rat pedal with less bass cut?

George · Post by **George** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 10:47 am

do such things exist, boutique clone/mod or otherwise? i love the mooer black secret im borrowing off tim, but a rat style pedal with retained bass would be nigh on perfect.

for "distortion" i only use between 9 to 12 o'clock, so pedals with overall less gain than a rat would be fine.

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:09 am

Google Ruetz mod.

George · Post by **George** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:19 am

i've read a bit about that, and a lot of people say it takes something from the original rat sound, so im not sure. have you tried it?

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:33 pm

How about this?

I got one, it's awesome.

Post by **Doog** » Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:40 pm

George wrote:i've read a bit about that, and a lot of people say it takes something from the original rat sound, so im not sure. have you tried it?

I did this on my old RAT2 I used for years as a switchable mod- it's definitely worth doing if you don't use the upper half/third of the gain dial as it does reduce the gain a little, but certainly does beef the sound up a bit (less upper-mid spike )

George · Post by **George** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 10:08 am

Nice. Having read about various boutique clones they don't seem worth it. Seems I've got two options then:

1. Buy a used rat2 and drill the enclosure for a for a ruetz switch, maybe even pot to make the mod effect variable.
2. Get a used mooer or eno clone and be happy with the original sound.

markleton · Post by **markleton** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 4:57 pm

George wrote:Nice. Having read about various boutique clones they don't seem worth it. Seems I've got two options then:

1. Buy a used rat2 and drill the enclosure for a for a ruetz switch, maybe even pot to make the mod effect variable.
2. Get a used mooer or eno clone and be happy with the original sound.

I have a Fuzzrocious Rat Tail (now called the Cat Tail) and it has the Ruetz mods on a pot. You can dial in more clipping on the bass and treble frequencies quite nicely. Plus it has spades of bass, it's bassy as a bassy thing through my AC-15, much more than my stock Rat 2 (which I'd be up for selling too cos the Rat Tail is amaaaazing)

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sun Dec 18, 2016 5:06 pm

I could've sworn someone was making cheap RAT clones with the Ruetz mod switchable from the get-go?

I've noticed I don't really like using rats unless I have my 4x12 tbh. Through my Vibro Champ XD or '70s Bassman Ten, it's a shitfest. And yes, I do realize "use a closed-back 4x12" is a solution that doesn't help most people.

George · Post by **George** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 11:15 am

yeah, i've owned a rat before and it was awful with fender and the (admittedly shite) mesa nomad i owned. with the ac15 it's really a fantastic low-mid gain pedal.

i'd love to know if there's a cheap chinese clone doing the rounds with the ruetz mod. and that boutique pedal looks excellent, but i'm not sure i want to drop that much money at the moment.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 12:47 pm

I'm sure Mike could knock you up something great

George · Post by **George** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 12:53 pm

that might just be the answer! is mike still building? i didn't know if he was too busy with his little one these days.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 1:05 pm

Busy with both, it'd seem http://www.instagram.com/madebymikepedals/

Hank's the best, I gotta go visit the clan again soon

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 12:06 pm

Can confirm: Mike's Rat is super good and should be purchased.

(photo stolen shamelessly from http://madebymike.co.uk/)

George · Post by **George** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 12:14 pm

ive sent him a pm but assume he's too busy to check shortscale at the moment.

can you talk me through the mods on that? what does the texture pot and switch do?

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 8:15 pm

I figured Mike's busy with the fam, but he's posted a few builds on FB in recent weeks (Dreamboxes and a Fender Blender iirc) so it looks like he has at least some time for pedal builds.

I still have the Rat 2 rebuild that he did ages ago, and it sounds spot on. +1 for a MIEK RAT.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Dec 20, 2016 8:43 pm

George wrote:can you talk me through the mods on that? what does the texture pot and switch do?

It's been years, but IIRC the switch is a diode selector ("rat" vs "smoother rat"), and the extra knob is variable Ruetz.

George · Post by **George** » Wed Dec 21, 2016 11:13 am

so the "softer" switch is diode options? it seems a common mod is to get a 3-way that does silicone/led/none.

i'm actually putting a shopping list together now for mike to price up. things i like so far:

- ruetz pot
- 560r on/off switch (works well with ruetz pot apparently)
- led/silicone/off diode switch
- internal trim pot to control overall gain/volume taper (smoother taper at lower gain settings and no silence below 8 o clock)
- feedback loop! can't decide between dpdt/monentary or both (controlled by a switch)