cabinet. On the mids I've got four cabinets, each with two 15"s, two 12"s and a horn; the highs are four 12"s and a horn. All my speakers are Celestions. The amps running the mids and highs are two Yamaha 2000As and one QSC 4000. I'm still going with three old Alembic preamps, which gives me that warm, clean sound; they're running my highs, mids and lows. I use that for the Bootsy Rubber Band; for Deee-Lite I lighten up. Oh yeah — always the Space Bass. But I'm starting to get into five- and six-string basses, and even fretless, since I've been working with Bill Laswell."

Bass Player, "In Session With Professor Bootsy Collins" by Jimmy Leslie (November 1, 2010)

Generally speaking, how would you compare old pedals to new ones?

The old Mu-Trons and Big Muffs were all slightly different, so you had to work with them. To me, that was fun. It helped push you creatively. Pedals are so preset and consistent now that they all sound the same. At F.U., we’re trying to get away from the domestication of sound. I’m not knocking manufacturers, but I want musicians to avoid getting locked in on a particular sound that everybody’s using. Find your own.

Electro-Harmonix YouTube channel - "Electro-Harmonix Bootsy Collins Funk U" (November 15, 2011)

You know, back in the day, like, in the '70s I was using, like, the Big Muff on all those old records we used to do with Parliament-Funkadelic.

Collins did not start using fuzz with Parliament until 1975's Chocolate City, evincing a Ram's Head as the unit he purchased.

At 1:10 in the video, Ian is auditioning a Big Muff Pi Ram's Head. The pedal is distinctively a third edition Ram's Head Big Muff because of the red text and black knobs.

Visible on pedalboard in Instagram photo.

I used a Big Muff distortion pedal and used that during the “Kick Out the Jams” era, since the wah-wah pedal hadn’t been perfected yet.

A Ram's Head was famously used on "That Lady", in addition to "Climbing Up The Ladder" and "Voyage to Atlantis". This is documented on the Big Muff Users section of Kit Rae's Big Muff Page.

A year after that, the funk/soul scene was hammered with the famous solo from the Isley Brothers hit, (Who's) That Lady, played to perfection by Ernie Isley. There are various accounts of what was actually used in the studio, some sources state it was recorded directly into the mixing board with a Strat and Roger Mayer Octavia, but other sources state it was a Big Muff and Maestro Phase Shifter, and Ernie also used a Big Muff and a Maestro Phase Shifter when playing it live throughout the 1970's (the modulation on the record actually sounds identical to the Maestro too).

(the signal) goes through a Cry Baby wah-wah, a Big Muff fuzz, a Maestro Phase Shifter, and an Octavia made by Roger Mayer. - Ernie isley from Guitar Player, September 1981

“On ‘That Lady’ there was a Big Muff, a Maestro Phase Shifter, and a Fender Twin. That was pretty much it.” - Ernie isley from Vintage Guitar magazine, February 2018

The Isley Brothers songs Climbing Up the Ladder and Voyage to Atlantis from 1977 are other examples of Ernie playing lead with the Big Muff. A V2 Big Muff is pictured on the Isley Brothers stage in the photo below, circa 1975, along with the Maestro to the left.

This pedal can be seen in one of Paul's Instagram posts.

Wheeler posted multiple photographs of his pedalboard on his Instagram with the caption "I’ve been rebuilding this spaceship over the last few months. Anyone want to go to outer space?". One of the pedals that are part of his pedal collection is the EHX Ram's Head Big Muff Pi, although there is no graphics on the pedal.

On the Big Muff, Dave says "I bought that new in 1974. but it still sounds like, you know, a real... "Satisfaction" [Maestro-type fuzz]" (01:13:32), and V2 Ram's Heads were Muff circuits being built at the time. He eventually got a Dallas Arbiter Rangemaster built into it.

"I used a Ram’s Head Big Muff for maximum distortion. I generally play clean or totally fuzzed out. The Dumble Overdrive Special amp introduced me to a wider spectrum of distortion and I pretty much stuck with the amp’s distortion and clean sounds."