Russian Big Muff Pi Project

Last week I was asked to see if I could repair a old Marshall Guv’nor pedal for a friend that plays bass. He borrowed the pedal, but stopped functioning. I took a look at the guts and immediately diagnosed the problem to a broken wire leading from board to the output jack. A new solder connection and he was back in business.  But, he mentioned that he needed to get this back and was interested in the older Russian Big Muff Pi (large green enclosure). I remembered that I bought a Big Muff Pi (BMP) PCB from GeneralGuitarGadgets.com (GGG) a while ago, so I thought it would be a perfect little *fun* project.

I was happy to see that GGG had a schematic for the Russian Big Muff, so I started by printing that and finding all the various components.. which I had! Next was assembling the circuit board. After the circuit board and the pots were installed, I installed it to my breadboard tester to see I was in business… and sure enough, Big Muff tone was rockin’ the workspace.

The next phase was to get an enclosure. I had a few powder coated enclosures for a buffer project I’ve been working on, so I taped it up and started laying out the knobs and jack placement. Holes were drilled nicely with my Ace drill press (man.. I’m so glad I picked that thing up!).

Below is a shot of the BMP circuit board. I’d like to see if I can do some mods to this.. but may need to create one for myself. I already gave this to my friend (which was super psyched on his new Muff).

Here is a shot of the top. The powder coat is cool.. changes from purple to brown depending on the lighting.