The RAT Thread
- Thread starter SubApathy
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SubApathy
Groupie
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Yes! Any and all RAT derivatives.
Spaced Out Ace
Roadie
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I'd rather try to capture those Extreme/Nuno Bettencourt tones personally. That sound was killer.
Spaced Out Ace
Roadie
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I have two PackRats. They kick ass. I also have two Bonsais.Never owned a Rat, so I decided to pick up a JHS Pack Rat to see which one I liked best and maybe go down that variant's rabbit role, but nah, I'm good with this...
My list of Rat types:
ProCo Turbo Rat (Sold; almost but not cigar)
ProCo You Dirty Rat (Sold; didn't care for it)
ProCo Deucetone Rat (Love it)
GuitarPCB Ratt Deluxe in a Rat box (it was really thin sounding and not all that Rat esque anymore)
VFE Alpha Dog (I had three, and sold them unfortunately; I needed the money)
68 Pedals Landgraff MO'D clone (sold; it was great, but there was a quality somewhere in the upper mids or treble region that I didn't care for)
JHS PackRat (I have two, they are great; I use the Big Box, White Face, and Brat modes mostly, but liked the JHS and Landgraff modes some as well)
JHS/StewMac All American (I think I had two at one point; tried to like it, but the sweep knob was way too drastic on one of them at least, so it'd get super bassy and scooped, sort of like a neck pickup in a 22 fret guitar with the tone knob at 0)
I'm sure I've had others, but they escape me at the moment.
Spaced Out Ace
Roadie
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I have two, and find them different enough to want one set to TS10 mode, and the other set to either Strong, Keeley, 9, or 808 modes. Sometimes I'll even set one to the TS7 hot mode and boost it with the Bonsai before that.Yeah my experience with Bonsai is most of the modes can be dialed in similarly, (there are a couple unique modes but I don’t think you go to those for TS tones) but I inevitably just park it in 808 mode, and wonder why I didn’t just buy a normal TS for half the price.
Spaced Out Ace
Roadie
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Any other Rats that I, as a Rat fan, should try out? I am not really a fan of the doom/stoner metal Rat as a fuzz thing a lot go for, so keep that in mind. I like it more as a 70s/80s distortion pedal.
An aside, but I'd love it if JHS quit fucking around and did a Bonsai/Muffuletta/PackRat version of the 250/MXR D+/Micro Amp/Ross Distortion circuit.
An aside, but I'd love it if JHS quit fucking around and did a Bonsai/Muffuletta/PackRat version of the 250/MXR D+/Micro Amp/Ross Distortion circuit.
SillyOctpuss
Shredder
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- 1,080
Quite a few of the Bjorn Juhl drive pedals are very loosely based on the Rat circuit.
Cirrus
Roadie
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- 286
I like Rats with my AC30s. I've had one Chinese one, four USA Rat 2s, a Big Box Rat, a Turbo, a Hartman LM308 and a Mooer Black Secret over the years. Once the gain's over about 9:30 I don't think there's a big difference between them. But, for the low gain stuff I like Rats for, I find them quite variable - some are thin sounding, others have a nice full sound with the gain a hair below 9:00.
There are a couple of capacitor/resistor pairs that set the frequency of two stacked high shelf boosts, and they can be +/- 20% which makes a difference at the low gain settings. One boost might start at 700hz, whereas it's 500hz on a different Rat.
I built a clone that does it for me for low gain, really easy to dial in the range between 0 gain and where it gets saturated. I used a pot to find the right resistance value to put in one of the sensitive spots that sets the boost frequency, and honestly I think it out-tubescreamers a tubescreamer - tight bass, interesting mids, but less compressed and more open up top. More recently I bought a '95 Rat a year ago that was too thin, and just last month picked up a '90 Rat which is nicer.
So yeah, I like Rats.
There are a couple of capacitor/resistor pairs that set the frequency of two stacked high shelf boosts, and they can be +/- 20% which makes a difference at the low gain settings. One boost might start at 700hz, whereas it's 500hz on a different Rat.
I built a clone that does it for me for low gain, really easy to dial in the range between 0 gain and where it gets saturated. I used a pot to find the right resistance value to put in one of the sensitive spots that sets the boost frequency, and honestly I think it out-tubescreamers a tubescreamer - tight bass, interesting mids, but less compressed and more open up top. More recently I bought a '95 Rat a year ago that was too thin, and just last month picked up a '90 Rat which is nicer.
So yeah, I like Rats.
Sascha Franck
Rock Star
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Got a TC Magus Pro on my board. Will go nowhere any day soon as it's covering a lot of ground. Offers classic, fat and turbo mode, ranging from old fashioned lower drive stuff (well, not really low, but a kinda grainy drive when you turn gain down) to classic distortion to pretty much fuzzy. Great form factor, I/O on top (which I just love) and seems to be built decently. Decent price as well (€78 new, got mine for €50 used in mint condition).
the swede
Shredder
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- 1,180
Filter is key. The truth about why this works so well and why it’s a really good pedal, is that anyone (admittedly or not) will turn that knob to dial in their guitar and amp combination. Done.
Brilliant. It kinda renders 90% (just made that up…) of all elaborate drive pedal designs obsolete (made this up to). Simply, can’t go wrong with a Rat.
(But there’s still some truth to it… take that drive pedal nerds)
Brilliant. It kinda renders 90% (just made that up…) of all elaborate drive pedal designs obsolete (made this up to). Simply, can’t go wrong with a Rat.
(But there’s still some truth to it… take that drive pedal nerds)
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The Swede KnowsTM
GreatGreen
Roadie
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- 166
Nuno has said that the way he uses it is pretty subtle. Basically he sets the Drive as low as he can and really just uses the pedal's natural filtering to tighten up his sound a bit.
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- 303
Got my first RAT a couple years ago. Started playing guitar in the early 80's. Don't know why I passed up on the RAT all these decades, and whenever I'd see a RAT ad in Guitar For The Practicing Musician mag, I always associated it with the band RATT (now, we have the internet to find out things).
Apart from the clipping, it does a wonderful thing EQ-wise in the upper mids that brings out clarity and even "pokey percussive-ness" (see Nuno muted legato lines).
Anyways, I dig it both as the source of distortion (say in front of my '66 Fender Deluxe; ignore the cheesy singing):
...and as a boost, but very slight, like Nuno - and speaking of Nuno, here's my RAT in front of my ADA MP-1:
Apart from the clipping, it does a wonderful thing EQ-wise in the upper mids that brings out clarity and even "pokey percussive-ness" (see Nuno muted legato lines).
Anyways, I dig it both as the source of distortion (say in front of my '66 Fender Deluxe; ignore the cheesy singing):
...and as a boost, but very slight, like Nuno - and speaking of Nuno, here's my RAT in front of my ADA MP-1:
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Spaced Out Ace
Roadie
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SillyOctpuss
Shredder
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EOengineer
Roadie
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- 828
I’ve owned the 90s big box reissue for 15 years and have a soft spot for it. When I first started playing around with overdrive long ago, my neighbor let me borrow his OG 80s Rat. It was my first taste of distortion. Blew my mind.
I love how it can be a boost, OD, distortion, and Fuzz while doing it all well. I’ve always appreciated how it has some of the Marshall kerrang.
LPT - boost a dual rec with a Rat. The kerrang in the upper mids and top does things. Unforgivable things. Things your wife won’t do.
I love how it can be a boost, OD, distortion, and Fuzz while doing it all well. I’ve always appreciated how it has some of the Marshall kerrang.
LPT - boost a dual rec with a Rat. The kerrang in the upper mids and top does things. Unforgivable things. Things your wife won’t do.
