DVM's Rabid Rodent BYOC Mouse v.2 Proco Rat Clone review

[sunvalleylaw]

Ok, here is another clip demoing the red LED setting some more, and showing the Ruetz mod. Listen only if you don't mind listening to the Zep riff I have just been learning with my son, played like you hear it played at Guitar Center on Friday night. But if you ignore that (the clip is really just supposed to let people hear the pedal), you can hear some more of the versatility of this pedal.

http://www.box.net/shared/oofay2lrk6

The first section of the clip is the Red LED setting, volume about straight up, Distortion straight up, filter just past 3 as before. I record the riff a few times, then play a coupla power chords. The second portion is exactly the same (except for a volume adjust, it now is at about 3 to account for volume difference between the mode settings), but with the Ruetz mod flipped on. That backs off the distortion and pumps up the mid range for a much warmer sound. Last, I repeat again, also with the Ruetz mod, but now turning up the distortion a bit. Distortion is now at about 1:30 or 2. I like this setting the best for this riff I think, and may pump up the distortion a bit more, but keeping the midrange up. The guitar is the Vik, after I re-attached the input jack after I loosened it stepping on my own cord. :


I hope that gives someone some more insight.

[Algonquin]

I can see the DS-1 gathering a bit of dust for a while I think.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah it might be. I am not going to get rid of it. It still gives me some grungey sounds I like in combination with my chorus pedal. But the rodent does a lot more. BTW, I had it wrong how the Ruetz mod works. Really, it actually flattens out the hump in the high-mids that the Rat circuit has and makes the bass and lower mids come forward, giving that warmer, fuller tone. I had said before that it gave bumped up the midrange, which is not quite accurate.

[duhvoodooman***]

Glad to see/hear that you're continuing to "farm" new tones out of the Rodent. It's a very flexible pedal, as you're finding out. I'd like to think my "optimizing" a couple of the clipping options contributes to that flexibility, but the main credit has to go to Keith Vonderhulls at BYOC for a very clever design on this kit. It is just S-O-O-O much more versatile than the original ProCo Rat circuit upon which it's based.

I sold my original v.1.0 Rodent a few days ago (thanks, Peachhead!) and I missed it this weekend! But the v.2.0 kit (along with CB's) is sitting on my work bench and the soldering will start in the next couple of days. You've got me psyched up to get it built & into my pedal chain!

[peachhead***]

Not meaning to thread hijack, but the v.1 came today- looking forward to firing it up! Thanks DVM!

[Blaze]

I had a good try today at my new Rabid Rodent as i was at my tech s place ..

This pedal rocks and with all these rotary position options you can get all kind of tones from hard disto to classic rock goin in overdrives variation..

My tech recognise the Pro rat basic tone ,he liked the pedal a lot being a pedal builder himself ..He found that the rabid is an excellent build pedal,clean and solid made..

I still have to work on it to get my own personnal tone ,but we both like the dynamic and the nice compression you can get also from this DVM baby..

I should make a clip sometime...

I ll come back with more in the near futur..

Right on Bob ...

[markb]

I'm a big fan of old RATs (pre 2003). The trick with them is that the distortion and filter (tone) controls are highly interactive. You can get everything from warm boost to out and out fuzz with a bit of tweaking.

Having said that, I'm sure DVM can build a better one :

[sunvalleylaw]

Great! I am glad these threads are merged now so that the Rabid Rodent info and clips are consolidated and easy to find. I will be very interested in any more info and/or clips RylanMartin can provide, and maybe we will hear some more from Blazes too. Who else has one?

[duhvoodooman***]

Great! I am glad these threads are merged now so that the Rabid Rodent info and clips are consolidated and easy to find. I will be very interested in any more info and/or clips RylanMartin can provide, and maybe we will hear some more from Blazes too. Who else has one?

Well, I know CB and Sumi each have one. Can't remember anyone else here who has one, besides you, Blaze, and now Rylan. But the ol' memory ain't what it used to be....

Hopefully, Rylan will be able to convince Robert that he needs a Rodent, too. I haven't been successful yet, though I think I may have him leaning that way. :

Next to the ZYS Mark II, I think the Rabid Rodent is my favorite BYOC "dirt" pedal. Although the Mega-Muff is right up there, too, if you like the Big Muff Pi style of fuzz. If you prefer the Fuzz Face style, then the BYOC Extra Special Vintage (ESV) Fuzz is amazing sounding, too.

[Robert****]

Yeah, ok I AM leaning towards it.

[sunvalleylaw]

As an update regarding this very useful pedal, I wanted to state what I have been doing with my Rabid Rodent pedal from DVM lately.

Although I love the distortion settings, and have a lot of fun with them as described above, I have been using this very versatile pedal on the overdrive side of the mutate dial much more. My first pedal was my Digitech Bad Monkey overdrive, and it is still a favorite. But lately, the Rodent has taken over a lot of my overdrive use.

Specifically, I have long loved the more transparent, but "hot with some bite" overdrive, and the sustain it gives. It is no secret I love John Mayer's live tone. His Two Rock amphs help him produce that with his strats, and my C-30, nice as it is, is not a Two Rock. The Bad Monkey, which is a tubescreamer type overdrive with plenty of mid, is a bit too middy to give that articulate clean bite that Mayer gets.

Enter the Rodent! I have been using the second overdrive setting a lot, which is the red LED setting, 5th on the dial overall. It has some more warmth than the other two, which is pleasing to my ear as I play by myself at home. Last night, I started using positions 4 and 6 also. Wow, that bite I hear in Mayer's live stuff is very present and obtainable. I had been thinking about a King of Tone type circuit for this, but it may be that the Rodent can do it well enough to forgo that plan.

Very cool all the things this pedal can do!

[rylanmartin]

I just spent the last few hours playing with my RR while it was opened up and watched the little led's and such on the circuit board light up while I was playing with it...it was pretty cool....

[Robert****]

Rylan, sounds like you had Christmas All Over again!

[sunvalleylaw]

Hey! Thought I would post something of a progress report, seeing as I am “rebuilding” my pedal board. I still have this as one of my very top dirt boxes. Though over the years, I had gotten kinda stuck in my settings.

I had added a Catalinbread Formula No. 5, and then a more versatile Formula No. 55 (with more tonal range) which is one of their foundation pedals, and is designed to recreate the 5E3 Preamp circuit of old tweed amps. I have come to love that pedal, and now am finding ways to use those pedals in combination with this pedal, kinda setting up the Catalinbread to be the base tone, and then stacking the Rodent closer to the guitar than the amp to feed the C-bread. Works great that way! And still on its own.

One of my favorite pedals ever!

[duhvoodooman***]

Glad to hear that the ol' Rabid Rodent is still doin' it for ya, Steve. Hard to believe that you've owned it now for 12 years!

Unsurprisingly, there have been some really good pedal kits released by BYOC in the meantime. Here are some notables--I won't elaborate, just post links to the BYOC product pages where you can read all the details for yourself.

Crown Jewel boost/overdrive/distortion (unbelievably flexible dirt box!)

Silver Pony 2 (Klon clone...and more!)

Phase Royal (a killer phaser with four different phasing modules to choose from....or buy 'em all; unfortunately out of stock at the moment)

Echo Royal (fabulous delay with a ton of features; also currently out of stock)

While I'm not back in the pedal-making business per se, I do have more time available since retiring 4 years back, so if anyone out there is interested in one of these, shoot me a PM and we'll talk! I can offer you great pricing and unbeatable workmanship.

[sunvalleylaw]

Glad to hear that the ol' Rabid Rodent is still doin' it for ya, Steve. Hard to believe that you've owned it now for 12 years!

Unsurprisingly, there have been some really good pedal kits released by BYOC in the meantime. Here are some notables--I won't elaborate, just post links to the BYOC product pages where you can read all the details for yourself.

Crown Jewel boost/overdrive/distortion (unbelievably flexible dirt box!)

Silver Pony 2 (Klon clone...and more!)

Phase Royal (a killer phaser with four different phasing modules to choose from....or buy 'em all; unfortunately out of stock at the moment)

Echo Royal (fabulous delay with a ton of features; also currently out of stock)

While I'm not back in the pedal-making business per se, I do have more time available since retiring 4 years back, so if anyone out there is interested in one of these, shoot me a PM and we'll talk! I can offer you great pricing and unbeatable workmanship.

Cool! I am interested in figuring out how to create, either in my Line 6 M9, or otherwise, a Jangle tone like old 60's music and like Peter Buck used to do as well. Been learning more about compressors and boosts and such. Also, was exploring my ZYS again, which I used less after I got the Rodent. But especially with the built in boost circuit, and using the Screamer side differently, I am betting it has possibilities I never explored as well! Gonna be a long winter in a mountain town when we can't really go hang in our favorite pubs or anything, so will be more time to do some guitar exploring!

[sunvalleylaw]

Glad to hear that the ol' Rabid Rodent is still doin' it for ya, Steve. Hard to believe that you've owned it now for 12 years!

Unsurprisingly, there have been some really good pedal kits released by BYOC in the meantime. Here are some notables--I won't elaborate, just post links to the BYOC product pages where you can read all the details for yourself.

Crown Jewel boost/overdrive/distortion (unbelievably flexible dirt box!)

Silver Pony 2 (Klon clone...and more!)

Phase Royal (a killer phaser with four different phasing modules to choose from....or buy 'em all; unfortunately out of stock at the moment)

Echo Royal (fabulous delay with a ton of features; also currently out of stock)

While I'm not back in the pedal-making business per se, I do have more time available since retiring 4 years back, so if anyone out there is interested in one of these, shoot me a PM and we'll talk! I can offer you great pricing and unbeatable workmanship.

Cool! I am interested in figuring out how to create, either in my Line 6 M9, or otherwise, a Jangle tone like old 60's music and like Peter Buck used to do as well. Been learning more about compressors and boosts and such. Also, was exploring my ZYS again, which I used less after I got the Rodent. But especially with the built in boost circuit, and using the Screamer side differently, I am betting it has possibilities I never explored as well! Gonna be a long winter in a mountain town when we can't really go hang in our favorite pubs or anything, so will be more time to do some guitar exploring!

[piebaldpython***]

Hey! Thought I would post something of a progress report, seeing as I am “rebuilding” my pedal board. I still have this as one of my very top dirt boxes. Though over the years, I had gotten kinda stuck in my settings.

I had added a Catalinbread Formula No. 5, and then a more versatile Formula No. 55 (with more tonal range) which is one of their foundation pedals, and is designed to recreate the 5E3 Preamp circuit of old tweed amps. I have come to love that pedal, and now am finding ways to use those pedals in combination with this pedal, kinda setting up the Catalinbread to be the base tone, and then stacking the Rodent closer to the guitar than the amp to feed the C-bread. Works great that way! And still on its own.

One of my favorite pedals ever!

Hey SVL........long time no talk buddy. Nice to see you around.

I have the Catalinbread Form No 5 pedal and I use it with my Rabid Rodent too. The Catalinbread starts to get you into that jangly Ry Cooder-ish sound and their SFT foundation pedal gets you into Stones territory. That said, bearfootfx.com makes some superb foundation pedals.....they really nail the flavor of the old Tweed, Gibson, Silverface/Silvertone amps.

The RR is a pedal that was ahead of it's time with it's 6 different OD/Distortion settings. There are some high-end pedal makers, like Walrus Audio, that are now making a pedal with similar voiceings.

[sunvalleylaw]

Hey SVL........long time no talk buddy. Nice to see you around.

I have the Catalinbread Form No 5 pedal and I use it with my Rabid Rodent too. The Catalinbread starts to get you into that jangly Ry Cooder-ish sound and their SFT foundation pedal gets you into Stones territory. That said, bearfootfx.com makes some superb foundation pedals.....they really nail the flavor of the old Tweed, Gibson, Silverface/Silvertone amps.

The RR is a pedal that was ahead of it's time with it's 6 different OD/Distortion settings. There are some high-end pedal makers, like Walrus Audio, that are now making a pedal with similar voiceings.

Hey, PBP!! Nice to see you! I replied to your other post first, so did not see this and that you also have a F5. I love those little Howard Gee boxes, don’t you? I probably don’t need to have both the F5, AND a F55, even though I have two boards. So maybe I do, as I use them so much. As you know, but maybe others don’t, the F5 was intended to mimic the tweed 5E3 preamp circuit, and is very controllable and has a lot of nice touch that can be controlled with the volume knob, clean to dirty. Howard has a nice video featuring a SG guitar where he goes from jazz comping to rocking out, back and forth. That was what sold me on it. And as you likely also know, the F55 was the complete re-do after some parts became impractical or unavailable to keep making the F5. So the F55 is intended to do the same thing, but with more range, and the range can change from a “cleaner” set of tubes (green LED setting) to a hotter set of tubes (RED LED setting). At first, I found it easier to find what I wanted in the F5, and it is a great box. But now I have found how to get what I was liking out of the F5 out of the F55. I may switch the two of them back and forth between my two main tube amps, and continue to play with it, but I think I like this arrangement right now.

And both play nicely with the RR, which now is serving as distortion flavor on top of the foundation of the C-bread pedals. I still get addicted to that Red LED setting, and the first, most ‘stock” rat setting. Like going from RAT to Turbo-RAT as between them. And as said, stacks really nicely with the C-bread getting the amp in a good place to carry that additional distortion flavor.

I have not in a long time played with the last 3 settings on the RR, but will go back to that and explore more there as well, and maybe turn the C-bread off when doing that. I used to feel like I could get a nice Mayer tone using position 5 I think. But again, haven’t tried for that in years.

Glad to be back playing more and with a much more experimental mindset with regard to these tools I have at my disposal.

I am looking at getting a good ABY box too, to set up a Wet/Dry situation, which I think would be really fun. I just finished watching the episode on YouTube of That Pedal Show that goes over that. Seeing as I will be staying at home, and not going out for dinners or a night at the pub for too expensive beers in a nice environment this winter, I figure I may as well get the few additional tools I need to really explore these little boxes and bigger boxes with tubes in them. And a little SS box (Quilter Interblock 45) I can use easily for online playing/recording. As I posted elsewhere, I hope to build some remote social with people while we ride this pandemic thing out.