The Rat distortion is a small circuit, which makes it suited for vero or perfboard builds.
There are few components, so it's easy to make the connections between parts without a pcb.
As a diy builder, vero and perfboard projects are the most satisfaying because we are really doing everything, it really fits the hand-crafting aspect of diy.
I think it also looks better in an enclosure, a vero/perfboard gives a pleasant feeling of a meticulous and neat handwork. Pcb are bland in comparison (except for a few very beautitul pcbs, like Aion's Lithium).
There are a few popular and interesting mods for the Rat, like the Turbo switch, a bass control or a bass toggle, the Retz mod lowering the gain with a toggleswitch, etc.
They all are quite simple and easy to implement, so any Rat circuit with 2 or 3 of these mods will be more than enough to get an interesting distortion and fully explore the Rat's nest.
Parenthese is a nice project, but the famous mods aren't included, and it's also a big enclosure taking lots of space for a little Rat, which could fit in the smallest enclosures.
Parenthese features an extra volume boost located after the Rat circuit, and an octave up. In my experience, these extra features won't be often needed, especialy compared to the other popular mods.
Unless you really want an octave up and a post-distortion volume booster with your Rat, the Parenthese isn't a good choice.
About Rat variants, i never tried any, but i've always been curious about Catalinbread Katzenkonig, a ToneBender and Rat hybrid.
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I would also like to try a bixonic Expandora circuit. I've often heard good things about it.
