Black Mass Electronics shrinks its versatile The First Herald Ram's Head Muff Style Extended Range Fuzz into more pedalboard-friendly compact enclosure

I’m already a big fan of Black Mass Electronics - and really rate their Missionary Fuzz V2 and 1312 Distortion V3 (Rat) pedals which of course I have already. The only pedal I have left to acquire in order to complete my Black Mass Trifecta is Kaden Valdivieso’s ’73 Ram’s Head Big Muff type First Herald. I have quite a few medium-enclosure Big Muff pedals already - so I’m not averse to that size - while readers will know that I have a massive preference for pedals in compact enclosures.

So the new format of The First Herald is really a win-win situation for me!

Controls - Volume, Tone, Scoop, Sustain, Clip : Mosfet + LED / Diode Lift / Silicon Diodes, Boost Level.

This is very obviously an extended range Muff style Fuzz - based on the ’73 Ram’s Head variant - where we have 6 controls here compared to the usual classic Big Muff 3 knobs for Volume, Tone and Sustain.

The First Herald has an additional Mids Scoop knob which dialled down gives you a full-frequency output, while you dial it up for the traditional Muff scooped mids. The central Clipping Options Toggle gives you 3-way playback action - Mosfet + LED / Diode Lift / Silicon Diodes.

And finally you have a Boost level control in conjunction with the second Boost Footswitch - to really ramp up the level and aggression. I have around 70+ Muffs in my collection now, and some of the vintage ones are relatively low output - so a boost is a really good call; I also intentionally seek out Muffs with additional Mids controls - as the traditional scooped frequency profile can sound quite weak in a band mix - and I like being able to tweak the Mids response.

So the addition of Scoop, Clipping and Boost really allows you to power up through the gears and fine-tune exactly what sort of Ram’s Head Muff style output you want.

All of Kaden’s pedals are really well thought-out high quality builds - and I’m really looking forward to completing my Black Mass Trifecta. The First Herald comes in Royal Blue and Charcoal Colourways - where I would be quite happy with either - still deciding on my personal preference!

I’m just waiting for these to come into stock at good friend Andy Birkitt’s Break The Machine - where I will be getting mine from. They’re priced at $189 on the Black Mass Electronics Webstore - so will likely be somewhere around or just south of £180 in the UK.

It’s not like I really need yet another Big Muff - but I really like Kaden’s work - so this is pretty much a must-have for me - and particularly in this format.

I’m told that this is the exact same circuit and same components / values as the previous larger version - it’s really just been shrunk down to a more pedalboard-friendly format. Actually - I’m not sure where the previous Fuzz/Boost order toggle has gone - that may be the only change! So I can quite happily reference the previous version’s demos, alongside just one new one for this recent format update. Do note that there may not be an order switch on this edition - unless it’s internal or concealed somewhere around the sides of the pedal!

UPDATE! - Actually the order switch is flush on the left edge of the enclosure - one of those slider-switches - meaning this is indeed exactly the same as the larger predecessor in every way - while Kaden notes that most people have it permanently set Boost > Fuzz anyway!

How many of you are Black Mass Electronics fans too?