I picked up an older big box Vintage Rat Reissue for $40 yesterday. On a lark, I tried it with my tweed Deluxe clone with both a Telecaster and my Carvin DC150 with humbuckers.
I've got the distortion set just below 9:00, the filter at 12:30 and the volume set just a bit louder than the bypassed sound.
It sounds like the Deluxe but hot rodded. It really sounds great!
It's not compressed like most overdrive pedals that I've tried. It just sounds "cranked"- dirty but bright and clear.
Cool score - you can't get a kit for that. I once had a Rat 2 that I didn't like. Maybe it was just my mindset. I should try (a good) one again.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
It doesn't sound as good in front of a clean amp and it looses definition at higher distortion settings. It makes a surprisingly good OD pedal.
I have a clone that I built several years ago using a Tonepad board and all the "right" components including an LM308 op amp and this one sounds the same even though it has an OP07 op amp.
I have no idea why I never tried my clone in front of the tweed Deluxe clone and I have no idea why I needed a real Rat when I had a clone.
I used the clone as a "Marshall Channel" back when I had my Princeton Reverb. I had clipped the 47 ohm resistor to the op amp per the Ruetz mod so it was more of a medium gain OD pedal.
Same trick I use! The thing I've found is that you should socket the chip if you are building one. Each chip sounds different! On my clone I used a 15pf (instead of 30pf) between pin 1 & 8. It makes it raunchier and more "on the edge" if that makes sense.
Great price by the way!
"don't worry, i'm a professional!"
I used the Rat with my Deluxe clone and Carvin DC150 last night and really enjoyed it! It definitely has a Marshall vibe. It was crunchy with the drive set just under 9:00 and very '80s with it set closer to noon.
Of course, with this guitar and amp, I had no real "clean" sound.
Sometimes it's nice to step away from a type pedal for a while then revisit it many years later.
Yep. I've been avoiding 'screamer' pedals for years now. I picked a BBE variant at a pawn shop recently, and remembered that nifty 'feedback resonant peak' thing which can be kinda fun...and now retro.Originally Posted by Don
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
RAT ... Don't leave home without it. I use one in front of a clean amp to make it filthy on the Link Wray stuff. Wrote a song about that very thing...
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
Here ya go, more than 40 clams but....have more flex. Plus there is a popular mod to change the tone profile - love mine on the 5e3.
Link to kit>
http://www.buildyourownclone.com/mouse.html
P e a c e KYC
Strat or Tele out of a 5E3 .
I love BYOC kits. They've gotten kind of expensive, though!
BYOC is expensive, but it's all high quality and has great instructions. GGG is a much better deal if you have a better handle on what you're doing.
Several guitars in different colors
Things to make them fuzzy
Things to make them louder
orange picks
They're the "LEGO" of the effects kit industry. Expensive, but quality projects, parts and instructions!
I've used GGG as well. And Tonepad and AMZ for PCBs and instructions, GeoFX for instructions to build from scratch...
They're all good!
I use a Rat with a Louis Electrics Buster and it really does the job.
I have mine in front of a HRDX with the distrotion set at 0800 and the filter cranked all the way. Have to bump the volume up a bit with the filter maxed. Great Scofield sound that way.
I keep a Rat in my rig for my high-distortion sounds. I have a spare that doesn't sound quite the same as the #1, even at the same settings, same power etc. Don't quite get it.
Run it after a wah and a couple other dirt boxes, before a phaser, chorus and delay, into a Fender Blues dlx and Boogie Rocket amps.
********************************
"Do you call sleeping with a guitar in your hands practicing?"
"It is if you don't drop it."
- Trent Lane, Daria, Episode 1-2.
They all sound different. I have a stockpile of 308 chips, since I socket my clones I can "taste test" to find the one I like.
"don't worry, i'm a professional!"
I sold the Rat in my original post to a bass player and kept my clone. They sounded similar and the clone has less value. I installed a switch to change from stock Rat sound to to an overdrive sound (Ruetz mod). I like the Rat sound in front of the tweed Deluxe clone and the modded Rat in front of my Vibrolux Reverb.
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