Everyone love a good Rat Distortion. Well, not everyone, but people who like Distortion sure do. Actually, that’s not entirely true either, but the Rat is famous nonetheless, and is a (mostly) sought after sound, especially the old pedals from the 80’s and 90’s with the desirable LM308 chip in them. Our buddy Ásgeir from Pedal Projects decided to make a Rat of his own, but add a little of his own flavor into it, and it sounds mighty fine.
Just looking at this pedal, you know it’s gonna melt your face. The crisp bright blue enclosure with a mean-looking mountain goat staring at you? C’mon, it’s gonna rock your world, no doubt. Then you turn it on, and it does exactly that. Three control knobs adorn the surface of this Rat Clone: Volume, Gain and Filter, plus a toggle (more on that later). Volume and Gain work in conjunction so you can get the most distortion without blowing up your amp, which can definitely be useful. The Gain has incredible presence and range, really making this a versatile overdrive, with tons of sustain and warm tones for days. The Filter switch is sort of a backwards Tone knob: move it to the left and the highs become increasingly present; move it to the right, and they slowly fade away into a wash of low end. This pedal was actually designed for a bass guitar, but it sounds incredible with my Tele on the other end as well. The Low End really comes through, which was one of the problems some folks had with the Rat, as it focused a bit more on the highs and could get a little preachy at times. The toggle switch goes between 2 different clipping diodes, rounding out the controls for this awesome clone, and giving you a couple more sonic options to play with as well.
I actually A/B’d this with a Rat 2, and found it to be much more to my liking. The Bass was so much fuller and present, and I really can’t stand when distortion pedals are all treble with no low end, so this was right up my musical alley. I’m not sure how many of these were made by Pedal Projects, this might be the only one, who knows? If that’s the case, I’ve got a real gem on my hands, and I feel a little bit bad that none of you will ever get to hear it. Oh well, what can I tell you? Maybe if you ask nice, Ásgeir will make you one of your very own…
Submitted by Mike B, Website
