Rat Question

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:32 pm

Thanks, everyone, for your advice. A Shortscaler was kind enough to sell me his RAT clone for a great deal, so that's what I bought.

Bill Oakley · Post by **Bill Oakley** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:37 am

I agree with the very minimal difference. I bought a bunch of different ones and it's not that big of a difference. I think a difference worth noting is that the newer OP07 IC is quieter than the LM308 which is a pretty noisy IC.

Post by **Doog** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:10 am

johnnyseven wrote:I don't want to start an argument, but I once had a TurboRat in which I changed the IC to an LM308 (no other components were changed) and to my (cloth) ears it definitely lost top end and became darker and thicker as a result.

But was that a change they you couldn't negate by just adjust the Filter dial slightly?

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 3:24 pm

Doog wrote:
johnnyseven wrote:I don't want to start an argument, but I once had a TurboRat in which I changed the IC to an LM308 (no other components were changed) and to my (cloth) ears it definitely lost top end and became darker and thicker as a result.
But was that a change they you couldn't negate by just adjust the Filter dial slightly?

Not really, the filter will allow you to take off top end to make it sound darker but it won't really make it sound thicker. However i'm super picky when it comes to the sound of distortion pedals so although I found a difference in sound it probably wouldn't bother most people.

GGBB · Post by **GGBB** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:29 pm

plaidbeer wrote:Now I just have to consider a Rat 2 vs. a Turbo Rat. I wish I could just buy a damned Deucetone RAT but can't justify spending that much right now.

A Rat 2/Turbo Rat switch is an easy and cheap mod.

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:38 pm

GGBB wrote:
plaidbeer wrote:Now I just have to consider a Rat 2 vs. a Turbo Rat. I wish I could just buy a damned Deucetone RAT but can't justify spending that much right now.
A Rat 2/Turbo Rat switch is an easy and cheap mod.

The MBM Rat clone I mentioned above has a Rat to Turbo Rat mod. I'm really liking it.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 6:40 pm

A long time ago I read a bunch of studies about the Rat and the LM308, best one being from Jack Orman, who isn't a fucking kook.

The LM308 has certain characteristics that do make it sound very different from most other OA chips. The frequency response is different.

That said, if you want to upgrade a non-LM308 Rat to teh mojos without paying a retarded amount, just get the LM318 chip and drop that in. That chip is identical except it has some higher tolerances IIRC. It's been years since I've studied this shit.

I have three Rats, I love them dearly. They all use either the 308 or 318 chip. I tried other chips when I made mine, and it does sound different. The LM318 is the same chip, though, and far cheaper.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 9:55 pm

shit this thread has made me want a rat again

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:08 am

Pens wrote:A long time ago I read a bunch of studies about the Rat and the LM308, best one being from Jack Orman, who isn't a fucking kook.

The LM308 has certain characteristics that do make it sound very different from most other OA chips. The frequency response is different.

That said, if you want to upgrade a non-LM308 Rat to teh mojos without paying a retarded amount, just get the LM318 chip and drop that in. That chip is identical except it has some higher tolerances IIRC. It's been years since I've studied this shit.

I have three Rats, I love them dearly. They all use either the 308 or 318 chip. I tried other chips when I made mine, and it does sound different. The LM318 is the same chip, though, and far cheaper.

I bought 10 LM308N chips a while back on ebay, put one in my Turbo Rat and sold the others for between Â£2 and Â£3 each on ebay.

Simon · Post by **Simon** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 2:50 pm

I don't know when they stopped putting the LM308 chips into the Turbo RAT but mine has one... I've never bothered to look at when it was made. I love it though... One of the only pedals I probably wouldn't sell.

As for the RAT/RAT 2 comparisons. I had a RAT 2 for a good while(one without the chip in) and I bought a old 90's one from a friend(the one you see in Doog's video) and as soon as I plugged it in, I could tell the difference between the two. Hard to explain but it just sounded less trebly and harsh than the RAT 2. You can pay silly money for the original models but you can get them cheaper if you look hard enough.

Sadly I had no use for mine as I already had the Turbo RAT and didn't have the pedal board space for both. Oh well....

I love me some RAT