RAT 2

[Chuck D. Bones]

I bought a RAT 2 from Musician's Friend for $88. These days, RATs contain an OP-07 and are made in China. Just peeking in thru the battery door, the build quality looks ok. No premium parts. Cheap Chinese metal film resistors (the ones Tayda sells are much better). Aluminum electrolytic caps. The single-sided board is not nearly as nice as the ones Robert sells here. The stomp switch is smooth and not too loud. It has an LED indicator, something the older RATs lacked. It also has the industry standard 5.5mm center negative power jack. The heavy gauge steel chassis weighs a ton.



This is the output from the OP-07 with the distortion knob dimed:
Clipping is asymmetric and contains a lot of even-order harmonics. Green trace: input. Blue trace: opamp pin 6.


The scope photo shows the slew rate:
The slew is much faster than the LM308 and is very asymmetric.

It actually sounds pretty good. At low DISTORTION settings, where the opamp runs clean, it sounds like a vintage RAT. With the DISTORTION turned up, the tone is "hotter" with a lot more harmonics. Not unpleasant, but not the perfect RAT tone either. I'll keep it this way for a while, but eventually I'll swap out the opamp and aluminum caps and dial-in the tone.

 

[cooder]

Cool looking forward to seeing what you find with this!

 

[cooder]

Also could you post a gut shot, just curious and to put a pic to your description.

 

[gonzo]

I think my 80s rat had messages on the PCB board. Doubt they kept that tradition alive.

 

[Bret608]

I had an old no-led Rat 2 back in the early 90s. I sold it at some point when I thought the filter knob was no longer working. Kicking myself years later as it would have been an easy fix! Would be curious to see the innards of a recent one too.

 

[SpringReverbFan1234]

Here's pic in the battery compartment of my Rat 2. Has a 3.5mm power connector and an LED.

 

[bluedmc777]

To anyone interested there’s a seller on eBay blowing these out for 45.99 with free shipping. https://ebay.io/m/sGSrx2

 

[Vild]

There are fake rats going around btw. I wouldn't be surprised if 46$ ones are the fakes but idk.
They use the same serial number for the most part I've heard

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Do they put in fake LM308s?

 

[bluedmc777]

There are fake rats going around btw. I wouldn't be surprised if 46$ ones are the fakes but idk.
They use the same serial number for the most part I've heard

I’m actually MORE excited to get it now I hope it is fake!

 

[Feral Feline]

May as well buy it for the enclosure and jacks and switch alone!

 

[bluedmc777]

May as well buy it for the enclosure and jacks and switch alone!

Don’t forget The battery doo alone…what are they like $12?

 

[bluedmc777]

Well I’m pretty positive it’s an original new Rat. Weighs 5 lbs with the OP07CP ic. Only thing that looks suspect to me are the new feet but it’s been a while since I’ve worked on a Rat. Chuck maybe yours is fake? Not bad for $45 shipped.Curious to see what mods you do Dave.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Nice! My board is green and I can see the traces thru it. Exact same layout. Same case & marking. Feet are slightly different. How does it sound?

 

[Vild]

I don't mean to be a downer but the ebay seller you shared sells fakes. If you Google fake rat and they all have the same serial number as that. The first giveaway otherwise was the feet for me. Surely its an exact clone circuit wise though lol. The paint job isn't quite as good either maybe? Slightly thinner lines and not as clean.

 

[bluedmc777]

Nice! My board is green and I can see the traces thru it. Exact same layout. Same case & marking. Feet are slightly different. How does it sound?

Sounds like a Rat to me. Personally I’ve never been a big fan of any of the Rats. Guess I’m now the proud owner of the most realistic looking fake Rat.

@Vild No downer to me man. I didn’t buy it to flip and get ditch lol. Why fake a Rat though…the enclosure alone would prevent me from choosing it hell this pedal is more durable than most boutiques out there. I could run my truck over this thing and only break a pot or two.

 

[jwin615]

Proco stamped on the front?
Not that it matters...
Who are we to denounce cloning a classic circuit?

 

[drgonzo1969]

Legit bummed out I missed out these cheapskate fake rats. A buddy of mine reached out today about a guitar for his son so naturally he will need rat soon. I offered to offload one of my extra axes, I guess I will have build a c2c lab rat instead of modding one of these phonies.

 

[jwin615]

Worst case, ya got a Warm rat.

 

[bluedmc777]

@drgonzo1969 Give me a couple days and I’ll probably just let you have it…unless it inspires me.

@jwin615 I see what you did there lol. Ya know I haven’t even looked. I must say, other than the rubber feet, it is very convincing. But I figured maybe they changed shoe manufacturers it’s probably been 15 or so years since I picked up an actual Proco Rat.