The 1994 Green Russian Sovtek V7C variant is one of the best loved - and recognised for its additional low-end heft - typically the bassiest of the Big Muff types. That variety used mostly KT3102EM / KT3102E Soviet transistors during its initial production. Where the 2017 EHX Nano Green Russian reissues had mostly BC547C’s onboard - indeed the same ones as the Violet Ram’s Head reissues.

The 2N5088 and 2N5089 are pretty solid alternatives for the BC547B and BC547C varieties - while they all...

I thought I should focus on my large format heavy-hitters for a change - where these 8 are some of my largest, most potent, and best favoured gain pedals. They are arranged here in alphabetical order, while they were released in the below chronological order. All 8 have featured heavily in my rig at different times - and all 8 are still very valid award winners and still in rotation. While the enormous girth of the Elektron Analog Drive means that is gets somewhat less of a rotation nowadays - ...

My 2nd sound exploration of the superb Dazatronyx Big Fuzz Console Ultimate Multi-Muff

So the actual 1973 V2 Violet Ram’s Head Muff most commonly used FS36999 transistors - which were kind of replacements for the 2N5133’s of the V1 Triangle - those supplies eventually ran out, while there were still several Ram’s heads that used up the remaining 2N5133’s.

When EHX reissued the Violet Ram’s Head in 2019 as a Nano edition they used BC547C’s. So for this Violet Ram’s Head sound-shaping ...

After the quiet comfort of February, March unleashed an avalanched of work - both in terms of new releases and acquisitions, but especial in the field of Guitar and Pedal expos - where I attended 3 within a month - first The Birmingham Guitar Show at Cranmore Park, then the London Synth and Pedal Expo at Studio 9294, Hackney Wick - and then back to Birmingham for the Noise Maker Market at Centrala, Digbeth - all grand events.

I burned myself out a little this month, and came back willingly empty...

In my original Big Fuzz Console overview article - you will have read that the unit comes standard with 2N2222A Metal Can transistors in the socket / 1st Transistor Option slot. I bought in 2N5133 transistors (£15 each) for my V1 Triangle take - as those were the original transistors used for that. They were also present in several of the V2 Ram’s Head Violet Editions, while the FS36999 were more common, and for later reissues EHX used BC547 variants. So when I do my next profile of Violet Ram’...

You should recall I was very keen on the Teaching Machines FuzzBillion last year and made that my Pedal of the Year 2025. Where this Big Fuzz Console is already a hot favourite for that honour this year!

It is based on Darren’s Big Muff breadboarding circuit - that he uses to develop his various Big Muff variants - where he can experiment with different component values - in pursuit of the perfect output for that style.

He’s formalised and refined his development circuit - to form this ...