Members JMR Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 seems like these are modded all the time and there's always good deals on them in the spam thread, so I'm tempted. The only thing is I've heard they're not too transparent. Describe the sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TravvyBear Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 If you get one with the ruetz mod or lube knob it can do slight overdrive to med. distortion REALLY well. I think the tone is pretty biting/nasally but the filter knob can really smooth it out to compliment your setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members conky Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 It's an awesome pedal, but a lot of people say they are really fizzy and have a brittle high end. I can see that if you're playing through a bright amp but they sound really awesome driving an already dirty darker voiced amp (Ex: Mouth of the Architect). I did the Ruetz mod to mine and love it. The stock version sounds pretty good, but the Ruetz mod lowers the gain a bit and is pretty transparent when used as a low gain OD in my setup. Even though I am downsizing I am tempted to buy another one to mod and have as a backup. They also sound amazing on bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TomCTC Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 s'aiight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Krallum Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 Can build one for cheap and its pretty easy if you've got a soldering iron and a little bit of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members komodo117 Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 I can't say I'm really fond of my stock RAT 2. I took it off my board for a little over a year and didn't miss it all. Put it back in with the acquisition of an EQ and have found it a bit more useable now, but mainly just stacking it on my fuzz (imo, the best use of it). I can't say I care much for the tone or distortion it provides on its own. Way too much grit in the high end and it's not worth constantly readjusting my amp every time I turn the bloody thing on. You're better off playing one first. You'd be hard pressed to not find a single shop or guitarist that doesn't have one. Mainly because they're cheap as sin, which I suppose is justifiable enough to get one (only reason I own it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reauchambeau Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 very underwhelming on their own. eq'd and stacked with another pedal they can be useful. I only like their slight break up tone, the farther you turn the distortion knob up, the worse they sound. you asked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cougar Hunter Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 THey all sound very different. start with a big box reissue. The only one not made in the USA is the latest Rat 2. I'm not exactly sure when they switched though. I really like my Turbo Rat that I swapped the clipping LEDs with Silicon Diodes from Radio Shack. Prob my fav right now. It seems more open and aggressive than the Big Box. The You Dirty Rat is cool too! USA + Germanium diodes + Fairly cheap, even new = killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jules-RM Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 I just got a modded Turbo Rat, and it sounds pretty damn good. They aren't very transparent, but you are sure to never be lost in the mix. It's a trade off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cirrus Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 Didn't think that much of the rat 2 I had, but my Hartman clone is the best heavy distortion I've used. Thick without being muddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Robert Kortus Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 Love the Rat. I use it for a medium-gain pedal with my AC15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jick Magger Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 I used to love my Turbo Rat until I tried some other distortion/ODs, then I noticed how obnoxiously artificial it sounded. Though, that can be very cool sometimes. Right now it isn't for me but that could change in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RadioSilence Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 I used to love my Turbo Rat until I tried some other distortion/ODs, then I noticed how obnoxiously artificial it sounded. Though, that can be very cool sometimes. Right now it isn't for me but that could change in the future. I think it depends on the amp, my Turbo Rat is my favourite dirt to play through my Vox Pathfinder 15r. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fuzzio Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 kalamazoo ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poltergeist Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 best distortion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members preservation Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 love my early 90s big box, but had a small box Keeley-mod years ago that i couldn't really get behind. that said, i was using a sovtek mig 60 head THEN, and a fender Twin NOW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Snufkino Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 very underwhelming on their own. eq'd and stacked with another pedal they can be useful. I only like their slight break up tone, the farther you turn the distortion knob up, the worse they sound. you asked Yeah... I just got a bog-standard Rat on ebay, and quite like the lower gain settings but that's about it. I want to A/B it with other versions maybe, but it's fairly vanilla. Then again I'm fairly content with it as I'm not into Distortion all that much. So yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mdrake34 Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 I bought a '91 big box reissue for dirt cheap on craigslist. I wanted either a big muff or fuzz face to cop Gilmour and possibly Live-at-Slane-Castle-era Frusciante lead tones and the guy that runs gilmourish.com claims that the rat is good way to cop Gilmour tones at bedroom volumes. At the moment I'm primarily a bedroom player, so I got one. Definitely didn't sound like Comfortably Numb pt.2 when I switched it on, but it had a good tone. I really enjoyed it but I wanted more gain and picked up an MI Audio Crunch Box which I love. I need the money, so the Rat is going on craigslist which I can hopefully flip for a profit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members renula Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 i have a late 90's 2. Love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members smudge_lad Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 I've got a Keeley modded one that I've only had for a few weeks but I'm now selling. Just can't get into the distortion at all. Anything after 12 o clock just doesn't sound nice to me. I'm sure a lot of people would love it though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elessar [Sly] Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 Great for a solo boost. I wouldn't use it as a main pedal though. I sold mine ages ago. Each to their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kpd78 Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 I've had my Rat 2 for about 17 years now and it's still one of my favourite pedals ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members k tone Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 A guy on another forum told me that the GFS Brownie is basically a Rat complete with the vaunted 308 chip. I did not like it or the new Rat2 that I had but I did like the Brownie better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thom Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 It's a great step up from a ds-1, which was probably my first pedal ever. Sounds beefier, fatter, less fizzy. But now with the zillions of fine sounding boutique pedlulz out there, a stock Rat2 is kinda redundant really. For the money it's still not bad for raunchy indierock or whatever genre that's into stacking lotsa pedals for noisy distortion. It kills yer low end, it's far from transparant, and it's tone is as far from "amp-like" as a pedal can get. Still, with the ruetz mod (little gain loss, little more low end) it's great to push another dirt pedal or a slightly boosted amp. Sounds like a million bucks that way, I personally love the pedal to bits since I modded it. Not to mension it's build like a tank. It's made out of two pieces of thick steel (right?), beats 99% of all the other pedals out there in terms of durability/reliability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kpd78 Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 ... But now with the zillions of fine sounding boutique pedlulz out there, a stock Rat2 is kinda redundant really... Not really. But that's just my opinion of course. I've had dozens of boutique overdrives, distortions and fuzzes which have come and gone, yet still have a Rat 2 which I've been using regularly for about 17 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.