What would be a fair price for one of these? I have an opportunity to pick one up and I was just wondering - how do you know if it's a good one or not? Should I be safe just knowing it was made in the 80's or was there a certain period in the 80's that the good ones came out of?

Thanks fellas!

This is one of those old pedals where the mojo, in my opinion, just doesn't hold up. Rats haven't changed much and LM308s aren't exactly in short supply. So unless you *really* want the big box, no-LED, LM308 Rat, save some money and buy a newer Rat. I wouldn't pay more than $120 for an 80's Rat. I haven't paid more than 120 for an 80's Rat.

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- IAN C. -
Rig: PRS | Schecter USA | Gibson | Axe-Fx II | empress effects
Beta tester: Fractal Audio | empress effects

Yeah, old Rats are pretty much a bargain as vintage pedals go. I wouldn't pay more than $120 either. That said, I have been using the same Rat pedal since 1981. Mojo or not, I don't care for the newer ones as much. They are different IMHO, even if they might use the same opamp.

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Stage Guitars: '80s Thin line LP Custom, '70 LP Standard, '83 Squier Black Headstock Strat w/ Dan Torres pickups, '59 Black Danelectro DC, sometimes others.

Pedal Board: Nady UHF 10 -> TU2 -> Rocktron Big Crush -> 70s MXR Phase 100 -> Cry Baby -> Bad Monkey -> Early '80s Rat -> Early '80s Ibanez CS 9 -> Ibanez DE 7 -> Behringer Dr 100 Stereo Reverb

Stage amps: '63 Blonde Tremolux w/ two original 2X10 cabinets with a '60 Ampeg Rocket/18 watt VTB Marshall clone/ Epi VJ into a Mashall 1965A

This is the one. Thanks guys.

Ahh. That's late 80's -- small box. Not the most "desirable" of the Rats. I'm not even sure that's LM308-equipped.

olddawg: I find no two Rats sound the same, especially the early revision ones. Lots of variation in the components.

__________________
- IAN C. -
Rig: PRS | Schecter USA | Gibson | Axe-Fx II | empress effects
Beta tester: Fractal Audio | empress effects

I paid about $180 on ebay for a 1982 big box Rat. Mainly it was because you can't find vintage pedals around here at all. plus I got into a bidding war. I didn't mind spending the money either. It is my #1 distortion pedal out of about 9 I have. I'd only buy a rat if it did have the LM308N chip in it, because I don't like the sound of the other chips they have used. I laughed at that link btw, it said that it is sometimes compared to a tubescreamer. Maybe if you have no idea what a tubescreamer really sounds like.

Newer Rats are made in China with lower quality, newer Rats are crap. That's one of the reason Robert Keeley doesn't mod them anymore unless they're not new.

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You want to back that claim up? What precisely is crap about them? The sound? The build quality?

__________________
- IAN C. -
Rig: PRS | Schecter USA | Gibson | Axe-Fx II | empress effects
Beta tester: Fractal Audio | empress effects

Apparently the poor build quality and some components

Keeley said

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My Textural Atmosphe-Rig .
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80's Rats have a more mid dip by their BIAS resistor

Newer Rats are crap, utter crap. I've seen too much of em on my bench to mod em and they all differ in parts, quality, etc.

Worst issue: some of em have reverse log potmeters......... WHY????? By using these potmeters you can not dial in any nice tone and the volume knob goes from no sound to full in 1/10th of the turn.

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http://technophobia.co.nr/

Fender 'Blackface' Twin Reverb for sale!!!!

Mine have the Filter pot reversed, fully clockwise sounds like tone at zero and the volume goes from zero at 12:00 to even at 1:30 to boost at 2:00 to full from 2:30 and on

But at least is not a chinese new one, still made in USA, from like 2001 or else.

What can I do to make it a better Rat, Obi Wan Rog?

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My Textural Atmosphe-Rig .
So don't piss them off.

That filter issue is normal; all Rats have those...........

Do a Keeley mod on em (as described on another Rat thread here). Awesome!

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Tijd zat..., toch?

Technophobia; Analog Audio Solutions; for all your custom builds and mods.
http://technophobia.co.nr/

Fender 'Blackface' Twin Reverb for sale!!!!

Ok, seeing this thread is done I don't feel bad for hijacking it


1) My ram head Pi has Tone pot reversed too, thats normal or it has been tweaked?

2) In your opinion what is the best mod to a RAT for just improving tonal quality? I don't want more/less gain since I'm pretty happy with the gain range

As usual, show me your geeky wisdom LOL

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My Textural Atmosphe-Rig .
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1. Tweaked!

2. Best mod to me is the enlargement of the input cap, the cap before the clippers and the cap before the FET. More bass! Makes it much more nice sounding! Diode selector switch is a nice addition!

__________________
Tijd zat..., toch?

Technophobia; Analog Audio Solutions; for all your custom builds and mods.
http://technophobia.co.nr/

Fender 'Blackface' Twin Reverb for sale!!!!

Once again thanx Mister


xoxo
-S

__________________
My Textural Atmosphe-Rig .
So don't piss them off.