Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
- JVG
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 1422
- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:54 pm
- Location: Sydney, Straya
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
Nice graphic. Not much going on in the natural/rough quadrant
- jorri
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 3048
- Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 1:53 am
- Location: bath, UK
- Contact:
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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?
- JVG
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 1422
- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:54 pm
- Location: Sydney, Straya
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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.
- charmonder
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 66
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:45 am
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
the boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.
- jorri
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 3048
- Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 1:53 am
- Location: bath, UK
- Contact:
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
Aye, but i may be tempted to fullfill the 3rd poll option if given the choiceJVG wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 amI 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.
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.charmonder wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:21 amthe boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.
- charmonder
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 66
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:45 am
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to 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.charmonder wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:21 amthe boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.
[/quote]
the bottom yes, but the top is the distortion part
- fuzzjunkie
- Expat
- Posts: 7316
- Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:32 am
- Location: Seattle
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
You should have picked OG Ibanez instead of Boss!JVG wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:20 amI 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.
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.
- ElephantDNA
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 244
- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2017 12:14 pm
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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).
- jorri
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 3048
- Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 1:53 am
- Location: bath, UK
- Contact:
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
the bottom yes, but the top is the distortion partcharmonder wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:51 amThats 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.charmonder wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:21 amthe boss os-2 distortion side schematic (link) looks a whole lot like a rat.
[/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'
- HarlowTheFish
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 806
- Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 7:09 pm
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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.
- JVG
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 1422
- Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:54 pm
- Location: Sydney, Straya
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
Hehe absolutely!
Don’t give me ideas. My hobby is expensive enough as it is!fuzzjunkie wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:48 amYou 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.
I do indeed have a GE-7, complete with the cork-sniffer mods!HarlowTheFish wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:23 pmI 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.
- jorri
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 3048
- Joined: Thu May 07, 2009 1:53 am
- Location: bath, UK
- Contact:
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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.HarlowTheFish wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:23 pmI 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.
- kgbAttack
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 225
- Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:30 am
- Location: Europe
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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.
- sunburster
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 1078
- Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2015 3:04 pm
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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.
- Mr.K
- PAT. # 2.972.923
- Posts: 534
- Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:15 am
- Location: Cork City, Co. Cork, Republic of Ireland.
- Contact:
Re: Which Boss pedal gets closest to a Rat?
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.Jazzmastervsjaguar wrote: ↑Sat Apr 17, 2021 5:43 amBoss 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.