What’s your favorite low-gain Rat to use as a boost?

[Spaceboy]

At the moment I’m loving the Blue Colander Tremond. I bought it for bass but it’s excels as a boost when the gain is kept low and in the middle “off” position. However, it needs to go back to my bass pedalboard. I want to find another Rat variant for guitar purposes, preferably more tweakable in the EQ and great at lower gain without getting into that fuzzy high-gain Rat territory too quickly on the knob. A good range of usable distortion before that point. What do you guys use?

I’m eyeballing the Soothsayer and A. incorrupta at the moment but there’s countless Rat-based pedals out there. I also have a Blower Box Deluxe but honestly it doesn’t do much for me.

 

[enduroman]

why not just an original rat?

 

[BeZo]

I have a Wampler Ratsbane that I was using on my mini pedalboard. It's pretty good. No EQ or anything, but it's pretty versatile with the switches. I go right back to my old ass Keeley modded Rat for Rat stuff though.

 

[Greazygeo]

1981 DRV…

 

[shar-vell Dan]

Never heard of a "low gain" RAT.

 

[BRENTrocks]

why not just an original rat?

Because they are so expensive?

 

[Spaceboy]

OG Rats are expensive and there plenty of modern options with more versatility. The original Rat has its limitations and quirks. I'm not chasing an era specific sound or anything. I have a Rat 2, it’s not bad but mehh. The WFRI from a few years ago are also expensive now and incredibly inconsistent.

 

[Speeddemon]

Maybe throwing a curveball here -depending on whether you want that sort of stoner/sludge saturation that a Rat can impart as a boost-, but have you considered the MXR Timmy? It's quite versatile as a standalone low to lowish/medium gain drive, but works wonders as a boost too.
The grain of the boosted distortion will just be different; most likely clearer.

 

[Spaceboy]

I have owned the Timmy and have other boosts. The Rat does a particular sound that I enjoy with certain amps. It can do a lot more than sludge with the drive kept low.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

A current production RAT with the gain turned down sounds great as an overdrive.

 

[Sick Michael]

At the very severe risk of sounding like a heretic, the Rat model on the Boss GT10 is pretty good (all the other distortions are crap), I have often used that to boost another pedal and it sounds legit.

 

[JSutter]

https://www.cannonpedalco.com/product/t4-h-distortion/7?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false
T4-h has a gain switch.
There's a plethora of clones packed with extras. Mosky king rat, jhs pack rat, fat rat, etc.

Personally, I'd find any rat or clone with full sized components and mod it to do exactly what I want. I use a modded Brat.

 

[griff10672]

 

[RaceU4her]

theres a JHS video where he compares new rats with the expensive vintage ones and they sound almost identical

 

[c+addict]

1981 Inventions Gold DRV

 

[Music&Chaos]

View attachment 428117

This is what I was going to recommend. I really like my Griffin Analog RAT. Super versatile pedal!

 

[matttornado]

a new Rat.