Electro-Harmonix

ManualsBrandsElectro Harmonix ManualsGuitar & Bass EffectsEffect Pedal

122 Guitarist October 2010

ELECTRO-HARMONIX GERMANIUM 4 BIG MUFF PI & FREEZE SOUND RETAINER

£74 & £89

GUITAR EFFECTS

E-HX’s latest stompboxes offer two completely different

routes to providing sustain by Trevor Curwen

lectro-Harmonix

revealed several new

products at this year’s

Summer NAMM show,

including a headphone amp for

practice and a stompbox-sized

amp head. Also new were an

analogue chorus pedal and the

two pedals we have here for

review: the Freeze Sound

Retainer and the latest in the

Big Muff family – the

Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi.

Germanium 4 Big

Muff Pi

The Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi

circuitry is based around four

Germanium transistors used to

drive independent overdrive

and distortion effects that can

be stacked together if so

desired. Each has their own set

of two germanium transistors

so all four transistors come into

play when the two effects are

used together.

The pedal is delineated into

two sections, the left housing

the overdrive footswitch and

four knobs to control the sound,

while the right-hand side is

similarly dedicated to the

distortion. Both effects have a

gain knob for preamp gain and

a volume knob to set the output

level. Both also have a Bias

knob, which is designed to

change the character of the

effect by changing the bias of

the signal before it hits the

transistors. Besides these

controls, the overdrive section

gets a simple Tone knob while

the distortion section has a

Volts knob that adjusts the

amount of voltage supplied to

the circuit – turning it anti-

clockwise simulates a dying

battery, compressing the signal

more and making it start to clip.

Sounds

The overdrive section of the

G4BM provides crunchy, just

breaking up and overdriven

amp sounds adding an extra

facet when playing through a

clean amp, but providing

enough oomph to tickle the

front end of an overdriven unit

further into the zone if you

want it to. There’s plenty of

control over tonality too, with

juxtaposition of the Bias and

Tone knobs covering a very

useful range. Likewise in the

distortion section, turning the

Bias knob clockwise can dial in

a strident top-end presence that

will penetrate a mix, while the

Volts knob can change the

texture and character of the

sound, rolling back towards

buzzy fuzztone territory before

crapping out completely into

sputtering dead battery-style

sonic mayhem.

The distortion section is

capable of much more dirt than

the overdrive section and the

two together (the distortion

feeding the overdrive) pile it on

further, creating plenty of

sustain but with a different

character to the fat, saturated

sustain that’s generally

regarded as the classic Big Muff

Pi sound. A Big Muff Pi in name

then, but the completely new

circuit design makes it quite a

different beast.

Freeze Sound

Retainer

Contained in one of E-HX’s

Nano enclosures, the Freeze

doesn’t take batteries but will

run off a standard 9V adapter,

which is supplied with the unit.

Part sustainer and part looper,

it’s designed to capture a

moment of your playing to use

as a sonic foundation to play

over. The idea is that you play a

chord and press the pedal’s

footswitch, initiating infinite

sustain of that chord.

Besides a volume knob to set

the level of the sustaining

sound, there are three

selectable modes: Fast, Slow

and Latch. In Fast mode the

pedal will immediately sustain

the input sound for as long as

your foot is on the switch and

cut to silence immediately you

release it. Slow mode is similar

to Fast mode but the sustained

sound fades in and fades out at a

rate that you can set – three

fade in/fade out rates are

possible: 200ms/400ms,

200ms/1.0sec, 800ms/3.2sec.

In Latch mode the sound is

immediately sustained by a

single press on the footswitch

and continues sustaining until

Electro-Harmonix

Germanium 4 Big Muff

Pi & Freeze Sound

Retainer

£74 & £89

The rivals

We can’t think of any other

pedal like the Freeze but any

looper such as the DigiTech

JamMan Solo (£229) or the

BOSS RC-2 Loop Station

(£172) can record a looped

chord to play over. In the

world of dual overdrive/

distortion pedals the T-Rex

Mudhoney II (£215) offers

two identical channels of

classy overdrive/distortion

but you can’t have them both

on together. Blackstar’s HT

Dual (£159) offers two

channels of valve-powered

distortion. Foxrox’s ZIM

overdrive ($259) offers

changeable circuit cards for

each channel that can be

used in various ways.

The dual-distortion makes the Germanium Big Muff very versatile

The distortion section is capable of much more dirt than

the overdrive section and the two together pile it on

further, creating plenty of sustain

GIT334.rev_ehx 122 9/8/10 4:50:08 PM

Summary of content (2 pages)

PAGE 1
ELECTRO-HARMONIX GERMANIUM 4 BIG MUFF PI & FREEZE SOUND RETAINER £74 & £89 GUITAR EFFECTS Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi & Freeze Sound Retainer £74 & £89 E-HX’s latest stompboxes offer two completely different routes to providing sustain by Trevor Curwen E lectro-Harmonix revealed several new products at this year’s Summer NAMM show, including a headphone amp for practice and a stompbox-sized amp head.
PAGE 2
ELECTRO-HARMONIX GERMANIUM 4 BIG MUFF PI & FREEZE SOUND RETAINER £74 & £89 GUITAR EFFECTS the footswitch is pressed again at which point the current input sound becomes the new sustained sound. Sounds Playing a chord and stepping on the footswitch results in the Freeze snatching and looping a section of the sound and outputting a sustained drone that doesn’t sound very guitarlike, but is more akin to a Hammond organ or the drone from bagpipes. It is, though, a very solid harmonic base to play over.