Which Rat....?????

Everyone needs a stompbox.
Post Reply
User avatar
soggy mittens
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2086
Joined: Fri May 02, 2014 2:08 am
Location: middle of somewhere

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by soggy mittens » Fri Aug 30, 2019 6:14 pm

Image

'98-'99 rat2 - my first pedal, always liked it but was always sad about the lack of low end. At the time I could choose between this and the russian big muff and wish I got the muff. But these days I'm glad I went down the rat path. Hasn't been on my board for 15 years tho.

Mooer - used this for a number of years and it is tight but lacks even more low end and is super noisy. Looks better than it sounds. xD

turbo 2003 - on my board now, super tight in the low and actually has enough low end to shut me up about it. This is the rat tonz I love.

turbo 1991 - flabby and hollow. maybe it was just this pedal or this period but yeah I (kinda regretfully) flipped it. It did do the radiohead the bends tone faithfully tho.
If OSG has tort me anything...

User avatar
budda12ax7
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 6795
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:04 pm
Location: Mean Streets of OC

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by budda12ax7 » Sat Aug 31, 2019 11:27 am

Interesting about the 2003 turbo....will look into it.

User avatar
August
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:18 pm

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by August » Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:37 pm

Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:46 pm
Gavanti wrote:
Sat Mar 09, 2019 12:40 pm
This one for me. I love the way Aaron tunes these, and the clipping options and dual gain range switch make it super versatile:
Image
I had one of these and I could have had a bad apple, but I was so disappointed. The backstory is that I loved my cheapo rat 2 and used it for a lot of medium gain work. However, i sold because I was “upgrading” to the soothsayer. I got the soothsayer in and it felt like the versatility went out the window. It went from no gain to full on distortion. I tried all the dip switches in the back with different configurations and I couldn’t get it to tame to my taste. Is this pedal just full on heavy all the time in your experience?
This was precisely the issue I had with my early Arc "Woodcutter"—too much gain/rawk all the time, and I'm not a fan of the OD mod setting. My BYOC (mini) Mouse has been the best so far at low-medium gain, which is how I use it most.

User avatar
Shadoweclipse13
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 12435
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:22 pm
Location: Stuck in the dimension of imagination

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:24 pm

ga20t wrote:
Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:37 pm
This was precisely the issue I had with my early Arc "Woodcutter"—too much gain/rawk all the time, and I'm not a fan of the OD mod setting. My BYOC (mini) Mouse has been the best so far at low-medium gain, which is how I use it most.
That's interesting. I got a RAT-style pedal (Soothsayer) because I wanted that sound for the high-er gain stuff that I do. I never realized until recently that the Soothsayer doesn't do low-gain all that well for me. When the Lonely Robot I ordered came, I A-B'ed the Soothsayer against the Lonely Robot and I was blown away by how muddy the Soothsayer sounded in comparison. Unless I decide to keep the Soothsayer for bass, I may be selling it soon, which is something I never thought I'd do :ph34r:
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

User avatar
August
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:18 pm

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by August » Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:07 am

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:24 pm
ga20t wrote:
Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:37 pm
This was precisely the issue I had with my early Arc "Woodcutter"—too much gain/rawk all the time, and I'm not a fan of the OD mod setting. My BYOC (mini) Mouse has been the best so far at low-medium gain, which is how I use it most.
That's interesting. I got a RAT-style pedal (Soothsayer) because I wanted that sound for the high-er gain stuff that I do. I never realized until recently that the Soothsayer doesn't do low-gain all that well for me. When the Lonely Robot I ordered came, I A-B'ed the Soothsayer against the Lonely Robot and I was blown away by how muddy the Soothsayer sounded in comparison. Unless I decide to keep the Soothsayer for bass, I may be selling it soon, which is something I never thought I'd do :ph34r:
I liked the character of the distortion, but overall it was just too aggressive and loud for how I would personally use it.

I very recently picked up a Barber Gain Changer... it's actually been doing the low/medium/more gain thing better than my old LM308... It nails everything I love about the RAT, only with much more control and useable range... I was quite surprised as I've never seen them mentioned together and that's not why I bought it at all. Happy accident.

User avatar
tdbajus
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1057
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:09 am
Location: Back in Brooklyn
Contact:

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by tdbajus » Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:34 pm

ga20t wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:07 am
I very recently picked up a Barber Gain Changer... it's actually been doing the low/medium/more gain thing better than my old LM308... It nails everything I love about the RAT, only with much more control and useable range... I was quite surprised as I've never seen them mentioned together and that's not why I bought it at all. Happy accident.
Is it also an LM308 based circuit?

Does anyone make basically a Rat, but with a better tone control? I hate that low pass filter- there's either too much or too little treble, but never the right amount.

User avatar
August
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:18 pm

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by August » Thu Sep 12, 2019 1:38 pm

tdbajus wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:34 pm
ga20t wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:07 am
I very recently picked up a Barber Gain Changer... it's actually been doing the low/medium/more gain thing better than my old LM308... It nails everything I love about the RAT, only with much more control and useable range... I was quite surprised as I've never seen them mentioned together and that's not why I bought it at all. Happy accident.
Is it also an LM308 based circuit?

Does anyone make basically a Rat, but with a better tone control? I hate that low pass filter- there's either too much or too little treble, but never the right amount.
To my knowledge it's got nothing to do with the RAT circuit, nor does it claim to. But I think it might have finally displaced my RAT.

User avatar
Shadoweclipse13
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 12435
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:22 pm
Location: Stuck in the dimension of imagination

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:58 pm

ga20t wrote:
Thu Sep 12, 2019 11:07 am
I liked the character of the distortion, but overall it was just too aggressive and loud for how I would personally use it.
I think you'd like the Lonely Robot. It's got separate controls for the bass and treble, but it's got two really unique controls: EQ and clip. Clip seems to be a compression control (more compressed clockwise, less compressed and a bit louder counterclockwise), and EQ changes the overall feel of the gain (clockwise more gain and a bit clearer/trebly-er, counterclockwise less gain and a bit muddier). I tend to like things clear (high treble) but with decent bass response, and the amount of control on this thing is really cool. Never thought I'd hear a RAT that clear.
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

Chip Korea
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 130
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:18 am
Location: London, England

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by Chip Korea » Thu Sep 19, 2019 12:46 pm

Not sure if this adds anything to anything....

I've recently done some rat research prior to buying my first one.

From what I can make out "woodcutter" was a builder at Proco and there is no reason to believe that his will be any better or worse than others. The LM308 chip makes no audible difference to the cheaper modern alternative chip.

I wanted an LM308 one so it'd be easier to sell on - ended up buying a modern rat, modded to an LM308 chip and with a toggle switch to switch to turbo rat mode. The turbo rat option is much louder (ie better!), not spent enough time with the pedal to say anything more.

User avatar
Jaguar018
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 8045
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:48 am
Location: Burbs of Washington DC

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Sep 23, 2019 7:31 am

Chip Korea wrote:
Thu Sep 19, 2019 12:46 pm
Not sure if this adds anything to anything....

I've recently done some rat research prior to buying my first one.

From what I can make out "woodcutter" was a builder at Proco and there is no reason to believe that his will be any better or worse than others. The LM308 chip makes no audible difference to the cheaper modern alternative chip.

I wanted an LM308 one so it'd be easier to sell on - ended up buying a modern rat, modded to an LM308 chip and with a toggle switch to switch to turbo rat mode. The turbo rat option is much louder (ie better!), not spent enough time with the pedal to say anything more.
There is a person on The Gear Page with the user name of "It's a Rat!" or something, and he works or worked at ProCo. He chimes in with neat info all the time. I have read that same thing. Some of the people working there would 'sign' their pedals. I've had a number of Rats over the years, and to me it's just random parts chemistry. Sometimes one pedal with the same components will sound a little 'better,' but that is probably mostly due to random parts values and subjective interpretation. People claiming that Woodcutter-built pedals really sound better are probably just trying to make an extra few bucks off them.

User avatar
s_mcsleazy
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 18423
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:30 am
Location: glasgow

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by s_mcsleazy » Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:49 am

so how do people feel about running boost pedals into rats? i've been doing it for years now and i really enjoy it.
offset guitars resident bass player.
'Are you trying to seduce me Mrs Robinson? Or do you just want me to solder a couple of resistors into your Muff?'

User avatar
Maggieo
Expat
Expat
Posts: 13446
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:36 am
Location: Nebraska, USA
Contact:

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by Maggieo » Mon Sep 23, 2019 12:48 pm

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:49 am
so how do people feel about running boost pedals into rats? i've been doing it for years now and i really enjoy it.
I'm going to have to try that!
“Now I am quietly waiting for/ the catastrophe of my personality/ to seem beautiful again.”- Frank O'Hara
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.

User avatar
panoramic
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 16926
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:09 pm
Location: baltimore, md.

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by panoramic » Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:46 pm

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:49 am
so how do people feel about running boost pedals into rats? i've been doing it for years now and i really enjoy it.
I've never gotten down with using boosts though I have tried about 5 times now. Boosts are just not for me
I used to be cool, now I just complain about prices.

User avatar
Jaguar018
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 8045
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:48 am
Location: Burbs of Washington DC

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Sep 23, 2019 6:42 pm

I always put OD/tube screamers/klons before Rats, but never as a boost.

User avatar
Ceylon
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 3280
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:27 am
Location: Middle of the Baltic Sea

Re: Which Rat....?????

Post by Ceylon » Sat Oct 12, 2019 5:27 am

Does anyone have both a "real" Rat and an EHX Flatiron? I'm curious to know how the latter one compares since they're meant to be based on some variety of Rats.
Science Friction burns my fingers
Electricity still lingers

Post Reply