Well, it's a RAT.
A Guitar teacher at the local shop asked me to build this for him. I haven't heard a Rat in 20+ years, so I decided to do it. I didn't care for them much at the time. After 20 years, I am not sure I feel all that much different now. I haven't been doing much in the way of finished builds lately, so this was enjoyable.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/pickdropper/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat1_zps5e80e0c5.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/pickdropper/media/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat1_zps5e80e0c5.jpg.html)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/pickdropper/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat2_zps3842dbe6.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/pickdropper/media/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat2_zps3842dbe6.jpg.html)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/pickdropper/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat3_zpsc8400a57.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/pickdropper/media/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat3_zpsc8400a57.jpg.html)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/pickdropper/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat4_zpsfad5d58b.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/pickdropper/media/Guitar%20Pedals/TheRat4_zpsfad5d58b.jpg.html)
Very nice rat mate, they've gotta be black, perfect in every way, as usual, all the best, Matt.
Dat Rat!
Words fail me.
I like your take on this a lot, of course.
An '80s white face Rat with no LED was literally the first effect pedal I ever bought. It's always been one of my favorite circuits. That said, over the course of the '90s I got quite tired of both Rats and Big Muffs. After I sold off a bunch of my old pedals several years ago, I got a Roger Mayer Mongoose, his take on the Rat circuit. It's one of my go-to distortions. Unlike the stock Rat, it can sound good with the gain all the way up.
That is one classy rat! The tribal graphic is very tasteful. A thing of beauty as usual!
Crazy neat wiring.
My guitar teacher has been using a RAT for almost 30 years as his only distortion device. No matter what other pedal did I bring him (is this sentence correct at all?) the almighty RAT always stays on his board.
The only problem is that he loves Holdsworth and the Rat is not capable of delivering that clear distortion with that much sustain without messing up his sound.
This is so awesome looking. So neat and crisp.
As usual, stellar in every way.
pickdropper,
That is a very sharp looking pedal. A Rat is on my list to build, but I doubt mine will look anywhere as good as yours.
thats some hot pro shit right there 8)
Nice build great job love the mat black paintjob :) the rat is next on my build list :)
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Superb. One of your best etch on an enclosure, I think. Have you tried with your usual alu knobs instead of the Davies? It must look incredibly sharp.
WOW! Super great build bro. I wanna live in there it's so clean ;)
Wait...that's not an etch...is it? It's super clean. Tell us great one...how did you do the rate art?
Quote from: croquet hoop on August 29, 2013, 02:01:03 PM
Superb. One of your best etch on an enclosure, I think. Have you tried with your usual alu knobs instead of the Davies? It must look incredibly sharp.
Yeah, aluminum knobs would probably look really good. I really wanted to put mini chickenheads on this one, but unfortunately, I ran out.
Quote from: jimilee on August 29, 2013, 07:53:47 PM
Wait...that's not an etch...is it? It's super clean. Tell us great one...how did you do the rate art?
Yep, it's an etch. I got a bit lucky that the enclosure was in decent shape under the powder coat. Sometimes when you etch away that much material, you can see a lot of inconsistent color (or scratches) on the enclosure underneath.
The rat art was, like always, laid out in Adobe Illustrator. The text was just a matter of finding the right font. The image I found on Google search. I traced it in Illustrator which converted it to a vector. Generally, etching pixel based images like JPEG or Bitmap yields somewhat poor results, so the conversion to a vector image is important.
This build is so clean, inside and out. And that rat...if there was a guitar pedal rodent deathmatch, it would definitely give the Super Whitey (http://"http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=11185.0") a run for its money.
For some reason a RAT never caught my fancy even though a few of my guitar heroes use them...instead I opted for the BOSS DS-1 for my cruddy distortion. I might have to build one of these to see if I like them.
Quote from: pickdropper on August 29, 2013, 08:22:57 PM
Quote from: jimilee on August 29, 2013, 07:53:47 PM
Wait...that's not an etch...is it? It's super clean. Tell us great one...how did you do the rate art?
Yep, it's an etch. I got a bit lucky that the enclosure was in decent shape under the powder coat. Sometimes when you etch away that much material, you can see a lot of inconsistent color (or scratches) on the enclosure underneath.
The rat art was, like always, laid out in Adobe Illustrator. The text was just a matter of finding the right font. The image I found on Google search. I traced it in Illustrator which converted it to a vector. Generally, etching pixel based images like JPEG or Bitmap yields somewhat poor results, so the conversion to a vector image is important.
That looks so good.i gott do some more research on etching.
This looks grand - as usual.
A friend of mine likes to play a modified Rat in his band and he states that it -maybe because of its enhanced mids- makes his playing fit perfectly into the band sound.
Quote from: Thomas_H on August 29, 2013, 11:22:00 PMA friend of mine likes to play a modified Rat in his band and he states that it -maybe because of its enhanced mids- makes his playing fit perfectly into the band sound.
This is a recurring comment about the Rat. Many find that it sounds meh when you play alone, but with a band, it falls right in the spot.
Also, it's great to use with an overdrive—I've been using one with an OCD since January, it makes for a very versatile combo.