I Was So WRONG About the Rat Distortion Pedal
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- Опубліковано 8 сер 2023
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I assumed the Rat Distortion pedal wouldn't be something that I'd find much use for....
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Major props for using a regular old rat instead of something boutique to show this off.
hiya john, this was a fun thing to watch just before i went on stage in mexico city armed with two old 80s RAT pedals(albeit slightly dismantled by mike hill to fit into my big and daft pedal board) i think you bought yourself a really good one. i started using one in the very last wheezing days of the 80s because there was nothing else around in the studio we were rehearsing in and it just stuck. i actually thought a few weeks ago that i was using it in the wrong way all these years (i actually thought aswell that the marshall plexi things i have been using for 30 odd years were a wrong choice too!) but it was nice to see that i pretty much used it in a similar way as you ended up doing in this vid. in those day there want much choice and i wasn't much of a seeker-- i didn't have the time actually cuz the group took off and i couldn't explore any alternatives.
great to see you go over the thing so thoroughly ... i use two... one as a sort of drive pedal then another at full vol and full to the left filter and 3 o'clock dist to stack and get chaotic and a little frippish.
i was a little upset that you mentioned Noel uses one- he must have copied me.
anyway.. as a helix user ( probably going full helix with the band i have with my partner( the WAEVE) your chan has been a brilliant source of inspiration and laughs...and i think as a guitar player you are way too good but I'm being resentful..
a few questions...have you tried tom grays guitars? i use one with a sustainiac PU. also have been well into Manson guitars... with susainiac pickups. very useful and fun things..
well that's it...sorry for rambling ( I think)
Dude wait this is actually the grahm coxon? Because if it is i totally 100 % am not ashamed to say i use two rats because i heard you did and gave it a try and had a spiritual awakening.
@@Fuhgitboutit it is his official youtube account so i'm pretty sure
Good heavens! I literally came to this video in my eternal search to try to sound more Coxon...and found this wonderful comment from GC himself! We love you Graham. Looking forward to more Waeve gigs in 2024. Thanks for fab video John. X
John’s too big to reply to Graham Coxon these days 😂
@johnnathancordy Gotta watch what you say these days John. You never know who might be watching 🤣
A Telecaster, a Peavey Classic 30 on the dirty channel, and a RAT 2 with the distortion at about 9:00 is sublime.
I recently got my hands on a TC Nova Drive, a TS style circuit and a Rat style circuit in one box with MIDI connectivity, order switching and series / parallel switching. So versatile and so much great tones. I actually wanted a Kernom Ridge before, but that need is gone 😄
Many folks have been SO WRONG about the wonderfulness of noise you can generate with this sacred engine of beautiful filth .
Only got one because Ronno used it as a replacement for the Mk 1 tonebender he used in the spiders. Awesome pedal when you take the time to get to know it .
“Sacred engine of beautiful filth” is the best description of the Rat I’ve ever heard
Nuno uses it in a creative way to get that percussive touch by turning the distortion all the way down...Ive played the virtual version on my katana and the attack feels so satisfying!
I may try that. The rest just set to taste?
Yes, I caught him on Rick Beato's interview where he gave his " Inverted T" ( for lack of better way to explain it) settings up. BUT, his distortion isn't all the way down. Its actually @ 9 o'clock. I have a vintage Rat that has been on the shelf for quite a while and tried it and damned if it isn't a fantastic boost setting. New love for it
I find a Rat on low gain with the volume pushed and high end rolled off sounds great at any volume and doesn’t get harsh or brittle when through a giant FOH PA. Great dynamics.
Great vid. The best play-through i've heard. Have had one for 6 months. Definitely worth having. Great playing!
I was also veeery iffy on the Rat forever, but this year started messing around with various models. Finally settled on buying a JHS Rat Pack. Has more dirt on tap than the 1981 DRV, but has way more clarity, cleanup, versatility, across all frequencies than an actual moderb Rat. Love this circuit now!
For years I’ve used a Rat with Filter and Volume maxed, then bring in the Dist. to where it just bites and starts to affect the signal (usually 8 o’clock-ish). Gives a great warm single note sound - for Scofield types tones. I think I got this from a Kevin Eubanks interview. But, not all Rats are equal. So doesn’t always sound great!
- love your videos and playing btw!
Oh man, happy to hear it! You've just found THE pedal!!! Enjoy it!
I’ve a Keeley-modded Rat and I love it. Gain down low, volume up high, filter to taste. Stacks well with everything.
Great example of the guitarist always sound like them. John always sounds pretty much like this no matter what he's using. That's a compliment. The more we get hung up on specific kit and tweaking the less we spend on music.
Another good example: Bea on Anderton’s with the blind overdrive shoot out. He sounded the same through everything.
The RAT was my first distortion pedal and I still have it. It’s nice to use for a chunky distortion, but I really like using it the way Scofield does with the distortion low and filter high. It really works well for the jazz fusion thing.
I came up listening to 70 - 80's rock. Went to a local music store and asked what pedal would give me that 80's rock sound. The sales guy sold me a DOD Fuzz pedal. Hated it! I think i bought my RAT in the late 80's or early 90's. Still have it as well.
I finally bought one a few years ago. I wished I had gotten one years ago once I heard how good and versatile it was. In the many side by side comparisons that I watched, the Rat won overwhelmingly over all the other popular distortion and overdrives that were tested.
Fantastic demo! Really highlights how misunderstood and versatile this pedal can be
Drunk Beavers 4 variations of RAT call the BAT has been my all time favorite Rat style pedal. It transcends beyond a simple RAT circuit, think of a JHS Packrat but even more packed and just down right better. 😊
This is great, I too have recently come around on the RAT as well because of JHS pedals videos. I know Josh loves them, but I always thought, like you, it was just too much for my style. But there's something about the harmonics on these fellas that really sounds clear, like the details aren't lost as much as some other distortion pedals I've used, and can mix well with my boost pedal. Dialing back the distortion makes it have a more subtle crunch that I really like for some stuff.
Best OD, boost and distortion pedal. Only pedal I regret selling is an 84 RAT. After spending 1000s on pedals over decades that rat was my favorite boost and my favorite OD AND my favorite distortion. Loves sitting in the mix too!
I used a RAT on my pedal board for years back in the 80’s and 90s when I was playing in club bands. Always loved it, great pedal. I moved on to Zoom then Line 6 and now using a Helix. It would be interesting to hear the Helix version compared.
I use the Ratatouille on low gain high volume boost for live shows and it gives me everything my Vintage Big Box Rat gives me except with a lower noise floor.
As a huge Rat fan, the Helix model does a fantastic job, I've compared it with an proco rat2 and a couple other rat style pedals and if anything, it's prob a little brighter, but that's kinda good. I don't think many people would even be able to tell the difference. Great for classic rock through to soul crushing doom and sludge, even great for adding some dirt to ambient guitar.
It reacts very well with a smiley fuzz-like before. The filter knob is pretty subtl and shines when dialing sounds.
Man so tasteful… and your technique gets better and better
Beautiful playing!
That tatty box looks identical to mine which dates back to 1994. Doesn't work anymore but I've still got it. Replaced it with an Electro Harmonix Flatiron.
That's what I was trying to say to you all these years. Finally!
Great vid! You told us everything except where to find the weird 9v cable.
You have my deepest condolences.
Hey John, great video. I just put my Rat back on the board. It's so good. Side question for you. How do you like that clip on mic you are using for your vids. I love the idea of using one for my channel. Is is recording into a DAW or just recording audio to some type of card? Thanks man. Keep on crushing it.
hey man, are you still using the hx stomp?
are you building a pedalboard with it?
i believe i am following a similar path as guitarist as you are so that's why im asking
Great demo John ! How would u describe the difference between a Maxon Sd9 and RAT ?
The Rat filter is quite powerful if you ask me. Is my guitar dark or bright? I can filter it. Same with my amps. Low distortion is a killer overdrive, but not dynamic in the way a Klon or Bluesbreaker is.
Now I want to put mine back on my board.
The 1981 Inventions DRV is a Rat clone, and I've found it to be suuuper smooth and super versatile. It's how I get my John Scofield distortion tone.
The awesome Paul Reynolds of "A Flock of Seagulls" used one and he is a really Phenomenal Artist imho.
I never considered that kind of hard clipping " grungy", - that's more of the Muff/DS1, heavy gain & compression thing.
The options on the Deuce Rat version are unique because not only do you have two stackable channels, but one has a no diode "clean"( not clean,- but unique to this), and the "Dirty" Germanium version, - my preferred as a rule .I haven't used one in many years, but recently came across a Walrus Iron Horse, which I'd breifly employed when first released( 2014ish?).This is a really nicely eqed and designed Rat circuit, - as Walrus often manage.
At the same time, I tried the Ross reissue, which is prob closer to my vibe.We'll see; there's a lot of Distortions and Drives out now that offer some legitimate variations on the SOT.
hey, what amp and mic are you using and how are you setting both? sounds great!
I was just about to say John Scofield used one, but you beat me to it. Didn't realise he was a punk rocker though.
I feel you, man. Played guitar for 20 years before I got a Rat, like you always assuming it was a sound I wasn't interested in chasing. Was I ever wrong. lol
The RAT,Jet Phaser and RE-20 space echo are my fav pedals on guitar as for now. Might add a Big Muff in the near future or...EHX Cock Fight Plus...
The Pack RAT jhs pedal is really something. I still think the best pedal for drive/distortion, I have seen is the DSM Humboldt Silver Linings, only thing it is missing just like the packrat, presets. Presets would make them much better and gig usable.
You should check out Drunk Beavers BAT. It’s like the Packrat but better in my opinion.
I have a vintage one, I still can't use it with guitar, but I love it on my bass.
Who knew the RAT cult sound so good…🙃. I’ve been around for a minute. The Rat pedal came out in 78’ just about the time I started playing guitar around 76/77. I’ve never owned one or tried it out. I will be purchasing one today after seeing this review.…count on it. The review was great by the way and I heard tons of tones that I like. The guitar playing in this review was also inspiring.
I’ve had a Rat on and off my board so many times, for decades.
I have a love/hate relationship with it.
The filter control has a tiny sweet spot, and the low end is thin with the distortion set low, and fat with it turned up. It’s a difficult pedal to dial in, in my experience.
It also cleans up with your instrument's volume, so never needs disengaged.
How close is the Helix version ?
Waiting for Rhett Shull to do this video for the Tube Screamer.
I still use a RAT that I bought I think in the 1980s. It sounds fuller and fatter with a Strat than any other pedal I’ve ever used.
What always surprise me about the RAT is how much it thicken single coil.
Yo Nuno Bettencourt uses it in a great way bro (as you prolly know, but as you didnt say his name...). Great video as always.
Also, it would be cool if you compared the pedals to the Line6 emulations.
I love your Rat tone! I also think this pedal contradicts your video from today thinking you always end up with the same YOU tone. I really like the huge textures you get with this rat, even on your legato lines.
I've got one of the early Rat models. It's good, but brighter/harsher, and without as many useful tones as your Rat 2 - That is a really good one. The HX Stomp has a Rat, and it did a pretty good job emulating it, but then Line 6 found out their Rat was somehow defective, and added a new Rat.
And is their new Rat better than the old one? can you choose between the two versions now or was the old one replaced?
@@-Pol-I believe both versions still exist in the Modeler. You can get good tones from either one, as that depends on skill in dialing in and knowing what tone you're going after. As I recall, I actually had an easier time dialing in the "defective" model, but it was a long time ago. 🤷
They’re all the same circuit.
Interesting :) I always associated the Rat with the Brian May Lead Tone :D
My favorite pedal of all time
My favourite pedal so far
jeeeesus you make this pedal sound incredible
The RAT is my fav dirt pedal.
It's killer for boosting a dirty amp - tightens things up juuust enough without completely neutering the bottom end. And obviously classic, chunky distortion up to Sunn 0))) drone metal fuzz. Glorious.
Yep
I have the original Rat version - always great pedal sound.
The Rat is one of my favorite pedals of all time. I've always wanted to use a Big Muff, but the tone never really worked for me. With the Rat, I get those sort of fuzzy tones I want from the Muff, but with more to it, if that makes sense.
The Rat and Fulltone FD-2 MOSFET are MY pedals. The only dirt pedals I really need, and the only ones I've kept long term.
Reminds me a lot of “The Dude” way of smoothing the articulation. Very very musical.
Hey John...have you thought about doing a Reader's Choice video to vote on say your top five best Intro's....maybe the top five voted you could give the backing tracks and tab out for free or something of that nature.....for taking part.....Cheers!
Yes, filter knob nearly all the way to the left!
what pick ups are you using?
I like how it's almost a fuzz. It's a classic, for sure.
I avoided the rat like the plague as i've no interest in distortion or metal.
I build pedals though and recently got a rat pcb and thought "meh". Built it and its really musical bit of kit under the right settings! Might build a rat-turbo rat dual pedal next.
Also my hierarchy always went
Vintage germanium fuzz
Vintage silicone fuzz
Op amp fuzz
Silicon overdrive
Op amp overdrive
Distortion
I mean it kinda still does, but i'm really getting in to op amp overdrives and distortions :)
EHX makes a really good refined Rat type of pedal called the "Flatiron Fuzz" and its demos sound really great too. It's called a "Fuzz" since it can get well into fuzzland but it's very much a Rat like distortion too.
Is it that good???
It has more clarity and sepeaation than th average Rat pedal. @@GlennJimenez
I have the Boss FZ-1w that goes in the other direction. It purports to be a fuzz but it cleans up all the way using guitar vol and pick attack. Hard to decide which I prefer. The RAT is certainly cheaper and before I got the FZ-1 I'd happily use it for OD, distortion and fuzz. The Boss is more of a head turner though. " What's that filthy sounding overdrive you're using? ...Oh! It's a fuzz? !! "
How far back do you gotta go to get one not made in Chairman Mao’s Dollarama? A guy on Reverb said his 2003 is pure Chinesium.
I used to have 2 RATs. one standard, and one I modded. But since I sold my analog gear and went to modelers I find the virtual RATs unusable.
Use an old rat to boost my dirty Orange....and some times i toss an integrated preamp into the rat.....the way the old lm308 chips colapse could add a tube sag feel to a solid state amp as well....
What happens when you turn the guitar down? Drive pedals are soooooo dependent on the guitar pot (or should be)
Vernon Reid relied heavily on the Rat in the late 80's, but complained about "good Rats" and "bad Rats", meaning there were inconsistencies/lacking QC. What's it like these days?
Consistency is definitely an issue with older Rats. I have one I bought new in 1987 (my first pedal!), and had Keeley-modded in the early 2000s, the first time it needed a switch fix. It’s too unreliable for gigging now, but it’s still the best sounding dirt pedal I’ve ever had. I searched high and low for years, through many Rat clones, trying to get as good, and eventually settled on a Big Ear NYC Woodcutter, which is a careful clone of a specific 1980s Rat 2. Still not quite as good as my original, but close enough, and I’m not worried about it failing on me.
Really versatile pedal. I’ve bought and sold so many dirt pedals over the years but will never get rid of the RAT 🐀
Heya John, wondering if you've heard how Nuno uses The Rat? Interesting stuff, check it out man.
OK I don’t know if any of you saw the video but Josh from JHS did a huge video on the rat and its whole history, went to the factory and everything, they said the circuit has never changed just the box in some of the window dressing, but at the factory, they said the circuit has never changed every rat is the same as every other rat
Had the Rat back in the late eighties/early nineties but then got the Guv'nor... End of story: the Rat became homeless. And many other pedals came along, gained a place on the board, were replaced and now a lot are sitting on the shelf doing nothing. Can't make them all orphans.
Sell them, it's not that hard
A rat at low drive setting with a tube screamer in front when you want to push it more.
The rat is also great at more gain setting for fat and loose dirty to fuzz. To me that's the standard overdrive.
I had the original RAT in the 80s/90s. As soon as I started using it, everyone asked me about my tone.
Same here I used the original RAT from about 85 to 92.
@@MrKbeaumont So what pushed it off your board?
@@-Pol- I started using a chandler tube driver, I still have the RAT. But right now I'm just using a Helix LT into FOH
I have the "Splinter" which is a Fat Rat clone. I love it.
And my fave is the FATRAT- do yourself a giant favor and get one- THE Swiss Army knife dirt pedal-
I have a Rat 2...but I prefer the Rat Deucetone twin.
Rat only has two negative points for me. It’s not good at cleaning up when you roll down the guitar volume, and it shelves bass -not as bad as a tube screamer, but I’d prefer if it didn’t shelve any. One of my favourite settings is with the gain around 10 o’clock - a really nice glassy edge of breakup tone.
I have a love/hate relationship with the RAT. Sometimes I love it and then sometimes the harmonics or something about it annoys me so much.
Yeah, that is why I ditched mine in the nineties. I did not work particularly well with the amps I started using in that era.
There was a good reason why David Gilmour had one on his pedal rig :)
How good is the rat in the helix?
The ratatouille is excellent.. a go to for me
i'v e been using a 20 eur chinese copy for a couple of years now. even has the proper chip lol
I haven't liked rats in the past but just got a joyo splinter and trying again
The guitar sounds on Modern Life Is Rubbish are on Mount Olympus for me.
It's well known that Graham Coxon used a RAT. What is less well know is that he wasn't much of a technical guy: He used to just add more RAT pedals when he wanted more distortion.
I believe Jeff Beck use a Rat
the Rat is a classic
I love the rat
yuk
All RATs sound the same, you might have to tweak the knobs differently for the same result but they sound the same. And good. It is never too late to learn something!
@john you visited Israel? 😮
Rat = very good.
nice sounding pedal, did'nt realize they was that old?, i have a similar age pedal that would work well with that, if you'd like to borrow it John just ask Wez for my number.
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Ratt uses a Rat no lie
I have an OG from 1989 and I love it.
I love 90’s or early 00’s rat so much, I’ve got 5 and in the 90’s Graham Coxon used 2 rat2s in different setting. It’s very useful as a booster too.