The D-Sound Effects '73 Ram's Head Mini is a compact distortion and fuzz pedal that puts a recreation of the 1973 Ram's Head Big Muff circuit into a mini enclosure. Pedal of the Day reviewed it in August 2019 as D-Sound's take on the '73 Ram's Head Muff, noting that the high-quality, hand-built craftsmanship comes through in all aspects of the effect12. It is made in Russia, which Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson noted in 2024 makes it somewhat difficult to get hold of nowadays3.
The pedal sits in the family of Big Muff clones that recreate specific versions of the Electro-Harmonix original. The Ram's Head Big Muffs appeared in 1973 with red, blue, purple or black graphics, including the ram's head motif in the bottom-right corner that gives the version its name. D-Sound's mini version carries a bright purple color scheme that echoes those original graphics1.
A '73 Ram's Head Big Muff in a mini enclosure
The original 1973 Ram's Head Big Muff was housed in a larger enclosure with a completely different design than earlier versions of the pedal, as Matthew Pasquerilla of Stomp Under Foot documents in his history of the circuit2. That size is part of what makes the D-Sound version notable: it packs the Ram's Head sound into a mini enclosure, where most recreations of the circuit, such as the Electro-Harmonix Ram's Head Big Muff Pi reissue, use a compact but not miniature chassis.
Guitar Pedal X included the pedal in both its 2022 mini fuzz roundup, calling it "a cool Ram's Head Mini Muff"4, and its Mini Muff Compendium, where Stefan Karlsson noted he had owned a unique purple sparkle edition of it since about 20203. The Ram's Head circuit itself has a distinct character among Big Muff versions. Kit Rae's technical analysis describes it as a darker and grittier tone with the mids scooped out by the circuit, associated with David Gilmour's late 1970s tone through the 1980s5.
According to Stomp Under Foot's history, the 1973 circuits varied across versions: the V2 circuit evens out some of the extra low end found in V1, resulting in a more balanced voice with smooth, harmonically rich fuzz and violin-like sustain, while the V8 version features a capacitor change in the gain section that adds more low end, giving huge, smooth lead tones with incredible sustain2.
"going from a slightly overdriven sound to a thick, meaty distortion to a smooth, fuzzy break-up when really maxed out"
That sweep from light drive to full fuzz is what a player gets from the Drive knob, and it mirrors the behavior the original Ram's Head circuits were known for1.
The controls: Level, Tone and Drive
The pedal uses the classic three-knob Big Muff layout, with the controls renamed from the originals. Pedal of the Day lists them as Level, Tone and Drive, noting these correspond to Volume, Tone and Sustain on the originals1. Guitar Pedal X describes the same arrangement as the classic three-knob Muff control topology, variously labeled Volume or Level, Tone, and Sustain or Drive3.
| Control | What it does | Original Big Muff name |
|---|---|---|
| Level | Sets the output volume | Volume |
| Tone | Shapes the frequency balance, from darker to brighter | Tone |
| Drive | Sets the amount of gain and sustain | Sustain |
For a player used to a Big Muff, nothing here needs relearning: Level is Volume, Drive is Sustain, and Tone is Tone. The renaming is common among Big Muff clones, and the underlying control set is the same one used by other Ram's Head recreations such as the Vick Audio 73 Ram's Head, which keeps the original Volume, Tone and Sustain labels136.
How it compares with other Ram's Head recreations
Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson compared the D-Sound directly with the Vick Audio compact Ram's Head, finding the D-Sound "not quite as fabulous as say the Vick Audio compact variety - but close enough for most"3. That places it among the more respected mini options rather than at the very top of the reviewer's list, a fair summary of where a small-format clone of a large-format circuit tends to land.
"not quite as fabulous as say the Vick Audio compact variety - but close enough for most"
Availability
Because the pedal is Russian-made, Guitar Pedal X noted in 2024 that it is somewhat difficult to get hold of nowadays3. Players interested in the same circuit in a small enclosure have alternatives from other makers, including the Electro-Harmonix Ram's Head Big Muff Pi reissue and the Vick Audio 73 Ram's Head, both of which recreate the 1973 circuit in compact form.
Videos
shnobel
Pedal of the Day
Questions
Which Big Muff is the D-Sound '73 Ram's Head Mini based on?
It is based on the 1973 Ram's Head Big Muff, the version of the Electro-Harmonix fuzz that appeared with red, blue, purple or black graphics and the ram's head motif in the bottom-right corner. Pedal of the Day describes it as D-Sound's take on the '73 Ram's Head Muff, and Guitar Pedal X calls it a Ram's Head Mini Muff.
Where is the D-Sound '73 Ram's Head Mini made?
It is made in Russia. Pedal of the Day described D-Sound as a company all the way from Russia, and Guitar Pedal X's Stefan Karlsson noted in 2024 that it is a Russian-made pedal and therefore somewhat difficult to get hold of nowadays.
How do Level, Tone and Drive compare with the Big Muff's Volume, Tone and Sustain?
They are the same three controls under different names. Level is the original's Volume, Drive is the original's Sustain, and Tone keeps its name. Guitar Pedal X describes the layout as the classic three-knob Muff control topology, variously labelled Volume or Level, Tone, and Sustain or Drive.
Sources (6)
- D-Sound Effects '73 Ram's Head Distortion, Pedal of the Day, 2019-08-21
- 1973 Ram's Head, Stomp Under Foot, 2026-07-18
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2024-06-21
- Guitar Pedal X, Guitar Pedal X, 2022-04-26
- David Gilmour Tone Building, Kit Rae (kitrae.net), 2022-05
- Gear Review: Vick Audio 73 Ram's Head Pedal | Guitar World, Guitar World, 2015-10-09
