Proco Rat

[~BURNY~]

I want to buy one but I don't know which one.
The whiteface 85 seems overpriced, just like the real vintage ones are.
Tried the Turbo. It sounded nothing like the normal RAT iirc.
The Solo Rat is quite expensive, not sure about the sound...
The Deucetone, expensive too, don't need the bells and whistles...

So basically I'm left with a few choices:
1 The Rat 2
2 An used "Vintage Rat" (not a real vintage, the discontinued model named "vintage rat")
3 Some sort of clone or DIY stuff

What do you think?

 

[mr.L.]

I would go with the used "Vintage Rat". From what I've heard these sound closest to the original ones.

The Rat is one of my favorite pedals for bass and I've had a couple of different ones. To me the ones from the eighties sound significantly better than the new "The Rat 2" (less fizzy/white noisy top end and more growly in your face sounding). I haven't compared the "Vintage Rat", but from what I've heard it sounds pretty good.

 

[~BURNY~]

Ok, thanks for the reply, I found a couple of classifieds. They seem to go for around 100 euros which seems like an ok price...

 

[mr.L.]

100 euros for a used one? That's quite a bit more then I would expect. The eighties version that I'm currently using cost me about 70 euros a few years back, if I remember correctly.

 

[Charles J]

go for the vintage.

i've never used any of the newer reissues but our R2DU from the 80's is absolutely KILLER.

 

[Sunny84]

You could probs build if you've got some electronics savvy! http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Rat-Clone-Distortion-Guitar-Effect-Pedal---The/ thats got some infor, and you can buy a board from Tonepad for 14 dollars, and you can mod it to any era or spec.

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=45

 

[Let it burn...]

you need one with the LM308 chip. That's the classic RAT sound.

A vintage Big Box (or a reissue) or an 80ies small box should get you there

 

[Peterson Goodwyn]

you need one with the LM308 chip. That's the classic RAT sound. there

In my experience the clipping diodes are a much bigger part of the sound than the chip. The chip is really there to provide some gain to push the signal harder into the diodes, not to do any clipping itself.

Would be interested to hear if others had a different perspective.

 

[TofNazareth]

just bought a used big box version 1 from 1981 on craigslist 40$US "not working" it was a broken foot switch. its unreal how responsive and good this thing sounds. lm308n has my vote

 

[The StabbinCabin]

Got an old one for free the other day that has the LM308 chip that wasn't working- scored a nice multimeter kit for $8 and poked around the points on the board and figured the volume potentiometer was fried (as it was obvious when engaged and turned)...

Going to replace after work today and hope it yields good results. I'm a total noob when it comes to checking components like this though- could anybody point me to a reliable source for pedal/simple DIY troubleshooting?

Many thanks dudes

 

[Robert W]

Looks like vintage pedals are going for $200 USD on eBay.