Stomp Under Foot Rams Head Muff

[critter74]

I don't write a lot of reviews, so if this seems clunky, I apologize in advanced. I'm a musician not a reviewer.

So I just got a Stomp Under Foot Ram's Head Muff clone. Thought I would post a quick review:

First off let me say that Matt's customer service is awesome. He replied to all of my e-mails within 24 hours, most of the time within the same day. Not bad considering we're on separate coasts with a 3 hour time difference. We pretty much had a back and forth dialogue the whole time I was waiting for my pedal.

I initially just sent an e-mail to inquire about the RHM. He responded back the next day and said he had to build a bunch of pedals and went ahead and built a RHM for me and I could get it whenever I wanted. I let him know it would be almost 2 weeks or more before I was going to actually purchase it, because I had some other stuff coming in, I was out of town, etc. He said no problem, he would hold it for me for whenever I was ready and if I changed my mind just to let him know. I ended up buying it about a week later. Matt sent me an e-mail that same day and said it was sent out. So in short, an A+ for customer service.

OK now for the part that really matters: the pedal...

Now, I am by no means a Fuzz pedal, much-less a Muff pedal, connoisseur. I have at least one of each of the major types of Fuzz's, but I don't usually get caught up in the small intricacies between the types. I had never played an actual EH RHM, so there's no real way for me to know how actually "accurate" the RHM is to an original. So for this I'm going on a matter of faith. I don't really care about that anyways. What I care about is how it sounds. And it sound effin'; great.

First, the pedal is built solid. Nice red color, good pots and jacks and the guts are built cleanly and neatly with good solder/wiring work. So far so good.

1. Volume- Gets loud. I mean really loud. Can easily push a tube amp into some nice grind just on the 12:00 position. I haven't dared turn it up full blast yet. Don't need to.
2. Gain- Plenty of gain on tap. But what I like about this is that (again in my somewhat limited experience) many Muff pedals and Muff type pedals seem to not have a super wide variety of gain. The signal gets pretty saturated from the beginning and then it add the infamous Sustain the higher the gain goes. Muff pedals have always reminded me of the Fuzz version of cascading stage distortion, if that makes sense. That's the analogy I'm trying to get at. The RHM actually has a pretty good gain taper, so the Gain knob at 9:00, 12:00 and 5:00 have noticeably different saturation characters. I hope this makes sense....
3. Tone- This is where the pedal really shines. There is a HUGE tone range. It ranged from very bassy/treble cut, to ear piercing treble. This is great for me (the range, not the ear piercing). One of the many problems I have had with Fuzz pedals is that I play humbuckers only and many times I cannot use my neck pick-up. It sounds like someone just yanked all of the mids and high-mids out of my signal. I'm stuck using the bridge pick-up only with many Fuzz's. With the RHM I am able to set the tone on the pedal perfectly, allowing me to use both pick-ups on my PRS and SG and having to only adjust my tone knob for rhythm and lead. In the bridge pick-up I can get a nice throaty, lead tone (that nice high-mid singing sound), almost vowel like on my PRS, without it getting to trebly. Pinch harmonics occur easily and frequently. But I can also use the neck pick-up roll the tone back for some woolly Mudhoney type tones, then roll it forward again for a little mock SP rhythm tones. For lead tones, with my PRS in the bridge position and my Carbon Copy, I was able to get a nice Gilmour-esque “Time” solo tone. Good stuff, Maynard.
4. Chording is great at all gain points, but even with high gain settings. My test chord is usually a Dmaj7 in the 5th position. This is, for me, the make or break chord. I use a lot of Maj7 and min7 chording and if the notes mush up, I can't use it. The Dmaj7 chord has been the death of many pedals for me. The RHM was able to allow the Maj7th tension shine through perfectly. I also give the Tone knob props for this for allowing the aforementioned mid-highs to shine through, which a Dmaj7th in the 5th position, the Maj7th note would sit, sonically. Bar chords and open chords, of course, sounded thick and rich.

So in short, I really like this pedal. Its found a permanent place on one of my 3 boards (my “indie” rock style board) and works nice with the other toys taking up residence on it. It has sounded great with all 4 of my amps and all 3 of my guitars. So its a winner for me.

Matt's a great guy and builds some great pedals. I would have no problem recommending him to anybody looking for a good Muff type pedal. He seems to clone about just every version as well as have some of his own creations, so there's something for everybody.
Cheers.
Critter

[fuzz_factor]

Great review! Everything you said applies to my SUF Violet Ram's Head as well. And to my SUF Civil War Muff, although the tone is a bit different.

[basicaudio]

No need to apologize...That review was great.
You Told us everything we need to know.
Sounds like you got a winner there.

[mattpas]

Great review!
I am glad you like it!

[marvelboy_04]

sounds great! now which muff do you make has the most clarity?

[mattpas]

Originally Posted by marvelboy_04

sounds great! now which muff do you make has the most clarity?

They all have a certain clarity for a fuzz. If I had to pick it would be the Triangle or the Civil War