EHX/Sovtek Big Muff Pi Civil War
ID: 751
Price: $1475
Shipping: TBD
Dimensions: 10x8x5
Weight: 3 lb 3 oz
Very good to almost excellent condition for one of these old Sovtek pedals. A few scratches and chips, some small discolored spots. Missing one adhesive foot on the back. Battery cover is there, which is pretty rare. Sorry, just the pedal itself - no wooden crate.
It has the KT3102EM metal can transistors, the best of the transistors used in the Sovtek Muffs, IMO. This one also has those large brown, chunky, rectangular 430pF silver mica caps that I normally associate with the Red Army Overdrive, the first Sovtek version of the Muff. Maybe this was an early Civil War pedal making use of Red Army OD parts? It has been a while since I studied the details of the Sovtek circuits and components, but I believe there were few differences between the Red Army and early Civil War versions - mostly just graphics and other packaging differences. The board in this pedal looks like the boards I've seen pictured for the Red Army OD. I believe the pot codes are for 1991, which would be about right for early versions of both the Red Army OD and Civil War pedals. I believe the green exterior came before the blue one for the Civil War pedals, so 91/92 may be about right. While the enclosure and graphics are the definition of the Civil War pedal, you may have bragging rights to the sound of the Red Army Overdrive, which is pretty much the same as the early Civil War circuit. The Red Army Overdrive is virtually impossible to find and has an impressive price tag, much higher than the more available Civil War pedals. IYKYK.
These pedals and some of the later ones from Sovtek have a big reputation for their heavy construction. It is true you could probably drive over one and not do much damage to the metal case. They are definitely thick and heavy. But a lot of cheap parts were also used, and not used in a very good way. The jacks are plastic and soldered directly onto the board. The jacks will often either break, or break contact with the board. They used a variety of different knobs with plastic parts that will definitely wear out with age. The paint jobs were pretty bad as was the fit and finish of the metal parts. And that big silver stomp switch is not nearly as good as it looks. The switches have metal and plastic parts that are designed to touch each other. The plastic will eventually wear down from the metal rubbing on it. Then the switch starts sticking or won't switch. Half or more of these old Sovteks pedals I've seen had one or more of those problems. You can expect those problems in the future, maybe one stomp away or another 10,000 stomps away - just sayin'. Regardless, these are great pedals, still among my favorites, but as they age, they may need some cosmetic attention, like new jacks, knobs, or footswitches. I've repaired some of the footswitches in the past (actually just extended their lifespan a little bit), but those switches are still near or well past their intended lifespan in pretty much all of the old Sovtek pedals. I don't mean to be alarmist. Most of those problems will be intermittent first, giving you some warning time. But if you plan to gig with these pedals or play them regularly, it might be good to have a backup on hand. I wouldn't recommend gigging with any pedal that old and especially that valuable. This particular pedal doesn't have any of those problems now, although the knobs are starting to get a little loose. But when you pay this much for a pedal, you should also be told what you should expect in the future. Knowledge passed along, end of message.
