A New Violet Ram's Head 2 Big Mutt

So since it's been several months since I built a Big Muff clone (granted, the combo pedal I just finished includes a Big Muff, but it is more than just a Muff clone), I figured it was time to go ahead and test out some alternate configurations of the Loud Cancer board - and try out some different potentiometer orientations as well. One of my favorite variants of the BMP is the Violet Ram's Head 2, so I decided to give it a whirl!

We've Sprung a Leak! Cloning the Very Precise Cornish G-2

It's been, what, three weeks since I posted a clone of a Big Muff Pi variant? Must be time for another one! This time around, I'm building the AionFX Cygnus, a clone of the Cornish G-2. This particular build has honestly been one of my more challenging builds for a variety of reasons. First off, it's a Cornish pedal, and Pete Cornish's designs are always absolute works of art with an amazing transistor-based buffer design. The component count is usually very high as well, and the circuits are typically extremely well balanced, and as long as you have high-quality components you can usually guarantee a good build from the outset. However, because the G-2 uses Germanium diodes for the clipping stages, that adds an additional level of complexity to the build, which I'll go into later. As you can't touch a real G-2 for under $500, this one screams for a good clone.

Even More Pi? A Violet Ram's Head 2 Build!

So, for those few of you who actually follow the blog, have you gotten the idea that I love the Big Muff Pi circuit, yet? If you're a fan as well, I definitely recommend Kit Rae's page covering all of the different variants of this iconic effects pedal. It has been an absolutely indispensable reference as I've tried to go through and build many of the different versions of this stomp box! As I mentioned in my announcement a few days ago, I'll likely have a few pedals for sale in the not so distant future, and the initial ones are likely to be BMP clones - so continue to watch this space.

That being said, this particular pedal was all for me! For this build I've gone back to AionFX's Halo board. It is a great board, and there is a spreadsheet that lets you build literally any version of the pedal you'd like - it even cross references the component codes on the board to the component codes on the circuit diagrams on the Kit Rae page. I'd already built a couple of versions of the '73 Gilmour Ram's Head (one of my two original Halo builds and the home etched PCB), a Russian Civil War / Red Army variant (also on a Halo board), and a Triangle (on a Tayda board). I'd heard great things about the Violet Ram's Head versions, especially the 2nd version, so I decided to go that route for this build.