I'm on a bit of a Matthew Garrison hype and read that that he uses a 20 year old (probably closer to thirty years now) Rat pedal. Would a Rat 2 get me the same sort of distortion tone as heard on Essaquira at 6:45 I Told Ya So (1:13) or the beginning of I Can See You Now?
Probably, although I would upgrade to a much newer Rat made for bass. I personally love the Cat Tail and the Volt Thrower, but you will get a million other suggestions. I'd stay away from a stock Rat unless you want to obliterate your lows. The pedal shines thru in your example above because the mix is so light. Add crunchy guitars though and you will dissapear.
Should probably have mentioned, I'm not after it for distorting normal bass playing, more for lead guitar type sounds that matt uses his for
Speaking of Rat 2, I found the pedal was a little thin sounding when combined with my Berhringer BDI21 (with treble and blend cranked and drive at 3 o'clock). However putting a bass Big Muff between the two made the tone real balanced, thick yet trebly, and aggressive. Just thought you guys might want to try it out (though I haven't tried it with a metal band yet).
Yes, a RAT 2 will do that close enough, especially for soloing. It's also easy enough to mod it if you want it to be a bit more bass friendly. Price is right used too.
Rat 2 will sound close enough. I'd stick with the Rat for this application, most of the boutique clones are aimed at preserving low end for more traditional bass playing.
Isn't that a RAT2 anyways? Also...I have found that not all RAT2s (of the same generation) sound the same.
The only information I could find was that (at the time of the interviews) was a that it was a 20 year old rat pedal
Yupp, I too found an interview that says this. Sounds like it#s not a 2 .(which came in in '88 as far as the info I found goes.