ElectroHarmonix Green Russian Big Muff

The Green Russian Big Muff is a fuzz/distortion pedal from Electro-Harmonix, sold today as a compact reissue of the Sovtek Green Russian Big Muff Pi that was built in St Petersburg, Russia from roughly 1994 to 2000¹. The original came out of Sovtek, EHX's sister company, in the early 1990s and is widely credited with turning around the then-ailing company's fortunes². Electro-Harmonix brought it back in August 2017 in a small Nano-sized enclosure, marketed as "the authentic reissue of the legendary Green Russian Big Muff Pi. We should know, we built the original."¹

The maker classifies the current pedal as a Fuzz / Distortion / Sustainer with an analog circuit, true bypass, and a vintage-correct army green chassis³. It is revered by both guitarists and bassists, and the original became highly prized by players looking for an alternative to the thinner, brighter NYC Muff fuzz sound³².

What the Green Russian Big Muff is

The original Sovtek Green Russian Big Muff Pi was a fuzz/distortion pedal made in Russia, beloved by grunge, punk and experimental guitarists as well as bassists for its massive bass, gritty treble and compressed sustain⁵. MusicRadar notes the units were housed in materials taken from scrapped Russian tanks, and that they were legendary for switch faults and the lack of power jacks². In standard tuning, these fuzzes deliver robust highs and fat bass, while in drop tunings they are instant stoner and doom riff machines².

The 1994 V7C Green Russian variant is recognized for its additional low-end heft, typically the bassiest of the Big Muff types⁶. Kit Rae describes the sound as less gain, fatter bottom end, and brighter mids than most vintage USA Big Muffs, which made it a favorite among bass players¹. The Black Keys used it on early live and studio recordings such as "Your Touch"¹, and David Gilmour used one on his 2015/16 Rattle That Lock tour, heard in the David Gilmour Live at Pompeii concert film⁷.

The Bubble Font and Tall Font editions

The Sovtek Green Russian was produced in three editions, and collectors divide them by the lettering on the box¹.

Under the hood the Tall Font and Bubble Font are very, very similar, basically just different lettering⁹. The early Tall Font first edition is identical in circuit to the Civil War version, while the second and third edition Bubble Fonts have a bit more grit and bite, less bass, and most have more sustain, though they are not as smooth sounding⁸. Coda Effects attributes the massive bass to the tone circuit letting a lot of bass through, with coupling caps of higher value than traditional Big Muff versions⁹.

The originals were big and heavy, in a full metallic enclosure roughly 6 1/2" long, and ran on a 9V battery only, with no true bypass⁹¹. They shipped in a wood crate box with Russian lettering¹.

The 2017 Green Russian Big Muff π reissue

By 2017 the most desirable Sovteks had been out of production for around twenty years, and originals commanded high prices on the used market¹¹⁰. In August 2017 Electro-Harmonix released the Green Russian Big Muff as the first in a series of nano sized Big Muff reissues, in a compact chassis no longer built in Russia¹¹¹¹⁰. It was assembled and tested in Long Island City, New York¹.

The version chosen to replicate was the Tall Font Green Russian, the same circuit used in the Civil War version¹. The reissue engineer was Gino Maisano, who has said it is the reissue he is most proud of¹. Technically it was the third reissue of the Big Muff, and a reissue of the first reissue¹. Improvements over the original include a jack for an optional 9-volt power supply, metal input and output jacks, and the much more pedalboard-friendly compact size⁵.

Inside, the circuit uses through-hole transistors, capacitors and diodes with surface-mount resistors, and the transistors are BC547¹. Premier Guitar's reviewer described "four BC547 transistors hover[ing] like spindly Martians over the reassuringly simple, ordered PC board," with clean printed-circuit construction and board-mounted jacks¹². A first for a Big Muff, a song lyric from Sleep's "Dopesmoker," "Follow the smoke toward the riff-filled land," is printed on the circuit board¹.

Controls and circuit

The reissue keeps the classic three-knob Big Muff layout¹.

The footswitch toggles between effect and bypass, with an LED lit when the effect is active³¹³.

The underlying Big Muff Pi circuit, created around 1969/1970, is built in five stages: an input/gain stage, two clipping stages, a tone stage, and an output stage¹⁴. Two diodes placed back-to-back in the feedback loop of each clipping stage create soft clipping¹⁵. The tone stack uses a potentiometer to blend a high-pass and a low-pass filter, and on a stock Big Muff both filters still affect the midrange at 12, leading to the signature midrange scoop¹⁵. Coda Effects notes the Big Muff is technically not a fuzz but a distortion, with most saturation coming from diodes, though its two distortion stages produce the heavily compressed, saturated sound¹⁶.

Premier Guitar's reviewer found the reissue's knobs "turn with precision and satisfying resistance, and each control has an impressively responsive and nuanced taper"¹², and noted its sensitivity to guitar volume attenuation, moving from white-hot fuzz to mellow overdrive-type distortion with the volume knob¹².

Power and connections

The reissue runs on the included 9V battery or an optional 9.6VDC-200mA power adapter, with the power jack at the top of the pedal³¹³. RockBoard lists it as 9V DC, center negative, drawing 3mA¹⁷. The manual warns that using the wrong adapter or polarity may damage the pedal and void the warranty¹³.

Connections are a ¼" IN jack (input impedance 130kΩ) and a ¼" OUT jack (output impedance nominally 25kΩ); in bypass mode the OUT jack is connected directly to the IN jack¹³. Electro-Harmonix covers the pedal with a one-year repair-or-replace warranty for original purchasers from authorized retailers¹³.

Price

At launch in August 2017 the reissue carried a US street price of $80.60¹¹. Premier Guitar listed it at a street price of $80 in 2021¹², and Guitar.com listed it at $108 in 2024¹⁸. The current list price on Electro-Harmonix's site is $108.90⁴.

What reviewers said

Kit Rae, who compared the reissue against six original 1990s Civil War and Tall Font Sovteks, wrote: "The Green Russian reissue fits right in with them and sounds practically identical to two of my originals. In a blind test I could not pick the reissue out."¹ He added that while most clones sound only 75 to 85 percent the same as the originals, "This reissue not only sounds like an original, but it 'feels' the same when I play it."¹

Premier Guitar's verdict was "Authentic Russian Big Muff sounds at a rock bottom price. Surprisingly dynamic."¹² The reviewer found it "sounds like a spot-on replica of a Sovtek-era Muff much more often than not," and that having an authentically enormous sounding Russian Muff in a Nano enclosure is a smart trade for most¹². The review also noted the midrange shift is most pronounced with Fender-style single-coils, while humbuckers round off the spiky midrange artifacts and re-emphasize bottom-end smoothness¹².

Guitar World's round-up gave the Green Russian reissue a Total Guitar rating of 4.5/5, with the reviewer thinking of the bass sounds on Sonic Youth's "100%" while playing it, and finding the Russian Muff shines on bass¹⁹³. Guitar.com noted that "with a little less biting distortion and a little more midrange, it has a reputation as the best low-and-slow Big Muff for a reason"¹⁸.

Sovtek Deluxe Big Muff π

After the success of the Green Russian reissue, Electro-Harmonix released the Sovtek Deluxe Big Muff in December 2018, designed by Gino Maisano and John Pisani²⁰. It uses the same core circuit as the Green Russian, the circa 1991 Sovtek "Civil War" circuit, and adds the mids controls from the standard Deluxe Big Muff, the Wicker switch from the Tone Wicker Big Muff, and the blend control from the Deluxe Bass Big Muff²¹²⁰. Originally it was going to be a Deluxe Green Russian, but the maker went with a color scheme paying tribute to the blue and gray "Civil War" Sovteks²⁰.

Its controls go well beyond the three-knob reissue:

It is analog with true bypass, runs on an included 9V battery or optional 9.6VDC-200mA adapter, draws 22mA, and measures 5.75 x 4.75 x 2.5 in²¹. The current list price is $174.20²¹.

Guitar.com scored it 9/10, calling it "A timelessly gorgeous-sounding Muff with astounding tonal versatility"²². Guitar World's review called it a super-tweakable fuzz for adding dirt to basslines, praising its great value, quality build and heaps of tone options²³. Kit Rae found it a very versatile pedal and preferred the Green Russian Tall Font/Civil War circuit as a base-tone platform over the standard Deluxe, though he noted the Gate is really for high gain settings, as at medium to low gain it makes a slightly audible pop when you start playing²⁰.

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