KEITH HOLLAND GUITARS
  • Home
  • Repair
    • Guitar Hospital
    • Amp Repairs by Mike Sabolish
  • Rentals
    • Band Instrument Rentals >
      • New Band Instruments
    • Other Instrument Rentals
  • Lessons
    • Guitar Teachers >
      • Sam Eigen
      • Greg Wachala
      • Steve Funderburg
      • Robert Witmeyer
      • Sonia Shell
      • Andrew Boyd
      • Dave Byron
    • Piano Teachers >
      • Steve Funderburg
      • Andrew Boyd
      • Robert Witmeyer
    • Drum Teachers >
      • Steve Funderburg
    • Bass Guitar Teachers >
      • Greg Wachala
      • Robert Witmeyer
    • Banjo Teachers >
      • Sonia Shell
    • Ukulele Teachers >
      • Greg Wachala
      • Steve Funderburg
    • Brass/Woodwind Teachers >
      • Andrew Boyd
    • Mandolin/Other Strings Teachers >
      • Eric Walser
      • Robert Witmeyer
  • New/Used Gear
    • New Instruments >
      • New Electrics >
        • Keith Holland Customs >
          • Anatomy of a Superior Instrument
        • Cort Electric Guitars
        • Guild Electric Guitars
        • Eastman Electric Guitars
        • Godin Electric Guitars
        • Sweetwood Guitars
      • New Acoustics >
        • Recording King Acoustic Guitars
        • Eastman Acoustic Guitars
        • Art and Lutherie Guitars
        • Godin Acoustic Guitars
        • Guild Acoustic Guitars
      • New Basses >
        • Godin Basses
        • Cort Basses
    • Used Instruments
    • La France Luthiers
    • New Folk Instruments >
      • New Banjos
      • New Mandolins
      • New Ukuleles
    • New/Used Amplifiers >
      • New Amplifiers
      • Used Amplifiers
    • Gypsy Jazz >
      • Gypsy Jazz Guitars
    • Effects Pedals >
      • Pigtronix
      • ProCo RAT Distortion
      • Keeley Pedals
      • Electro-Harmonix Pedals
      • Pedalboards
    • Pro Audio
    • New & Used Percussion
  • Setup Subscription
  • Events
    • Muriel Anderson Guitar Clinic
    • Online Bulletin Board
    • Ongoing Events
  • Tips, Tricks and Licks
  • About
    • Keith's Blog
    • Contact Us
    • eGift Cards
  • KHG Woodshed Gallery
  • Consignments
  • Home
  • Repair
    • Guitar Hospital
    • Amp Repairs by Mike Sabolish
  • Rentals
    • Band Instrument Rentals >
      • New Band Instruments
    • Other Instrument Rentals
  • Lessons
    • Guitar Teachers >
      • Sam Eigen
      • Greg Wachala
      • Steve Funderburg
      • Robert Witmeyer
      • Sonia Shell
      • Andrew Boyd
      • Dave Byron
    • Piano Teachers >
      • Steve Funderburg
      • Andrew Boyd
      • Robert Witmeyer
    • Drum Teachers >
      • Steve Funderburg
    • Bass Guitar Teachers >
      • Greg Wachala
      • Robert Witmeyer
    • Banjo Teachers >
      • Sonia Shell
    • Ukulele Teachers >
      • Greg Wachala
      • Steve Funderburg
    • Brass/Woodwind Teachers >
      • Andrew Boyd
    • Mandolin/Other Strings Teachers >
      • Eric Walser
      • Robert Witmeyer
  • New/Used Gear
    • New Instruments >
      • New Electrics >
        • Keith Holland Customs >
          • Anatomy of a Superior Instrument
        • Cort Electric Guitars
        • Guild Electric Guitars
        • Eastman Electric Guitars
        • Godin Electric Guitars
        • Sweetwood Guitars
      • New Acoustics >
        • Recording King Acoustic Guitars
        • Eastman Acoustic Guitars
        • Art and Lutherie Guitars
        • Godin Acoustic Guitars
        • Guild Acoustic Guitars
      • New Basses >
        • Godin Basses
        • Cort Basses
    • Used Instruments
    • La France Luthiers
    • New Folk Instruments >
      • New Banjos
      • New Mandolins
      • New Ukuleles
    • New/Used Amplifiers >
      • New Amplifiers
      • Used Amplifiers
    • Gypsy Jazz >
      • Gypsy Jazz Guitars
    • Effects Pedals >
      • Pigtronix
      • ProCo RAT Distortion
      • Keeley Pedals
      • Electro-Harmonix Pedals
      • Pedalboards
    • Pro Audio
    • New & Used Percussion
  • Setup Subscription
  • Events
    • Muriel Anderson Guitar Clinic
    • Online Bulletin Board
    • Ongoing Events
  • Tips, Tricks and Licks
  • About
    • Keith's Blog
    • Contact Us
    • eGift Cards
  • KHG Woodshed Gallery
  • Consignments
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

Picture
By Robert Witmeyer (Blue Skool Records)
Jeff Beck, Metallica's James Hetfield, REM's Peter Buck, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, The Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Nirvana, and The Foo Fighters all share a "secret sauce" pedal in their tonal tool kit, and it is the often-overlooked ProCo Rat.
​As folklore goes, the pedal was developed by accident in the basement of the ProCo building in Michigan, in 1978, when Scott Burnham and Steve Kiraly attached the wrong resistor... and the Rat was born!  Today, the Rat is still a popular distortion box which has spawned many offspring including: The Rat 2 (1988), Turbo Rat (1989), Vintage Rat Reissue (1991), BRAT (1997), Deucetone (2002), You Dirty Rat (2004), and the Whiteface Reissue (2010).  Despite being a classic pedal with many usable tones, players have some valid complaints, which, as always, have led to a slew of modifications.

Picture
1982 ProCo "The Rat"
Picture
Peter Buck (Guitar Player for REM)

At its core, the Rat circuit is very similar to a Boss DS-1, but utilizes an LM308 op-amp integrated circuit (IC) with such a poor slew ratio that the pedal acts like an overdriven tube, despite being solid-state in design.  While it's a really solid distortion pedal, the Rat lacks tonal nuance, despite the circuit being well suited for a huge array of tones. Ironically, ProCo understood this flaw, as well as the value of changing, or modifying the clipping diodes in their own circuit.  As a result, many of the spawn of the rat circuit are basically the same design with different clipping diodes.  For instance: the Rat 2 features silicon clipping diodes, where the Turbo Rat has LEDs for clipping the signal.  You Dirty Rat uses germanium diodes for clipping, while the Fat Rat has the ability to choose between Silicon, Mosfet, and Germanium Clipping Diodes.  Basically, the diodes are the main difference between these iterations of the Rat pedal, as just that one mod can vastly change the pedal's sonic palate.

Different Iterations of the Rat
Picture
Duectone Rat
Picture
The Rat 2
Picture
Turbo Rat

Common Mods
  The most common mod performed since the birth of the Rat is changing the pesky 1/8 inch mini power jack to the traditional Boss/1 Spot style 2.1 mm center negative style jack.  This mod alone makes the Rat infinitely more compatible with most players' rigs.  Another common mod is the Ruetz Mod, where one can disengage half the drive circuit, reducing the gain and getting rid of the bass attenuation.  This mod gives the pedal a thicker, fuzz-like bass response at the expense of losing the meaty distortion.  While we can perform said mod, we do not suggest it. 
​ More commonly, a DPDT (double pole/double throw) on/off/on switch is added to select between three clipping textures: option 1 / no diodes / option 2.  Our favorite version would be Mosfet on one side, and LEDs on the other, though we can put any combination on the switch, be it germanium, LED, traditional silicon, MOSFET, or Schotky diodes.   Moreover, we can even add a diode lift to one side, or both, for asymmetrical clipping.  

Picture
Rat Circuit Board w/ LM308 Chip

 Another common Rat Mod is swapping out the op-amp, or engine of the pedal.  The original Rat featured a magical (actually super shitty - so shitty it sounded great!) LM308 chip.  We have a stash of magical NOS LM308 chips, and can swap your newer chip for an original.  That said, this mod normally isn't the same game changer as swapping clipping diodes, so we suggest checking out the traditional clipping diode mods before resorting to this level of cork sniffing.  Likewise, we can also swap the stock chip for a MOSFET CA3130, high-quality NE5535, LM741 (used in MXR Dist + Circuit), or the common TLO71 or 81.  All of these op-amp mods will have subtle changes in the amount of distortion on tap, the headroom of the pedal, and the amount of noise generated.  Finally, should the Rat you own be a bit harsh or shrill, we can perform the common mod of "softening" the tone with silver mica or metal film caps for better fidelity.

If you are interested about any of the aforementioned Mod's or would like to talk shop give us a call at (408)-395-0767 or email us at robert@khguitars.com

    ​Subscribe to get the latest news on Pedals, Guitars and Everything Gear 

Subscribe to Newsletter

Picture
About the Author
 Obsessed with building and modding pedals for the past 10 years, Robert Alan Witmeyer is a local professional musician and multi-instrumentalist in the South Bay Musical Community.  He received his first pedal as a gift during high school, and instantly became a pedal addict.  While Witmeyer recently won the KFOX Riff Off, earning him the title of "Best (unsigned) Guitarist in the SF Bay Area", he is also proficient on 163 other instruments including piano, bass, mandolin, banjo, vibraphone, organ, and various percussion.  After releasing multiple albums on itunes, amazon, spotify, etc, Robert found his live tone lacking, and began researching what big name acts did to achieve their legendary tone.  Upon learning about the art of "modding", Witmeyer began altering all his pedals, and later, started building his own effects using his label name, Blue Skool Records.  Throughout the years, Blue Skool worked with other companies to create unique circuits, including designing and promoting an original Fuzz and Octavia pedal, mini Amp, and other circuits for Peacekeeper Guitars at the infamous NAMM show.  As a music journalist, Robert reviewed pedals for Guitar Player magazine, and was a contributing writer with pedals as his forte.  Today, Blue Skool Record's stompboxes are on the boards of many local pros including Simon Santiago (the Houserockers), Rome Yamilov (Aki Kumar Band), and Jim Thomas (The Mermen).

Home
About
Guitar Hospital
Amp Repair
Private Lessons
Online Showroom
Events
Hours:
M-F 10:00am-6:00pm
Sat  10:00am-5:00pm
​Closed Sundays

Keith Holland Guitars
16905 Roberts Road
Los Gatos, CA 95032
408-395-0767

(c) 2022, Keith Holland Guitars