Tell me about the RAT.

[CliffBass]

I had their Juggernaut for bass. I thought it blew chunks, in a bad way. It wasn't that aggressive and sounded like a tone control gone REALLY bad. I owned it for about 6 months and kept trying to find good tones out of it but never could, sold it on evilbay. I've heard good things about modified rats for bass but have never played one. They could rock for guitar.

[ohsojayadeva]

i have heard that there is a LOT of variation in parts & quality, so you have to try as many different ones as you can before finding a gem. that being said, i've never owned one, but have used 2, and thought they sounded pretty close. it's an interesting sound, overdrive, but still kind of fuzzy. the filter control can get quite harsh, if you're into that.

it's a good thing to have around as part of an arsenal of dirt pedals. i'm actually a bit surprised i've never gotten around to buying one myself.

[metalmariachi]

I have one from the '80s, and gave my son a vintage Rat a few years back.
It's a very nice distortion for guitar, very '80s sounding.

They are a bit bright for bass, but can get fairly dark with a guitar.

The filter works backwards, clock wise is darker. Oops your tone controls work the same way so it would be normal to you.

They are more versatile and better sounding than a DS-1.

Tons of mods out there to make them darker, diode switching etc.


MM

[McSpunckle]

I have a new Rat 2. One of the Chinese ones.

It can get fuzzy, in a bad way. And it's a bit of a low-end sucker. But it works fantastically for a light overdrive.

There's a mod out there where you clip a resistor and it cuts the gain and boosts the low end. Unfortunately, I did that and it sucked... I don't see anyone finding it useful. But... apparently lots of people do.

Anyways, it's great for modding, if nothing else. I think when I get around to it, it'll be a seriously awesome sounding distortion box.


For what it's worth, though, I thought it worked great infront of a Crate Powerblock into a bass cab with guitar... so it may be my setup producing the not-so-good high gain sound.

[Pirate]

Yeah the new chinese ones arent too good sounding.Try to find an 80s big box RAT.The prices on ebay are pretty high,so maybe just get a new one and mod it.

EDIT:Oh you already bought it?Make sure it has the LM308 in it then.

[dorfmeister]

This site will be of great assistance:

History of the Rat

http://webpages.charter.net/daosmun/

[dorfmeister]

Rat Lounge

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/sho ... ?t=1546741

[dorfmeister]

Mods the the BYOC Mighty Mouse (Rat Clone)

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/FKR ... rMouse.gif

[dorfmeister]

Beavis FKR

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/FKR/

[pablo9000]

Are you talking about the Rat in your brain? I put that there so I can control you by remote, whilst you sleep.

[dronemachine]

Hey Devi!
I only have experience w/older rats...And I am the owner of the turbo version,which I prefer for darker sound,more guts and more gain.
Rats are classic rock/indie rock/noise rock/blues rock pedals that cut thru mix w/authority and last for decades.
People often compare the sound of rat pedals to the noise of bands like Sonic Youth,Yo La Tengo,Spacemen 3,Spiritualized,Pixies,Smashing Pumpkins and even legends like Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour and Black Sabbath...(I guess it depends on the setup!).

The bonus thing,for me,is that they sound great in feedback loops,just as you described it-theremin like sounds.More interesting than big muff ,but
that's just my opinion...good luck and have fun!

[metalmariachi]

I just picked up a used Rat II today.

this thread got me thinking about mods, and walked into a music store and there one was.

Well it ain't like the '80s version, so I'm going to do some mods to get more low end through, diode switching, and some tweaks to the neg feed back circuit to give it more resonance.
Never could figure out why designers of distortion pedals would put neg feed back circuits, (used to decrease distortion in amps), and then add diodes for clipping.

I'll let you know how out turns out.

MM

[jrmy]

Nice! The guitar player from one of my favorite old college bands used two Rats exclusively as his pedals... he had them bolted to each other, so it was almost like a double-Rat. I believe that he was playing a Les Paul into the Rats into a Sovtek head. Whatever the setup was, he could get howling walls of feeback out of that setup. I used to love my Rat for overdrive sounds... I have a Turbo Rat modded for better low-end. Maybe it's time to revisit...

[Antero]

The last three or four times I've heard a really cool distortion sound at a show and thought "Oh damn! What's that?" it turned out to be a RAT.

[jrmy]

Yah, that was me! The band in question was Cordelia's Dad - they were kind of a schizo band: the singer/guitar player was an ethnomusicoligist who'd started off in hardcore bands, so their repertoire was split between acoustic appalachian folk songs and heavy electric reinterpretations of the same. I know a lot of people who hated them, because they were really into the weird & dissonant stuff that most people dont think of when they hear the word "folk." But the folks who loved 'em really loved 'em. Their hometown shows were some of the best live shows I've ever seen, hands down.

Can't find a vid of them w/the Sovtek, but here's a clip of them playing w/a Marshall (I think it was a rental). Sadly, as always with live vids, the sound doesn't do the real thing justice. Now I have to dig out mah CDs... but the point: Rat (and double Rat) + Sovtek = teh awesome!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZBu4EgiYMk[/youtube]