Stomp Under Foot - Violet Ram's Head

[sutherland]

Thought I would post my initial impressions of the Muff Clone:

Overview: I've been looking for a Muff-style pedal for a couple months now that would pay homage to that famous Cherub Rock sound. I know, I know, majority of that "wall of" sound can be attribute to post production...but it's not to much to ask for a pedal to produce an inkling of that tight and focused gain.

Build Quality: The SUF Violet Ram's Head is what you would expect from a boutique builder: a sturdy and standard 125B enclosure housing a cleanly soldered board with high quality jacks and a 3DPT switch. The paint is clean and the decals are nicely applied.

Sound Quality: First off, I am by no means a Bug Muff connoisseur (however, I have owned/played quite a few). I don't really know the "MAJOR" differences between a Triangle this and a Ram's Head that....to me, it was very simple: "what version for Cherub Rock".

I will start by saying, this pedal certainly delivered a very focused fuzz sound. The mids were slightly scooped and the gain was nice and saturated. The degree of articulation between notes was impressive for the amount of fuzz that this pedal had.

The gain is nice a smooth throughout with usable tones in all ranges. It had a nice transition from all the way down to up with variances in between.

The tone, much like the gain, was nice a smooth without being overly brittle when dimed. It simply found its place at the 9' o'clock position.

Now...here is where critics can argue:

I've read on forums where people bicker about capacitors and diodes and the grading of those components. I've read reviews where the Violet should sound like this and the regular Ram's Head should sound like that...and not like this, etc. I've seen a fair share of graphs and charts that honestly don't mean anything to me.

As previously stated, I'm not an expert, nor am I a pedal whiz kid that noodles around with boards all day. I do know this: Out of all the Muffs I have played in the past, this is by far the best.

What I wish it did have: A tone bypass would be nice. I simple toggle switch or a off/on pot.

A special thanks to SUF (mattpas) for answering all my questions. Really, a good guy that builds a fine quality product!

Now, if I can just figure out what his new Skin Version is supposed to pay tribute too.....

[mizer357]

matt makes some pretty great dirt pedals at reasonable prices. nice, knowledgeable guy to deal with as well.

[Guitar Josh]

I'm glad you are enjoying the pedal!

[deeohgee]

Good review.
I just got a Stomp Under Foot Modified Muff in a trade and its great - Cherub Rock indeed.

[nightraven]

i'm really loving my SUF Civil War Muff

[mattpas]

Thanks for the review, glad you are enjoying the pedal.

[Angle Loss]

Siamese Dream (and thus Cherub Rock) was done with a later 70's red and black muff, just to let you know--from Billy's mouth.

[mattpas]

Originally Posted by Angle Loss

Siamese Dream (and thus Cherub Rock) was done with a later 70's red and black muff, just to let you know--from Billy's mouth.

But keep in mind that the Big Muff was run through the low gain input of a 1984 JCM800 2203 set right at the beginning stage of breaking up. This would would change the tone of a Black and Red Muff. I think the Violet Ram's Head gets closer to that sound on its own without having to use an amps gain or another gain pedal. Just my opinion.

[MotorCityMatamp]

Originally Posted by nightraven

i'm really loving my SUF Civil War Muff

me too, i got one here used in the emporium, i didn't know what to expect. let's just say that this pedal sounds so good with my guitar tuned to C# i'm getting great stoner tones. nice job matt.

[If But When]

I own it. I purchased this pedal from Matt a couple of months ago, and it has been fantastic. Was complemented on my tone two nights ago at a gig after closing with a song in which I used it. I don't have many pedals, but I use this one a lot. There are a lot of great settings. And, as many have noted, Matt is great to deal with.

[70's Hard Rock]

I read that Billy Corgan used a version 4 Big Muff that he said was stock... they are known as the IC chip Big Muffs...

SUF pedals are awesome!!!