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Frankie99 wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2024 1:04 pm I recently bought a rat as well, I might’ve mentioned it here. I had the exact same reaction. How is this motherfucker so cheap? It’s perfect. It does exactly what I want it to do, doesn’t fuck around with other bullshit and you can either make it super trebly or super heavy and brutal with plenty of space in between those two. Works on single coils and hum-buckers, etc.

Right? I think I could probably remove two or three OD pedals from my board and just use the Rat and turn the knobs where I want them, or if I were smart and talented, utilize the volume pots on my guitar.

Used a Rat (or custom variant) as my main distortion pedal for years and got back on track this summer, now my board has like three different Rats on it with different settings.

Big fan of the minimal gain setting as a slight OD, it’s pretty much the Young Widows dude’s whole tone.

tallchris wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2024 9:41 pm Used a Rat (or custom variant) as my main distortion pedal for years and got back on track this summer, now my board has like three different Rats on it with different settings.

Big fan of the minimal gain setting as a slight OD, it’s pretty much the Young Widows dude’s whole tone.

That and reverb knob broken clean off after cranking it to 11.

All this Rat talk, I have to throw in my opinion. I wanted to love it. I'd heard it sound amazing for so many people. I just can't get wit hthe tone knob, which is just a low pass filter with a variable cutoff frequency. I can never find the right spot. I'd love to try a Rat with a different style of tone knob.

benadrian wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:25 pm All this Rat talk, I have to throw in my opinion. I wanted to love it. I'd heard it sound amazing for so many people. I just can't get wit hthe tone knob, which is just a low pass filter with a variable cutoff frequency. I can never find the right spot. I'd love to try a Rat with a different style of tone knob.

^ that was always it for me too. Bass i just leave it alone but guitar the tone knob always through me even though I know it’s ‘backwards’

benadrian wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:25 pm All this Rat talk, I have to throw in my opinion. I wanted to love it. I'd heard it sound amazing for so many people. I just can't get wit hthe tone knob, which is just a low pass filter with a variable cutoff frequency. I can never find the right spot. I'd love to try a Rat with a different style of tone knob.

tallchris wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2024 9:41 pm Used a Rat (or custom variant) as my main distortion pedal for years

Big fan of the minimal gain setting as a slight OD, it’s pretty much the Young Widows dude’s whole tone.

Low gain on a Rat is where it’s at. I used the same setting for like a decade (single coils). Distortion at 9 o’clock. Filter at 3 o’clock. Volume at 2 o’clock.

I went through a long line of replacements to the Rat when I wanted something I could dial in a little more but I wanted a hair more low and a tiny amount less or different mid. Eventually landed on the JHS Angry Charlie after about 6 other failed attempts. The Iron Horse was decent too but got a bit squealy too easily. In retrospect I think a Turbo Rat probably would have done it.

I have a modded Rat and almost never use it. Still love my two vintage ones.

benadrian wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:25 pm All this Rat talk, I have to throw in my opinion. I wanted to love it. I'd heard it sound amazing for so many people. I just can't get wit hthe tone knob, which is just a low pass filter with a variable cutoff frequency. I can never find the right spot. I'd love to try a Rat with a different style of tone knob.

This is pretty much my exact take on Big Muffs. Just cannot dial in the Big Muff tone control. I finally found one I could - Garbage Face jr.

benadrian wrote: Thu Feb 22, 2024 11:25 pm All this Rat talk, I have to throw in my opinion. I wanted to love it. I'd heard it sound amazing for so many people. I just can't get wit hthe tone knob, which is just a low pass filter with a variable cutoff frequency. I can never find the right spot. I'd love to try a Rat with a different style of tone knob.

It's really dependent on what you're looking for, so I can understand. I found I could get the kinds of tones that I like. The filter knob is pretty controversial, understandably. I like it and think it'll be particularly interesting if paired it with something like a treble booster. If you're one to use your volume pot, the Rat seems to be extra versatile. I have yet to put it together, but I plan on reworking my pedal board to have a screamer, a Rat and a klon. The Rat will effectively be a 3-in-1 pedal to make room on the board. It doesn't quite get the mid-range boost that the screamer provides, nor the crispy clarity of a klon, but it has plenty of it's own tricks.

Another fun idea is to pair the rat with two booster pedals: a mid and treble.

I'll say that I'm also on the RAT train. After trying a few things out, I've been very VERY pleased with the BALLS Black 1000, which is a custom thing I had him build up last year. Essentially a RAT with 4 clipping options with a boost at the end of it in the same box. Pretty much gets me everything I need within one box!