TC Electronic Magus Pro = Rat 308

[JoeNeri]

https://guitar.com/news/gear-news/tc-electronic-magus-pro/

 

[11 Gauge]

"The Magus Pro lists for $59 and is available now."

Sign me up, but it looks like "now" should be replaced with "soon". I see that Sweetwater is allowing people to pre-order, though.

I wonder where they're getting their 308s from?

 

[JoeNeri]

Just announced yesterday, so it may take a bit to get the supply lines going. This latest line of TC pedals has been pretty good quality - tone and builds - and generally around $59. Sturdy enough to weaponize in a bar fight! Housing is larger than a Boss pedal, so it might not appeal to the recently mini-obsessed players.

 

[4pickupguy]

Perfect, I can’t say no to a Rat... I don’t have one with the much loved “turbo rat” mode and the descriptions I’ve read of that have always appealed to me. Less gain, more harmonics and a bit more mids. Sign me up!

 

[beyer160]

I wonder where they're getting their 308s from?

Remember- TC Electronic is owned by Behringer, who are well known for their ethical standards in regard to intellectual property. My guess is that they're "recreations" (or "reissues") of the LM308... in other words, something else rebranded.

That's not necessarily bad, just shady.

I wonder how it compares to the scores of $20-$30 offshore Rat clones?

 

[41144]

Just announced yesterday, so it may take a bit to get the supply lines going. This latest line of TC pedals has been pretty good quality - tone and builds - and generally around $59. Sturdy enough to weaponize in a bar fight! Housing is larger than a Boss pedal, so it might not appeal to the recently mini-obsessed players.

I believe the Magnus Pro is a new version of the Magnus that sits in their revised 'smaller' Smorgasbord series (think the only other one so far is a new Skysurfer mini Reverb).
Not seen one yet, but believe these new models to be closer to Boss dimensions - still built every-bit as solidly though.

 

[omahaaudio]

I bought a Chicago Stompworks Rat clone (with an LM308) a few years ago for about $70.
A great pedal from a small builder.
They're charging $75 these days.
https://www.chicagostompworks.com/product-page/mr-vermin-lm308n-rat-clone-black-finish
The graphics suck (IMO) but the pedal is awesome.

 

[Jaggersan]

Just watched a review and it’s smaller than a boss pedal he shows it next to one for reference and also takes the thing apart, there’s an ic in there but it’s not a 308 or if it is it doesn’t look like it.
All that aside I’ll buy one anyway and give it a go in my rig.

I believe the Magnus Pro is a new version of the Magnus that sits in their revised 'smaller' Smorgasbord series (think the only other one so far is a new Skysurfer mini Reverb).
Not seen one yet, but believe these new models to be closer to Boss dimensions - still built every-bit as solidly though.

 

[bluesholyman]

I think TC has a winner on this one - I have not been a fan of their "brick" pedals, but the size and value of this pedal is just unbeatable. Very smart move on their part.

I might just have to get this...

 

[twangking]

I wonder what the fat mode does. I prefer the turbo rat myself. I don't use a lot of gain, it seems more open and has more harmonics.

 

[11 Gauge]

Remember- TC Electronic is owned by Behringer, who are well known for their ethical standards in regard to intellectual property. My guess is that they're "recreations" (or "reissues") of the LM308... in other words, something else rebranded.

That's not necessarily bad, just shady.

My money is on them being re-inked OP07s, possibly from a supplier such as this one - http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5338148343&icep_item=143885260607

They probably aren't even being re-inked, but are most likely just screened with whatever Behringer requests that they put on them. Here's some that clearly weren't made by National Semi or any of the old stock manufacturers:

The only other thing I could think of is maybe Behringer is just gobbling up old stock of legit 308s, because there should be plenty of them. The key word here is 'plenty', though. I imagine they could exhaust that stock in fairly quick order.

 

[11 Gauge]

I wonder what the fat mode does. I prefer the turbo rat myself. I don't use a lot of gain, it seems more open and has more harmonics.

If it's like the vast majority of Rat clones with such a 3-way toggle, then the fat mode probably just removes the clipping diodes altogether.

If it's different from that, then it probably changes the cutoff freqs of the pair of highpass filters at the inverting input of the op amp, or alters their gains at each one. That's the only real way to change the EQ as TC is describing it - 'boosts the low-end while shaping upper-mid frequency content'.

...The stock HP filter cutoff freqs are 60 Hz and 1540 Hz, with the latter having the brunt of the gain. It would be pretty easy to put different ones on a switch.

 

[JoeNeri]

My bad. Actually...TC Electronic doesn’t say they use a 308 chip. Here’s the text from their website:

“We’ve specially designed a circuit to recreate the classic slow slew of the infamous LM308 op-amp using readily available modern components.”

 

[11 Gauge]

Just watched a review and it’s smaller than a boss pedal he shows it next to one for reference and also takes the thing apart, there’s an ic in there but it’s not a 308 or if it is it doesn’t look like it.

A 308 in SMD form? Nope. It's got to be something else. Probably an OP07C, even if it's inked to say 308.

 

[11 Gauge]

My bad. Actually...TC Electronic doesn’t say they use a 308 chip. Here’s the text from their website:

“We’ve specially designed a circuit to recreate the classic slow slew of the infamous LM308 op-amp using readily available modern components.”

Yeah, looks like it was just others who've been saying it was an actual 308.

So - slow slew and modern components - that sure sounds like OP07 to me. And not necessarily a dealbreaker, unless someone absolutely insists on it having a 308.

 

[northernguitar]

I believe the Magnus Pro is a new version of the Magnus that sits in their revised 'smaller' Smorgasbord series (think the only other one so far is a new Skysurfer mini Reverb).
Not seen one yet, but believe these new models to be closer to Boss dimensions - still built every-bit as solidly though.

I just bought the Hypergravity Compressor...it's nice and sleek, like an MXR pedal.

 

[bluesholyman]

And not necessarily a dealbreaker, unless someone absolutely insists on it having a 308.

If it sounds like a Rat, kinda hard to complain about it. Don't modern Rat2's use the OP07? Not really a high crime here but their marketing poetry is carefully crafted.

 

[JuneauMike]

TC Electronic doesn’t say they use a 308 chip. Here’s the text from their website:

“We’ve specially designed a circuit to recreate the classic slow slew of the infamous LM308 op-amp using readily available modern components.”

A careful reading of that does not tell me that they've found a cache of LM308s. It says they have come up with something that simulates the characteristics that the 308 used to deliver naturally. And that sounds more like the TC Electronics that I know. A company that simulates familiar things.

 

[JustPlayItLoud]

The marketing specifically calls out that it uses modern components to recreate the characteristics of the 308, specifically the slew rate. This is accompanied by a picture of a 308 to drive the point home and some people have made the assumption.

The original Grand Magus sounded right to me although I never had the opportunity to run them side by side directly.

I must say I’m enjoying that the Rat has been getting some much needed respect lately. For decades it seemed like everyone loved to poopoo on the old 70s distortion boxes, but I’ve always thought it was a classic for a reason. Still in production nearly 45 years!

 

[11 Gauge]

If it sounds like a Rat, kinda hard to complain about it. Don't modern Rat2's use the OP07? Not really a high crime here but their marketing poetry is carefully crafted.

Yeah, current Rats use the OP07. If I were a company building Rats in large numbers, I wouldn't want to have to deal with supply issues with sourcing 308s. Maybe there's enough of them out there for a niche builder to produce them for years to come, but I personally wouldn't tool up if I built them by the tens or hundreds of thousands.

Also, the specs for the OP07 and 308 are the same, at least where it should matter, which is the slew rate. Since no one has done an actual real double blind test (TTBOMK), I don't think it can objectively be concluded that the 308 does indeed sound better. And if it really is a matter of different slew rate between the two, you can actually adjust around that, by increasing/decreasing the compensation cap, and make the bandwidth match for either op amp.

...I wouldn't be surprised if most of us who swear a 308 sounds better aren't actually just fooling ourselves. This is possibly especially true if someone is trying out the latest Rat 2, because ProCo has made at least one component substitution that makes them sound audibly different.