Members Reauchambeau 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. it's funny you say that because I feel the opposite. it's like the DS-1 is what the Rat wants to be. the Rat has less bottom (quite a bit less), the character of the distortion itself that it generates is more like a horrible fuzz pedal than a more amplike distortion that the DS-1 generates. the only thing the Rat has over the DS-1 is looks, it looks cooler. the DS-1 works way better to me as an amp boost because it lets your amps tone to still be heard. unless you're using the Rat for low/medium gain it will overtake your tone and suck one hell of lot of bottom end away. I've been playing Rat pedals and DS-1's since the early 90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members komodo117 Posted March 21, 2011 Members Share Posted March 21, 2011 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. I've often considered attaching mine to the end of a chain like a medieval weapon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratocaster202 Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 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. Anyone else hear this? I was gonna order some stuff from there anyway, might throw this in there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reaganomics! Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 Muff + Rat is where it's at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stazinish Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 Rat + AC30 absolutely SLAYS. But my BYOC OD-2 does as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members smudge_lad Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 it's funny you say that because I feel the opposite. it's like the DS-1 is what the Rat wants to be. the Rat has less bottom (quite a bit less), the character of the distortion itself that it generates is more like a horrible fuzz pedal than a more amplike distortion that the DS-1 generates. the only thing the Rat has over the DS-1 is looks, it looks cooler. the DS-1 works way better to me as an amp boost because it lets your amps tone to still be heard. unless you're using the Rat for low/medium gain it will overtake your tone and suck one hell of lot of bottom end away. I've been playing Rat pedals and DS-1's since the early 90's. I'm in the same boat. Even with the Keeley mods that give me some brighter options from the pedal, it still turns into a horrible, flabby, fuzzy mess with the distortion past 12 o'clock. I've got a Keeley DS-1 and love it, really sounds amp like and can sound really transparent. And even with the gain at full, it still has a lot of clarity. I really want to like the Rat, cos it is much cooler than the DS-1, but it just doesn't fit in with my current setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members echodeluxe Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 I have a turbo rat. It sounds cool. Ok bye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kirs Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 I love the Rat. No better distortion, IMO. It can go from over-the-top massive sustain, to a Marshall-ish sound, to light crunch, etc. Recently I've been setting the distortion at 1:00 and dialing back on the guitar. Great crunch tone. Pedals stacks well with OD and fuzz. Mine never turns to mush no matter how high the disto is set. Every note of open chords ring out even with massive gain. I can see how some people don't like the sound tho. Kind of 80's / 90's sounding I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members k tone Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 Anyone else hear this? I was gonna order some stuff from there anyway, might throw this in there too. 11 Gauge (the resident effects guru) at the TDPRI effects forum told me this. He is a builder and is very knowledgable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members k tone Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 it's funny you say that because I feel the opposite. it's like the DS-1 is what the Rat wants to be. the Rat has less bottom (quite a bit less), the character of the distortion itself that it generates is more like a horrible fuzz pedal than a more amplike distortion that the DS-1 generates. the only thing the Rat has over the DS-1 is looks, it looks cooler. the DS-1 works way better to me as an amp boost because it lets your amps tone to still be heard. unless you're using the Rat for low/medium gain it will overtake your tone and suck one hell of lot of bottom end away. I've been playing Rat pedals and DS-1's since the early 90's. This encapsulates my exact feelings of the Rat2 that I had. I could get some usable OD settings but I already had those bases covered. Taking it up into distortion levels through a cranked tube amp sounded like complete {censored} to me. For smooth amplike distortion I way prefer a stock DS-1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Rat Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 do you really wanna sell your keeley rat? pm and we can talk! 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 smudge_lad Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 do you really wanna sell your keeley rat?pm and we can talk! yes, it's in the SPAM thread and on e-bay! PM on the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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