Electronics | Living Room Legends Music Instruments

Rat Distortion Pedal

November 13th, 2010 admin No comments

Rat Distortion Pedal

Performing Arts Peeps, Im on a Dilemma: ProCo Rat2 or Russian Big Muff?

I'm gonna buy a distortion for my "dirty" sound as support for my TS9-DX pedal.

Here are some notable users:
I. Big Muff:
David Gilmour (early phase)
Carlos Santana (early phase)
Smashing Pumpkins
Sonic Youth Mudhoney

II. Proco Rat:
David Gilmour,
Thom Yorke,
John Scofield,
Jerry Cantrell
James Hetfield
Krist Novoselic.

***Note: Of course I can't emulate their sounds as most of them have their units modified. But anyway, I still can tune into that sorta same atmosphere as their sound (kind of a common ground, so to speak).

To those who have experienced using both. Which would/did you choose?

*you can also add a pro's/con's discussion if it won't be a waste of your time.

Thanks in advance.
Hi Saul!

I knew you would deliver.

m/

Well, I've used the Big Muff and I haven't used the Rat itself.

The Rat is more for solo boosting and adding color to pre-existing distortion rather than distortion on its own. The Big Muff is for standalone distortion only.

I had one of the older Muffs and I kind've always thought of it as somewhat one-dimensional... I could get a great Bush sound, but that was about it. I haven't played the newer ones. I could see the whole Sonic Youth thing, though, totally. It does have a thick, huge sound to it.... awww, now I miss it...

I would get the Rat if I had a decent distortion already and wanted a pedal for a solo boost. I don't think it has enough bawlz on its own for a standalone distortion pedal, though.

Have you checked out the Boss DS-1? It's a pretty versatile distortion, from Nirvana to Cantrell. I could see it approximating many of the artists you've listed.

Another thought - how about getting an EQ pedal? You can shape your distortion extensively by putting it before or after your pedal. You may be amazed how you can bring out whole different tones by cutting or boosting a few dB here and there...

Finally, how about the Boss OD-20? Buncha different distortion pedals in one box, with an impressive spread of tones, anywhere from the fuzz to the overdrive to the metal to the vintage rock etc. Keep the gain below 50% (as with most pedals and gain settigns) and you should have no problems at all.

Saul