Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 133

PIECE OF THE PI

The Stomp Under Foot Ram's Head
Matt Pasquerella has a reputation as a pi
connoisseur... no, not the eating kind, the
fuzzy kind. The creator of Stomp Under Foot
effects has been building some of the most
sought-after Big Muff Pi clones on the market.
Pasquerella's Ram's Head is a modified
version of his favorite "violet ram's head logo"
version of the vintage Big Muff Pi.
The Ram's Head has a standard 4.75" x
2.5" x 1.5" diecast chassis with a true-bypass
footswitch, bright-white status LED, 9-volt
power jack, and Volume, Sustain, and Tone
controls. There are also chassis-mounted
Alpha pots and Switchcraft 1/4" in/out jacks.
Testing was accomplished with a late model
Gibson SG Standard loaded with 490R and
490T humbuckers through a Fender Blues Jr 15watt 1x12" tube combo.The Ram's Head showed
an abundance of that classic late-'70s fuzz tone,
but with a fuller, warmer midrange and a more
musical top-end that is less scratchy-sounding
than a vintage counterpart. The Ram's Head

Price: $185 (list)
Info: www.stompunderfoot.com

Tone control also has a generous sweep, allowing for a variety of fuzz/distortion sounds,
from dark and smooth to old-school scratch.
With the SG switched over to the neck
pickup and the pedal's Tone control on the
darker side, the pedal's drive and sustain
were super-smooth with a singing musical
quality that allowed single notes to hang on
nicely, great for slow melodically phrasing. At
the bridge pickup and with the tone control
set on the brighter side, the tone was crisp
and biting with a nice articulate percussive
edge that wasn't too harsh. With the sustain
control set in the lower to middle range, the
pedal also worked well to add a bit of analog
lo-fi flavor to the amp's overdrive channel,
as well as sustain and percussive top-end.

SPLITTING
THE ATOM

it" Clean/Hot switch atop the
chassis.
The overtone-saturated
Atomic Jr. offered chimey
top-end, punchy round bass,
and thick perky midrange
responsive to pick and finger
attack. With the gain set to Hot,
the front end was easily tickled
into rich, harmonic overdrive.
In "Clean" the amp responded more traditionally, staying clean and crisp longer with the
midrange slightly pulled back yet still
thick with overtones.
The front end also played well
with an Ibanez TS9; the tone
remained lively with plenty of
that punchy midrange, but with
more drive and sustain. The
Tone control made quick work
of switching from bright singlecoils to darker humbuckers.

The Swart Atomic Jr.

W

hen Swart decided to split their Atomic
Jr. five-watt combo into a piggyback,
they not only went from an 8" speaker to a 12",
they added more speaker options, including
the Mojotone BV-25 and Celestion's Creamback 75, Cream Alnico, Anniversary, G12 Blue
(as tested), and Alnico Gold.
The resulting all-tube Atomic Jr. head
features an Electro-Harmonix 6V6GT power
tube, a JJ GZ34 rectifier tube (5Y3 also available), a JJ 12AX7 preamp tube, and a JJ 12DW7
for the reverb. Head and cab are finger-jointed
pine; the circuit is point-to-point hand-wired
with cloth-covered wire and uses CTS pots,
Switchcraft 1/4" jacks, American-built transformers, carbon comp resistors, and Mallory
capacitors. Controls are basic: Volume, Tone,
Space (reverb), and a hidden "set it and forget

A well-built, thoughtfully engineered
pedal with a smooth and full classic fuzz
tone, the Ram's Head offers up nice musicality and nearly endless sustain. Certainly a
worthy update of - and affordable alternative
to - the vintage classic. - Phil Feser

With the airy openness of the G12 Blue, the
amp's five watts still have plenty of horsepower,
but are manageable for studio and rehearsal
work. The reverb lives up to its "Space" moniker, with a long decay and slightly lo-fi tone
that can be dialed in from a light sprinkle to
a total drench.
With its cool space-age vibe, the Swart
Atomic Jr. piggyback is a versatile high-quality
amp with killer overtones and big spacious
reverb. - Phil Feser

Prices: $1,199 (head), $747
(cab, both list)
Info: www.swartamps.com

September 2017

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