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Best RAT clone for bass?
- Thread starter deepestend
- Start date
Justin Chancellor uses a Rat often. This is a demo of the Ground & Pound used for a Tool cover:
https://youtu.be/BtGy-mOVvnU
I have a Locust Star and a Volt Thrower, and they are wonderful. But I also very much like my 1991 Proco Rat Reissue. I put the Ruetz mod on a toggle, so I can have stock or modded.
I am not a big user of dirt pedals and I am really not keen on the sound in isolation but lately I have been using Jam Rattler with a band and I am really sold on it. Gives you something extra, you stand out more and it cuts through. Nothing but good things to say about that pedal. Very versatile
One of my favourites. A short but interesting interview of the producer here :
[This invalid link has been removed]
Getting back to the OP, I actually discovered very lately that a RAT-like pedal was actually what I was looking for when I tried a simple Mooer Black Secret with the AD Dirt Fixer.
It sent me also on a quest, but US imports being pretty expensive (i am in Eu and items from Broughton, Idiot Box, Dunwich etc are almost impossible to find, new or used) I was very happy to get a Volt Thrower clone from a german builder, moded with the trimpots on the outside.
I can't compare with the original but it is my favourite far
The Inverted Cross Audio LOW RIDER and Blower Box looks very good too and i probably end up getting those two.
The Low Rider have intriguing blend controls, the "clean" knob is processed by the "body" knob wich is a tweakable HPF
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One of my favourites. A short but interesting interview of the producer here :
[This invalid link has been removed]
Getting back to the OP, I actually discovered very lately that a RAT-like pedal was actually what I was looking for when I tried a simple Mooer Black Secret with the AD Dirt Fixer.
It sent me also on a quest, but US imports being pretty expensive (i am in Eu and items from Broughton, Idiot Box, Dunwich etc are almost impossible to find, new or used) I was very happy to get a Volt Thrower clone from a german builder, moded with the trimpots on the outside.
I can't compare with the original but it is my favourite far
The Inverted Cross Audio LOW RIDER and Blower Box looks very good too and i probably end up getting those two.
The Low Rider have intriguing blend controls, the "clean" knob is processed by the "body" knob wich is a tweakable HPF
Any chance of catching the name of that German builder?
One of my favourites. A short but interesting interview of the producer here :
[This invalid link has been removed]
Getting back to the OP, I actually discovered very lately that a RAT-like pedal was actually what I was looking for when I tried a simple Mooer Black Secret with the AD Dirt Fixer.
It sent me also on a quest, but US imports being pretty expensive (i am in Eu and items from Broughton, Idiot Box, Dunwich etc are almost impossible to find, new or used) I was very happy to get a Volt Thrower clone from a german builder, moded with the trimpots on the outside.
I can't compare with the original but it is my favourite far
The Inverted Cross Audio LOW RIDER and Blower Box looks very good too and i probably end up getting those two.
The Low Rider have intriguing blend controls, the "clean" knob is processed by the "body" knob wich is a tweakable HPF
I could never figure out what percentage of Unsane record covers were legit crime scene photos, and what were staged images.
That one, and particularly “Concrete Bed” are just too perfect, and too pregnant with unexplained backstory, to be real…
Sure !
Invalid Link Removed
He is also active on TB in the DIY thread (Disssa) All of his stuff is crazy good, I highly recommand to check it out, notably the preamp section
My favorite Rat was the Blower Box. Then I got the Blower Box Deluxe that has all the greatness of the original, plus a clean blend with variable lowpass filter.
I've only tried a half dozen Rats, but the BB works best for me. As I like to say, it sounds great for low gain sparkle, high gain face melt, all points between.
My Rat GAS: a good friend recommended the Blue Colander Tremond. The sound samples are amazing, but all pickstyle and I'm a fingerstyle guy. So, I'll just stick with my IB BBD.
- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
Listening to all of these samples... I feel like I'm able to get "close enough" with my EQD Blumes. Does anyone else have experience with Rats and Blumes who can comment?
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
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- John K Custom Basses
Listening to all of these samples... I feel like I'm able to get "close enough" with my EQD Blumes. Does anyone else have experience with Rats and Blumes who can comment?[/QUOTE
IMO, the Blumes is a different animal than a Rat. The Blumes and PLumes is more based on a Tubescreamer and whereas the rat uses a completely different chip and circuit.
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- Feb 21, 2003
- 6,249
- 8,171
- Disclosures
- Website and Social Media at Sadowsky
I do know that they are totally different under the hood. But listening to the samples online and then playing withe the Blumes, I do feel like I can get close enough to that sound. Just wondering if other people feel that you can get "close enough" esp in op amp OD mode.
IMO, op amp mode is the least desirable of the clipping modes for a Rat. I personally prefer silicone diode clipping (by a large margin) followed by LED clipping.
Blumes and Rats are a Venn diagram with a really narrow overlap. That said, the Blower Box Deluxe is my only Rat-alike experience, and I've purposely set my Blumes to sound different from the BBD (which is not a hard thing to do). My BBD goes more "dzjrong" and the Blumes is more "gank."
I always leave my MXR Bass D on silicon as well because that to me is the sound of a Rat. LED mode is cool but a little mushy for my taste. The others I’ve only heard in demos, but I feel pretty confident I will still prefer silicon.
As a 95% (or more) fingerstyle player, I will also recommend the Tremond. It's amazing, and is only slightly behind the Volt Thrower for me, and actually beats the Volt Thrower for my smaller rig. For reference, I use a 700RB-II with the Volt Thrower (big rig) and the 400RB-IV with the Tremond (small rig). Both are excellent tones.
