Review of the ' Technophobia RAT '

Jackfuzz · #1 07.07.06, 5:36 PM

Forword...

...this is an e-mail to a fellow GG, that i decided to post, so if it sounds like i am talking to one spesific person, well, i was:

REVIEW :

Let me give you some quick back ground info so you will know my reason behind this RAT !

I LOVE OVERDRIVE, my fav. sound in the world . . .

I have, let me count 'em, one, two, three . . . FOUR OD-pedals.
And i love 'em all !

(i sold my MT-2 after only 6 hours of walking out of the store - don't ask)

So, when it came to AMP buying time (valve) i realized that it is a one channel amp.
No worries, it has a vol. & master vol. knob.
The vol. drives the pre-amp into overdrive, so no problem there, right !

. . . RIGHT ???

Ermmm, NO, there is a problem, cause i have valve OD & 4 overdrive stompboxes, but NO DIST. sound. (and 4 od pedals on max, is still not
gonna give me a Dist. sound).

So, before i bought the amp, i started to look into dist. tones, because if i need that kinda sound sooner or later i WILL need a box for that, to go with my Blues Jr.
I always like the bluesy tone of the first JTM45 Marshall's.
You know, that overdriven sound, pushed into unwilling distortion territory.

Onto the web, i went.

For about two months, that is all that i did.

OK, cutting the story short . . .

. . . i decided on a RAT cause i really like the tones on their site, and it reminded me of those Marshall dist. tones.
* (now remember, if my amp came with a separate gain/dist. channel i would not have bought a pedal to do what the amp can do better) *

Thats my theory any way - valve amp dist. is always better than that of the "dist.-in-a-box".

I got in contact with Berarduur, and he was very helpful.
I told him about the various tones that i liked, and he suggested to put the two tones into one, as it is very easy to create the two diff. tones.
Hardware wise it is not complicated at all. (so he says)

So, the two tones are the Vintage II Rat & the Turbo Rat.
He then took it onto himself to add the "TUBERAT".
I also asked for a boost channel - "no problem", he said !!!
As an after thought i asked if he can add a "blend" knob, so that i can do the obvious. Blend the wet & dry signals, so that the standard dist. tone can be "weakened/reduced" by some of the dry signal.

So, the RAT that you see in my sig (pedalboard) is a collaboration between the two of us.

History lesson, FINISHED.

What does it sound like ?

MMmmmm, never gave an assessment on something like this, so please bare with me !

To my surprise, a valve amp is even better than what i thought.
I got my amp, before my pedal rocked up in the mail.

To my surprise, all my pedals sounded BETTER, (and diff.) through my new amp !!!
Needless to say, i had to re-learn what all my pedals can sound like, and find/create new "sound scapes" all over again.
By the time of writting, i am still experrimenting, and enjoying every hour of it.

Guitar -->Technophobia RAT -->AMP

The Tone & Features :

It has five knobs, one red LED, and one foot switch.

1) CLEAN - blend knob
2) DIST. - gain/dist. setting
3) FILTER - tone
4) VOLUME - ermmm, volume
5) MODEL - four way selector switch for the modes

MODES :

1) TUBERAT
2) VINTAGE RAT II
3) TURBORAT
4) BOOST

Now remember that i never owned a RAT before, and the only other dist.-pedal (MT-2) i owned was traded the very same evening for a BD-2 !!!
(best swap ever).

So i can only compare my RAT's tones to the ones on the official ProCo site and i believe that the 'net' is NEVER as good as the real thing.

I immediately started to play with the CLEAN (blend) knob, as i want a 50% dist. tone right away.
MMMmmm, that took some doing, as it took a while to figure out that the Clean knob, and the Volume knob work "with one another".
The best to explain this, is to compare it with the vol. knob on your guitar - it work exactly the same way.
Eg. : less wet sig, needs more vol......or......100% wet sig. needs less vol., and so on !

Ok, got that sorted, let's see what this RAT sound like in all the modes.

TUBERAT :

Ermmmmm, yes, it does sound like a tubescreamer overdrive-like tone, with a very slight distortion tone in there.
Is it a true Rat tone ?
I suppose it is, but it is soo slight, even on 100% wet it is hard to tell, but boy do i like this one !!!
Needless to say, it is my fav. by far !!!

VINTAGE II

I do feel that this tone gets pretty close to the Rat sound on the ProCo site.
I also like this one, as i think it get kinda close to * my * idea of a good dist. sound.
That being the sound of those cranked JTM45's from the 60's.
On 30% wet/70% dry = killer, PERIOD !

Set to, 100% wet, and you have your RAT ! ! !

Turn the Dist-knob all the way and forget Rat, you have FUZZ !

TURBO :

OK, here things start to become very subjective . . .

. . . i feel this version does not sound like the one on the ProCo site !

BUT WAIT - that is a good thing . . . FOR * ME * !!!

Because i do not like the sound of the Turborat on their site.
I sounds too "80's metal" to my ears.
Now trying to describe this sound, is not that easy.
Unfortunatly i am just gonna say, switching from the Turbo to the Vintage, the 'TURBO' is just another *suttle variation of the Vintage.
Maybe just less compressed, but there is a differance, and a good tone (for me) non the less !!!

*Also take in conciderration that Berarduur did tell me that some of the tone-differance's will be more noticable with a cranked amp, and the CLEAN knob (blend) must be on 100% wet AND the DIST-knob very close to max aswell.
I have NOT YET, crancked the amp with those settings !

BOOSTER :

MMmmmmmm . . .
Clean, max'd & Vol. max'd = huge natural overdrive.
My amp vol on 12 noon, and kick in the Boost . . .

. . . beautifull, true, natural pre-amp overdrive.

I have to be honest and say that it is NOT a 100% super clean boost though.

THERE IS A VERY SLIGHT UNDERTONE OF THE RAT DIST. THAT IS AUDABLE !!!

But on an already cranked amp, most folk, will probably think it is natural dist. any way.
I know it is not, as my Mirco Amp, on the same settings, give me a super clean boost !

Oh, and the LED is super bright.

This RAT also come with 'TRUE BY-PASS', (so NO tone-loss, when not engaged), and a healthy buffer.

BOTTOM LINE :

. . . what do i think of it ?

For the price, it is a good pedal.
Dist. is not my #1 tone (never was), but as a general purpose dist. i will look no futher as this RAT will cover all my grunty distortion bases, and with that BLEND knob i can go from, "low-gain OD with a hint of dirt, right to, IN YER FACE DISTROTION, that borders on FUZZ.

This is truely what i wanted - a Multi purpose dist. tone that, * I LIKE * !!!

If there is anyone wanting to know any thing that i might have over-looked, (and there must be soo much) and you want to know about, please feel free to e-mail me.

CHEERs

Motorhead · #2 07.07.06, 5:47 PM

Price?

berarduur · #3 07.07.06, 6:07 PM

Great review............

Thanks man!

ooh, price is 100 euro's

MrZosoNP · #4 07.08.06, 12:50 PM

nice post. cool pedal

lp_man · #5 07.08.06, 2:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by berarduur
Great review............

Thanks man!

ooh, price is 100 euro's

Holy **** that is a killer price!

You can barely get a new standard rat for that over here!

Great review Jackfuzz!

billygoatmersh · #6 07.08.06, 3:50 PM

It was a helpful email

ashjamben · #7 07.08.06, 6:53 PM

Yeah, that is definetly cheap as chips for a unit that costs the same a standard RAT, yet has more sounds to it. Berarduur, when i have some cash you may recieve an e-mail from me for one of those RATs

Zeppelanoid · #8 07.08.06, 7:30 PM

Ya that is a killer pedal....awesome.....now I want one.

pinkerton · #9 07.09.06, 1:12 AM

This is way off topic, but have you done anything to your blue's Jr? I very strongly recoomend changing the speaker to a jensen c12n or similar. Really, really, clears up the sound.

Jackfuzz · #10 07.09.06, 7:16 AM

Ahh, 'pinkerton' . . .

. . . i've done all types of research on the net about up-grades for my amp.

fenderforum.com, is the 'one-stop' site for EVERYTING Fender related !!!
There are Co's in the States & UK that even add an FX-loop, Presence knob AND a Gain channel !!!
That is above the standard stuff like speakers, Tweed re-coverring.

There is a bloke here in South Africa (i just might do it !!!) that re-cover amps in exotic hides, like "real" Crocodile leather.

My friend has a V30 in his Peavey Classic 30 and there is such a huge diff' in the sound !!!

Do you know how the V30 will differ from the Jensen model ???

The only problem for me over here, is the time it takes to import the bloody products.
(I am still waiting for stuff that i ordered in JAN '06)

CHEERs