This recent EHX offering for bassists takes its voicing and layout DNA cues from its forefathers and brings them together in a tidy little Nano-series die-cast box. The true-bypass Nano Bass Big Muff Pi has the familiar trio of pots for volume, tone, and sustain, along with a mini-toggle dry switch that when engaged, keeps your original dry signal at a set level while blending in the distortion effect.
On the mellower end of the spectrum with the dry switch engaged and the tone and sustain knobs at 10 o’clock, the box provided me with just the right taste of hair for a nice set-it-and-forget-it stop for dirty blues and classic rock. Getting to the wall of nasty grit was just a couple of quick moves away by cranking the sustain to 3 o’clock or higher and kicking off the dry switch. (I preferred keeping the tone knob at noon or higher here.) Crushing distortion tones that should please metal to grindcore to stoner aficionados live around this region and are produced without sucking the soul out of the low end. The sustain was impressive and seemingly lasted for days. Yep, it’s a Big Muff.
Whether you’re looking to flavor your tone with a touch of warm growl or blister paint with screaming dirt—and do so with a small footprint for well under a hundred bucks—the Nano Bass Big Muff Pi should have you covered.
Test Gear: 2001 Fender Precision, Gallien-Krueger 800RB head, TC Electronic RS410 cab
Ratings
Pros:
Excellent sustain, Big Muff tone in small package, plenty of bang for your buck.
Cons:
Dry-signal blending options somewhat limited without dedicated blend knob.
Street:
$80
Company
ehx.com
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