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

[duhvoodooman***]

Thought I'd post a few "progress pics" for the pedal build I'm doing for Sunvalleylaw. This is the new-for-2008 BuildYourOwnClone.com Mouse vers. 2.0 kit, which is a modified clone of the famous ProCo Rat. For this new version, BYOC owner/effects wizard Keith Vonderhulls added an extremely cool new feature--a 6-way rotary switch to give the pedal 6 separate signal clipping modes. Three use the Rat's stock clip-to-ground distortion circuit, but the other three run through the pedal's feedback loop to the operational amplifier (opamp), like the Tube Screamer and its many imitator overdrives use. This gives a lesser degree of distortion with a smoother tone and less compression and sustain. The combination of the two clipping schemes makes for a very flexible pedal--basically a hybrid distortion/overdrive. Smart design!!

Of course, I couldn't just build it stock--perish the thought!! So I changed a couple of the clipping modes to give the pedal a greater range of tones. In stock form, the 6-way switch positions give the following clipping configurations:

1. Symmetric silicon diode distortion (stock Rat mode)
2. Symmetric red LED distortion (sometimes referred to as "Landgraff" distortion mode)
3. Asymmetric silicon diode distortion
4. Symmetric silicon diode overdrive
5. Asymmetric silicon diode overdrive
6. Symmetric MOSFET (BS170 transistor) overdrive

With four of the six modes using silicon diode combinations, I thought it would be a good idea to mix it up a bit more, so I altered positions 3, 4 and 5 to give the following:

1. Symmetric silicon diode distortion
2. Symmetric red LED distortion
3. Symmetric JFET (J201 transistor) distortion
4. Asymmetric silicon diode overdrive (1x3 1N914 diode array)
5. Symmetric red LED overdrive
6. Symmetric MOSFET (BS170 transistor) overdrive

That gives a mix of silicon diode, LED and transistor clipping on both the distortion and overdrive sides of the rotary switch.

I also added another popular Rat circuit modification known as the "Ruetz mod", after the guy who originated it. It's ridiculously simple, involving a SPST toggle to switch a resistor/capacitor pair in and out of the circuit. When switched out, it cuts the pedal's gain, flattens the frequency response, and gives a warmer, smoother tone--a nice counterpoint to the stock Rat's more raucous distorted sound. So, in combination with the v.2 Mouse's 6 clipping mode setting, the Ruetz switch doubles the pedal's available tones to 12. You can see what I mean about flexibility!

So with that as background on the pedal, here are a few photos taken at various points during the build (which is still underway, at this point):

PCB in process of being populated with components. Almost done, except for some of the clipping arrays, and the opamp hasn't been installed in its socket yet:



Fully assembled pedal. The top knob is the 6-way rotary, then volume on the left, gain on the right and tone on the bottom. Note the toggle on the left side down low for the Ruetz mod:



Another shot of the assembled pedal--the obligatory "gut shot". You can clearly see the solder connections (12 in a circle, 2 in the middle) for the rotary switch. The clipping sections are at upper right (1 - 3, the "distortion" clippers) and left (4 - 6 , the overdrive arrays).



More to follow....

[marnold***]

I lay my soldering iron at your feet. Cool stuff as always, DVM.

[duhvoodooman***]

After assembling the pedal, it's time to take it back apart and paint and decal the enclosure. As I type this, that's underway, but not yet finished. Here's a few more photos of this phase of the build:

Here's a shot you won't see too often--the "guts" when the pedal is disassembled for painting. And if you didn't think a pedal outside of the enclosure is functional, guess again. Look at the second shot--that power LED is lit! You'll have to take my word for it that it sounded just great...



I call my modified version of the BYOC Mouse the "Rabid Rodent". Here's a look at the printed decal, before application to the (not yet) painted enclosure:



Lastly (for now) are two shots taken during the enclosure painting process. The first shows it primed with flat brown primer, and in the second it's painted with silver metallic Krylon enamel:



I'll post a couple of final pics when I get the pedal decaled, clearcoated and reassembled in a couple of days...

[warren0728]

very cool vood! thanks for the progress pics....definitely a nice clean job! :

ww

[markb]

"Tone" not "Filter"? Out of interest does that tone control work backwards like the Rat's?

[duhvoodooman***]

"Tone" not "Filter"? Out of interest does that tone control work backwards like the Rat's?

No, it works like most tone controls, more treble clockwise. The kit is set up that way, though you can always wire that pot backwards to mimic the Rat. I wasn't going for vintage -correctness on this puppy, though. With all those modifications--both by BYOC and the ones I added--it would seem pretty pointless!

BTW, I have the original version of the BYOC Mouse myself, and it is wired per the Rat "filter" control in that one.

[sunvalleylaw]

looking very cool Bob! Thanks for posting the progress pics. That one with it in the chain, guts only, cracks me up. I have been over at a block party where I got to listen to, then play with some guys doing pretty decent cover music. I got to play an Eric Johnson strat through a Tube Driver pedal into a mic'd Blues Jr, also plugging my strat into the same rig, then play my own rig to finish up. The EJ was nice, but I honestly liked mine just as well. It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait til the next time I get to and have some sick tones dialed up out of my new Rodent!

EDIT: Of course you are going to do some clips before you send it off, yes? I would ask for strat and Dot, since those would be the closest to my rig and soon to be rig. I feel it only fair that you test drive it and record it some to share with the faithful here.

[duhvoodooman***]

Of course you are going to do some clips before you send it off, yes? I would ask for strat and Dot, since those would be the closest to my rig and soon to be rig. I feel it only fair that you test drive it and record it some to share with the faithful here.

But, of course! : :

[tunghaichuan***]

Bob,

That pedal enclosure and PCB look killer. :

Excellent work. I've been following the various completed enclosure threads on the BYOC BBS, but your builds look much better than most of the finished pedals I've seen there.

I've never tried out any of the various Rat circuits. How do they sound in comparison to the various Boss OD/distortion circuits?

tung

[duhvoodooman***]

Thanks, Tung--always appreciate the encouragement. :

A big part of a neat & clean build is a high quality PCB, and I've never seen better than the BYOC boards. Very easy to work on & very forgiving.

To be honest, I really don't have much experience with the Boss distro pedals. The only one I've played (briefly) was a DS-1, which I really didn't care much for in stock form. Too harsh & trebly, IMO. I really bought it just to try one of the Allums mod kits (which, BTW, are very nice & reasonably priced, I thought), which turned it into a much better sounding pedal. Smoothed and filled out the tone very noticeably. Mudcat ended up buying it from me, so maybe he can comment.

As far as the Rat circuit goes, I find it to be kind of the quintessential '80's distortion sound. It doesn't have the thick bottom end a lot of fuzz pedals do, but still has gobs of smooth distortion & sustain. I particularly like to use it with a neck humbucker with the guitar's treble rolled way off--it mimics the famous Clapton "woman tone" almost perfectly. Of the distortion boxes I own, the original version of the BYOC Mouse is my overall favorite--but this new v.2 kit is even better, with the added clipping options. I may have to build one of my own--it's that good.

[sunvalleylaw]

With the Reutz mod, it should have a "Phat" mode as well. Maybe not as much as a Fuzz, but I have a fuzz so this is looking like a great add to my pedal line. The DS-1 may get lonely for a while, though I imagine I will still want to use it to Cobain up in combo with my chorus.

[sunvalleylaw]

The other distortion box I was considering was the Marshall Guv'nor, but I could not pass up the opportunity to order this cool pedal from DVM. I bet with the mods, I can get a Guv'nor tone out of it, or something close. : I am also thinking of the Tom Petty dirt tones that were happening at the block party yesterday and thinking that this pedal will be all over those.

[marnold***]

Some folks call the ProCo Rat a fuzz box, but to my ears it sounds more distortion-y than fuzzy.

By the by, here's a review of the Rat from everybody's favorite reviewer:

[M29]

Top notch all the way DVM I always love a good gut shot:

[ted s]

AAHHHHH not the gear wire guy !!!!
Nooooo, not the box !!!


Excellent job VoodooBob ! (hey, that rhymes)

[duhvoodooman***]

AAHHHHH not the gear wire guy !!!!
Nooooo, not the box !!!

I share your pain! Two minutes on the box, two minutes on the effect. :

[sunvalleylaw]

I am glad he covered the all important note of how to register online, and the catalog showing the other Rats that were not being reviewed. :

I like his coverage of the tones, and how the "filter" knob, which I now know is equivalent to a tone knob wired backwards, works.

tung, he also does a Boss DS-1 review, so you could compare, since you were asking.

[tunghaichuan***]

I am glad he covered the all important note of how to register online, and the catalog showing the other Rats that were not being reviewed. :

Really, it's like: "Dude stop futzing with the box and just play the friggin' thing already." No one cares about the box. :

tung, he also does a Boss DS-1 review, so you could compare, since you were asking.

Cool, thanks for the heads up, I'll have to check that out when I get home from work.

tung

[duhvoodooman***]

Will post the last couple of pics in this posting, as available:

First, waterslide decal applied to painted enclosure: