I've had a few rats now. - Volt Thrower, MXR BD, Mosky and the Damnation PD. Damnation PD is the winner for me.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
That’s kinda how I am. There are certain TB members that I’ve found share similar tastes as me so I tend to value their opinions opposed to just listening to the masses as a whole.Also a fan of the RAT on bass. I've tried a lot of different ones, from vintage to modded variants from other companies. They all have their good and their bad. I like the Blower Box a lot, Robopedals is great, the Cat Tail with diodes mod was up there for me too. But the Damnation DIY really impressed me. If I had to pick one out of the various pedals I've tried I'd go with the DIY. For a single use analog pedal at least.
Ironically (for me), I currently get my RAT fix from a Source Audio OFD. Fugly pedal but the gate, 3 band eq and clean blend really work for me with the RAT tone (plus second channel of an entirely different tone). I'm mostly a cave man when it comes to gear but this is one of a few exceptions. It isn't as cool as some of the other popular RAT inspired pedals but for my particular needs at this time it checks the boxes.
Similar to movie reviews, I look at who is recommending it and see if their tastes are similar to mine. There are a lot of people here who's opinions I respect and who chase tones that I might think are really cool, but not akin to what I'm after. I have "my guys" on here who I will always pay attention to their opinions on gear. Others I value their opinion but will wait for more feedback before I jump on new stuff.
You should also look at the gear the reviewer/recommender use. How much of the heavy lifting in their tone is being done by their bass and amp or other pedals, if you're reading their opinion on a pedal (for example)? If you use an old P bass and a vintage tube amp, YMMV on pedal recommends from people using an active bass and modern ss amp.
So I do listen to people's opinions on gear, but with a lot of reading between the lines.
- May 20, 2000
- 3,200
- 1,917
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Aguilar Amplification, Spector, Dingwall, Tech 21 NYC, Darkglass
Also a fan of the RAT on bass. I've tried a lot of different ones, from vintage to modded variants from other companies. They all have their good and their bad. I like the Blower Box a lot, Robopedals is great, the Cat Tail with diodes mod was up there for me too. But the Damnation DIY really impressed me. If I had to pick one out of the various pedals I've tried I'd go with the DIY. For a single use analog pedal at least.
Ironically (for me), I currently get my RAT fix from a Source Audio OFD. Fugly pedal but the gate, 3 band eq and clean blend really work for me with the RAT tone (plus second channel of an entirely different tone). I'm mostly a cave man when it comes to gear but this is one of a few exceptions. It isn't as cool as some of the other popular RAT inspired pedals but for my particular needs at this time it checks the boxes.
Similar to movie reviews, I look at who is recommending it and see if their tastes are similar to mine. There are a lot of people here who's opinions I respect and who chase tones that I might think are really cool, but not akin to what I'm after. I have "my guys" on here who I will always pay attention to their opinions on gear. Others I value their opinion but will wait for more feedback before I jump on new stuff.
You should also look at the gear the reviewer/recommender use. How much of the heavy lifting in their tone is being done by their bass and amp or other pedals, if you're reading their opinion on a pedal (for example)? If you use an old P bass and a vintage tube amp, YMMV on pedal recommends from people using an active bass and modern ss amp.
So I do listen to people's opinions on gear, but with a lot of reading between the lines.
Very good points. I too have to admit, I do listen to some of my boys on here. You're one of them Andrew. Me and bassmusic17 have totally different tonal goals. But we like a lot of the same stuff even though our tones are quite different. So that makes a lot of sense to me.
I was actually really surprised with the Mosky Black rat. I really like that pedal. And the low end on it is great in turbo mode. I realized rather quickly though that with my setup, it feeds back way too easily for me to use it. I guess it would be cool in some settings though. I just use it at home. That one really surprised me.
Agreed, I am a low end junkie though. So when I play the MBD then step on something else, I don't want their to be any low end loss. That's why the PD was perfect for me
I always felt if you added too much low end to a rat, it kinda ceases to be a rat in ways. So the rat tail is almost perfect for me. But I get what you're saying. Man I REALLY want the parallel drive already!
Hey it’s kinda funny... I always recommend cog mini 66 for overdrive, mbd1 for distortion and the bead fuzz for fuzz... always get gas for a turbo rat with a blend style or alpha omicron or something but apart from mbd1 in a smaller enclosure I can’t get away from those 3 really...
Always like the rat sound but it never works in my band mix so I just leave it in the “play board”...
Still think holy grail of grind is mini 66 into mbd1 (or insert whatever overdrive as I’ve seen in some of your setups)... is that how your tone is @father of fires ? Or do you just have loads of treble / high mids? Your tone really cuts and sits in that mix!
Always like the rat sound but it never works in my band mix so I just leave it in the “play board”...
Still think holy grail of grind is mini 66 into mbd1 (or insert whatever overdrive as I’ve seen in some of your setups)... is that how your tone is @father of fires ? Or do you just have loads of treble / high mids? Your tone really cuts and sits in that mix!
I really dig the Asthma Castle album. To me it's like Unsane meets High on Fire which is great because I love those two bands. My favorite track so far is Methlehem.
I know how you feel. I stack the X7 and MBD and it amazing to my ears. And I also can relate a rat not being suited for your band. A rat isn't an easy one to work into just any band. Kinda like fuzz in that regard. Depending on how you use it that is. The rat tail I have didn't fit the project I was apart of recently. At all. It kinda sucked. But I had to accept it and it came off. Way too much high mid rip for their sound. But the X7 and MBD matched it perfectly. Unfortunately me and the BL decided to part ways with the rest of the band. A couple of them weren't making it a priority or they couldn't due to life obligations. Sucks, but it's reality. We're on the hunt for a new drummer and guitarist now. We have high hopes of putting something awesome together soon. Maybe I can work the rat tail in a again
It probably has a lot to do with his bass too which I believe is a G&L (maybe an L2000 or something like it??). I know my ATK 300 is sorta similar in that it has the one massive active and beastly humbucker in it. And I know that bass cuts in a mix like no other I've played before. I could be wrong but I bet his bass has a lot to do with it's presence in the band. Aside from what they did in the studio too.
I really like Here Come The Black Ship and Brazilian Catbox Incident the most so far. Very fine listening enjoyment so far.
So did anyone else order a CD of mount crushmore? My order arrived today and it has a second album in it from a band named Horseburner..I just found this very odd and was curious if anyone else had this experience haha.
i ordered both cd's. is it from the hellmistress label?
i'm supposed to get my package tomorrow, i wonder if they cross shipped our orders.
if it is my order, feel free to check at the horseburner cd, they're prety good.
Wow that would be super weird. It would already be weird for them to send me your order but even more weird I brought it up and actually found whoes order it was on this forum haha. Well if for some reason your order shows up without the horseburner cd let me know. I definitely only got charged for the asthma castle album.
