mkstewartesq
Well-known member
Well, I had never owned (or even played) a Rat. But given that it is such a foundational effect that had been used by artists I admire (including some unexpected candidates, like Peter Buck from REM) I decided I needed to build one. However, my journey to owning a Rat was fraught.
Given that I didn’t plan to build more than one, I wanted the one I built to have options to beyond just “stock“ silicon diode clipping. So I first did a verified stripboard layout for the Fat Rat but, for whatever reasons I still can’t figure out, I just could not get it working properly (very low gain, muffled tone) after a week of troubleshooting. Then I tried a verified layout for the 3-Series Distortion and had the exact same issues, so the issue was obviously me and not the layout. So, after two abject fails, I decided to throw in the towel and trust in a higher power (Robert) and just buy his board for the 3-Series Distortion (PPCB Triad).
The build: this was an easy and quick build that I finished in a few hours. I did most of the wiring in the box, which is unusual for me but I wanted to try it rather than my normal standard of including a couple extra yards of wire for each connection and then dealing with the excess later. Interesting exercise but also a pain in the ass so I’m not sure I’ll do it that way again.
I used a J201 in place of the J202 called for in the BOM. I believe Robert mentioned in a thread that he used the J201 in his prototypes as well.
The sound: it’s a stock Rat with an extra option for LED clipping (which I guess sort of makes it a Turbo Rat if I recall the specs for that pedal). I was a bit surprised – and concerned that I’ve done something wrong – when I discovered that switching to LED clipping caused a significant jump in volume over the silicon diode clipping setting. However, people here informed me that that was common for LED clipping, and I found a demo of the 3-Series Distortion that exhibits the exact same behavior, so this board and build are faithful to the actual pedal. This volume jump actually reduces the utility of the different modes for me personally because it now means that flipping the switch for a different tone also requires me to adjust other settings on the pedal to get back to roughly the same sound level. However, if you want to use that LED clipping mode is sort of a boost for soloing, I could definitely see the utility of that, although I would suggest instead replacing the SPDT switch with a footswitch so you’re not bending over to flip a switch before and after your big shred solo.
To my ears, I actually prefer the stock sound over the LED clipping mode – while the LED clipping mode is louder and much more full across the frequency spectrum, it just lacks some of the dynamics and tightness of the stock clipping mode. But it’s definitely a YMMV sort of thing and it’s good to have options in the same box.
The graphics: my same old boring film free decal. I had created the design when I was working on my layout for the Fat Rat and I liked both the design and name, so I just kept it for this build (with some modifications to delete controls/modes that the Triad does not have), even though the Triad is not, technically speaking, a true Fat Rat. And, honest to God, after two failed Rat builds, I just really didn’t have the mental or emotional energy to put into trying to create a new design for the graphics, so here we are.
Mike
Given that I didn’t plan to build more than one, I wanted the one I built to have options to beyond just “stock“ silicon diode clipping. So I first did a verified stripboard layout for the Fat Rat but, for whatever reasons I still can’t figure out, I just could not get it working properly (very low gain, muffled tone) after a week of troubleshooting. Then I tried a verified layout for the 3-Series Distortion and had the exact same issues, so the issue was obviously me and not the layout. So, after two abject fails, I decided to throw in the towel and trust in a higher power (Robert) and just buy his board for the 3-Series Distortion (PPCB Triad).
The build: this was an easy and quick build that I finished in a few hours. I did most of the wiring in the box, which is unusual for me but I wanted to try it rather than my normal standard of including a couple extra yards of wire for each connection and then dealing with the excess later. Interesting exercise but also a pain in the ass so I’m not sure I’ll do it that way again.
I used a J201 in place of the J202 called for in the BOM. I believe Robert mentioned in a thread that he used the J201 in his prototypes as well.
The sound: it’s a stock Rat with an extra option for LED clipping (which I guess sort of makes it a Turbo Rat if I recall the specs for that pedal). I was a bit surprised – and concerned that I’ve done something wrong – when I discovered that switching to LED clipping caused a significant jump in volume over the silicon diode clipping setting. However, people here informed me that that was common for LED clipping, and I found a demo of the 3-Series Distortion that exhibits the exact same behavior, so this board and build are faithful to the actual pedal. This volume jump actually reduces the utility of the different modes for me personally because it now means that flipping the switch for a different tone also requires me to adjust other settings on the pedal to get back to roughly the same sound level. However, if you want to use that LED clipping mode is sort of a boost for soloing, I could definitely see the utility of that, although I would suggest instead replacing the SPDT switch with a footswitch so you’re not bending over to flip a switch before and after your big shred solo.
To my ears, I actually prefer the stock sound over the LED clipping mode – while the LED clipping mode is louder and much more full across the frequency spectrum, it just lacks some of the dynamics and tightness of the stock clipping mode. But it’s definitely a YMMV sort of thing and it’s good to have options in the same box.
The graphics: my same old boring film free decal. I had created the design when I was working on my layout for the Fat Rat and I liked both the design and name, so I just kept it for this build (with some modifications to delete controls/modes that the Triad does not have), even though the Triad is not, technically speaking, a true Fat Rat. And, honest to God, after two failed Rat builds, I just really didn’t have the mental or emotional energy to put into trying to create a new design for the graphics, so here we are.
Mike
