NAMM 2024: Electro-Harmonix has decided to host a joint celebration of 55 years of the iconic Big Muff Pi and 50 years of the Ramshead circuit, with the announcement of an extremely limited edition Double Anniversary Big Muff Pi.
Indeed, it is so limited that the pedal almost immediately sold-out of its scant 555 unit allocation. However, it’s worth knowing the details, should you ever see one surface online, or in a yard sale in the year 2064...
The Double Anniversary comes in a traditional ‘Big Box’ format – in keeping with EHX’s first-wave 1970s productions – and is enclosed in an eye-catching gold-finished chassis.
The chassis has been laser etched with a serial number and inside you’ll find a reproduction of the ’70s-style Violet Ram’s Head circuit. Aside from the bling, the pedal is noteworthy for another reason...
“For the first time since the 1970s,” says EHX. “The Double Anniversary Big Muff Pi will feature the Ram’s Head circuit in a ‘Big Box’ full-sized Big Muff Pi chassis for all of the original mojo and magic craved by the true believers.”
As was often the case at the time, construction varied throughout the decade, but the Violet Ram’s Head (produced around 1973) remains one of the most popular editions of the pedal and is considered by many to be the definitive ’70s fuzz sound – a fact cemented by its use on David Gilmour’s Comfortably Numb solo.
The Violet Ram’s head demarcation comes from the old school wooly-haired EHX logo (which was not actually intended to be sheep-like) and violet or blue text featured on the units.
Back to the present day and EHX has tipped the cap to its violet namesake with a purple indicator LED and a “regal” purple velvet bag, held inside a wooden box – itself a nod to the firm’s Sovtek-era pedals. There’s also a holographic sticker and a certificate of authenticity thrown in, as cherries on top.
The pedal was available directly from EHX (as of noon ET yesterday) for $250 but sold-out within hours, so aside from lining the pockets of a pedal scalper on a resale site, the only chance of bagging on now is by entering a competition on the Electro-Harmonix Double Anniversary page.
The lucky winner will not just take home the Double Anniversary Big Muff Pi, but every one of the firm’s 15 Big Muff pedal variants currently in production.
Maybe it’s simply the gold finish, but we think EHX is onto something, er, bigger, with its full-size reissue, which flies in the face of the ‘nano’ trend that occupied pedal-makers (at EHX and beyond) since the 2010s.
The reissued NYC Big Muff Pi has remained a full-size stalwart since its reintroduction in 2000, then last year we saw the EHX/JHS collaboration the Lizard Queen also released as a limited big box format.
We wonder if the heated interest in the Big Muff Pi Violet Ramshead will be enough to generate more full-size additions to the firm’s fuzz line-up.
For more information on the Double Anniversary Big Muff Pi, head to Electro-Harmonix.
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