Showing posts with label dirty rat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dirty rat. Show all posts

Sunday, January 1, 2023

Another Filthy Rodent - Cloning the Old School Rat / Dirty Rat

The Pro Co Rat distortion pedal in one of the most ubiquitous effect pedals sold. It remains inexpensive in its base version (about $79 new), though modified pedals quickly climb over $100. For example, the germanium diode equipped "Dirty Rat" version retails for $179. With prices for the basic unit so low, it therefore only makes economic sense to clone one of the modified boutique variants of the Rat. Though cloning a basic pedal is always fun if you want to make your own unique looking version of the pedal. I've previously cloned the Rat using an AionFX Helios board. The AionFX board had multiple clipping diode options and the Ruetz mod (Sweep knob) built in on the front. Opinions vary on the efficacy of the Ruetz mod, but having multiple clipping options is always fun. For this build, I went with a different board that retains most of the functionality of the AionFX board, but in some ways is a bit more true to the original.