V1 Triangle Big Muff - The low pass resistor values started with 27k. 33k was the most used. Other variants used 22k and 39k. ACE TONE FUZZ MASTER FM-3 - A rare early clone of the V1 Big Muff, circa 1971-73, and one of the first modified BMP circuits. This is a little known clone, often mistakenly thought to be a variant of the Roland Bee-Baa circuit. Ace Electronic Industries was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi, who later founded Roland in March 1972. Prior to that Ace made the FM-1 which was a Maestro FZ1-A clone, and the FM-2, which was a Univox Super Fuzz clone, and the FM-3, possibly the first Japanese Big Muff clone. It was a very unique version of the circuit, incorporating a switchable volume boost stage (shown in red), allowing switching between distortion and boost (sadly, not combinable), with separate volume and tone pots for each.

V4 and V5 op-amp Big Muffs were made with 10k linear taper Sustain and Tone pots (marked PO130 or ZA2124). The Volume pot was 100k linear (marked XM2184 or PO150), but some early V4's had 50k volume pots and some late model V5s had 150k. V1 TRIANGLE BIG MUFF PI - Another variant circa 1972 with .05uF clipping caps, and large 560pF filter caps. Those cut off more of the high frequencies than the 500pF's commonly used, making this one of the fatter sounding variants, with lots of bottom end. This variant was one of the first to be traced and posted on the world wide web. Even though it was actually not a common V1 circuit at all, most boutique BMP clones used this schematic. Still, it sounds very good and defined what people thought a Triangle Big Muff was supposed to sound like in the early days of boutique BMP cloning through the mid 1990's to the early 2000's. The Dice Works Muff Diver, BYOC Large Beaver Triangle V1, General Guitar Gadgets BMP Triangle, and many other Triangle clones were based on this circuit variant. 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. A super-tweakable Muff-style fuzz with parametric footswitchable mids and three voices: Tight: modern Big Muff sound with tight lows, focused mids and a crisp top end; Vintage: Classy Muff Sound, low- to mid-gain distortion, balanced frequency response; Heavy: full blast Big Muff sound with massive low end and plenty of gain. Dry signal can be reintroduced pre or post gain.This entry into the JHS Legends of Fuzz series is a replica of one of Josh Scott’s own vintage Red Army Overdrives from the early 90s. Despite being called an overdrive, this was the first Muff Mike Matthews made in Russia. Like all of the fuzzes in the lineup, the crimson has a special “JHS Mode” button which in this case activates a mid frequency boost. 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.

For the price, It's a great pedal with a very subtle relationship between the knobs to craft the sound you really wantA 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.

Russian made Big Muffs have Russian made pots, usually 100k linear taper, but often the volume pot was logarithmic. You can use 100k audio log taper for the volume and sustain pots. EHX also used 150k pots at times. Replacements could be found at Small Bear Electronics at the time this article was written. The Russian Muffs are coveted by bassists and heavy players for their big, boosted low end. They are very smooth and have slightly less gain than the other Muffs. If you’re worried that a vintage Russian has some special unobtanium in it, don’t be. These circuits are identical to the 90s versions. The board was used on the 2001/02 semi-acoustic shows, 2005 Live 8 and 2005/06 On an Island recording sessions as well as several guest appearances between 1999-2012. The G2 was also featured in David’s 2006 Pete Cornish All Tubes MkII On an Island touring board and used for many of the performed songs. Picture to the left shows David’s early 1987-88 Momentary Lapse of Reason touring rig. Notice the #2 Big Muff featured in the setup. To the right is the Sovtek “Civil War” Big Muff Pi, David’s main distortion unit for the 1994 Division Bell tour.

Heads-up! Arguably the most anticipated of the Big Muff reissues has landed

ELK BIG MUFF SUSTAINAR / SUPER FUZZ SUSTAINAR - Among the many Japanese Big Muff clones, one of the first on the market was the Super Fuzz Sustainar, a nearly exact clone of a 1972 era Big Muff made by the Hoshino Gakki company (early units possibly made by Miyuki Ind. Co.) sometime around 1973. It was housed in an identical enclosure to the V1 Big Muff with very similar graphics. These were sold throughout the 1970s, and not long after its introduction, Gakki shamelessly changed the name from Super Fuzz to Big Muff. The pedals marked Electro Sound are the earliest, and those marked Elk Incorporated or Elk/Gakki are the later made production. V2 "VIOLET" RAMS HEAD BIG MUFF PI / LYLE DISTORTION SUSTAINER / MARVELTONE DISTORTION SUSTAINER / GUILD FOXEY LADY - The fourth variant of the V2 circuit, and first of the so-called "violet" Big Muffs, due to the violet colored ink used. Most of these had violet, blue, or purple ink, and some very rare units were red. Arguably, the schematic shown above could also be said to be the first violet Big Muff, as it is nearly identical other than the collector resistors, but that version did not appear in as many Big Muffs with the blue or violet ink.