Mudhoney

Mudhoney formed in Seattle in 1988 from the remains of Green River, becoming the band that most directly connected punk's raw energy to grunge's distorted aesthetic. Mark Arm's guitar sound is defined by two pedals that gave the band's landmark EP its name: the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi and the Univox Super-Fuzz, gifted to Arm by guitarist Steve Turner. The combination of the Big Muff's woolly, scooped saturation with the Super-Fuzz's aggressive octave-up buzz produced the snarling, barely-controlled fuzz tone that made Superfuzz Bigmuff a foundational grunge recording. Arm runs these pedals into a Fender Twin Reverb for its clean headroom, allowing the pedals' character to dominate the signal. His primary stage guitar is a Gibson SG, with a Gretsch Penguin providing tonal variety. Turner contributes a contrasting guitar voice through a Fender Stratocaster with a rawer, less processed approach. Mudhoney's gear philosophy — cheap, loud, and direct — predated and outlasted the era it helped define, with the band continuing to release records built on the same fuzz-drenched foundation four decades on.