• 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.

ProCo You Dirty Rat vs. Turbo Rat

Jimbowhit7

Jimbowhit7

Mar 5, 2018
370
464
#1
I was considering purchasing one of these two pedals in the future. I already have a RAT2, and was looking to add another Rat to my pedal board for some variety. Which of these is better?

Note: I'm not interested in the Fuzzrocious Rat Tail/Cat Tail, so please don't recommend that. I'm only concerned with the two pedals mentioned.
 
#3
Jimbowhit7 said:
I was considering purchasing one of these two pedals in the future. I already have a RAT2, and was looking to add another Rat to my pedal board for some variety. Which of these is better?

Note: I'm not interested in the Fuzzrocious Rat Tail/Cat Tail, so please don't recommend that. I'm only concerned with the two pedals mentioned.
Click to expand...
Definitely mod the one you’ve got. I think it’s the LM308 chip that people add to make it more bass friendly. I had a turbo rat with it and it was decent. Any particular reason you don’t want a rat clone? There are pedals out there that just do it better, way better. The volt thrower and iron pig can both do it much better. Just curious why you’re hellbent on the rat
 
#4
Honestly, you really won't find a whole lot of difference between the RAT2, YDR and Turbo. There is some, but it will be a wash in the mix.

I've modded my RAT2 to have 10 clipping options (and have tried a bunch more), a LM308 chip, the Ruetz mod on Pot, soft clipping options, and a high end smooth switch. I also changed a few caps so more bass is let through.

They each have some subtle differences, the clipping diodes have some very minor EQ changes, but overall affect the volume the most. None of the options in a stock RAT of any version are my fav on bass, but the LED is the closest.

The Ruetz mod on Pot is probably the most useable mod since it changes the mid hump and makes the drive less focused in the mids, and shifts it lower.

The LM308 opens possibilities with adjusting the slew rate and I didn't really notice much difference with the OP70. The slew rate changes help with noise and gnarly-ness. It messes with the high end content and is again a subtle thing.

Adjusting the capacitors was a welcome change for bass and guitar too. I can get more convincing Messa sounds with it and a CabSim.

The soft clipping stuff is a fun on too. You can change the drive character to a more 8-bit drive sound that has some upper octave content too. The catch here is that you loose bass frequencies, so having a bit of a blend or bias setting here helps.

The other pedal options mentioned (Iron Pig and Volt Thrower) have a few of these options built in them, so if you really want different move away from the ProCo stuff.
 
#6
Musicman1901 said:
Definitely mod the one you’ve got. I think it’s the LM308 chip that people add to make it more bass friendly. I had a turbo rat with it and it was decent. Any particular reason you don’t want a rat clone? There are pedals out there that just do it better, way better. The volt thrower and iron pig can both do it much better. Just curious why you’re hellbent on the rat
Click to expand...

I had not heard of those two, and after looking them up they're honestly out of my price range at the moment. The reason I wanted to stick with ProCo is because I had heard good things about the Turbo Rat, and was curious about the You Dirty Rat - I listened to a couple demos of the Fuzzrocious Rat Tail and was unimpressed, to be honest. The only reason I was even looking at the other Rats was because the Rat 2 I own cuts out my low end entirely. However, I don't mind it all that much, because I love the distortion itself (with or without the low end). That being said, I am interested in the LM308 chip you mentioned. Is there a specific place I should look to purchase one? Also, would the JHS Rat Pack mod be worth considering (since it adds extra clipping options)?
 
Last edited:
#7
Jimbowhit7 said:
I had not heard of those two, and after looking them up they're honestly out of my price range at the moment. The reason I wanted to stick with ProCo is because I had heard good things about the Turbo Rat, and was curious about the You Dirty Rat - I listened to a couple demos of the Fuzzrocious Rat Tail and unimpressed, to be honest. The only reason I was even looking at the other Rats was because the Rat 2 I own cuts out my low end entirely. However, I don't mind it all that much, because I love the distortion itself (with or without the low end). That being said, I am interested in the LM308 chip you mentioned. Is there a specific place I should look to purchase one? Also, would the JHS Rat Pack mod be worth considering (since it adds extra clipping options)?
Click to expand...
I don’t know a ton about it because I bought my rat with the LM308 chip installed already. I found the pedal in the classifieds. So I personally don’t know anything about the chip or installation, I just know that’s the part people use to mod it for bass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zapped777
#8
Jimbowhit7 said:
I had not heard of those two, and after looking them up they're honestly out of my price range at the moment. The reason I wanted to stick with ProCo is because I had heard good things about the Turbo Rat, and was curious about the You Dirty Rat - I listened to a couple demos of the Fuzzrocious Rat Tail and unimpressed, to be honest. The only reason I was even looking at the other Rats was because the Rat 2 I own cuts out my low end entirely. However, I don't mind it all that much, because I love the distortion itself (with or without the low end). That being said, I am interested in the LM308 chip you mentioned. Is there a specific place I should look to purchase one? Also, would the JHS Rat Pack mod be worth considering (since it adds extra clipping options)?
Click to expand...

Demos honestly mean little to nothing unless you have the same playing style, bass, and amp/cab.

If getting a RAT clone/clone improvement is out of your price range, as previously suggested, mod a cheap RAT on your own. If you pay someone else to mod it, you most likely won't get the money you put out for it back when/if you sell it used. Since you don't like the heavy mid bump and bass cut on your RAT2, look at the Ruetz mod.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fuzzbass
#10
theunknowndude said:
Funny you mention the turbo rat. I love that sound BUT the Proco cuts low end and just never worked in a mix... if I was still game on it I’d get the mxr version which has a dry signal to it anyway.
Click to expand...

I've noticed several people say that ProCo pedals don't work "in the mix" for bass, but what about bassists like Justin Chancellor (who, if I understand correctly, has a Turbo Rat as an always-on pedal running to one of his amps)? I mean, his bass tone is amazing for a lot of reasons, but it doesn't seem to get lost in the mix at all, even with the ProCo.
 
#11
Jimbowhit7 said:
I've noticed several people say that ProCo pedals don't work "in the mix" for bass, but what about bassists like Justin Chancellor (who, if I understand correctly, has a Turbo Rat as an always-on pedal running to one of his amps)? I mean, his bass tone is amazing for a lot of reasons, but it doesn't seem to get lost in the mix at all, even with the ProCo.
Click to expand...
Because he has a blended channel with clean and distorted at all time... mxr version is just a mini version of that. Normal board with Proco is going to lose the low end.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rratajski
#14
theunknowndude said:
This would work better to do that..

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

I had seen one of those, but I had read where someone suggested using a looper like the one I tagged to avoid any issues with phase shifting (I know the RAT doesn't do that, but I have other pedals that do that I would also want to blend). So, would the dual looper work (I'm definitely still considering the Mosquite, just wondering)?
 
#15
Mosquito has the polarity switch which will counter any phase issue. I’d better than a boss ls2. The one you tagged is a loop switcher. It’s not actually going to blend your clean and rat... it’s the same as if you ran your bass into the rat but it’s not directly using the rats shutting switch (If there are issues with buffer, true bypass etc).
 
#18
rratajski said:
Blending a RAT without bi or tri-amping, IMHO, only saps your signal of the RAT sound one is usually looking for. Neither your clean tone or your RAT tone will come through as strongly they would separately in a bi-amp situation.
Click to expand...

Very true, depends on the blend and so forth though, I like filtered blends like my mini 66 where the clean only provides the low end and the rest cia the dirt, sounds a lot more natural and yet another reason why I prefer pedals that have a built in blend and sold off my Ls2.
 
#20
As somebody who kind of duplicated the JC setup before I would advise against the rat honestly. There was a period where I was doing a lot of tool stuff and wanted that tone. I had the rat with the lm308, ran an eq pedal after it to help shape the sound, and ran it into one channel then had a clean signal into another channel. Two channels; one clean and one dirty. Blended the two to try to get that sound. Ended up finding a sansamp RBI to get the job done a thousand times better and be a killer piece of gear for the studio in general. It can be used to split your signal to multiple channels or amps, it has EQ opposed to the rats “filter” knob, and you have a blend on the dirty signal. Just a better option in my opinion. However, if you’re sold on the rat then grab that one in the classifieds...it’s 75 bucks and the mod is done already.
 
  • Like
Reactions: theunknowndude

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back