It's no secret around here how much I love the Rams Head version of the classic BM circuit. To me it still has the really nice clarity and harmonics while keeping that great BM tone intact. It's lower gain, and more mid scooped than some other versions but it has a really nice "cut" I like in this fuzz tone.
I'm also a huge fan of these NOS "tin can" BC108's that I use in a few of my fuzzes including my Tym Bender, Creation Fuzz and my Violet Rams Head, among others.
While transistors don't make a huge difference to the tone in the BM circuit, they can make subtle differences in gain structures and harmonics. Component values and diodes make more of an overall difference to the tone in these circuits but these old BC108's have a really nice ... crackle around the edges of the distortion that I really like.
So, it seemed only natural to make my favourite BM circuit WITH my favourite transistors, right ?
The Violet Rams Head uses these BC's too but it has a different circuit that gives more pronounced mids and slightly higher gain. This gives the Violet a slightly "fuller" sound while keeping the Rams Head era tone fairly intact.
When I made 15 anniversary Big Muds a few years ago to celebrate 15 years in business, my obvious choice, for me, was a Rams Head but in that one I used "tin can" 2N2222's that I really liked but only had enough to make a very limited number of pedals.
These are similar in tone but the BC's have, as I've said on many occasions, a really nice edge to them that I really like.
So this makes my forth version of this BM circuit and they all have slightly different flavours. The original is based on my favourite Rams Head circuit, like all my BM versions and now has been issued with three different transistors while the Violet is a different circuit but still very similar and keeps that early to mid 70's RH tone intact.
This version has BC108 LOADED in the Rams Head logo and different knobs to differentiate it at a quick glance but uses the same custom circuit boards, hand made custom stainless steel enclosures and high quality components as used on all my effects.
I'm not sure if anyone will be interested in these over my standard Rams Head but I wanted to make this version for myself and thought I'd make five. If there's demand I will make more but if people want my standard and/or Violet, this may be it ?