Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi w. Tone Wicker

If you want the "classic" Big Muff Pi tone, then buying this version may be pointless and a bit of a waste of the extra money. It can give you the "classic" Big Muff sound, 100% identical to the original (Wicker switch OFF, Tone switch ON). But with these added switches you have 2 variations of the Big Muff sound to try out. The "TONE" switch litterally puts the tone control circuit in or out of the signal path, so switching that to OFF gets rid of the ~1khz mid-scoop and also balances out the highs and lows more, giving you a kinda flat frequency curve but with that BMP fuzzy sustain still. The "WICKER" switch essentially adds in some more high end frequencies (3 frequencies apparently, but I couldn't tell you what those 3 are). So if you put both switches to ON you get to keep the 1khz scoop and tone control in general, and also get more high end in your tone on top of that classic sound.

So in summary...

WICKER OFF & TONE ON
100% the classic BMP sound, this is essentially like buying the original version (Boosted low end, 1khz mid-scoop & slightly attenuated high end relative to low end)
WICKER ON & TONE ON
Low end & 1khz mid-scoop the same as the classic BMP, but some of the high end frequencies are added back in rather than being attenuated (I don't mean the BMP is cutting high-end, like it does for the 1khz mids, but the classic BMP circuit let's through more low-end than it does high-end. So relative to each other the low end is higher... The WICKER switch ofsets some of this and allows 3 high-end frequencies to pass through more than the original)
WICKER ON & TONE OFF
The frequency shaping produced by the tone control knob is removed from the circuit, getting rid of the signature mid-scoop and producing a much more flat (relative to the original) frequency response. But as well as this you still have these 3 high-end frequencies being allowed to pass through the circuit without any attenuation. The result, essentially you get flatter mids, a little boost to the low-end and much more high-end in your tone, producing a much more "shrill" sounding fuzz than the classic thick bottom, scooped sounding tone of the BMP classic.

The big muff is a classic among guitar pedals. It can add a lot of sustain and power to your solos or "dirt" to your rhythm playing. The tone wicker function adds a lot of higher frequencies, so its more versatile than an ordinary big muff. However this pedal does not work well with other pedals on my pedalboard. It does not work good especially with the Ts mini and the blues driver.
Pros:
-classic big muff sound with extra features
-great for solos, especially if you play from the 12th fret or higher
-the tone and sustain potenciometer have a wide range
- it comes with a sticker :)
cons:
-does not work great with other pedals
-the wicker functions sounds good only with humbuckers (at least in my case)
-the tone switch is pretty useless

This is my main go to fuzz pedal. You can get all the well known big muff sounds with this pedal. It has a small footprint on your pedal board (compared to the original).

The major pro of this pedal is the wicker switch. When it is off the pedal is fat and classic big muff. When engaged, the bass frequencies are tightened up a bit and the mids are pushed a little, producing a more modern vibe fuzz tone.

The con is the tone on off switch. You have to be careful when cranking this pedal with the tone switch on. The moment you turn off the tone control, the pedal really jumps in volume. In a live environment, I would just leave the tone switch on or off for the entire set as the volume difference between these two settings are significant.

All in all I would recommend this pedal. The combination of fat classic big muff fuzz tones (wicker not engaged) and more modern mid pushed fuzz tones (wicker engaged) makes this a great pedal.

This is a classic-sounding distortion pedal used on many recordings. It *is* a great sound, and this version has a few tweaks on it, but at heart it is bit of a one-trick-pony. Huge, vintage, smothering fuzz with tons of sustain that removes much definition of what you're playing.

Personally, I like it on leads but have been disappointed on the rhythm side of things, but I think that has more to do my personal taste and metal-leaning playing style.

This version has a tone wicker switch that tightens it up a little and adds more edge and definition, but it's not a huge difference. A second switch bypasses all tone circuits leaving a massive open fuzzy boost sound, that is quite interesting.