software

Guess everyone would be familiar with this pedal? Just finished up another homemade pedal build...Came out great,plus I did quite a few changes to the circuit to remove alot of the harshness,plus this is a pretty bright pedal stock...It lacks decals,but this is the jist of the pedal...Special thanks to JD Sleep,Steve @ Small Bear and my buddy Mike(Milkbone)for the cool looking control knobs on the pedal... Here's some cheapo labels for now...Still looks neat and clean overall...Notice the control layout is opposite of the actual Vintage Rat..I've also labeled my controls differently.The RAT has Distortion-Filter-Volume from left to right.
John,

That looks great! I would ask how it sounds but I have 2 Rat's and I see the LM 308 chiip in yours so I know what it sounds like!!! What mods did you do to it?


Originally Posted by the guy who invented fireJohn,

That looks great! I would ask how it sounds but I have 2 Rat's and I see the LM 308 chiip in yours so I know what it sounds like!!! What mods did you do to it?

Mine would be alot smoother and have more lows and alot less noise than your stock RAT... But it is still just a Vintage Rat circuit with really good components.

I changed some resistor values and some cap values around the tone circuit..I also lowered the input resistor and raised the value on one of the filter caps...Mine is still quot;Rattyquot; sounding,but it's not anywhere near as harsh,the highs are EQ'd down,and the pedal has more lowend..I left both of the 1N914 diodes in place,but I'll mess with asymetrical clipping next and see if I Like that better?

If you look closely,you see the Millenium circuit built in also....It's that second FET you see on the board...The DPDT switch gives us true bypass and Rat tone and the Millenium circuit ties into the LED...Works pretty well...

I'd chime out the actual resistor and cap changes but more than likely the schematic would differ from your pedal's actual numberings for component locations....

I really like the way this pedal quot;snarlsquot; in the mids...It's boxey sounding in an old Marshall Greenback Celestion 4x12 kinda way...It's still an older distortion circuit in an old MXR D kinda way,but the mids are different and the Rat has alot more available gain...Kinda of a fuzz/distortion tone combined together,but it's pretty cool...Cheap for me to build also....And yes the LM308 is the chip to use....A stock RAT lacks lowend and the tone control doesn't work right,plus the pedal is very bright and harsh in the highs...It needs my quot;smoothnessquot; stuff....LOL

John

Could you do the same mods to an already existing Rat?


Originally Posted by the guy who invented fireJohn

Could you do the same mods to an already existing Rat?

kNEW THIS WAS COMING! LOL.....

Sure I can!


Originally Posted by STRATDELUXER97kNEW THIS WAS COMING! LOL.....

Sure I can!Once you get done with the clipping let me know how it turns out...I have 2 Rats right now, one is a little older that the other but both have the LM 308 chip and the same circut, so having one modded for a different tone would be cool. Keep me posted...


Originally Posted by the guy who invented fireOnce you get done with the clipping let me know how it turns out...I have 2 Rats right now, one is a little older that the other but both have the LM 308 chip and the same circut, so having one modded for a different tone would be cool. Keep me posted...

I'll be messing with this one on and off for a few days dialing it in better...The stock version is too harsh though..

Does your tone control have most of the highend at the last 1/4 of the pot? I need to recheck the taper on mine?


Originally Posted by STRATDELUXER97Does your tone control have most of the highend at the last 1/4 of the pot? I need to recheck the taper on mine?Yeah...both of mine do that...The Rat is hard for some people to dial in but I love mine (so much in fact that when I found another one with the LM 308 chip I bought it too!). Let me ask you this, the Rodent on the website shows a mini toggle switch...what does it do, and why did you leave it off your's?


Originally Posted by the guy who invented fireYeah...both of mine do that...The Rat is hard for some people to dial in but I love mine (so much in fact that when I found another one with the LM 308 chip I bought it too!). Let me ask you this, the Rodent on the website shows a mini toggle switch...what does it do, and why did you leave it off your's?

It's a SPDT switch that adds 1 LED in series with the stock 2 diodes..Gives the pedal asymetrical clipping instead of symetrical clipping...I don't like switches and I normally would only use the tones I dial in anyway,plus a switch is something extra in my circuit that can cause extra noise...Noise and stray antenna effects in a high gain pedal is something I don't want...I will just sub different diodes into mine until I find the winning combination with mine..On a DS1,I like 1 stock silicon and 1 4002 diode with a smoothing cap across the 4002...I actually like the 2 silicon diodes in the RAT and so I may leave it as is? The crunch comes from the diode arrangement and how they react with the rest of the circuit...

A rat is a pretty good thing to stomp on.

Nice pedal.

Hey John, you might be able to answer this... I've tried several Rat pedals, and always experienced the same problem. No matter what guitar/pickup/whatever I used, I would get this random volume fluxuation. It did it more drastically if I picked hard, but would never go away. When I picked, the volume would go way down, and kind of fade back in. Same thing on 3 different Rat pedals, and a variety of guitars and pickups.

Any idea what caused this?


Originally Posted by JB_From_HellHey John, you might be able to answer this... I've tried several Rat pedals, and always experienced the same problem. No matter what guitar/pickup/whatever I used, I would get this random volume fluxuation. It did it more drastically if I picked hard, but would never go away. When I picked, the volume would go way down, and kind of fade back in. Same thing on 3 different Rat pedals, and a variety of guitars and pickups.

Any idea what caused this?Did it do it on high gain levels and with hot pickups?


Originally Posted by JB_From_HellHey John, you might be able to answer this... I've tried several Rat pedals, and always experienced the same problem. No matter what guitar/pickup/whatever I used, I would get this random volume fluxuation. It did it more drastically if I picked hard, but would never go away. When I picked, the volume would go way down, and kind of fade back in. Same thing on 3 different Rat pedals, and a variety of guitars and pickups.

Any idea what caused this?

Christian should be able to answer your questions? This one I built is the absolute first RAT pedal I've ever owned,and it seems it's probably alot better than the stock store bought one with mine...I set mine up bone stock at first and found it harsher,brighter,and lacking in needed lowend.From that point I looked at the schematic and started making some needed and noticible changes.I Like this pedal alot and it has great Marshall crunch-like tone...Sought of like a JCM 800 I guess? Turn the gain up and roll the tone back a bit and it also gets very smooth,singing sustain that reminds me of Warren Hayne's Les Paul/Soldano lead tones...The pedal crunches,but it also sings too....Very cool! LOL

Rats do a funky thing some times...it's almost like the sound it comming apart is the only wah I can describe it...it does it in high gain settings, it does it sometimes with hot pickups and if you really hammer downstrokes it will do it also...they all do it, but to be honest I never use that mich gain from my Rats and my pickups aren't that hot either...

Is that what you are talking about?

Just an unrelated question...what is the best paint to use for spraying those pedal boxes?
Anyone know?


Originally Posted by the guy who invented fireRats do a funky thing some times...it's almost like the sound it comming apart is the only wah I can describe it...it does it in high gain settings, it does it sometimes with hot pickups and if you really hammer downstrokes it will do it also...they all do it, but to be honest I never use that mich gain from my Rats and my pickups aren't that hot either...

Is that what you are talking about?

At higher gain settings it does this cool quot;whirringquot; thing that I Like for singing soloing....This pedal has something very unique in it's mids that no other pedal I've played through has or does...It's pretty intoxicating...Mine crunches great just by backing my volume control a bit and yet sings like a Soldano when I max the volume and this was on my Tele with Fender CS Nocaster and Vintage 52 reissue single coils..I'm only running the Distortion setting on my pedal at about 1/4 of the way up and the Filter at or around 3'o clock and Volume at mid position...This thing sounds great through my Vox Valvetronix...On mine....I get this ballsy lead tone if I volume my guitar up..The tone is both throaty in the mids,with nice strong tight lows...If I volume my guitar back,I get a cleaner rhythm tone that is slighter thinner and a bit brighter due to the treble bleed mod on my Tele..I Like what I'm hearing with my pedal so far...Cost me like $25 to build(total)...LOL

Mine does the volume fluctuation thing too. I always figured it was overloading one of the gain stages or something.....

I never had a volume problem with any of mine...I just tried out the 2 I have right now and couldn't make it act up...Im with John...mine sounds just like he described.


Originally Posted by GearjoneserJust an unrelated question...what is the best paint to use for spraying those pedal boxes?
Anyone know?

Not sure? Steve at Small Bear has the larger boxes in red,white, blue,and black though..

See? Now there you go with another pedal that a bunch of people have, trick it out, and leave us all salivating over pics of it! You are a cruel man, Johnny, very cruel indeed....I'll email you on that.
How about my MXR Dist. ? Supposed to be what Zak Wilde uses a lot of the time for his sound, but like the stock RAT it sounds pretty harsh and also has too much line noise going thru it. It's a nice, small unit though, that could be handy on a pedalboard.

....it rocks