Intended for electric guitarists and bassists, the Electro-Harmonix Sovtek Deluxe Big Muff Pi is a fuzz distortion pedal that combines several classic Big Muff stompboxes into one versatile unit. Its Volume, Tone, and Sustain controls hail from the Green Russian, while the Wicker switch is borrowed from the Big Muff Tone Wicker. Finally, the sound-sculpting capabilities of the midrange control section are derived from the Big Muff Deluxe. The result is a fuzz distortion pedal with a classic sound and a lot of sonic control not available before.

With the Volume, Tone, and Sustain knobs, you can control the output level, timbre, and distortion level of the effect. The Tone knob isn't just a low-pass filter for the highs, but an emphasis control for the lows as well. The Wicker switch adds the brightness of the Big Muff Tone Wicker, and brings out your pick attack as well. With the Blend knob, you can dial in some of your dry signal into the effect. The Gate knob can cut out unwanted residual noise from your pickups when you're not playing.

The Midrange section allows you to home in on midrange frequencies between the 300 Hz range and 5 kHz, giving you the option to boost or cut selected frequencies by up to 10 dB. Use the Q switch to select between a rounder, gentler affectation (low-Q) or a sharper, more needling effect (high-Q). Plug your favorite compatible expression pedal into the expression jack to control the midrange frequency, giving you a wah-wah or cocked-wah effect.

The pedal provides a 1/4' instrument input and output jack. It can be powered by the included 9V battery or a separately-available power supply. By default, it offers true-bypass circuitry to render your clean tone totally unaffected when the pedal is disengaged. However, you can switch the bypass circuitry into buffered mode to preserve high-end over long cable runs.