Let's talk about Rats.

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JSett
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by JSett » Thu Oct 06, 2022 12:30 am

GreenKnee wrote:
Thu Oct 06, 2022 12:12 am
I think with enough tweaking of the tone stack and amp you can get it to work nicely when recording as well, but it means scrambling your settings from what you would use in a live mix. Also double tracking with a fat clean/breakup tone to make up for the Rat's shortcomings helps quite a bit.

Monster by REM has Rat all over it and it sounds great (to my ears)
There's as many knobs on my amp as there are on a Rat so scrambling settings is not an issue - and I normally adjust them all depending on the room anyway. My band always track live and then maybe add some second guitar layers on choruses afterwards for some extra girth.

Monster does's indeed sound great...but a very different sound to what we have. I think the amp will sound better recorded just goosed a little more in the front end tbh. Maybe I'll just pick up a cheap Timmy clone and use that to just get more of the amp itself.
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by GreenKnee » Thu Oct 06, 2022 12:51 am

johnnysomersett wrote:
Thu Oct 06, 2022 12:30 am
Sounds like a plan. I recorded an album earlier this year and found that really reigning in the gain of my pedals but upping the volume from my board in to the amp (I have a KTR at the end of my chain set as a clean boost) gave me the best results, heavy sounding but clear. I have a Keeley Filaments as my highest gain sound but now the gain knob lives down at just above minimum. A Rat set at that lovely low gain OD sound boosted up to squash the preamp a fair bit will sound glorious, I'm sure!

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JSett
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by JSett » Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:00 am

Indeed, I never run my gain all that high on the Rat anyway (it has the Ruetz mod anyway so is lower than usual by design). We'll see. We were supposed to record this Sunday just passed but 2 of us got sick so I have some extra time to work things out
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sal paradise
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by sal paradise » Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:44 am

A TS style pedal with more eq options is probably the easy answer. You can use it to tighten, boost & shape.

Last recording I did in a studio, can’t remember which pedal it was- it took my Tele & a bad cat from sounding weirdly off to some of the best tones I’ve ever had.
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by JSett » Fri Oct 07, 2022 10:32 pm

I went out on a cheap limb and spanked £28 on the Timmy clone "Pure Sky" (which is a fucking terrible name).

Image

Honestly? This thing sounds fucking great :D :D :D
I do wish it had a battery clip inside though as I don't use a board apart from at home.
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by marqueemoon » Fri Oct 07, 2022 11:34 pm

johnnysomersett wrote:
Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:11 pm
Here's a question for my fellow Rat enthusiasts: we all know the Rat is king of a live mix pushing a hot amp (what it was designed for really) but, in a recording situation, often doesn't sound the best - unless you want that thrash grind of course. What would be a good alternative that mixes better in a recording situation? Just a good 'transparent' overdrive?

It'll always be my go-to for playing on a stage but it has left me wanting a little in the tracking department.
I’m a big clean boost fan. Often that little push and extra harmonic content are enough to get a track to pop.

One of my favorite recording techniques for rhythm is to layer a Rat or a fuzz track under the main cleaner track. Sometimes l’ll play the dirty track chords in other voicings.

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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by marqueemoon » Fri Oct 07, 2022 11:34 pm

Dubble post
Last edited by marqueemoon on Sat Oct 08, 2022 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by s_mcsleazy » Sat Oct 08, 2022 3:19 am

i have my rat set before saturation point so i can then kick it past that point with a booster.
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by sal paradise » Sat Oct 08, 2022 4:56 am

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Sat Oct 08, 2022 3:19 am
i have my rat set before saturation point so i can then kick it past that point with a booster.
This sounds like a great thing to try! Low gain rat is my new favourite thing. No wonder I never really got the sound I wanted before- I was hoping to get all my 90s tones just by turning the gain up.

Reallllly tempted to seek out a jcm900 just to see what happens when I use a rat to boost light gain on the amp 8)
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by marqueemoon » Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:21 am

Yeah. With lower gain and a cooking amp you just use the filter control to tame the high end shrillness/fizz.

I like a darker amp and to get brightness from guitar and pedals.

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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by sal paradise » Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:31 am

marqueemoon wrote:
Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:21 am

I like a darker amp and to get brightness from guitar and pedals.
Did I say jcm900? May as well save a few extra £ and get myself an 800 :?
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by s_mcsleazy » Sat Oct 08, 2022 3:17 pm

sal paradise wrote:
Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:31 am
marqueemoon wrote:
Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:21 am

I like a darker amp and to get brightness from guitar and pedals.
Did I say jcm900? May as well save a few extra £ and get myself an 800 :?
honestly, if you must get an 800, the combo's can still be found from time to time for like 1/3rd of the price of the head.
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by sal paradise » Sat Oct 08, 2022 9:00 pm

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Sat Oct 08, 2022 3:17 pm
sal paradise wrote:
Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:31 am
marqueemoon wrote:
Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:21 am

I like a darker amp and to get brightness from guitar and pedals.
Did I say jcm900? May as well save a few extra £ and get myself an 800 :?
honestly, if you must get an 800, the combo's can still be found from time to time for like 1/3rd of the price of the head.
TBH, I’ve been hoping to pick up a SC20 head 2nd hand for a while now. That seems the most sensible 800 option rather than 2204/2205. Unless I started collecting amps, then I’d also get me a JMP too. And some Fenders. Not likely to have thousands to waste on amps anytime soon.
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by hulakatt » Sun Oct 09, 2022 1:12 am

Take a look into the Redbear/Novik MK60/120 or MKE60/120. The RedBear amps were built by Novik for Gibson in the 90's and they're basically handwired jcm800 clones. The MKE series has effects loops while the MK series does not. Both were offered in 60 watts or 120 watts. They sound pretty damn good and are still available new from Novik.
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Re: Let's talk about Rats.

Post by JSett » Sun Oct 09, 2022 1:58 am

I've had a couple of 800s. They're great amps, and the sound is 'that' sound, but loud as fucking balls. The 50w versions are rarer but easier to tame....if I was in the market for one it'd be one of those
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