Stomp Under Foot Green Russian

The Stomp Under Foot Green Russian is a fuzz pedal that recreates the sound of the Sovtek Green Russian Big Muff Pi, the green enclosure version of the Big Muff built in Russia in the mid 1990s. Stomp Under Foot describes it as delivering "thick, aggressive fuzz with booming low end, gritty punch, and endless sustain," and says it is a favorite among guitarists and bass players alike¹².

What sets this clone apart from most is its parts: Stomp Under Foot builds it with original KT3102 Russian transistors, the same type used in the original Russian Muffs, and NOS through-hole components. It is handmade in the USA and priced at $199.99¹.

What it does and how you control it

The Green Russian is a Big Muff-style fuzz, which means a thick, sustaining distortion-fuzz rather than the sputtering, gated sound of a Fuzz Face-style circuit. Stomp Under Foot says its simple three-knob layout lets you dial in everything from wooly breakup to a massive wall of fuzz¹. The three knobs follow the Big Muff format: volume, sustain (gain) and tone. The maker's own description of the sound:

That low end is the signature of the Russian Muff voicing, and it is why the pedal suits bass as well as guitar. Stomp Under Foot names both guitarists and bass players among its users¹.

Power and bypass

Power comes from a 9V battery or a 2.1mm 9V adapter only¹. The 2.1mm barrel is the standard size used by most pedalboard power supplies, so it drops onto a typical isolated supply without an adapter cable.

The pedal is true bypass¹, which is a meaningful upgrade over the original Sovtek Green Russian Big Muff Pi. Kit Rae's Big Muff history documents the original as having no true bypass, while the modern Electro-Harmonix reissue does³. With true bypass, your clean signal passes through the pedal untouched when it is off.

Where the circuit came from

The Green Russian Big Muff Pi was made in St Petersburg, Russia, in a former Russian military equipment factory operated by two Russian colonels. Kit Rae's history is careful to note the popular myth is wrong: the pedals were not made from spare tank parts or military scrap³. The enclosure carried the Russian word for "overdrive" written in Cyrillic letters under the foot switch³.

Kit Rae's history lists Stomp Under Foot among the builders of second and third edition Green Russian clones, alongside the Blackout Effectors Musket and the Earthquaker Devices Hoof³. Stomp Under Foot's own take on the circuit is the Green Russian, and the builder also makes related Russian-era Big Muff recreations including the Civil War and the Red Menace.

The original Sovtek version found its way onto notable recordings. Kit Rae points players to the Black Keys for "some great examples of the Green Russian in use"⁴.

How it differs from the Electro-Harmonix reissue

The most obvious alternative is the Electro-Harmonix Green Russian Big Muff Pi, the official reissue from the company that built the original. Electro-Harmonix describes it as "a faithful reissue of the legendary Green Russian Big Muff from the mid 1990s," in a smaller, more pedalboard-friendly enclosure than the original²⁵. Guitar World reported the 2017 reissue as bringing the mid-90s cult classic back in a compact Nano-sized chassis⁶, and MusicRadar noted a street price of $80.60 at launch⁷.

The EHX reissue is true bypass like the Stomp Under Foot version², and its manual describes it as "the authentic reissue of the legendary Green Russian Big Muff Pi"²¹³. Premier Guitar's reviewer found the reissue "sounds like a spot-on replica of a Sovtek-era Muff much more often than not"⁹. The Stomp Under Foot version costs roughly twice as much, and what that buys is the original Russian transistors, NOS through-hole parts and hand construction in the USA¹.

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