Wren and Cuff Box of War Small Foot

The Wren and Cuff Box of War Small Foot is a fuzz pedal that recreates the EH "Civil War" Sovtek Big Muff Pi, the Russian-made Big Muff variant produced in the 1990s. Wren and Cuff describes it as a true recreation of those "Civil War" fuzz pedals, and lists it as Russian Muff distortion¹. It is the same pedal as the full-size Box of War, originally housed in a large folded steel enclosure, modified to fit a standard 125 size enclosure¹.

The original Box of War was released in 2012, and the full-size version has since returned as the Box of War OG Reissue². As of late October 2026, both the Small Foot and the OG Reissue are listed as sold out on Wren and Cuff's product pages¹².

A Civil War Big Muff recreation

The "Civil War" Big Muff is a 1990s Russian-made variant of the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, named for its distinctive two-tone graphics. Wren and Cuff says the Box of War is a true recreation of the EH "Civil War" Sovtek Big Muff Pi¹, and the company describes its approach to these recreations in its own words:

Delicious Audio noted that Wren and Cuff researched what it called a rare, much-loved but cheaply made original Big Muff Pi for this project³.

On where the Civil War sits among Big Muff versions, Wren and Cuff says the Civil Wars are very closely related to the Tall Font Russian Big Muffs, with a bit darker and a bit fuzzier tone, less output, and less fuzzy than most other Muffs, and that they are cherished for woody sustain and presence². Anasounds' history of the Big Muff describes the Civil War as known for a less saturated sound with more midrange and treble than the Ram's Head, calling it probably the smoothest version and good for a big, chubby crunch⁴.

Premier Guitar reviewed the full-size Box of War in 2021 and called it "about as cool looking and sweet sounding a Civil War clone as you'll find"⁵. The same reviewer found its low end substantial:

Small Foot versus the full-size Box of War

The Small Foot exists for one reason: footprint. Wren and Cuff says it is the same pedal as the full-size Box of War, modified to fit a standard 125 size enclosure, and that sonically there is no difference between the two pedals¹. For a player with a crowded pedalboard, that means the Civil War circuit without the bulk.

The full-size version has its own story. Premier Guitar noted that it cleverly borrows the wedge shape of the original Univox Super-Fuzz and shrinks the footprint into a much more compact form than the old Russian enclosures, while Wren and Cuff's idea was to make an enclosure as heavy duty as the old Russians but smaller⁵². The two-piece metal enclosure evokes the original with its painted shell, and the graphics are an homage to the Civil War, borrowing the split, two-tone, Old West-style font. Premier Guitar also pointed out the "made in the UNITED STATES" text on the lower-right corner, arranged precisely like the "made in RUSSIA" on the originals⁵.

Power, bypass, and build

The Small Foot runs on a 9V battery or a 2.1mm adapter, at 9VDC negative tip, drawing only 5mA¹. That low draw makes it easy to run from a shared pedalboard supply. It uses true hard-wire bypass, so the signal passes cleanly when the pedal is off¹. It is made in the USA and carries a lifetime warranty¹.

Where it fits

For players comparing fuzz options, the Box of War Small Foot sits in Wren and Cuff's broader line of Big Muff recreations, alongside pedals like the Wren and Cuff Eye See '78 OG, its take on the 1978 op-amp Big Muff. Where a distortion or overdrive pedal leaves your amp's character mostly intact, a fuzz like this replaces the guitar's sound with the pedal's own saturated voice, in the Big Muff tradition described in the fuzz pedals overview.

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