Electro Harmonix Ram's Head Big Muff Pi Distortion Fuzz Sustainer Pedal

Product Information

Easy to use: the pedal only has three knobs. Volume, Tone and sustain. The sustain knob controls the amount of distortion and of course, as the name says sustain. On clean channel I would go TRIANGLE. Op amp is cool on either, it has its own character but it chokes on already dirty channel not as much as big box muff and triangle but still, similar to ram's head but ram's head sounds more pleasant overall

I don't own an original Ram's Head Big Muff, though I've had the pleasure of playing a few. I do have a few very nice Ram's Head clones, however: an original bubble-font Sovtek Big Muff, several Sovtek clones, and a few triangle Muff clones. My favorites among these were used as reference for this review of the new Ram's Head. For example, here are some general measurements from a few 1973 era violet Big Muffs, versus what the printed values show. Russian Big Muffs - Clipping cap values were almost always .047uF, which is why they sound so smooth and bassy/boomy. If possible use this pedal with a valve amp and not a solid state amp. Like any other fuzz it will sound the best with a valve amp. On a solid state amp, it can sound quite dirty (not in a good way).The Pete Cornish 1980 mini front stage Wall board features a ram’s head Big Muff. The circuit was most likely modified to sound like David’s #1 ram’s head. V2 "BOX CAP" RAMS HEAD BIG MUFF PI - This is the most common V2 from the 1975-77 period, probably the 15th variant. This "Box Cap" Ram's Head version is easily identified by the large white box caps used. Quanitites made seem to be almost as many as the "White Can" Ram's Head version shown above (74#3). Identical to 76#1 below, but with 33k input resistor and low pass tone resistors at R2 and R8, instead of 39k, and 470pF filter caps instead of 560pF at C10, 11 and 12. The C1 input cap was almost always a 10µF polarized electro. Some production of this version changed between 1µF and 10µF at C2, C6, and C7, and a few used 10µF for all C1, C2, C6, and C7 caps. CLIPPING DIODES - There were many different types of Silicon clipping diodes used. Although the effect is minor, different diode types do clip the sound frequencies in the clipping stages differently. Most modern Big Muffs and clones are made with general use 1N4148 or 1N914 diodes, which measure similar values to some of the diodes found in vintage Big Muffs, but not all. This is probably an overlooked aspect of the sound when creating clones of vintage circuits, but the problem is that many of those old diodes had non standard markings making it difficult to identify the actual type used, and many that were marked are no longer made. The forward voltage of the diodes used in Triangle and early Ram's Head Big Muffs varies from approximately 0.5 - 0.6.V. The diodes in an old perf board Triangle I own measure 0.481 - 0.487V, and diodes in a 1971 Big Muff measured 0.560 - 0.572. The diodes in a 1973 Ram's head Big Muff measured 0.586 - 0.626. Diodes from a Bubble Font Russian Big Muff measured 0.571- 0.580.

Berlin-based KMA’s Dead Stag lets you tailor your fuzz sound to any situation. An active bass and treble eq with 15db of cut and boost is paired with a parametric mid eq for scooping or pushing through a mix. A high/low gain switch cranks up the distortion to extreme levels and a smooth/sharp switch gives you a high mids boost for added clarity. Intentionally simple, this muff evolution intends to provide the player with plenty of tonal options without an excessive number of controls. Inspired by the Ram’s Head Muff, the T4 is an attempt to “perfect” that sound with better components, a more present mid-range, and a sweeter-sounding tone control. The output volume is also increased to push your amp to the edge of breakup. COLORSOUND SUPA TONEBENDER Modified Violet Ram's Head Big Muff - Around 1973 Sola Sound of London decided to clone the Big Muff for their Colorsound ToneBender line. The component values were copied from a 1973 violet era Big Muff, similar to those shown above, but with one major change. The coupling caps and clipping diodes in the first clipping stage were removed, making a very unique sounding Big Muff, and one that is very much fitting with the Tone Bender family of sounds. I have an early circuit board in my Supa that actually includes through holes in the first clipping stage for the missing cap and diodes, indicating Sola intended to originally make a straight clone of a violet Big Muff, or possibly had plans to do so later, but it does not appear any were made with the complete components. There is also an extra .1µF cap in the tone section at C14, and a polarized electro added to the 9v for power filtering, not found on the original violet BMP circuits. A peek at the circuit reveals few overt clues about how the new Ram's Head differs from other mass-produced, four-transistor Big Muffs, or how it might achieve any special Ram's Headiness. There's four prominent but generic BC547 transistors arrayed on a through-hole printed circuit board. And if it weren't for the handsome reproduction of original Ram's Head graphics on the circuit board and enclosure, you'd have little reason to suspect it was special.David is seen using this early Sovtek model during the 1993 Division Bell recording sessions. It’s not documented whether it was actually used for the album or not or if he perhaps employed one of the ram’s head models or both. The pedal was again featured in the 1994 stage rig as David’s main distortion pedal for the tour. For the South American shows in December 2015, David once again used the early 90s Sovtek Civil War Big Muff. The pedal was possibly used for Sorrow. VINTAGE COMPONENT MOJO - Some Big Muff enthusiasts argue that a particular set of component values (1uF clipping caps vs. 0.1uF caps, for example) give a Big Muff the best sound, but that is subjective based on the sound one person prefers that another may not. Some also think there is mojo in the old vintage components that make those Muffs sound much better than more recent issues (old ceramic caps vs new film caps, or old 2N5133 tranys vs newer 2N5088 tranys, for example), and I would tend to agree with that, as most of the Big Muffs I like best are the older ones. However, I have played vintage pedals side by side with exact clones made using modern components and the sound is very close. I'm not saying the mojo is not there in the older Muffs. It can be, and is in my opinion, but you can get one vintage Big Muff that sounds great and another that sounds average, with the exact same components. If you want a decent vintage Big Muff tone you don't necessarily need to fork over hundreds of dollars to buy a vintage one, hoping you get a good sounding unit, when you can spend under two hundred dollars and get a vintage Big Muff clone like the BYOC Large Beaver, or a Stomp Under Foot, all made with modern parts that are more consistant than most vintage parts.