Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi V8 Black Russian Small Box 4 screw version in excellent condition and full working order. This one is 100% original with original screws and battery door. As used by Chris Wolstenholme of MUSE. 

Quote from Kitrae website ;

THE “BLACK RUSSIAN” BIG MUFF π (SMALL BOX) - VERSION 8

Circa 1999 to 2009

Circuit Board Number: BM-1-01.00.001, 3.000.0001

Circuit Designer: Based on Bob Myer's original circuit 

Editions: 2. First edition with heavy six screw box, and second edition with four screw light weight box 

True Bypass: First edition no, second edition yes 

Power: 9V battery only. To connect to a standard Boss type AC power supply, use a 9V battery adaptor like the 1 Spot CBAT. See POWER section below. 

Enclosure Size: 6 1/2" long x 4 3/4" wide x 2"tall / 165mm long x 118mm wide x 50.5mm tall (not including rubber feet) 

Packaging: Wood crate box with Russian lettering. Graphics were different than the previous wood box. Later changed to a corrugated cardboard box with orange printing

Place of Manufacture: St Petersburg, Russia

This small box black Big Muff was the final version of the Russian made Big Muffs. The circuit was a favorite for modders because it was very easy to change components for customizing the tone and gain. It was essentially the same circuit as the Large Box Black Russian and the Bubble Font Green Russian that preceeded it. It sold for much less than the reissue USA Big Muffs that were made at the same time, but the costs for New Sensor to have these made in Russia had increased over the years. This resulted in smaller, cheaper, and less expensive enclosure boxes than all the previous Russian Big Muffs. Unfortunately, the manufacturing costs the St. Petersburg factory charged New Sensor eventually outweighed the demand, so the V8 was discontinued in 2009. The introduction of the USA made Bass Big Muff, based on the Russian circuit, was one possible cause for the decline in sales for the Russian made Big Muffs, but overall E-H was not happy with the Russian build quality. A future collectible? Almost certainly.

GRAPHICS AND COLORS - For the Version 8 first edition, the graphics remained the same as the later production large-box V7 Revision D version listed above. For some first editions and all second editions, MADE IN RUSSIA on the back panel was moved under the input jack and the fonts changed. The graphics on the wood crate these shipped in changed to the "CE" version pictured below. The CE marking certified that a product has met EU (European Union of 27 member states with an economic and political standard) consumer safety, health or environmental requirements.

CONTROLS / KNOBS - The V8 used the same “chicken head” style knobs as the previous version. All V8 Muffs used the small foots witches, which were imported from the USA.

CIRCUIT - Same circuit as the third edition Bubble Font Green Russian, and Large Box Black Russian, with new PCB trace art. The PCB number remained the same as before on early units (#BM-1-01.00.001), but later changed to Russian letters for RBEM (Russian Big Muff) and #3.000.001.

Transistors used were NPN BC549Cs or C547C type.

Capacitors were usually film type. No electrolytics were used, other than the polarized 20-22uF power supply filter cap.

Resistors were metal film, with some carbon composition type used.

Some first editions are true bypass. All second editions were true bypass.

The input and output jacks remained in the reverse position like the previous third edition Green Russian Big Muffs, due to the pcb being mounted upside down.

Some early pcb's have a hand written serail number and date on them. The number (up to four digits) is the number for that production run, then there are two digits for the week or month of the year, a period or foreward slash mark, then two digits for the year.

POWER - Power was from a 9V battery only. A red LED light shows when the circuit is on. To connect to a standard Boss type AC power supply, use a 9V 100mA battery adaptor like the 1 Spot CBAT. If you intend to add a standard 9V power jack that works with standard negative tip power supplies, you can find out where to wire the + and - wires by looking at the wiring diagram for your version, or simply follow the red (+) and black (-) wires from the battery snap.

ENCLOSURE BOX - For Version 8, the black and yellow Big Muff moved into a slightly smaller box. The first edition of this box was a heavy duty six screw box, nearly exactly like it's predecessor, but not as tall. Later a second edition came out with an even lighter weight, four screw box design. The input and output jacks remained in the reverse position like the previous Green and Black Russian Big Muffs. Four rubber feet were screwed to the bottom. Some of the later boxes have four digit date stickers inside the box lids. The first two digits are the week of the year and second two are the year. It is unknown if these are final build dates or dates the lids were made or finished. Regardless, the date indicates the pedal could not have been built any earlier than this date.

V8 Big Muffs, both first and second editions, shipped in a wood crate with "CE" version graphics, different from the previous version 7 Big Muffs. Packaging later switched to a less expensive corrugated cardboard box until the end of production.