Big John is a pedal company located in Ghent, Belgium. They’re known for creating some very unique and interesting pedals. Their naming scheme is also certainly unique—you won’t forget the name of any of the Big John pedals! Their pedals have been used in diverse outfits such as Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Macy Gray, and Paul McCartney.
The man behind the Big John pedals is bassplayer Jan Detremerie. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels with a master degree, and while he primarily is a bassplayer, he also loves trying out different pedals and creating new sounds.
Big John has created a number of different pedals, each of which has something to offer. There’s the Big John Granny Puker, for example. This overdrive pedal lets you switch between overdrive, octave down, or a mixture of the two. This gives players a huge range of options, especially since you can control the blending of the sounds to make your own unique tone.
Another Big John product is the uniquely named Big John Harry Balls Effects Pedal. This fuzz pedal has a rich fuzz tone and a transistor boost that you can use with or without the fuzz. It offers both clean boost and scratchy boost. If you want some really nasty fuzz, this is the pedal for you.
The third and final pedal offered by Big John is called the Obama Wah. It’s a distortion pedal that provides a lot of gain and tone, but it also has a switchable fixed wah mode that can create some very interesting textures.
All three of these pedals are excellent choices for those looking for something a bit different and very powerful.