RATs for grownups

[Bothand Nether]

To this day, the sound of The Vox Mk IX 9 string crappy Italian single coils from hell>ProCo Rat Vol on the 5th dot,
filter on the 6th dot & the dist just barely even breaking up,
-into an early Vox Pacemaker everything on full, remains in My mind as sounding rather a lot like a grandfather clock.

I had no 6G15 then, & it really didn't require it imo....

The 10" speaker in the Thomas Jennings Vox parts from England Pacemaker was not the later gold bulldog.
This ceramic speaker had no label, & I ebayed the amp in '04 for 520 bucks BIN
-sold before I could even finish revising the listing.

It had NOS RCA 5751s GE EL84s & a NOS NIB Gold Lion ez81 from Mount Palomar Observatory stock.
(I note this in the faint hope someone will help me locate it so I can try to buy it back )

I think that amp with a set of 7189 tubes in it, the extra headroom could maybe translate to a little more push from a low gain pedal.
Been thinking about asking Mr. Thorn what He'd pedal recommend, I'll share his input if I get it.

I also want to try some Fuchs pedals this NAMM, too.

[jorri]

('Ruetz mod')

Well i personally don't like it anyway, just sounds like a really dark tubescreamer and nothing to do with a rat anymore.

Agreed, it changes it into an incredibly boring sounding pedal. Thankfully I did it as a switchable mod on my (first) RAT and didn't just clip the leads.

I did it with pots the first time and occasionally just took it down a hair, and increased the parallel one a hair.
In recent rat clone, I instead have a switch that does three things: puts two new resistor/cap combinations, each with bigger caps and 100r resistors, and then added a much bigger filter cap. Its a doom machine, probably appreciated by those who follow sunn o)))'s use of a rat, but still like the switch back to stock most the time as i tend to use it as a ice-pick overdrive boost for no-wavey sounds.

[s_mcsleazy]

i'll admit, i am usually one of those guys who dimes out their rats. i have a lm308 rat on my board that sounds like a normal rat on teh roidz but the reason i'm more into rats over most overdives and distortions is because you can get them to do lower gain pretty convincingly. plus unlike some gain pedals i can think of, they dont really colour the tone that badly.

[dan_abnormal]

Best low-gain Rat tones IMHO: Vintage Rat ('90s reissue) with LM308N chip.
Quite clang-y, less gain and compression than a Rat 2 (either modded or stock) and a WF reissue.

[redchapterjubilee]

VFE Alpha Dog / El Raton / etc

As for why use a Rat like an overdrive...it has a more convincing gain tone than most overdrives to my ears.

[marqueemoon]

Thoughts on the SolidGoldFX Zeta Drive (early version)?

Seems to nail the edge and "splatty" quality. The ability to run at 18V is intriguing too.

[August]

My Woodcutter (Arc Soothsayer), while sounding great, always was too aggressive and a little too difficult to dial in a good low gain sound with. The "Ruetz" mod, or low gain dip switch setting on the Woodcutter (do I have that right?) sounded nothing at all like a Rat-minus-gain, but rather was just a loose mess.

For whatever reason, that I don't claim to understand, my mini BYOC mouse has been much more forgiving and easier to find good low gain sounds with than the Woodcutter, which is mostly how I use a Rat (think Cake's Greg Brown on Fashion Nugget).

[jorri]

the BYOC from what I gathered was just a direct copy of the vintage version (save the extra diodes and OD positions, which help the lower gains). Leds or germaniums i generally find help. Less saturation. But done to a stock vintage rat clone, the contemporary Proco turbo/dirty versions have other changes to the circuit that suit them more to more aggressive sounds, don't know about the deucetone though.

Wasn't their new fatrat meant to be something like this? Anyone tried that yet?

[marqueemoon]

Thoughts on the SolidGoldFX Zeta Drive (early version)?

Seems to nail the edge and "splatty" quality. The ability to run at 18V is intriguing too.

So, I bought one, and after extensive A/B-ing with both of mine I've concluded it's not particularly RAT-esque. It *is* a nice compliment to the sound, however. It has more depth and dimension for bridge pickup stuff and arpeggiated chords, but it's missing that beautiful high-mid fizz I like. They stack nicely together, and work better with the Zeta first.

Long story short, the Zeta and my 90's big box reissue are kicking my Direct Drive off the board.

[dugwolf]

I found the low gain settings kinda hard to dial in on the Arc Soothsayer. It's a quality pedal and pretty versatile but I don't think low gain was its strength.

IMO, the best rat is the Dunwich Volt Thrower. Most headroom, biggest gain range, best eq and tons of clipping options. It's expensive but if you want to get one rat and never need another that's the one.

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

I really like my Soothsayer but I would agree it seems to want to be clipping a good bit to be in its happy place.

My big box Vintage Rat is the best pure Rat I've tried for the dirty boost/OD type sounds. You should check out the Catalinbread Katzenkonig too, not strictly a Rat but it does very similar things and then some and continues to be in very close contention for the desert island dirt pedal for me.

[marqueemoon]

I really like my Soothsayer but I would agree it seems to want to be clipping a good bit to be in its happy place.

My big box Vintage Rat is the best pure Rat I've tried for the dirty boost/OD type sounds. You should check out the Catalinbread Katzenkonig too, not strictly a Rat but it does very similar things and then some and continues to be in very close contention for the desert island dirt pedal for me.

Tried the Katzenkonig. It was way too much gain for me.

Quite happy with the RI big box for now but I appreciate all the suggestions.

[OffYourFace]

The Reutz mod doesn't work for all setups. It's great with a Les Paul into a Marshall or Bassman but can be lacking with single coils.

I've tried so many Rats. My 1986 small box is the only one that I've kept. I had a nice whiteface from '85 that was also terrific. It's got to have the Motorola version of the LM308N otherwise forget about spending big $$ on one without it. I got my '86 for $25 back in 1992 ('85 WF was $80) so I could never spend $250+ on one.
To get a bargain, I'd try to find a mid '90s version and then swap the chip out for an older Motorola version... if necessary.
Or, get a '90s turbo Rat and swap the clipping LEDs with the standard type.

[TchikiSteph]

The RATTLER+ from Jam Pedals is what you need.
The "plus" version is specially designed for a smooth low gain use.
I personally never go above 9 o'clock on the gain setting, and I get some great Link Wray tones.

http://www.jampedals.com/rattler/

[marqueemoon]

Thanks,guys.

I'm sticking to my 90's big box reissue for now because I blew my budget on a Catalinbread Talisman (totally worth it).

I'd like to give the Rattler/Rattler+ a spin at some point.

Also getting curious about the TC Dark Matter. Not a Rat, but dirt cheap and seems potentially capable of the tones I'm after.