The Big Muff is a distortion pedal for the guitar. It is manufactured by Sovtek. It is known for throwing crunchy, sustained distortion onto an excited tone. For one good example, listen to Bullet with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins.

Actually, the big muff has been made by several companies over the years. I'd tend to say the most common one you'll find these days is the Big Muff Pi made by Electro Harmonix. It's a great pedal, it's got a nice crunchy fuzzy kinda sound. The downside is that it looks like it was built by a russian tank manufacturer, which is pretty close to the truth actually. It's a huge industrial steel green case with a button on the front, and a volume and tone switch. It eats batteries like crazy too. But man, what tone!

You can also find schematics to build one on the web. The electronics can be bought for under $5, the most expensive part of the whole pedal is the battery. So if you like that sorta thing and don't feel like paying $50 for a used pedal, this might be a good option.

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