RAT Curious...

Shipwreck

A long time coming, but I'm thinking about picking up a RAT. A mainstay for so many of my favourite bands and heroes (Butler and Coxon particularly) - I'm unsure why I've stubbornly avoided them for so long. I've used a low-gain IC Big Muff for my skuzzy - not quite fuzz / not really high gain - heavier sounds for a decade now, but I'm thinking a mid-gain Rat might bring me what I want. For ref, I'll be stacking a Barbershop OD and a Nobles ODR-1 before it. 

Where on earth do I begin? A mind-numbing amount of info on forums. USA vs MIC? Big Box v Rat II? ProCo vs boutique?  I'm open minded and trying to avoid the cork sniffing. Lower noise / greater reliability is always welcome though. 

Cheers! 

Flanging_Fred

One way to go would be to buy a cheap mini pedal. I got a Tomsline “Black Teeth” pedal for about 15 quid s/h. It has 3 modes that go from normal, turbo & solo (I think this is supposed to be like the “You dirty rat” pedal). Anyway, it actually sounds really decent. There are loads of similar mini pedals out there from Mooer, Donner etc.

If you just want to “dip your toe in” then it’s a good place to start and direct you to maybe a higher end pedal if you like what you hear. That’s what I was going to do but I just stuck with the cheap one because I really like it!

earwighoney

IMO you can't really go wrong with a standard USA or MIC Proco Rat 2 (non LM chip) for about £50 s/h I guess.  They are pretty durable so I wouldn't worry too much about getting one second hand. 

Otherwise I'd get a Joyo Splinter for about £30 and if you like it, you can get the 'grown up' version.

If you like the circuit, there are million other takes on it on all budgets.  The one I am most intrigued by is one that is a kit.  Fuzz Dog has a Rat kit with a 3 band EQ.  

Oh yeah the DOD Gunslinger is Rat like but has a 2 band EQ, I prefer my clone to my Rat 2. 

jellybelly

(One of us! One of us!)

Loads of good options nowadays. 

Basic MIC Rat is decent. USA ones better... in my opinion anyway. 

Some lovely boutique ones, and plenty of modellers have a decent RAT (Line 6 HX Ratatouille deserves a shout out). My happy middle ground has turned out to be a JHS 3 Series Distortion. Sounds great, straightforward tone control, standard/turbo (i.e. silicon Vs LED diodes) switch. Sensibly priced too. 

GavRichList

The off the peg rat 2 cost me £72 new. It’s brilliant. Zero need to spend more. 

Dave_Mc

Flanging_Fred said:

One way to go would be to buy a cheap mini pedal. I got a Tomsline “Black Teeth” pedal for about 15 quid s/h. It has 3 modes that go from normal, turbo & solo (I think this is supposed to be like the “You dirty rat” pedal). Anyway, it actually sounds really decent. There are loads of similar mini pedals out there from Mooer, Donner etc.

If you just want to “dip your toe in” then it’s a good place to start and direct you to maybe a higher end pedal if you like what you hear. That’s what I was going to do but I just stuck with the cheap one because I really like it!

Yeah. That's what I did, I got the Mooer one (before the ones with the 3 modes became available).

springhead

Secondhand Mooer would be a good start. I’ve got a Rat I bought new in 1987 which I love and the little Mooer does a pretty decent job in comparison.  

Dave_Mc

springhead said:

Secondhand Mooer would be a good start. I’ve got a Rat I bought new in 1987 which I love and the little Mooer does a pretty decent job in comparison.  

I should probably add that I've never A/Bed the Mooer with the "real thing". Good news that it can at least hang!

26.2

I’ve a/b’d the Mooer with my mid-2000s US Rat and there was a problem. The sweep of the filter wasn’t right for me - I tend to use the Rat at quite low gain settings and the filter setting is important to keep clarity and brightness. I found that on the Mooer I ran out of adjustment anti-clockwise and it was a bit too woolly. It might be rig dependent though, but I’m using mainly Fenders into Fenders so you’d have thought I’d get enough cut. 

I only bought the Mooer to get me through a couple of rehearsals while my Rat footswitch was being fixed. I should have just got another Rat I guess. 

NicoAdie

I have on my board a MIC Rat II, a ProCo Solo, a MIA Rat II and a MIA Deucetone. The MIC Rat II sounds the same as the others, the Solo obviously sounds different and is much more tweakable but still has the Rat DNA. I run a Nobels ODR-1 before them all.

Just get the MIC Rat II.

AntonHunter

I reached that point a year or two years ago and just got a bog standard Lil Rat. No idea why it took me so long (20 years or more) but it's great, just get a Rat, don't over think it.

CatastroFX

Just bite the bullet and don't regret it. For the money they are well worth a try. 

Cols

I’ve got a TC Magus Pro for about £50.  Three modes (classic, fat, turbo).  Works a treat and sounds great.

Sassafras

The original big box Rat and its reissue are both far better than the MIC ones. They've got a character that's unique to them. It has to be heard to be believed.
Sounds terrific for slide guitar.

Revolutions

I’ve got a late 80s rat, a big box reissue, Mooer black secret & a Walrus Audio Iron Horse.

A standard rat is all you need - the mini sounds damn good. I’m a fan of the Mooer as it’s darker, & depending on the amp, plays better with my telecaster.

Revolutions

Sassafras said:

The original big box Rat and its reissue are both far better than the MIC ones. They've got a character that's unique to them. It has to be heard to be believed.
Sounds terrific for slide guitar.

This is true. The big box is just that bit sweeter. Too big for me to use on a board though. Just nice to have around for recording.

merlin

I have a Wampler Ratsbane that I don't use and would be happy to sell... it can do the Rat sound plus a whole shed-load more. 

Shipwreck

Thanks all - really great advice. And quite exciting! I think I'm leaning to a ProCo over the boutique offerings. Tones over aesthetics and all that but I do love how the big box models look. Such an iconic design (and I'd have board space) but absurd eBay prices are a bit jarring. With the "II",  from what I understand the chip differences are debatable but is there anything notable between the USA and MIC? The latter seems readily available for cheap, but happy to pay a bit more if there's better build quality / components stateside. Cheers!

Revolutions

Shipwreck said:

Thanks all - really great advice. And quite exciting! I think I'm leaning to a ProCo over the boutique offerings. Tones over aesthetics and all that but I do love how the big box models look. Such an iconic design (and I'd have board space) but absurd eBay prices are a bit jarring. With the "II",  from what I understand the chip differences are debatable but is there anything notable between the USA and MIC? The latter seems readily available for cheap, but happy to pay a bit more if there's better build quality / components stateside. Cheers!

Buy the cheap one. Unless you’re in your bedroom a/b testing them, you won’t hear much difference.

26.2

Revolutions said:

Shipwreck said:

Thanks all - really great advice. And quite exciting! I think I'm leaning to a ProCo over the boutique offerings. Tones over aesthetics and all that but I do love how the big box models look. Such an iconic design (and I'd have board space) but absurd eBay prices are a bit jarring. With the "II",  from what I understand the chip differences are debatable but is there anything notable between the USA and MIC? The latter seems readily available for cheap, but happy to pay a bit more if there's better build quality / components stateside. Cheers!

Buy the cheap one. Unless you’re in your bedroom a/b testing them, you won’t hear much difference.

Good advice, but if you see a late USA built Rat 2 for a decent price that’d be even better IMO. Even with the ‘wrong’ chip I think they have a slightly better/deeper sound than the China ones. Could be all in my head though. 

CCGX had a bunch of new old stock USA ones not long ago. Might be some left? 

GavRichList

I suspect the USA vs MIC stuff is 98% cork sniffery and almost entirely imperceptible in real-world settings. I do admit to hankering after a Fat-Rat based on demos but given that it wouldn’t fit on my board, the standard 2 is more than sufficient. I never switch it on and think it sounds anything other than great.