Stomp Under Foot Ram's Head

The Stomp Under Foot Ram's Head is a fuzz pedal built as a take on the Ram's Head version of the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, the circuit that shaped fuzz tones through the mid-1970s. Where the original Ram's Head came in a large folded-metal enclosure, Stomp Under Foot's version is a small, MXR-sized unit in a purple solid metal casing, with modern wiring and power, which makes it easy to fit on a pedalboard¹².

The current version is based on the rare 1974 V11 circuit, which the maker describes as having "become a favorite among fuzz enthusiasts"¹. It carries the three controls every Big Muff user knows, Sustain, Volume and Tone, and is hand-built in the USA with NOS through-hole components, new-old-stock parts of the kind found in the original 1970s pedals²¹.

What it does to your sound

Stomp Under Foot says the V11 circuit "delivers a richer, fuller, woolier tone on the lower notes, while the highs offer a punchier, smoother lead tone with rich harmonics and long, singing sustain"¹. That is the classic Big Muff character: heavy sustain, thick chords and a scooped midrange that leaves room for bass and treble.

Reviewers have backed that up against the vintage originals. Pedal of the Day's reviewer wrote in 2015³²:

The same review described "sustain for days and that thick, classic fuzz sound that fuzz enthusiasts crave," and noted the pedal fits easily onto any pedalboard, is light, and features modern wiring and power³. Premier Guitar's reviewer found the Ram's Head "yields a huge tone, full of analog warmth and open overtones," particularly through a simple low-gain amplifier².

The controls: Sustain, Volume and Tone

The control panel is the familiar three-knob Big Muff layout. Premier Guitar described it as "three knobs that will be familiar to any old-school Muff user, Sustain, Volume, and Tone"².

That is the whole interface. There is no mids control on this version, no switches and no presets: like the original Ram's Head, the pedal is voiced by the circuit itself, and the three knobs handle gain, level and tone. Players who want to push the mids around have options in the same lineup, covered below²⁴⁵.

Circuit, versions and editions

The Ram's Head name comes from Electro-Harmonix history. The Big Muff Pi Version 2, made in the USA around 1973, carried a ram's head motif on its graphics and is the version players call the Ram's Head. Kit Rae's Big Muff history notes the V2 was essentially the V1 circuit in a larger enclosure, and that Pink Floyd's Animals and The Wall album solo tones are examples of this pedal in use⁶.

Stomp Under Foot's founder, Matthew Pasquerella, has documented the many circuit variations inside the 1973 to 1974 Ram's Head era, and the company offers several of them as distinct pedals¹⁷⁸:

• Ram's Head: the standard version, based on the rare 1974 V11 circuit¹
• Ultra 47 Ram's Head: based on a rare 1973-1974 Ram's Head circuit, with an added mids control; the 47 symbol on the knob marks the classic mid-scooped setting, up from there adds mids and down gives a deeper scoop⁷
• Violet Menace Ram's Head: based on the Violet Ram's Head, one of the most popular circuits of the early 1970s, also with an added mids control whose Ram's Head symbol marks the original circuit's approximate setting⁹

The Ultra 47 and Violet Menace give players something the original never had: a way to fill in the scooped mids for more cut in a band mix, while still returning to the vintage voicing. Kit Rae, who has reviewed Stomp Under Foot's work at length, notes that the company's '73 Ram's Head began as a one-off replica he asked the builder to make of an original 1973 Ram's Head Big Muff, and became a regular offering in the Stomp Under Foot line in 2011; he describes its character as "dark, scooped mid tones, smooth grit, and a thick bottom end"⁸⁷.

How it compares with other Ram's Head pedals

The Ram's Head circuit has been revisited by several makers, and the differences are mostly about enclosure, components and controls:

The practical difference for a player is size and parts. The original V2 Ram's Head was a large enclosure; the Stomp Under Foot version puts the same style of circuit in a housing that fits a crowded board, with modern power wiring²³.

Power, bypass and practical details

The Ram's Head runs on a 9V battery or a 2.1mm 9V adapter, the standard pedalboard connector, and nothing else is listed¹. It is true bypass, so the circuit is out of the signal path when the pedal is off¹. The build uses NOS through-hole components, and each unit is handmade in the USA¹.

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