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It seems to be a common thing now, that many of us have gone full-circle on our pedal adventures and are coming home to Boss.

As a fun (and indulgent) little project I’m putting together an all-Boss pedal board. The only slot i’m struggling to fill is something to get me into Rat territory. I’m not necessarily wanting to emulate the high-gain settings of a Rat, more the crunchy mid-gain range.

Ideas?

(Yeah i know the poll is unnecessary, but we all enjoy polls, right )

Honestly for the crunchy mid-gain stuff I quite like the SD-1. It's way overkill when you gain it up, and the controls aren't gonna do what a Rat does, but if you push it hard enough with something (maybe a Blues Driver?) and balance your EQ on both right, you could definitely get in that territory.

in my experience, the rat is a very specific circuit. hell, my experiences with rats are basically "2 made on the same week wont sound alike, there will be small differences"

i've read the ds1 started as a modified mxr distortion + which the rat took and modified.

worst comes to the worst. you can always build a rat in a ds1 box

If you hadn't uses the "R" word, but instead wrote "I’m not necessarily wanting to emulate the high-gain settings of *any particular pedal*, more the crunchy mid-gain range", I would have suggested SD-1. I have two and sometimes use them both at different settings. Definitely a different flavor from Rat, but so lively, good sounding, and easy to dial in. My absolute favorite Boss pedal.

DS-1 would be a good choice too, just keep the distortion know at lower than 10 o'clock. I haven't used mine for ages, perhaps time to give it another try.

I use a rat clone with an SD1 and they compliment each other really nicely, so SD1 would also be my vote. The second channel on the SD2 also gets nice and gainy, so that could work as well.

Maybe also check out some of the oddball Boss Distortions that have been discontinued as well. The ST-2 or any of the stuff from the mid 90s could be fun.

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Just go on Amazon and order the 'Black Rat' or 'Black Secret' mini Rat clone pedal for '$25' and you'll have it all.
Otherwise, just buy a used DS-1 and don't put the gain knob above 'noon' (or you'll get the fizz).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvgnmyyXYsE

Stacking pedals is often more useful than any pedal alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ho45_yq0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw2g4Vi4WMg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PL9fxMJmS4

Get a 'golden horse' mini Klon clone and a 'Black Rat' mini Rat clone to stack together and you'll have great tone -- for less than any single pedal recommended to you in this thread.

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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. Super fun and underrated pedal.

The Rat emulation on their multi fx pedals of course

jorri wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:27 am

The Rat emulation on their multi fx pedals of course

Okay I feel personally called out because I own a GT-100 and do use the Rat model.

. . . it sounds pretty pants to be honest, but with a clean blend into their plexi model you can get some killer 80s lead sounds.

Loving the input thanks folks - please keep it coming.

s_mcsleazy wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:41 pm

worst comes to the worst. you can always build a rat in a ds1 box

Good idea. I don’t have the skills to do it, but could probably find someone willing.

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. Super fun and underrated pedal.

I didn’t know anything about this pedal until seeing your post. It does look kind of interesting, at least in the ‘basic’ mode - i don’t think i would use the chorus modes.

jorri wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:27 am

The Rat emulation on their multi fx pedals of course

Haha smartarse
I’m sure you are right, but i’m sticking with individual stomboxes.

Maggieo wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 17, 2021 1:59 pm

METAL ZONE!

For real? Again, another Boss pedal i’ve not investigated (probably because of the name....silly right?)

HarlowTheFish wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:48 am

jorri wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:27 am

The Rat emulation on their multi fx pedals of course

Okay I feel personally called out because I own a GT-100 and do use the Rat model.

. . . it sounds pretty pants to be honest, but with a clean blend into their plexi model you can get some killer 80s lead sounds.

haha. I recall having a gt6, which was actually pretty good on the weird effects/loop side. My zoom ms50 has 'squeak' which is a bit pants but you'd say "THATS A RAT" more than some rat clones - idk but something in the frequency range, if it was stuck on one setting and digitised.

I voted DS-1.

A couple years ago I decided to downsize my dirt boxes (lasted a minute). In testing I observed that there is a lot of overlap between the DS-1, Rat and Distortion +. The Rat and DS-1 had a lot of the same range, with the Rat doing a better low gain OD and an arguably better heavy distortion. But for the most part I found I could have made due with one of the other. I also discovered that the D+ was redundant.

Anyway, to replace a Rat, DS-1. I use the SD-1 the most out of the Boss dirt boxes though, but it’s not as much gain and crunchier. The HM-2 and HM-3 are my other favourites, but they are a more saturated sound.

I think they have a model called something like power stack? I've used it with the katana amp. That and the guvner are probably the 2 best distortions on that thing. At some point I think it was it's own pedal too. Not sure if relevant but most boss is kind of a different thing.

JVG wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 17, 2021 2:46 pm

Loving the input thanks folks - please keep it coming.

Maggieo wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 17, 2021 1:59 pm

METAL ZONE!

For real? Again, another Boss pedal i’ve not investigated (probably because of the name....silly right?)

Lol no, I use a Rat and a Metal Zone on my board for different things, they sound nothing a like. The Metal Zone is super high gain, super compressed, with ample low end. The Rat is almost the opposite of that. The Rat can get pretty distorted and spluttery if you load the input but there are other pedals that do that better.

I didn't want to post in here because there isn't a BOSS pedal that even comes close to the Rat, maybe if you separate gain from EQ shape but not really.




Consider the Rat natural and rough. xD