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

Product Information

COMPONENT VALUES MAKE THE SOUND - There is a myth that the transistor type is responsible for the sound of a Big Muff being good or bad. Good and bad are subjective terms that will be different for different people depending on their musical or playing preferences, but is actually the mix of different values of all of the components in the circuit (capacitors, resistors, diodes), and how the transistors are biased from the surrounding component values that make one Big Muff sound different than another. The signature Big Muff sound comes from the two diode clipping sections in a row in the four stage transistor amplifier design combined with the unique tone control. Past that, the real tonal differences are from the mix of the individual component values. These differences are what give each Muff its own unique character. The older the Muff, the more those values seem to be different from one unit to another, and the newer the Muff, the more they are the same from unit to unit.

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. The exact circuit also appeared around 1976 in the V2 Big Muff enclosure, without the power filtering, tone bypass switching, and with different transistors. It was used in guitarist J Mascis' (Dinosaur jr) favorite Ram's Head Big Muff. The exact V3 tone bypass schematic later became the standard BMP circuit in the V6 Big Muff Pi, so the Mascis Muff is essentailly a V6. That may be why J likes that particular V2 so much. None of his other V1 and V2 BMP's have this circuit. But one of the most striking things about the Ram's Head is how often it seems to borrow the best attributes of each Big Muff version. These are considered among the best sounding and most desirable of the 1970s Big Muffs, with a perfect balance of lows, highs, medium gain distortion, and a mid range that was not overly scooped. There were probably more of this V2 circuit variant made than any other. Very similar sound to the '73 schematic above, but with a larger resistor at the R7 voltage divider, smaller emitter resistor at R4, and slightly larger input resistors at R12 and R19 for a more refined bottom end. The same circuit was also used in the Guild Foxey Lady, Lyle Distortion Sustainer, and Marveltone Distortion Sustainer, OEM versions made by Electro-Harmonix. Numerous violet Big Muff boutique clones use this schematic.

Since some wall warts (AC to DC power adaptors) do not regulate and filter properly it was necessary for E-H to add some filtering to the circuit. Wall warts convert AC to DC using a bridge rectifier, but some of that rippling alternating current can still leak through the power supply rail into the direct current, creating 60 cycle hum noise in the audio signal. The 100Ω resistor at R27 is there to reduce that noisy AC. AC current sees a capacitor as a short circuit, so the big electrolytic cap on the +9v power supply at C14 was added to smoothly filter more of the AC ripple by draining the ripple peaks to ground, leaving (mostly) straight DC going through the circuit. The G2 isn’t really a Big Muff but one of Cornish’s more unique circuits, although it has obvious similarities to both the germanium Fuzz Face and early RAT models. The pedal was originally introduced around 1992 but wasn’t featured in David’s rig until the 1999 Pete Cornish All Tubes MkI pedal board. Sovtek Big Muff Pi – Civil War REPLACEMENT FOOT SWITCHES - Vintage USA Big Muffs use old Carling SPDT (Single Pole Double Through) three lug foot switches. These are sometimes hard to find. The modern Carling model is #112-P, or you can get a Dunlop version, #ECB-69, often used for Crybaby Wah pedals. When replacing a foot switch in a modern Big Muff , use a modern 3PDT foot switch as those are wired for true bypass. Originally called Precision Fuzz the P2 was introduced around 1988 as an upgrade of the P1. The P2 is first seen in David’s 1989 Momentary Lapse of Reason stage rig after it replaced the #2 ram’s head Big Muff. It was also featured in the 1994 PULSE stage rig labeled Big Muff. Considering the small size of this early version it’s likely that it didn’t feature Cornish’s buffers. Pete Cornish G2 The Big Muff was designed by Electro Harmonix founder Mike Matthews in the late 60s. The first years of production saw the pedal in various shapes and forms, both under the Electro Harmonix banner and other brands as well.

David might have gotten his first Big Muff in 1974 but it was not employed until the recording of Animals in 1976. Personally I think 1974 is a bit too early and a theory could be that he got the pedal(s) in 1975 during the US-leg of the Dark Side of the Moon tour or possibly later. In early 1976, David and Phil, comissioned a custom pedal board from Pete Cornish, that would feature both new items and some that had been in David’s setup since the late 60s. Electro Harmonix Big Muff – Ram’s Head Animals, David’s first solo album, The Wall and Final Cut were all recorded with a setup consisting of a 100w Hiwatt head with a WEM 4×12 speaker cabinet and a Yamaha RA200 rotating speaker cabinet. The signal from David’s pedal board or stand alone pedals would be split into these two amps and the Yamaha would often be mixed slightly lower for a mild, chorusy effect. This would also be David’s stage setup for the era.

The Dinosaur Jr. main man gets his own signature Muff and it's one for connoisseurs and collectors alike

V1 "3µF" TRIANGLE BIG MUFF PI - This variant is from around 1970. It is very similar to the perf board version shown above, but with one major change that makes this one of the most uncommon circuit variants of the V1 Big Muff. The input/output caps, coupling caps, and and clipping caps were all large 3µF electrolytics, not found on any other version of the Big Muff Pi. It had a very fat, high gain sound. This exact variant was also made with 1µF caps in those positions. 1µF and .1µF would later become the standard. EHX’s response to boutique builders expanding on their circuit is the highly tweakable Deluxe Big Muff. The 90s Russian Muff is the basis, but with a noise gate, parametric EQ, and bass boost switch, this pedal is a tonal powerhouse. The real selling point is the mid boost footswitch, which allows you to cut through any mix without the help of another pedal.