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New Rat in town and it looks interesting. Wamplers Ratsbane

Discussion in 'The Stomp Box' started by 4pickupguy, Feb 28, 2021.

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  1. Feb 28, 2021 #1
    4pickupguy

    4pickupguy Doctor of Teleocity

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    I just ordered one. $149, not a bad price point considering what I have paid for old vintage rats.He included some very clever features and also included a socket for changing the op amp to what ever flavor you like LM308N for example. I’m not interested in the extra gain he included but I am very interested in the voice switch adding mids (800hz-4khz) and rolling off bass, in fact, I went on a quest looking for a Rat variant that did just that. I even started a thread asking for advice. Rats on a wooden stage can get pretty boomy. (I hope there are wooden stages again someday soon). My house is now infested with rats... its glorious!





     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2021
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  2. Feb 28, 2021 #2
    cigarman513

    cigarman513 Tele-Meister

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    Eeks...

    enjoy, I love my Rat, nothing except my delay and reverb stay on my pedal board but I may start keeping the Rat on.. Its such a great pedal.
     
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  3. Feb 28, 2021 #3
    Grandy

    Grandy Tele-Holic

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    Some time ago I listened to all the Rat demos and comparisons I could find on YT. Exept for the Jam Pedals' Rattler+ I liked The Mooer Black Secret best, so that's what I got. I'm happy so far.
     
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  4. Feb 28, 2021 #4
    bluesholyman

    bluesholyman Friend of Leo's

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    Read about this briefly and this caught my eye:
    • TL071 op-amp delivers a vintage LM308-like sound, but with a warmer lower-gain tone
    I'd be curious how close to a Rat it actually sounds. I don't think Wampler "copies" stuff but makes his own creation along the lines of an existing circuit.
     
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  5. Feb 28, 2021 #5
    TeleCarlos

    TeleCarlos TDPRI Member

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    I am certain I will be a collector of RAT type pedals... just cuz I love them. I only have the Chicago Stompworks Vermin and love it!
     
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  6. Feb 28, 2021 #6
    4pickupguy

    4pickupguy Doctor of Teleocity

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    Oh, that’s a good one. I love mine! In fact it hasn’t been knocked off my board by any others yet.
     
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  7. Feb 28, 2021 #7
    4pickupguy

    4pickupguy Doctor of Teleocity

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    Brian included a socket so you can change the op-amp to whatever... I will certainly try the TL071 for a while though.
     
  8. Feb 28, 2021 #8
    WilburBufferson

    WilburBufferson Friend of Leo's

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    A couple years back I had a RAT whiteface reissue and a Mooer Black Secret. Sounded exactly the same, so I sold the RAT. Then the Mooer. The end.
     
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  9. Feb 28, 2021 #9
    Killing Floor

    Killing Floor Tele-Afflicted

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    Everything Wampler makes is quiet, solid, and over performs. I'll find one of these. I love his switchable voicing on his dirt pedals.
     
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  10. Feb 28, 2021 #10
    ICTRock

    ICTRock Tele-Afflicted

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    I'm sure he didn't re-invent the wheel re: rat mods but from the videos what was done was at the least tasteful, which is par for the course with Wampler ... I still feel like the Pinnacle was as good as the bsiab ii was ever going to be.
     
  11. Mar 1, 2021 #11
    4pickupguy

    4pickupguy Doctor of Teleocity

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    Shoulda called this thing the “Wamprat” or “sWamprat” anyhoo,.. Ran across another video...

     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2021
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  12. Mar 1, 2021 #12
    burntfrijoles

    burntfrijoles Poster Extraordinaire

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    I’m an old man. Can someone educate me about the Rat. What makes it special or different than other distortion pedals? What’s its utility? Any well known songs/artists that are defined by the Rat tone?
     
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  13. Mar 1, 2021 #13
    beyer160

    beyer160 Friend of Leo's

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    The original concept for the pedal back in the late '70s was to allow players to get a Marshall tone through Fender amps. Unlike a lot of dirt boxes I find the gain usable throughout the sweep, from light breakup all the way to fuzzy mayhem. The tone control (really just a high cut filter) allows you to tailor the pedal to a wide array of amplifiers. There are a number of well-known and quite useful mods to the circuit (my favorite being the Turbo Rat variant, which doesn't sound like you think it's going to). They also play well with Vox-style amps, and not a lot of dirt boxes do.

    The only real way to answer your question is to play one.
     
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  14. Mar 1, 2021 #14
    jvin248

    jvin248 Doctor of Teleocity

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    If you see a thread on distortion pedals and a RAT doesn't show up suggested within the first half of a page then the thread is lame.

    The RAT pedal goes from regular distortion into fuzz, so there is a lot of tonal range.

    The original was designed by a teenager in his garage and like a Klon, the RAT circuit doesn't follow regular pedal circuit conventions.


    Because Brian socketed his pedal, a great move on his part, I'd suggest he make mod kits of chips/resistors/caps and sell those as "Bullseye WampRAT kits" numbering them "T"-#.


    Unfortunately, the only short clip is in French, but it's about how Luke used to Bullseye Womprats with his T-16 back home on Tatooine.

    .
     
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  15. Mar 1, 2021 #15
    4pickupguy

    4pickupguy Doctor of Teleocity

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    Jeff Beck is commonly cited as a famous Rat user. I’m a super big Rat fan boy so everything you’ll get from me is as biased as it gets. Because most people think of it as mainly a high gain pedal, most examples you will find will be in the high gain realm, mostly in metal etc. A good Rat will do it all though. Low gain sounds are fantastic and naturally have a mids peak that’s in a real sweet spot, so, boost duties are killer from a Rat. Still has that Marshally character. Dial it up to crunchy rhythm tone and now you’re getting thumpy goodness. Boost this with a TS-9 or the like for a very nice lead tone that really cuts thru. High gain sounds are rich and thick. I tend to run mine at something just a hair past a crunch tone. Roll the volume back a bit and its a very sweet clean tone. I love this sound with tele or strat. Its that “Jesus Just Left Chicago” Billy G clean sound. Very Texas. Boost that slightly with almost anything (I use a BD-2 now) into the Rat and its that singing lead tone. One thing that Rats do that I love involves using single coils on a lead tone set a little gainier and just roll the guitar volume back a bit and you will hear single notes really ”open up”. They get wider. Lots more overtones and very complex. Its as if the op-amp isn’t squashed anymore or something or maybe a pickup impedance thing?. I can think of one example of this sound and its from a live performance by Allen Hinds. He fiddles with volume a lot anyway but you can hear how it cleans up a bit and gets bigger sounding. Maybe this is not what he’s doing here and I’m wanting to hear it but its as close an example as I can find. Allen is using a signature Bob Burt “Allen Hinds” version of the Gr8 Distortion. Its a booteek LM308N Rat a compressor built in.



     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2021
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  16. Mar 1, 2021 #16
    blowtorch

    blowtorch Telefied Ad Free Member

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    Yeah I remember back in the day when the Rat first made the scene, learning that Beck, Joe Perry, and Steve Stevens all were on board, and teenage me was like "whoah"
     
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  17. Mar 1, 2021 #17
    4pickupguy

    4pickupguy Doctor of Teleocity

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    Beck and Rat... not sure he used them beyond this.. John Scofield is another ratter..

     
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  18. Mar 1, 2021 #18
    blowtorch

    blowtorch Telefied Ad Free Member

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    I wore out a cassette version of that album on my bootleg walkman
     
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  19. Mar 1, 2021 #19
    bluesholyman

    bluesholyman Friend of Leo's

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    Thanks for posting, that song is just spectacular.
     
  20. Mar 1, 2021 #20
    Obsessed

    Obsessed Telefied Silver Supporter

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    :eek:Brian must be getting desperate. Just sayin'
     
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