Project Idea - The Rat King

[playpunk]

Hello Beaners with more time and skills than I:

I've been thinking about Rat variants since I saw this video:

http://youtu.be/oMuRmpDJD-E

I'm pretty sure it's a Rat with the filter/parametric Mid from the Pearl Od-5. It sounds good in this video (no surprise) but not that ratty.

Anyways, I have been thinking that the ideal rat variant would have the typical controls - Volume, Tone, Gain, along with a whole bunch of clipping options on a rotary (mini 1p4t?) and the ability to add some mids, maybe with the mid control from the Ultra Stoner, along with the Ruetz mod.

Is that possible? I was looking at the schematics, but I don't really know how to analyze this idea.

[raulduke]

Hello Beaners with more time and skills than I:

I've been thinking about Rat variants since I saw this video:

http://youtu.be/oMuRmpDJD-E

I'm pretty sure it's a Rat with the filter/parametric Mid from the Pearl Od-5. It sounds good in this video (no surprise) but not that ratty.

Anyways, I have been thinking that the ideal rat variant would have the typical controls - Volume, Tone, Gain, along with a whole bunch of clipping options on a rotary (mini 1p4t?) and the ability to add some mids, maybe with the mid control from the Ultra Stoner, along with the Ruetz mod.

Is that possible? I was looking at the schematics, but I don't really know how to analyze this idea.

BYOC have a rat project that will get you most of the way there.

It's called the rodent.

[playpunk]

That is most of the way there - The Proco Solo is a rat with three clipping options and a big muff tone control at the end. That tone control could surely be modded to US/TSM860 specs for more mid control, and the slew/ruetz mod could still go in the feedback loop of the lm308 right?

What I'm thinking would really be the ultra lm308 based distortion.... but I don't have the skills to make it happen.

The circuit would work the same way as the slow loris, but with a big muff tone stack with the modded mid control added, and with some clipping options. Could even be 3 way, I'm not that picky.

I'm pretty sure you could get a rat with parametric mids by sticking one side of a double op amp in the input stage, and then using the other side to drive the filter from the OD-5, then follow that with the normal Rat (include the normal filter?) or maybe something like Mark Hamer's stupidly wonderful tone control.

As I said before, I really don't have the skills to pull either of these ideas off. Are the ideas themselves ok? Am I thinking about the circuit(s) right?

[raulduke]

Sounds fine in theory.

I'd swap the BM tone control in for the original Rat tone control, and then perhaps swap out the Rat's JFET output buffer for the Big Muff make up stage (final transistor in the circuit).

That would be a good start to play with.

Once that is established you can easily experiment with clipping options, plus adding the Ruetz mod etc.

Get the breadboard out and get at it 

[Lubdar]

Also check out AMZ's analysis of the Rat and Big Muff to get started.

Jack Orman provides a great amount of ideas and modifications across his site. He had a pedal called the Fat Gnat, based around the Rat, but redesigned.
http://www.muzique.com/fx/fat-rat.htm
His ideas combined with the BYOC rodent and you could come up with some pretty wicked sounding pedal...

In fact, after I clear off my breadboard from my current project, I might have to take a whack at an Orman/BYOC creation...

[culturejam]

Also, check out ElectroSmash's analysis of the Rat:
http://www.electrosmash.com/proco-rat

[Lubdar]

Also, check out ElectroSmash's analysis of the Rat:
http://www.electrosmash.com/proco-rat

AHh yes, Electrosmash has some great pedal analyses that can help you better understand what is going on inside the pedal.  I've been looking over Electrosmash, Jack Orman's, and RG Keen's posts about different pedals and different ideas for a year or so now...Slowly things are starting to make more sense