Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

PFDarkside said:
Both Voodoo lab and TRex include the adapter in their power supplies. Also, 1-Spot has an adapter too.
Click to expand...

And I should clarify, both the Rat 2 and Solo can run off of a 9v battery...I just have bad luck so I know the battery would go out on me during a performance lol Which, some of the pedals sound über cool with a dying battery!
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

You can find an adapter for whatever Rat, or a battery, no problem.

And we are talking pretty fine hairs here about the various Rats.

Rat 2 is the cheap / easily available one. No REASON other than tone snobbery to get the original.

Solo can do way more than the standard.
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

Aceman said:
You can find an adapter for whatever Rat, or a battery, no problem.

And we are talking pretty fine hairs here about the various Rats.

Rat 2 is the cheap / easily available one. No REASON other than tone snobbery to get the original.

Solo can do way more than the standard.
Click to expand...

been meaning to try a rat solo.. i really like my Rat 2. mine was bought in the late 80's so it might differ a tad from the ones sold now.. I Really want to build a modded rat with all the bells and whistles..
ive also always wanted the R2DU..
just searched ebay and to my surprise.. found it. not worth the price they are askin .. even though the date would fit in nicely with other gear i have from that time period
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rat-1990-Pr...211724?hash=item4d36ffbdcc:g:V6EAAOSwPcVV2Mjq
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

Aceman said:
You can find an adapter for whatever Rat, or a battery, no problem.

And we are talking pretty fine hairs here about the various Rats.

Rat 2 is the cheap / easily available one. No REASON other than tone snobbery to get the original.

Solo can do way more than the standard.
Click to expand...

+1 to this! When I was in middle school I heard a group play and couldn't believe the tone. Talked to the guitar player afterwards and he was using an old Fender Blackface with just a Rat (original Rat.) When I played my Rat 2 through my Hot Rod Deluxe I got the tone I had wanted all of these years. It wasn't exactly identical to what he had but it was dog gone close for a fraction of the cost if I had got all of the gear he had. Also, you can mod the Rat 2 if you want to use the same chips a the original.

Brandenburg said:
been meaning to try a rat solo.. i really like my Rat 2. mine was bought in the late 80's so it might differ a tad from the ones sold now.. I Really want to build a modded rat with all the bells and whistles..
ive also always wanted the R2DU..
just searched ebay and to my surprise.. found it. not worth the price they are askin .. even though the date would fit in nicely with other gear i have from that time period
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rat-1990-Pr...211724?hash=item4d36ffbdcc:g:V6EAAOSwPcVV2Mjq
Click to expand...

You should totally try a Solo...a Rat juiced up with steroids!...and it can still nail the Rat tone as well. Fun pedal just didn't fit with what I'm playing right now.
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

As everyone else said... a rat ... otherwise look at AMT pedals or some of the JCM800 in a box pedals and a tubescreamer. If you are on a budget then like at Mooer Black Secret, some of the Joyo stuff, Caline pedals have a crunchbox clone.
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

i currently use an OCD and a DS-1. Once in a while i bust out the Homebrew Full Metal Jacket.
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

Worth noting: The MojoMojo OD and the Dark Matter were designed to stack, and they're about $50 each.

And I like how the MojoMojo sounds by itself... I have a Dark Matter, but I haven't had the opportunity to stack 'em.


See? :headbang:
 
Last edited:
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

MXR Dist+
Rat
Boss DS-1
Boss SuperOD to boost the distortion pedal for solos

If you can find one, an Applause Super Distortion. The older one that looks like a Boss pedal. Made by KAMAN at the time. That pedal did not need boosting in front of it. It was the highest-gain pedal I've ever encountered.
edit: found one on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-App...886439?hash=item51dbf91a27:g:iNAAAOSwT6pV6mWX
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

guitarSQUIRELL said:
Would you recommend the Ratt over the DS-1?
Click to expand...

Through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, absolutely. Through your Vox AC15 I don't know as I've not tried that combo. Is there a guitar store nearby you can bring your amp and try out different pedals?

IMO, the Rat is more along the lines of where you are wanting to go...a ProCO Solo would get you the Rat tone and then a WHOLE lot more to dial into ;)
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

treyhaislip said:
Through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, absolutely. Through your Vox AC15 I don't know as I've not tried that combo. Is there a guitar store nearby you can bring your amp and try out different pedals?

IMO, the Rat is more along the lines of where you are wanting to go...a ProCO Solo would get you the Rat tone and then a WHOLE lot more to dial into ;)
Click to expand...

HA!!!....The nearest music store for pedals here is about 1.5 hours away...and thats in Jackson, MS at the Guitar Center.....I haven't tried the DS-1 in Top Boost channel on my AC15 where I can do a 3 band EQ on it yet.....That may help....
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

The old MIJ and early MIT DS-1s sound great, they used a much different chip than the newer ones. I've put an old one and a new side by side and the old ones are much warmer sounding.

If you can solder, try www.generalguitargadgets.com or www.buildyourownclone.com and check out the BSIAB2 or Guv'nor clones. The Marshall Shredmaster is a great pedal too (BYOC has a clone of it).

And yeah, a Rat is great too, can't really go wrong with one.
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

Most of you guys using Rats playing through newer ones?? I had a bud years ago, had a JCM800 and juiced it with a rat and sounded awesome! I asked about the age because I thought Id heard a few years back that they changed something where they werent as good. Is that fact or hair (pun intended) splitting??
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

BloodRose said:
Most of you guys using Rats playing through newer ones?? I had a bud years ago, had a JCM800 and juiced it with a rat and sounded awesome! I asked about the age because I thought Id heard a few years back that they changed something where they werent as good. Is that fact or hair (pun intended) splitting??
Click to expand...

well.. the new ones are made in china with the IC chip that is electronically equivalent to the older chip.. in saying that.. some believe that the newer ones just lacks something or so ive heard
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

First off, I'm not much of a distortion pedal guy, I prefer the warmer overdrive pedal. I couldn't stand the original Rat even when it first came out in the 80s. That being said, I do however really like the MXR Distortion that I have. I can't remember which one it is, but I think it's the Distortion +. It has a real nice "pop" to it for lack of a better word. To me it's dry sounding, but it kind of hits the speakers like a cranked up amp, and gives it that clean kind of "pop". I'm horrible at explaining stuff that I hear. It distorts your signal, but it's a nice clean distortion, if that makes any sense.
 
Re: Recommend me a Distortion pedal please....

BloodRose said:
Most of you guys using Rats playing through newer ones?? I had a bud years ago, had a JCM800 and juiced it with a rat and sounded awesome! I asked about the age because I thought Id heard a few years back that they changed something where they werent as good. Is that fact or hair (pun intended) splitting??
Click to expand...

There are a few subtle changes to the Rat circuit over the years, but they are pretty similar. But yes, the new Rat 2s are made in China and have a OP-07 opamp instead of the original LM308. Spec-wise the 07 is "better" than the 308, but faster response times and such don't always "sound" better. The chips have the same pinouts, so it's easy to change out (that's what I did with my Rat 2). The other problem with some of the newer MIC Rats is that some of the components aren't as good, especially the pots. The shafts are notorious for pulling out when you try to pull the knobs off, which you have to do to change the chip, so that often means changing the pots when you change the chip 8^P

Basically all Rats ("standard", Turbo, and You Dirty Rat) are the same circuit, just with different clipping diodes. The Turbo had LEDs, the Rat has silicon, and the You Dirty has germanium, so it's possible to take any one of them and make it into all three with a 3-way switch.

FWIW, Nuno's early Extreme stuff was a Rat juicing a JMP master volume.
 
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