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.

Well Rats - A Pro Co Rat Clone!

Introduced in 1978, the Pro Co Rat distortion pedal became a staple of 1980s hard rock and heavy metal music. While still in production, the Rat has gone through several iterations, though the basic circuit really hasn't changed much. One of the first pedals I picked up was a new production Pro Co Rat pedal, but Aion FX has a version under the name "Helios" which not only adds some additional functionality, but uses a standard 125B enclosure making laying out the increasingly precious geography on my pedal board a bit easier!