When you needed a portable amp back in the 70’s, you had 2 choices: the Pignose, which put out a few watts of power or you could go the EH Freedom amp route, with 55W of battery-powered goodness.
The Freedom amp came about around 1972, blasting it’s way into the musician’s consciousness with the power of 55 watts into a single 10″ heavy duty CTS speaker.
EH Freedom amp Eminence speaker
Not just for guitarists though, it was available in bass and PA models as well.� All shared the same basic cabinet construction and speaker with just a few differences to make each it’s own beast:
EH Freedom Guitar amplifier
EH Freedom Guitar amplifier control panel
The Bass version: I’ve never seen the Bass version so I don’t know what the full control layout is. I do know that it was apparently the first model dropped as later ads mention the Guitar and PA versions only. It have a “Heavy Low Frequency Resonance” control, which was supposed to give it more depth and wallop than a 2-15″ setup. If you find one, I’ll buy it!
The PA version: Very rare. I’ve only seen a couple of these so far and talked to just a couple of people who own one. These amps had the usual Volume and Tone controls, but no Bite. Some versions also added reverb with a Reverb control. Sometimes they had a red covering but I’ve also seen them in black.
EH PA Freedom amp
EH PA Freedom amp (inside)
EH PA Freedom amp panel
EH PA Freedom amp reverb circuit
40 D-cell batteries
In addition to the 3 different models you could also get them in 3 choices of power supply: AC. AC/DC, or DC only. AC power was supplied via a detachable AC cord and a side-mounted AC socket. DC was provided by the inclusion of a battery holder or holders capable of holding….40 D cells! Yes, that’s right: 40! All these batteries were held in one of 2 ways: either in a large metal battery holder mounted on the inside of the back panel or in a series-connected string of 10 four cell battery holders mounted inside the amp on the bottom and sides. Having 40 Ds in one of these amps takes away a bit of the portability of the amp but they do seem to last a long time. An AC/DC amp simply used the power switch to switch between the power modes.
Series connected battery holders
battery box
Battery sticker
The amps were covered in a thin vinyl that was available in red or black and had a single handle on top that was either a plastic fold down handle or a more traditional strap handle, like Fender uses. I’ve not found any rhyme or reason for either handle or vinyl color.
The original ad campaign caused a bit of a stir with it’s interracial overtones. You can see pics used in the ads here.
In the next article we’ll take a look at the bigger brothers of the Freedom amp along with it’s siamese twin brother and the later reissue.
Since I had 3 different versions of the EH Crying Tone pedal on hand, I thought this would be a good time to compare the 3 units and note the evolution of EH’s wah-style housings.
In the first pic, the wahs are arranged from old to new (L-R). The one on the left is a nice example from 1974. This was EH’s first attempt at this sort of pedal. It’s a well-built, sturdy casing, similar in styling to some DeArmond wahs I’ve seen. Were they bought from DeArmond? It’s possible. Anybody got a DeArmond to compare? In the center is a Crying Tone from 1977. Note that it’s a bit wider and has the footswitch exposed at the end, rather than under the treadle. The one on the right is an example from 1979. Personally, I’m not overly fond of this particular chassis, but it does serve the purpose. A couple of facts worth noting:
All the catalogs up until about 1978 show the Crying Tone in the ’74 chassis, even when all other wah-style pedals were shown in the ’77 chassis. They also showed a toggle switch for SWEEP REVERSE instead of the rotary switch.
I’ve yet to see a catalog which depicts the ’79 chassis. I have seen this chassis used on the Volume Pedal and the Talking Pedal, so I suspect it was used across the board by this time.
L-R 1974, 1977,1979 Eh Crying Tone wahs
L-R 1974, 1977,1979 Eh Crying Tone wahs
L-R 1974, 1977,1979 Eh Crying Tone wahs
L-R 1974, 1977,1979 Eh Crying Tone wahs
All 3 units had the same controls and the same circuit. The controls are: MODE (selects between wah and volume pedal), TONE RANGE (selects from 4 different wah sweeps) and REVERSE (changes the direction of the sweep from low-high to high-low). Give them credit for providing 4 usuable sweeps on the wahs. All are decent sounding and range from a deep bassy wah to a standard sweep. By now you’ll have noticed there are 2 different circuit boards. The ’74 has an EH-5600 board while the ’77 and ’79 have an EH-3006 board. Both boards contain the same wah circuit. You also may have noticed some empty holes on the upper half of the EH-3006 board. Simply filling these empty spaces with a few parts and adding a control for fuzz volume and a footswitch for fuzz on/off would turn the wah into an EH fuzz-wah pedal. Having the boards made this way saved a lot of trouble since they could use the same board for 2 different products. You’ll also notice the ’77 housing has a plugged hole for the 2nd footswitch.
EH-5600 Wah PCB
EH-3006A Wah PCB
Labels for the controls were originally done with black adhesive labels but by ’79 the control labels were silkscreened onto the sides of the bottom plate. The ’79 also included another technological advance: the battery door!!
Wah adhesive labels
Wah screenprinted labels
Finally, here’s a pic of the ’77 with it’s original box and foam knob protectors. Why does this pedal make me think of the Queen Alien from the ALIEN movies?
Unknown to most people, EH also made a line of guitars in the 70’s. Here’s my personal guitar from my collection.
EH guitar
These guitars were only available from EH for a very short time in 1974. The one piece of literature I have that mentions them compared them to higher-priced Martins. They were available through a special offer for $87.50 with the purchase of $50 or more in certain scratch-n-dent EH products. The list price was $187.50. I’ve known about these guitars for years and have received emails from at least 3 people who own them, including one person with a 12-string (!), but had never seen one until a gracious owner sent me pics of her guitar, which she purchased new in ’74 or ’75. I originally posted those pics here but I finally purchased one on Ebay a couple of years ago and would rather showcase my own collection. When I received it, I was pleasantly surprised. I expected a cheap acoustic typical of the early-mid 70’s Japanese guitars and what I got instead was a very nice playing and looking guitar. Not bad for just under $100!
In response to an email, Mike had this to say about the guitars:
We didn’t buy out a warehouse and put our name on them. We bought them from Moridaira/ Morris Guitar….who at the time were the best guitar maker in Japan, making guitars for Fender and many big companies. They put the EH on the guitars.
Last time we looked at EH’s drum machines, so this time we’ll look at their drum effects. As far as I know, all of their battery-powered drum effects came in the standard Big Muff chassis. As usual, there were 3 knobs, one of which was SENSITIVITY (used to control how hard you had to hit the pad to activate it), a switch in back, and a cork or leather pad on top for striking. The AC-powered models came in the Memory Man-style box with an assortment of knobs, switches, and a pad. All models had an EXT. TRIGGER jack.
Here’s the battery-powered models:
EH-5300 The Space Drum
This was a nifty little unit whose sound was described in the last article as an electronic tone that changed in pitch as it reached the end of its length. The sound was very reminiscent of the electronic drum used in the intro of The Cars’ “Let The Good Times Roll”. START FREQ and STOP FREQ set the pitch for the tone while the DECAY switch set the length of the tone.
EH Space Drum
EH-5310 The Panic Button
A great little siren effect. Just set the RISE TIME and FALL TIME knobs, and watch your party clear out fast. The DECAY switch set length.
EH Panic Button
EH-5320 The Sonic Boomer
A tunable electronic drum. The tone is set using the PITCH and RESONANCE controls while the LOW – HI switch selects the pitch range. I’ve always wanted to get about 6 or 7 of these and build an electronic drum set with them.
EH Sonic Boomer
EH-5330 The Rolling Thunder
An electronic kick drum, thunder, explosion, etc. Hook this up to your SVT, set the DECAY and TONE controls, and put the PITCH switch on low. Now, turn your amp to the desired level and hit the pad. Presto!!! You need new windows!! And eardrums. And neighbors. Anyway, you get the idea.
EH Rolling Thunder
EH’s ac-powered models just don’t catch my interest as much as the battery-powered models, but some of them were still pretty good. Here’s a list:
EH-5350 The Super Space Drum
Took the Space Drum one step further by adding two controls (MODULATION DEPTH and MODULATION RATE) and an on/off switch for modulation of the signal. It also features a COORD. IN jack that allows you to connect an external sound source and trigger it through the unit with the pad. A SHORT-LONG switch sets the length of the tone. Some units had a RESONANCE switch instead.
EH Super Space Drum
EH-5360 The Crash Pad
An electronic crash drum. You can also use this to simulate the sounds of surf, crashing metal, gunshots, and, of course, a snare or cymbal. Controls are: SWEEP START, SWEEP STOP, SWEEP TIME, RESONANCE, and DECAY TIME.
EH Electronic Crash Drum
EH-5370 The Clap Track
Used for simulating (what else?) clapping sounds. It also has an interesting feature using the REV. NOISE OUT jack. This gives you a white noise sound which is adjustable in Volume, Attack, and Decay. Actually cooler than the clapping sound.
EH Clap Track
EH-5380 Sequencer Drum
A silly little unit that uses slide pots to set the pitch of 8 tones along with controls for the RATE and DECAY. You also have a line of LEDs, one for each tone, to serve as a visual indicator of the speed. A switch selects the driver to be the internal CLOCK or the PAD, while another switch selects REPEAT or SINGLE. Two jacks are provided, one for OUTPUT and one for TRIG IN. Some later models also have CV OUT and CLOCK IN/ OUT jacks for hooking it up to your synth. Believe it or not, some of my friends really like this thing.
EH Sequencer
EH Sequencer with CV and CLOCK jacks
EH-5385 The Clockworks Controller
A nifty lil’ Rhythm Generator/Synthesizer that controlled up to 4 of your triggered drums or effects. Each channel had a LEVEL and a DIVISOR control to set strength and timing of the trigger signal. TEMPO and LEVEL controls on the Clock section set overall levels. You could also select an external clock signal via the toggle switch.
EH Clockworks
The battery-powered effects listed for $89-$99 in 1981. The AC models varied a bit more, $129-$199. Get a bunch of them and tell your drummer he/she has to use them from now on in place of a drum set.
By now most of you know that Electro-Harmonix was a big manufacturer of guitar effects, but did you know that they also produced an extensive line of electronic drums and rhythm boxes? It’s true! They made quite a few devices designed to let the drummer get different sounds without the expense of a whole electronic drum set. Let’s take a look at this line.
Starting in the late 70’s, EH began introducing their drum machines. The first unit was the Rhythm-12 , which is an unusual box in itself. To start with, the casing is not a standard EH style. It’s a flat metal box measuring 4″ x 6″ x 7/8″. It has 3 controls with very un-EH knobs and two of them are labeled VOLUME, TEMPO, while the last is unlabeled but is used as a 12 position selector switch for rhythm patterns. Between the selector and TEMPO controls there is a small jack that is labeled TOUCH and it is used as a start/stop switch. On the left end of the unit are jacks for OUTPUT, F/S, and 18V, F/S being for the connection of a footswitch and 18V for the included 18v adapter. Perhaps the strangest feature of the unit is not really a feature at all, but a sticker. In the upper left, there is a sticker that says “Electro-Harmonix” with “Made in England” printed beneath it. What gives? To the right of the sticker is the “Rhythm-12” label. I suspect that if we were to carefully peel the EH sticker up, we would find out who made this thing. Anybody want to try this on theirs? No? OK, here we go…let me get a grip on this corner here…OK, slowly peeling it up…. WHAT?? SOUNDTECH?? All I can tell you about this is that EH bought these units from a company in England. They then put a sticker on them and sold them as actual EH products. Other units actually had “Electro-Harmonix” printed on them.
EH/Soundtech Rhythm 12
The sound of the Rhythm-12 is what you’d expect of a standard 70’s drum machine. The rhythm is made using a bass drum, snare, and wood block. Not much excitement here. The 12 rhythms are: Tango, Waltz, Disco, Rock 1, Rock 2, Swing 1, Swing 2, Slow Rock, Latin 1, Latin 2, Latin 3, and Reggae. Hitting the start/stop switch starts the rhythm at the first beat. The instruction sheet recommends that “To further increase the range of the RHYTHM-12 try connecting to a SMALL STONE PHAZER (sic). The sound is fantastic.”
With their next rhythm box effort, EH did a little better. Enter the short- lived DRM-16 “the first automatic drum kit with feeling”. The DRM-16 (DRM = Digital Rhythm Matrix), EH-7450, made it’s appearance about 1978-9. It was housed in the standard Memory Man style box and was AC powered. The controls consisted of VOLUME, TEMPO, DELETE, STYLE, and COLUMN. VOLUME and TEMPO are pretty much self-explanatory. DELETE allowed you to remove various sounds such as wood block and long and short cymbals. STYLE and COLUMN allowed you to select from 16 available rhythm patterns by setting them according to a chart printed on the face of the pedal. On the chart you had 4 funk patterns, 4 disco, 4 rock (hard, boogie, soft, and slow), and 4 misc. (latin, reggae, cntry (country), and shuffle. On the top edge there was the usual power switch along with two OUTPUT jacks, a BASS OUT jack, and a Space Drum switch. The Space Drum was an unusual sound that was also available in two stand-alone versions (covered in PT. 2). It was an electronic tone that decreased in pitch as it reached the end of its length. The sound was very reminiscent of the electronic drum used in the intro of The Cars’ ” Let The Good Times Roll”.
EH DRM-16
Shortly after the DRM-16’s release, EH redesigned it and christened the new model as the DRM-15 (fig. 2) alias EH-7451. This unit had the same features as the DRM-16, with the exception of 1 less rhythm pattern (CNTRY was replaced by an OFF position) Why the change? EH said in its introductory ad that the DRM-15’s “different memory technology allows a significantly lower price while sacrificing only the Country pattern.”
EH DRM-15 with BASS OUT jack
The second version of the DRM-15 has the output jacks labeled: OUTPUT 1, CLOCK OUT, and CLOCK IN. CLOCK OUT was used to send a signal to another drum unit to activate it and CLOCK IN was used to synchronize the DRM-15 to an external source.
EH DRM-15 with CLOCK jacks
Around the same time, EH also released the DRM-32 (EH-7460). This was their top of the line drum machine. Its biggest feature was that it now had 32 rhythm patterns. The patterns were selected the same way as the 15 and 16, but each pattern on the chart was actually 2 patterns, either of which could be selected by use of a slide switch marked SELECTION which took the place of the SPACE DRUM switch. SPACE DRUM was still available, but now it was always on unless deleted by use of the DELETE control. The outputs are a combination of the 2 versions of the DRM-15 with Output 1, Clock Out, and Bass Out.
EH DRM-32
One of the odd things I’ve noticed about these units is that the DRM-15 and 16 both say “MODEL 01” while the DRM-32 says “MODEL 03”. What became of “MODEL 02”?
If you needed a drum machine for some home recording, the DRM series was right up your alley. The RHYTHM-12 would do in a pinch, but it’s not nearly as good as the DRMs. Around 1980, the DRM 15 and 32 sold for $189 and $269 respectively. The earlier DRM-16 also also carried a price of $269, so you can see the redesign really brought the price down. I was unable to find a list price for the RHYTHM-12.
Ask any musician what Electro-Harmonix is famous for and you’ll likely get one answer: EFFECTS. Lesser known is the fact that EH also made some very cool amps. In the early 70’s, the Freedom amplifier was all the rage and toward the end of the decade came the Dirt Road Special.
The Mike Matthews Dirt Road Special, EH-7050/1313, appeared on the scene sometime around 1977. Ads for this amp mention that the amp was “named for its gritty funkiness, great power efficiency, and extreme durability.”, all important features for any amp at the time or even today. Early EH literature written by Peter Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders mention the amp in development but without the Mike Matthews name on it. Instead, it was mentioned using a couple of famous guitarist’s names.
EH Dirt Road Special amplifier
EH Dirt Road Special amplifier
Like tweed Fender amps, the Dirt Road has the control panel mounted on top and to the rear. The amp wasn’t much bigger than its Celestion G12M speaker, a logical choice since EH was the American distributor of Celestion speakers at the time. The controls for the amp portion consisted of Volume, Tone, and Bite. Bite was a feature that was also found on the earlier Freedom amps that accentuated the treble and really did give it “Bite”. By itself this was a cool amp, but EH went one step further and included a Small Stone phase shifter circuit board with a Rate control, on/off switch, and a Color switch.
EH Dirt Road Special amplifier control panel
“Yes, yes, that’s all fine and dandy,” you say. “What about the sound?” Let me start by reminding you that I’m a bassist and by my standards this is one extremely cool solid-state amp. The amp is rated at 25 watts RMS and 65 watts peak but is still a pretty loud amp, especially with any Bite in it. This amp did considerable duty as the test amp on my workbench for 3 1/2 years and it never gave me any trouble. If I had to list anything that I didn’t like about it, it would be that the phase shifter isn’t footswitchable. If you want to turn it on/off or turn on the Color, you have to reach down and flip a switch.
The Dirt Road Special was pretty basic with the entire amp section contained on a small circuit board. The only IC is a 4558 dual op-amp. The power amp uses 6 transistors to generate the mighty sound. The phase shifter board is the same one used in Small Stones of the late 70’s era. Unlike some of the Freedom amps, you have no choice but to plug it into the wall via a detachable power cord.
Like Fender amps, I’ve seen these things in both blackface and silverface. I believe that in this case, however, the silverface is the earlier model.
If you find one that sounds kinda bad with lousy tone and uncontrollable feedback at small amounts of Bite, try replacing the IC. It can make a world of difference. While you’re at it, install an IC socket to make it easier the next time.
The Mike Matthews Dirt Road Special carried a price of $249.95 in 1978. Used ones these days aren’t as common as, a Marshall or a Crate, but can be had for anywhere up to $250 which is still not really a bad price for an amp with a stock 12″ Celestion speaker and a built-in phase shifter.
And now, a new feature: THE EH GRIPE SEGMENT! Have you noticed that just because something says EH on it, some people automatically assume its worth a lot regardless of how useful an item it really is? Case in point: there was a dealer that was offering NOS EH 9 volt batteries (that have probably been dead for at least 10 years) for $50 each. Even if they still had some charge in them. I don’t think your EH pedals would sound any better with them than with the cheap 50 cent ones down at your local dollar store.
Thanks to Jim (last name unknown) of Arkansas (?) who sold me this great amp back in ’92. I hope things are going better for you these days. Also thanks to Tyler, formerly of Roadworthy Guitar and Amp here in Bloomington. He found the amp for me while looking for an Orange amp.
Electro-Harmonix will go down in history as one of the great innovators in the music industry. Who can deny the impact their creations have had? Imagine Robert Fripp without his 16 Second Digital Delay or Frequency Analyzer. How about early Carlos Santana without his Big Muff? How about the hundreds of garage bands that relied on EH stuff as an inexpensive means to achieve their sounds? The list goes on and on.
Lately, though, I’ve been taking a good look at my collection, and the one thought that keeps popping into my head is: What the heck were they thinking? I mean, sure, they made some great stuff and some, like the Big Muff, are considered classics. But what about The Other Stuff? (; ), Al P.) Although I’m sure EH had good intentions, they just couldn’t help but make a few things that just weren’t very practical for guitarists or musicians in general.
How about the Domino Theory (circa 1978)? This was a red plastic tube about 8 1/2″ long and 1 3/8″ in diameter. Inside was a circuit board with several components and an array of 15 LEDs (3 x 5). By means of a small microphone mounted on the board, the Domino Theory would light up in different patterns when it detected sound. A trimpot protruding through one of the end caps allowed for adjustment of the sensitivity. Pretty cool when used with your stereo, but not for much else. Here’s a CLIP of it in action.
There was also the budget version: the Pet Lite. Sporting a scant 5 LEDs, it’s pretty much the same as the Domino Theory with 1/3 the LEDs.
EH Domino Theory
EH Pet Lite
There was also the 3-Phase Liner (circa 1979), an electronic necklace with a circle of 6 LEDs. It was a small plastic box about the size of a 9v battery with a string attached for wearing around your neck. When the unit was worn or placed in an upright position, the LEDs would light up and appear to move in a circular pattern. It used a #PX27 battery originally, but since this is no longer made you must use (4) #86 watch batteries in series with a small ball of foil to complete the circuit. Don’t be like EH designer Howard Davis and wear yours to a disco. The string is very easily broken and dancing feet are not kind to these strange items. I purchased the green one on Ebay in 2004. I had never seen one like it before but the seller, who was in Singapore, had 2 of them. Mike Matthews says that while most of them were black, there were a few colored plastic ones. You can see how I used the 4 watch batteries and a ball of foil to make it work. The original battery was 5.6v, but these add up to 6v, which isn’t a problem. Click HERE for a short AVI of the 3-Phase Liners in action.
EH 3-Phase Liners
Would an AM guitar transmitter fit in this artcle? Maybe so. The Wireless Wizard was actually made by UMI, another early effects manufacturer, but appeared in EH stock lists in 1972-73. Mike Matthews recalls carrying these items, but was unsure of just where they came from. To quote Mike: “I bought these, but I don’t remember from where, maybe the company was bankrupt and I bought all the stocks at auction, BUT I am not sure. I just thought it was a cool idea so I got them and then sold off about 1,000 pcs.”
Regardless, for $39.95 you could play your guitar through any AM radio whether it was yours or not. Kind of like a Mr. Microphone for guitar. Instead of just saying “Hey good lookin’, we’ll be back to pick you up later!”, you could just hit a few bars of “Foxy Lady”. Better just hope they’re tuned to the transmitting range of the Wizard if you want this to work.
UMI Wireless Wizard
The Corona Concert was a high-voltage device similar to the “Lightning Balls” you see at Radio Shack, Spencer Gifts, and other places that deal with “unusual lighting effects”. Simply turn the unit on and adjust the controls for the effect you want. Too bad it’s not made to react to sound like the Domino Theory.
Let’s pick up where we left off last time and meet the rest of the Big Muff family.
Muff Fuzz
The Big Muff wasn’t alone in this family. It had its share of little brothers as well. The smallest was the Muff Fuzz, a little fuzz that plugged directly into either your guitar (EH-2009) or amp (EH-2008), depending on which one you paid $18.95 for. Featuring only an on-off switch and a boost control, the Muff Fuzz delivered a mighty sound for its size. By ’75, the price had increased to $21.95 and then to $23.95. Later editions (EH-2008) had two 1/4″ jacks and came with a double-ended plug so you could choose where to plug it in. Again, these started out transistorized and became IC units sometime in the mid or late ’70s. This model went on to cost $25.50 by mid 1978 and was later increased to $34.
Muff Fuzzes
Little Muff and Little Big Muff
These two units were housed in a Small Stone-size box. The Little Muff Pi or EH-1008, appeared circa 1972 and was basically the Muff Fuzz in a floor box. The controls were the same as the Muff Fuzz with the on-off switch alongside the Boost control. It was always (?) transistorized. Around 1975-76 it became EH-1009, the Little Big Muff Pi which was a simpler version of the Big Muff with only a volume control and a tone switch. This became an IC unit later on as well. If you look inside many of the later Little Big Muff Pis, you’ll find that EH put an actual Big Muff board in them and simply preset the Tone and Sustain controls.
Little Muff Pi
Little Muff Pi
Sovtek Big Muff
Let’s not forget that Mike Matthews is now making a reissue Big Muff Pi under the Sovtek name. This pedal is an extremely heavy-duty version that comes in a little wooden box. The sound to me is reminiscent of Version III Big Muffs. The early models have the jacks only supported by the solder holding them to the board. Troubles abound!! Later on, they started securing them with nuts. Here’s a page about the Sovtek Muffs.
V5 Sovtek Big Muff
Now Electro-Harmonix has reissued an American version of the Big Muff. Check out this page for tips on telling an original Big Muff from the American reissue.
Who really knows how many Big Muffs and relatives were made? Apparently there’s enough of them that anybody that wants one can get one. All I know is I see them advertised all the time. Version I seems to be the rarest and most expensive. Version II: Good supply. Version III: More of these than any other. If the person you’re buying from has more versions than one, try them all to find the one that best suits your taste. Even seemingly identical models can sound quite different depending on what’s inside.
For my money, nothing beats a good Version I. Mine sat in a local former music store in its box until 1994 and everyone that’s tried it loves the sound. You may have heard it on a recent Judybats disc that was recorded here in Bloomington (finally got my free copy of that, 2 years later) and also on Velo-deluxe’s “Super-Elastic” (finally got my copy of that too; thanks to producer Paul Mahern for both!). Muff Fuzzs are also fairly common and available. Little Muff Pis are only slightly rare and Little Big Muff Pis are not much more common. The Deluxe Big Muff is actually 2 effects in one so you’ll probably have to spend more money for one. Think of the money you’ll save on batteries!!
Before I forget, EH also made Big Muffs for other distributors. The most famous of these is, of course, the Guild Foxy Lady which actually predated the Big Muff Pi (but not as a Big Muff). Other names you might see are Marveltone, Electra, L.D. Heater, and Wabash. Some of these are labeled “Distortion- Sustainer” on the top.
Special thanks: Kevin Macy for the Little Muff Pi, Aaron Fleenor for the Little Big Muff Pi and Jeff & Al at Guitars O Rama for the Muff Fuzz.
This time we’re going to take a look at the Muff family. As you all know, the Big Muff Pi was probably EH’s most famous product. Thousands of these things were sold to crazed guitarists around the world seeking that down and dirty sound that only a Big Muff could deliver. It was most likely the 2nd or 3rd EH effect I bought (the 1st was a Small Stone and the 2nd might have been a Memory Man).
The Big Muff was a mainstay of EH almost since the company’s beginnings. In its long history, it went through several changes which I shall discuss here.
Version 1: The famous “triangle knob” version, so called because of the triangular arrangement of the knobs (Figure 1). The model number at this time was EH-3003 and the list price was $39.95. This is the smallest of the Big Muffs, only slightly larger than a Small Stone. This is also the best sounding one of the bunch with tons of sustain and a smooooth distortion. The electronics were pure analog: transistors (4), capacitors and resistors. Power was switched on by a slide switch just above the volume knob, but some early ads show the power switch as actually being on the volume control. At this time it was also possible to purchase the Big Muff as a kit for a lower price of $26.95. This gave you the satisfaction (and possibly the frustration) of putting it together yourself.
Triangle-knob Big Muff
Version 2: By 1975 the Big Muff had moved into a bigger house with a bigger price tag, the house being a large box like the one used for the Electric Mistress and now listing for $49.95. The controls were also laid out in a straight line across the top of the pedal with the power switch moved to the back between the jacks. The lettering was black with “Big Muff” printed in red across the middle and the EH “face” in the lower right-hand corner. The face logo was sometimes shown as a circular graphic and sometimes a square one. These versions are commonly referred to as “Ram’s Head” models. I don’t like this designation because the logo is obviously not a ram or any other kind of hoofed mammal. I prefer to just call it the “V2” (preferred) or the “face model”.
V2 Big Muff
Version 3: Around 1977 EH updated the paint job on the Big Muff to the famous red and black paint job with “Big Muff” in big red letters and a large black area around the footswitch but kept the earlier circuitry of the Version 2. You can easily identify these by the power switch on the back. Another new feature was the inclusion of a 1/8″ DC power jack for an AC adapter. If you look inside the unit, you’ll also see that it has the earlier “3003” circuit board. The original box also has the correct layout pictured on it along with the model # EH-3003. All versions from here on kept the graphics of this unit, sometimes with some variations in color.
Version 4: Big change for the Big Muff!!! Around 1977 EH completely changed the circuit of the Big Muff and created the “op-amp Big Muff”. The earliest models were still marked on the circuit boards as EH-3003 but soon the model was changed to EH-1322. From the outside, it appears identical to the V3.
Version 5: Another op-amp Big Muff I own is pot-dated 1978 and labeled as EH-1322 but has a TONE BYPASS switch. With the addition of the TONE BYPASS switch the circuit was modified so that power was switched on when you plugged into the input jack. A V5 unit that came in for repair was labeled as EH-3003 and had a pot-code of 1979.
Op-amp Big Muff PCB
Version 6: The op-amp circuit was dropped and the transistor circuit brought back. The model continued as the EH-3003. The TONE BYPASS, which was first found on the V5, was retained. By 1981 the model # had changed to EH-3034.
So, what did we learn from this? There are more Big Muff versions than you can shake a 5X Junction Box at. Here’s a quick recap of the article:
Version 1
EH-3003, the “Triangle-Knob” version
Early 70’s to 1975
Version 2
EH-3003, the “Face Model”
1975 to 1977
Version 3
EH-3003, the “Face Model” in new red/black graphics w/ ON/OFF switch. All units from here on use Version 3 graphics
1977
Version 4
EH-3003/EH-1322, the first op-amp version w/ ON/OFF power switch
1977 to 1978
Version 5
EH-1322/EH-3003, op-amp version w/ TONE BYPASS switch
1978 to 1980
Version 6
EH-3003/EH-3034. Changed back to transistor circuit w/ TONE BYPASS switch
1980 to 1983
If you’re wondering how the different Big Muffs stack up against one another, check out Kevin Macy’s article in the March 1994 issue of Vintage Guitar. He had access to a lot more of them at once than I did.
Not enough? Well, for those of you who need more, these was the Big Muff’s big brother, the Deluxe Big Muff Pi (Figure 4) which you could buy in 1978 for the grand price of $89. This puppy was AC-powered and had a Soul Preacher compressor built-in as well. I’ve seen two versions of this: the EH-1330, which had a Blend switch (apparently the earlier model) that allows you to switch the compressor in or out and the EH-3053/3054 which had a Series/Parallel switch. In the latter case, both effects were always on and the switch allowed you to reconfigure the way they were hooked together. For some reason it also cost more, with list price set at $130. All Deluxes, to my knowledge, were made with ICs.
Deluxe Big Muff w/ Blend switch
Deluxe Big Muff w/ Series/Parallel switch
Next, Part II of the Muff family……. Thanks to Bruce Beemblossom at B&B Guitar Elite for the Version I Big Muff. I forget who sold me the Version III back in December 1995 although he worked at a local second-hand store and recognized me. Chris Carruthers supplied me with the Deluxe Big Muff (Blend switch model).
I am the EH Man, Keeper of the Electro-Harmonix flame. In this column, We’ll be exploring the histories and purposes of those products we all know and some of us love. In this first column, I’ll be examining the EH Attack Equalizers.
First, the facts: The Attack EQ appeared very early in EH’s history. There are catalogs stating its availability as far back as the early 70’s, making it a triangle-knob model. There were no pics of this version in the catalog and so far, one hasn’t come to light. Perhaps it only existed in the ads and none were actually produced. The Electro-Harmonix Knockout Attack EQ, model # EH-3004, made its appearance in or about 1974. Its first appearance in my literature collection is in Guitar Player’s “It’s New” column from Jan. 1975. It was housed in the standard 3 knob, Big Muff Pi style box and features a nifty boxing glove logo .
EH Knockout Attack EQ
Controls for this edition consisted of (l-r): Volume, Blend, and Tone. According to the description from an EH catalog, the Knockout “takes the output signal from any guitar and amplifies the highs and lows while simultaneously allowing the guitar player to mix out the midrange.” Does it do this? Well, I plugged it in and played the trusty ol’ Guild Thunderbird (refinished, you guitar hounds) through it into a Mike Matthews Dirt Road Special and here’s what I found. Volume does just what it should and yes indeed, the Blend control does allow a blending of the straight signal with the EQ’d signal. I’m not certain that the Attack control does what the ad says, but it does have a wide range that takes you from a boomy bass to an annoyingly crisp treble. Different settings of the Tone and Blend knobs allow you to dial in (or out) that extra little touch of treble or bass you’ve been wanting. Try Blend on full and Tone on minimum. OUCH!!! The KO Attack EQ operates on a single 9 volt battery which supplies power to the sole chip in the effect, the LM324 op-amp. An on/off switch on the back allows you to leave your guitar plugged in without running down the battery.
In April 1976, Guitar Player’s “It’s New” column announced a new Attack Equalizer. Same chassis, but now “Knockout” was deleted from the name and “Every guitar sound can be obtained from any guitar with the simple setting of a dial and flick of a switch.” was the bottom line here . The Attack Equalizer was designed to allow the guitarist to “convert his Les Paul into a Fender or vice versa.”
EH Attack EQ
This is where the fiction comes in. In reality, the Attack Equalizer is a glorified 3-band rotary EQ. The controls are labeled as (l-r): Fundamental, Blend, and Attack but the schematic lists the controls as Bass, Mid, and Treble. After seeing the schematic, former EH engineer Howard Davis remarked:
“If I were to redo it, I’d certainly improve those PRIMITIVE low pass and high pass filters! Also, what is called the “midrange” control is actually a direct signal level control, not a bandpass, as a midrange control should be.”
Don’t get me wrong though, the Attack EQ is just as good as the KO. To me the sound is about the same, but I’m a bass player so what do I know? The main (only) disadvantage to this model is that the circuitry was changed to accommodate two 4558P dual, internally compensated, high performance op-amps, which required positive and negative power supplies. This resulted in, yes, 2 nine volt batteries for operation which are switched on or off by a rear-mounted power switch. The original Knockout Attack EQ carried a price tag of $69.95 as did the later Attack EQ. By the early 80’s though, the Attack EQ had increased its price to $89.95. The Attack EQs are not as popular with players as some other EH stuff, so you can probably pick them up for under $100 in working condition. Hey, it’s cheaper than buying an extra guitar! Pick one up, plug it in, and make a new guitar out of your old one.
Thanks to Kevin Macy and Al Pepiak for their help in getting this article put to paper.
