Lil' vermin

This will debut at Summer NAMM - the Lil' Rat distortion pedal. It's a Rat pedal just a little smaller. By the way, you do know NAMM's back, right?  

Rat stock

If you are waiting for the pack, it's now available at Swee Lee (List: $359). For those of us new to the scene, the Rat is a gruff-sounding distortion, something with a little fuzzy twist to things. It may / may not appeal to you. Certainly not the heavy metal type distortion.

Pic: Held M

Rat!

This is the current talk in guitardom - Wampler's Ratsbane. It's a distortion unit in the likes of Proco's Rat pedal. The Rat is an acclaimed distortion unit, in fact, it's one of the landmark pedals that influences many professional recordings. I've tried one in person & acknowledge its unique threshold to cross over into fuzz territory due to its clipping structure. The pedal did not win me over because at upper distortion settings (when things get fuzzy), it renders the bottom end quite undefined. For metal-inclined players, bottom end definition is important as it defines heavy voicings. However, those peddling doom might be interested in this one. Wampler offers additional tone editing features to address this concern & this interpretation of the fabled Rat tone might change some mindsets. Here's Brian Wampler himself to talk you through his new offering:

Pics: Wampler / World of Music

Rats!

 

Pro Co Rats are now available at Davis GMC. You have to be quick though, some are even sold out already. 

PIC: Davis GMC

Like rats!

It's finally here, the year of the Rat. Not that it will be more significant than any other CNYs, I simply love the long holidays. It's longer this year as the new year falls on a Sunday. On a less celebratory note, we are on the brink of another plague threat. The Wuhan virus claimed its first victim here just two days ago, followed by two more yesterday. I remember that year when SARS wreaked havoc in 2003 & plunged the economy into the gutters. Bleak times ahead, it seems & that's a little too soon considering many of us were treated with crumbs as bonus at the close of 2019. The irony of celebrating the year of the rat knowing these critters were disease carriers back in the old days.

That aside, I'm looking forward to have some guitar moments this long weekend with very little other things planned to fill the holidays. Here's Like Rats by Godflesh from their 1989 release, Streetcleaner. Wishing everyone a virus-free holiday.

Understanding distortion

Unlike the overdrive, the signals churned out by the typical distortion unit are already 'tampered', even before reaching the amplifier. This is the reason why, one cannot acquire clean tones even at the lower levels of distortion if one chooses to use it as a clean booster. The misconception with distortion units is that it's supposed to be a hard hitting device when in fact, it's rather restrained inherently, as typified by the pioneer of pedal distortion, the Pro Co Rat. The distortion is similarly used to boost an already driven/ distorted amplifier to increase its intensity

The most popular mild distortion in the market is arguably BOSS' DS-1 but chronologically, it's a later interpretation of the distortion tone.


In its leading era, MXR's Distortion + hold its own dynamics, it even precedes Ibanez's Tubescreamer in terms of debut application.

As it is today, the average distortion unit has evolved to manifest more intensity, a better understanding of this would be acquired after one hears the BOSS Metal Zone in action. The standard in distortion intensity has always been the chemistry of the amplifier's power/ pre-amp sections. Manufacturers capitalized on this application from the fact that not everyone can afford such amps & its power ratings would mean limited applications at home (& the inability to fully realize the amp's potential).

The distortion effect is still evolving, today it incorporates other features to address the niche demand for intensity & saturation. The pedal you see above is Seymour Duncan's Twin Tube Mayhem which has an in-built booster (more intensity to bring the roof down + split ear drums) & pre-amp tubes.