In 1997 ProCo got into the budget pedal game by releasing the BRAT and the Guitar Center exclusive, Roadkill. You can set the Distortion lower, and as you play lightly, you will have an overdrive tone dig into your guitar and play hard, and hear more clipping/distortion. It takes more signal to reach the point where they will “cut off” the waveform, which causes the phenomenon we know as touch sensitivity. The Turbo’s LEDs have a much higher forward voltage, so they don’t activate or clip the signal as fast or as hard. You could say this type of diode creates a very saturated tone. The silicon diodes in previous versions have a lower forward voltage, resulting in a faster and more extreme clipping of the waveform. This technique was a first in pedals (the same clipping style was used in the Marshall Guv’nor) and offered a completely new RAT experience. Yup, these are the same LEDs you see in flashlights, your car’s dashboard, DVD players and almost every other electronic device on earth. Every RAT until 1989 utilized a typical silicon diode, just like the DOD 250 and BOSS DS-1, but the new Turbo RAT used LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). The result is that these diodes clip off the top of the waveform of the guitar and create a type of square wave distortion. In this approach, a simple amplifier circuit amplifies the guitar’s signal and pushes it across a pair of clipping diodes. The heart of the RAT’s tone comes from a design technique called symmetrical hard clipping. In 1986, this same model had a logo change that simply inverted the white and black colors, resulting in the more familiar white rectangle outline and font on the black enclosure. The word RAT was in all black caps inside the white rectangle this model gained the “White Face” RAT nickname due to this aesthetic. In 1984, the RAT transitioned into a smaller square enclosure with a new white rectangle logo. Let me take a moment here to clarify: the V1 and V2 models are the exact same circuit, and simple adjustments to the Tone/Filter control can achieve identical sounds from each unit. When switching to the OG mode, you are activating the exact circuitry of my 1979 V1 Fringe Logo model, including the accurate Tone control rotation and taper. From a circuitry standpoint, the V1 and V2 Big Box models are practically identical except that the V1’s Tone control increases treble as you turn clockwise while the V2’s Filter control decreases treble in that direction. The V1 also has small silver capped knobs and a Tone knob instead of the more familiar and later produced V2 Filter control labeling. This era of roughly four years covers what is referred to historically as the V1 models.Įarly V1s are also known as the Fringe Logo model and can be identified by the letters R-A-T being in all capital letters with a slight fringe graphic coming from the typeface. The OG mode is a perfect recreation of the first production RATs ever made. The Volume and Distortion knobs do what they will in each mode, as does the Filter…BUT, as some of you know, this parameter was sometimes backwards in different RAT circuits, so each of the following modes will throw you a surprise…here’s what we’re working with: Tracking down over 100 different versions of this sound, they’ve put together the ultimate RAT collective, smashed all the “facts” everyone thought they knew and created a comprehensive, cohesive and glorious distortion pedal that showcases the best of the best RATs out there. If you know Josh and JHS, they don’t f*ck around when it comes to pedals, and the PackRat is no exception. Taking different RAT circuits from the last 4 decades, from different manufacturers, this pedal gives you the best of all things RAT in one affordable place – Let’s Get Dirty!! There are many iterations of this classic effect, but how could you possibly collect them all without breaking the bank? Well, as usual, JHS Pedals comes to the rescue, in the form of the PackRat Distortion. Few distortion pedals have as much instant recognizability, despite (usually) just bearing the colors Black & White.
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