RAT Turbo RAT

RAT TURBO RAT
By Dave Thompson

Features

Three simple controls control the mayhem – Distortion (speaks for itself) Filter (more like a presence control than a dedicated EQ control) and Volume (again, the function is obvious) but it’s worth bearing in mind that all the knobs affect the tone to some extent. I’m not sure this is as helpful as a dedicated EQ section but you can wring a fair selection of tones from it whilst the sturdy construction and true bypass mean that both reliability and transparency when not in use are notable features. Power is via the usual 9v DC or 9v battery and it’s compact size lends itself to any pedal board.

Sounds

Now tonally this does the Sonic Youth/Deftones/Ministry territory very well indeed but this is not a pedal I would recommend for intricate lead playing as it simply doesn’t like producing the requisite singing tones…. that said however, it can replicate fuzz-face type tones happily so it may lend itself to early Dave Gilmour-style expressions. It’s quite dynamically response but I found it to be noisy so after some extensive testing returned it to the shop. In short this is not a pedal for lead players but definitely capable of producing quite a wall of noise in an industrial/noise paradigm.

Overall

Another simple design from a company that was extremely well regarded when I first picked up guitar, the Tubro Rat is of course the higher gain brother to the venerable RAT pedal, but was the first to feature the sloped face feature. This little box of noise features the same circuit, with different clipping diodes to provide a more aggressive tone – perfect for Sonic Youth impressions and indeed Thurston did use this pedal for some of his recordings. With the advances in amp technology since it’s introduction the need for hi-gain pedals has diminished somewhat, but this is still an excellent choice for those seeking to replicate certain tones.

Rating

Depending on tastes this pedal could be as high as 7 or 8 for certain rhythm tones, but I only rate it as a 5 personally.

TheRAT Turbo RAT can be bought at various dealers around the world.
http://www.ratdistortion.com

Sources: www.ratdistortion.com