Rats

[RaceU4her]

im on the list for the RT Rat run Griffin is doing, i dont really know much about rats though or who besides nuno plays one. i do have the caline one here i should probably fuck with more. whos got one??

[Guitarbilly]

I have one. I it's a great boost, very different than the typical TS style pedal. It tightens the amp but it also adds some low midrange thickness.

Back in the day, (80s) the RAT was a very common boost among the East Coast rock and metal band. Bands like Nuclear Assault, Overkill, Anthrax, all the NYC bands like Biohazard, Madball or even hard rock band like Skid Row, Twisted Sister etc.. they all used either Rats or the TC Line Booster.
Growing up in the NJ/NY scene it was very common for players to use them to boost their amps. Then when I moved to Los Angeles in the 90s, I was surprised to see that almost no one there used them and it was all Tube Screamer and SD1. Before the internet we had these trends on certain areas that were very regional, different areas had a different sound and gear trends, while today it's more homogeneous.

Nuno was an east coast player so that's what he got that from, he's pretty much the only one who kept using it but its not something he came up with, back then it was of one of the standard pedals in the area, the other being the TC boost. My guitar teacher back in the day was sort of a popular player/teacher in the NY/NJ area, he even taught Zakk Wylde earlier on and sure enough his rig was a RAT boosting a Marshall. Zakk himself used it in his local bands, he switched to the SD1 after he went to LA to start recording with Ozzy.

The classic setting is the "upside-down T" , which is Distortion at 9 o'clock, Filter at Noon and Level at 3 o'clock, basically looks like "_|_" . Put that in front of a Marshall and it's great.


Also, generally speaking, a RAT is a RAT. I had a "vintage" one that I bought in the 80s and it's considered to be some kind of holy grail. I compared it to one of the new ones and it sounded the same. Sold the old one for $450 and kept the newer one, which cost me 50. If you're using it in front of a clean amp as your main distortion, maybe you can hear some differences between different versions, but as a boost they're all work the same.

I think every player should have one. It's a classic sound that got kind of lost over the decades, aside from Nuno.

[linthat22]

I had an 80's rat ProCo and didn't bond with it. I think it's because I was a teenager and didn't know how to use it properly. I wanted to get crushing rhythms like Scott Ian at the time

[greatmutah]

I’ve got a current Rat 2 I got for like $60 and it’s great. Only Rat I really need. I’ve been known to go boutique on a few fuzzes and dirt pedals but the Rat sounds great so why mess with it?

[colejustesen]

I have one and it was a game changer pedal acquisition. Those pedals are so good. I have mine set like this... \ / / in front of my Rivera M100. It definitely nails that late 80s, early 90s metal sound. It is so so good!

Cole

[JSutter]

I have had a Brat, some Behringer clone, and Rat 2. I played them gain on full into clean amps with underwhelming results. Never did I think to use it with other gain stages. I recently got a Brat, it's a Rat with buffers and soft clipping like an TS9 or SD1, and finally realized they make a great boost. I like it better than my SD1 in some ways. I put the clipping diodes on switches and use only the soft clipping. Gain low, volume high, tone to taste.

[spawnofthesith]

Never owned a rat somehow. But I do like the two rat models in the HX one

[Zeegler]

I have a T-Rex Yellow Drive that is supposedly a dual rat pedal. I always thought it was SD-1 based because it's yellow

I find that it's closer to an SD-1 than a TS. Perhaps a bit more aggressive than an SD-1

I've never owned an actual rat.

[I'MAPUNKROCKERDAMNIT]

My favorite Rat it the EQD Life Pedal. They made the Rat a bit gnarlier and added an octave up.
Version 3 is the only one to get... 1 and 2 don't have an octave on/off switch.

Version 3...

[Guitarbilly]

My favorite Rat it the EQD Life Pedal. They made the Rat a bit gnarlier and added an octave up.
Version 3 is the only one to get... 1 and 2 don't have an octave on/off switch.

Version 3...

Oh this is cool!!! Have you tried it on bass? Seems like it would be a cool distortion/octaver for bass.