EHX Big Muff Pi Ram's Head 70's
ID: 754
Price: $2300
Shipping: TBD
Dimensions: 10x8x5
Weight: 2 lb 5 oz
Very good condition with some spots where stickers were removed. The top is covered with a lot of tiny scratches and rust spots, but overall not bad. The scratches and spots are tiny/fine, and they don't show up well on the reduced-size pics I have posted. But they are there. There is a higher resolution pic at the end that shows them better.
One of the screws on the top does not match the other three. One of the smaller screws is holding, but sort of stripped. I have taped a replacement for it to the inside of the box. The replacement matches the one larger screw that doesn't match the other three. The partially stripped one is on the bottom left.
The Volume pot has been replaced. Due to the funky way the pot legs are attached by being wrapped around the edges of the board in these V2 pedals, the board is now mounted at an odd angle after the repair. I doubt it came from the factory that way, but maybe. It could have been mounted straight, but I expect whoever made the repair was too concerned about damaging the board and pots to bend the pot legs back to the necessary angles and left the board mounting as "good enough, better safe than sorry". It doesn't hurt anything, but looks odd. The repair seems fine, though a newer style of pot was used.
A hole was drilled in the end of the pedal, with a rubber grommet inserted. This was almost certainly to allow a previous owner to feed the battery cable outside the pedal so it could be connected with a battery snap converter to a normal power daisy chain. The battery snap wiring had to be cut on one side and unsoldered on the other to run the wires through the hole, and that has obviously been done, although the battery snap is now back inside the pedal. I don't know if the battery snap itself is original or was replaced in the process. It's in pretty good shape and looks new-ish, so maybe a replacement.
I don't see anything that looks to me like a change or repair to any of the components on the board. Other than the battery snap wiring and Volume pot replacement, everything else looks original to me.
Of course, none of these changes or differences impact the sound.
Due to the way the board is mounted on the pots in these models, it is difficult to see the pot date codes without unsoldering the pots from the board or bending them a considerable amount. I choose not to do that - too much can go wrong and it was already done once for the Volume pot replacement.
A large number of these V2 Big Muffs were made, with many different sets of component values. While V2 is known as the "Ram's Head" version for the new graphic in the lower right corner of the top of the pedal, there is no common sound among all the variants, or even among the variants of the three graphics designs. EHX was experimenting with different knob types that could also be used on other EHX pedals, so there are several different types of knobs in use at various times during production. The graphics on the outside of this pedal include red lettering for the Big Muff Pi and black for the new graphic in the corner and the labels. The labels also include both "off" and "on". Together those suggest the third of three major graphics appearances, not counting some different ink colors. But the different V2 graphics are not a reliable indicator of when the pedal was built. This version of graphics used both adhesive feet and the "skid pad" (like this one) at different times, so that doesn't seem helpful for dating, either.
When I bought the pedal I was told it was a '74 build. I cannot figure out how to confirm that date without unsoldering the pots to check their date codes, which I won't do. While I'm just making a guess, I would imagine that the previous owner was able to see the pot codes when the Volume pot was removed and replaced and could verify the '74 date at that time. The components on the circuit board look like a match to one of the boards Kit Rae shows at his Big Muff site, but he didn't supply a date for that board. He does supply schematics for some of the various Ram's Head builds. This board may match in component values to one of those schematics, but the capacitor types are a bit different. With the wide variation in components for the V2 circuits and the relatively small number of those combinations I've seen clearly dated, that is to be expected. The result is that I cannot date it from the component values/types.
The circuit does have the 2N5133 transistors and carbon comp resistors. The capacitors all appear to be ceramic except for three with values in the electrolytic range. Whether a Triangle or Ram's Head or even some of the top accurate clones of them (both vintage clones and newer ones), the 2N5133 transistors plus carbon comp resistors, plus mostly ceramic caps is a nice combination of component types that can yield the Muff tones I like best, FWIW.
In the end, I can't say for certain what the build date is, but it is definitely a V2 Ram's Head that has been repaired/altered as noted above. I have no particular reason to doubt the previous owner's statement that it was built in '74, but I cannot personally confirm it. The battery clip change and change back makes no difference other than the hole and grommet that are visible. The Volume pot replacement is technically sound, but loses some style points IMO for using a smaller size of pot and leaving the board mounted at an odd angle. These repairs are reasonably common in early Big Muffs. A nice Ram's Head Muff.
See high-res top photo at end for better detail of the condition of the top
Note extra hole and grommet for (removed) battery clip mod
That white spec isn't there - it was just stuck there while I was taking photos.
At the bottom right corner of the board you can see where the Volume pot was desoldered when it was replaced. In the bottom left corner you can see where the battery clip ground wire was reattached.
Carbon comp resistors, mostly ceramic caps, 2N5133 transistors
Replacement Volume pot
Note spliced battery clip wire, 2N5133 transistors
High-res picture shows all the tiny scratches and spots on the top. Depending on the angle of lighting, viewing distance, etc, the actual appearance is usually somewhere between the first low-res pic and this high-res pic.