The Intensive Care Audio Death Muff is a fuzz and saturation pedal from London maker Intensive Care Audio, pitched with the maker's medical theme as relief from "gain- and saturation-related conditions"1. Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson reviewed it in November 2025 as a Big Muff style fuzz circuit pushed well past the original: "The Death Muff is the angrier version of the circuit - beyond the higher gain even of the original 1969 Triangle Edition"2.
The maker's product page lists the Death Muff as sold out as of 25 October 20261.
A high-gain Big Muff take
The Death Muff belongs to the long line of pedals built on the Big Muff fuzz circuit. In a JHS Pedals video on the Big Muff's history, Josh of JHS Pedals explains one of the circuit's key additions: an LPB-1 boost stage put in to make up volume lost to diode clipping, "guess what he put on the big muff to make it louder anybody he put an lpb1"3. The Death Muff takes that foundation and, per Guitar Pedal X, goes further into high gain than even the original 1969 Triangle Edition of the Big Muff2.
In Guitar Pedal X's roundup of 2025's new fuzz pedals, Karlsson's verdict was that "Patrick's latest creation is fierce and aggressive - a totally different high gain take on a muff with full gain overload"4.
The controls
The Death Muff has four controls, which the maker describes as "a range of available remedies"1:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| VOLUME | Sets the overall output volume of the device1 |
| TONE | Controls the color of your signal, from bright and fizzy to dark and woolly1 |
| FUZZ | The primary gain control. It works dynamically with the CHAOS and TONE controls and with your guitar's volume knob: turning the guitar down significantly reduces gain and saturation, giving on-the-fly control1 |
| CHAOS | Affects both saturation level and tone. Used with FUZZ and TONE it offers unique variation, and fully clockwise it produces a gating effect on your guitar signal1 |
Guitar Pedal X lists the same four knobs, naming Chaos as "Gain Overload"2. The guitar-volume trick on the Fuzz control is worth noting for players who clean up with the volume knob: the maker presents it as a designed-in feature rather than an accident of the circuit1.
Build and availability
The pedal is a wedge-shaped enclosure, which Karlsson credits with giving it "such and elegeant look"2. Intensive Care Audio builds all of its pedals in London, England, using high-quality components1. The maker's product page listed it at £149.00 GBP1, and as of 25 October 2026 it was sold out1.
Videos
INTENSIVE CARE AUDIO
The Pedal Zone
Questions
What does the Chaos knob do on the Death Muff?
Chaos affects both the saturation level and the tone of the pedal. Intensive Care Audio describes it as offering unique variation when used alongside the Fuzz and Tone controls, and Guitar Pedal X lists it as a gain overload control. Turned fully clockwise, it produces a gating effect on your guitar signal, so it works as a second, more extreme gain control beyond the Fuzz knob.
Is the Death Muff true bypass?
Yes. Intensive Care Audio specifies soft-touch, relay-based true bypass switching on the Death Muff. That means the pedal uses a relay rather than a simple mechanical footswitch, and when it is off your guitar's signal passes through without the fuzz circuit in the way.
Where is the Death Muff made?
The Death Muff is built in London, England. Intensive Care Audio states that all of its pedals are built there using high-quality components, and the maker's name and medical theme reflect its London origins.
What transistors are in the Death Muff?
According to Guitar Pedal X's review, the Death Muff uses a mix of BC337 and BC547 transistors on board. These are common silicon transistors in fuzz designs, and the review describes the pedal as a high-gain Big Muff style circuit built around them.
How big is the Death Muff?
Intensive Care Audio lists the Death Muff at 126 mm long (5.0 in), 88 mm wide (3.5 in) and 45 mm to 27 mm high (1.8 in to 1.1 in), with a weight of 323 g. Guitar Pedal X describes it as a wedge-shaped pedal, which accounts for the two height figures.
Is the Death Muff still available?
As of the maker's product page dated 25 October 2026, the Death Muff is listed as sold out. Intensive Care Audio has not discontinued it on that page, but no units were available at the last check.
Sources (4)
- DEATH MUFF, Intensive Care Audio
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2025-11-21
- EPISODE 2: Modifying An Electro Harmonix LPB1 Boost Into A Fuzz, JHS Pedals (YouTube channel), 2024-05-09
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2025-12-08
