Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Everyone needs a stompbox.

Which BOSS pedal gets closest to a Rat?

DS-1.
7
39%
Some other Boss offering that I’ll tell you about below.
4
22%
I’m gonna ignore the question and recommend a Rat or some other brand, because I like to show off.
7
39%
 
Total votes: 18

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JVG
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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by JVG » Sun Apr 18, 2021 12:37 am

Nice graphic. Not much going on in the natural/rough quadrant :o

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jorri
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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by jorri » Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:52 am

soggy mittens wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 11:38 pm


Consider the Rat natural and rough. xD

I would have said more metallic, definitely not natural, but not as in 'heavy metal scoop' but 'it sounds like hitting two pieces of metal together, or if you use the other half of the filter like hearing music with pillows on the side of your head.

Perhaps boss has released pedals that fit outside the graphic though, i don't even know what a Mega Distortion or Dyna Drive or Xtortion is. I know the classic SD, BD, DS, HM but they have so many. Power Stack is a compact pedal ST-2 and things like Dyna Drive, or .

I just wonder why 'all Boss' though if you just want a Rat- for a museum?

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by JVG » Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 am

jorri wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:52 am
I just wonder why 'all Boss' though if you just want a Rat- for a museum?
I did say at the start that it was a somewhat indulgent project :)

In the non-Boss world i have a couple of Rat-style pedals that I’m extremely happy with: a Jam Rattler and Arc Effects Soothsayer. I keep trying to get rid of one of them but can never decide which i like better!

So i really don’t need to do the Boss thing, it’s just a bit of fun and probably partly driven by nostalgia. I’m at that age i guess.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by charmonder » Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:21 am

the boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by jorri » Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:40 am

JVG wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 am
jorri wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:52 am
I just wonder why 'all Boss' though if you just want a Rat- for a museum?
I did say at the start that it was a somewhat indulgent project :)

In the non-Boss world i have a couple of Rat-style pedals that I’m extremely happy with: a Jam Rattler and Arc Effects Soothsayer. I keep trying to get rid of one of them but can never decide which i like better!

So i really don’t need to do the Boss thing, it’s just a bit of fun and probably partly driven by nostalgia. I’m at that age i guess.
Aye, but i may be tempted to fullfill the 3rd poll option if given the choice ;)
charmonder wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:21 am
the boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.
Thats just an 'every overdrive' layout and doesnt feature some of the rat hallmarks like hard clipping to ground or extreme 'bandwidth' caps.. Its more like a tubescreamer with assymetric diodes really.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by charmonder » Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:51 am

charmonder wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:21 am
the boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.
Thats just an 'every overdrive' layout and doesnt feature some of the rat hallmarks like hard clipping to ground or extreme 'bandwidth' caps.. Its more like a tubescreamer with assymetric diodes really.
[/quote]

the bottom yes, but the top is the distortion part

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by fuzzjunkie » Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:48 am

JVG wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 am
jorri wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 4:52 am
I just wonder why 'all Boss' though if you just want a Rat- for a museum?
I did say at the start that it was a somewhat indulgent project :)

In the non-Boss world i have a couple of Rat-style pedals that I’m extremely happy with: a Jam Rattler and Arc Effects Soothsayer. I keep trying to get rid of one of them but can never decide which i like better!

So i really don’t need to do the Boss thing, it’s just a bit of fun and probably partly driven by nostalgia. I’m at that age i guess.
You should have picked OG Ibanez instead of Boss!

Then you could have had the Ibanez Fat Cat. The Fat Cat is one of the earliest attempts at a Rat clone.

You’d also be able to put a Tube Screamer or Sonic Distortion on your board. (Pro tip: pick the SD-9)

Not to mention the AD-9 Analog Delay, which is better than any delay that has the Boss name on it.

The Compressor, Phaser and Chorus options are as good as anything Boss put out, so a draw there. Boss wins the Flanger, Tremolo and Reverb section of the game though.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by ElephantDNA » Sun Apr 18, 2021 3:32 pm

Sonic dist been on my list forever. Right now using tech 21 OMG in that slot but kind of want to try sonic distortion at some point. I think as far as boss you need to find some of these more obscure offerings. They have a whole series of amp in a box I think one can get you there (as I said above I think power stack is the Marshall one).

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by jorri » Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 pm

charmonder wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:51 am
charmonder wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:21 am
the boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.
Thats just an 'every overdrive' layout and doesnt feature some of the rat hallmarks like hard clipping to ground or extreme 'bandwidth' caps.. Its more like a tubescreamer with assymetric diodes really.
the bottom yes, but the top is the distortion part
[/quote]

True true i didnt look at that. Wonder if value changes make it non-ratty still. A bit of those bandwidth resistors taming the treble. Could be OP's answer?_ cant be in two places on 'the compass'

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:23 pm

jorri wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 pm
True true i didnt look at that. Wonder if value changes make it non-ratty still. A bit of those bandwidth resistors taming the treble. Could be OP's answer?_ cant be in two places on 'the compass'
I can imagine they might tame the EQ profile a bit, but if JVG's serious about an all-Boss board they should really have a GE-7. If the internal layout and behavior is similar, it's not super difficult to massage the EQ in before and after the OS-2 to get pretty close.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by JVG » Sun Apr 18, 2021 10:05 pm

jorri wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:40 am
Aye, but i may be tempted to fullfill the 3rd poll option if given the choice ;)
Hehe absolutely!

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:48 am
You should have picked OG Ibanez instead of Boss!
Then you could have had the Ibanez Fat Cat. The Fat Cat is one of the earliest attempts at a Rat clone.
You’d also be able to put a Tube Screamer or Sonic Distortion on your board. (Pro tip: pick the SD-9)
Not to mention the AD-9 Analog Delay, which is better than any delay that has the Boss name on it.
The Compressor, Phaser and Chorus options are as good as anything Boss put out, so a draw there. Boss wins the Flanger, Tremolo and Reverb section of the game though.
Don’t give me ideas. My hobby is expensive enough as it is!

HarlowTheFish wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:23 pm
I can imagine they might tame the EQ profile a bit, but if JVG's serious about an all-Boss board they should really have a GE-7. If the internal layout and behavior is similar, it's not super difficult to massage the EQ in before and after the OS-2 to get pretty close.
I do indeed have a GE-7, complete with the cork-sniffer mods!

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by jorri » Mon Apr 19, 2021 4:16 am

HarlowTheFish wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:23 pm
jorri wrote:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 pm
True true i didnt look at that. Wonder if value changes make it non-ratty still. A bit of those bandwidth resistors taming the treble. Could be OP's answer?_ cant be in two places on 'the compass'
I can imagine they might tame the EQ profile a bit, but if JVG's serious about an all-Boss board they should really have a GE-7. If the internal layout and behavior is similar, it's not super difficult to massage the EQ in before and after the OS-2 to get pretty close.
Could work if its just a ballpark estimate and pre-eq is just flexible anyway. These parts of a circuit are somewhere in the middle, deciding what frequencies to overload op amps with a feedback loop. Neither pre or post but it looks like there are pre/post changes too.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by kgbAttack » Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:18 am

I never had a regular Rat, but I have had a Keeley DS-1 and a Turbo RAT and I never thought they'd get close at all. Both are not on my board anymore - I ended up parting ways with the DS-1 after all - I will hold onto the RAT, however.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by sunburster » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:24 am

I recently got a Boss OD-2r (only cost me 50 bucks) and in Turbo mode it sounds close enough to my Turbo RAT that I took the latter off my board. Now I run the OD-2r into a Big Ear Woodcutter (awesome whiteface RAT clone) and this combo serves all my needs.

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Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?

Post by Mr.K » Wed Apr 21, 2021 12:21 am

Jazzmastervsjaguar wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 5:43 am
Boss MZ-2 is pretty much the closest thing to a rat that Boss made. Mode I is analog distortion without all of the modulation settings.
Bought one of these recently but haven't gotten the chance to get down to our practice space and try it out. Heard that it was a good Rat substitute from a number of sources so I'm quite excited.

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