“I haven't used the Big Muff since 1993. I don’t use that many pedals anymore, but I use them live”: Billy Corgan shares his pedalboard secrets, including the $1,000 pedal he stole from his dad

Billy Corgan salutes the crowd. He wears a long black tunic with red buttons and is playing his pink signature guitar from Reverend
(Image credit: PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

“I honestly haven't used the [Electro-Harmonix] Big Muff [fuzz pedal] since 1993. For anybody interested, the Big Muff takes square waves and makes the guitar almost sound like a synth. If you want to get that sound without a fuzz, use equipment that gets that square-wave sound, but with more clarity.

“But on 95 percent of what you hear on the [Smashing Pumpkins'} new album [Aghori Mhori Mei], there are no pedals. I only get the pedals out if I need a special effect for a part or if I’m going to play a lead. Then I open the vault and pull stuff out. There are so many manufacturers now. If you want a Klon [overdrive], there’s 800 Klon pedals, you know?

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Andrew Daly

Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Rock Candy, Bass Player, Total Guitar, and Classic Rock History. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.