ELECTRO-HARMONIX J MASCIS RAM’S HEAD BIG MUFF

TOTAL GUITAR NOVEMBER 2022
94
F
uzz is often the Marmite
of the gain world; to
those who love it, it’s
a mammoth sonic tool
that can beef up your
sound and enhance any riff . To
those who hate it, it’s written
off as muddy and devoid of
articulation. One person who is
a fan though is Dinosaur Jr’s J
Mascis. Having had an EHX Big
Muff on his ’board throughout his
career, his love for Big Muff s was
displayed through his collection in
the documentary Fuzz: The Sound
That Revolutionized The World.
J uses the Big Muff , specifi cally
the ‘Ram’s Head’ version of the
pedal from the 70s as the basis for
all of his drive sounds, sometimes
solo, but often stacking them
with other gain providers.
Now, this is of course a
signature version of the Ram’s
Head Big Muff , a standard reissue
of which you can also buy with
a list price of $15 less than J’s
pedal. However, the gap widens
once you start looking at street
prices, and according to EHX, both
are based on a 1973 V2 Violet
Ram’s Head, and both boast
enhanced articulation over other
Muff examples. But geekery aside,
what does it sound like?
Well, there’s defi nitely more
note separation and attack than
on our standard Big Muff Pi
reissue – with the Sustain (that’s
gain) and Volume (output)
cranked as-per J’s settings, it’s
then down to the tone control to
govern how much bite you get.
And there’s a surprising amount.
J’s playing uses a lot of open
chords, and we found that backing
the gain off a bit helped with the
clarity, while pushing it up and
backing the tone off gives us
a thick, Gilmour-ish lead sound.
It’s great in front of our overdriven
valves too, but unless you have
a noise gate we’d suggest
backing things off somewhat
if you’re stacking.
Ultimately, Dino Jr fans are
going to love this. For everyone
else it’s a fuzz pedal that is more
usable than some of the more
wooly examples. If it is re-voiced
from EHX’s standard Ram’s
Head, then it’s subtle. So,
one for the collectors.
Stuart Williams
TYPE: Fuzz
CONT ROLS: Volume,
Sustain, Tone
SOCKETS: Input,
output, power
BYPASS: Buffered
POWER: 9v PSU
(not included), battery
CONTACT: Electro-Harmonix,
www.ehx.com
AT A GLANCE
DINOSAUR JR FANS ARE
GOING TO LOVE THIS
TH
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OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
USABILITY
ELECTRO-HARMONIX J MASCIS RAM’S HEAD BIG MUFF
EHX’s Ram’s Head gets a signature facelift
£129
TGR364.gear_quick.indd 94TGR364.gear_quick.indd 94 06/10/2022 09:4806/10/2022 09:48