The Rat - Distortion kit

Musikding

The Rat - Distortion kit

Item number: 846

Category: Distortion

Enclosure: + 9,90 €+ 7,00 €

starting from 25,00 €

Final price incl. VAT, plus shipping (mitttel)

Not available now!

Description

The Rat is based on one of the most popular distortion effects of the 80s. It features a good mixture of distortion, sustain and punch.

This kit contains all parts you need to build a fully functional effect pedal.

Not included in the kit, but also very good to have:

Aluminium enclosure: select one above.
9V battery or DC power supply
3 nice knobs for the pots, 6.3mm shafts, for 6.3mm shafts
Decal, transfer or transparent sheets for labeling

Instrument:	Guitar
Effect-Type:	Distortion

Sounds

That´s the Rat sound:

Build documents

Installation guide: Installation guide

Schematic and pcb: Schematic

Parts list (BOM): Parts list

Ratings (68)

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The most useful review

2 from 2 Customers found the following product review helpful

Great, rich sound, quick work

A great starter project for a rainy afternoon, with not much to fail. Almost solderable by numbers.
Great sound. Low noise. Surprising versatility.

Still there are some annoying things:
- is hard to bend the resistors to correct pitch (theyre bent so close to the body that the bending gauge is practically useless - with the next kit I am making myself a custom bending gauge) - But I understand this, as all the projects are very space saving
- I would be very happy to have a list of individual components with values somewhere - it is annoying and time consuming to search for each and every components value in the schematic. I know you dont support soldering by numbers, but I also dont see a point really in this. It wouldnt do any harm really if you sent a print of instructions with the kit.
- there are some resistor numbers omitted and it is not documented anywhere - It was not until I finished the soldering to PCB that I was sure, I didnt omit something.
- It would be great if you posted an idea /illustration for less experienced makers how to suit all the stuff in the (quite small) chassis
- on the PCB there is no indication of the transistor orientation (there is it on the wiring diagram, but not on the PCB - but you can figure it out from the schematic) - for the builders, its a D (not a C)

what I changed:
- used 1nF Mallory, 33pF and 100pF mica caps (probably a straight overkill)
- used ribbon cable (solid) for the pots (much less mess around the PCB)
- LED is amber (red is soo generic)
- for the output I used insulation washers so the only grounding contact with the chassis is at the input
- output is grounded straight to input, not to the pcb
- header pins for the DC in (+ and gnd)
- connected LED with color coded female jumper wires
Jernej K., 16.06.2015

Entries 1 – 10 of 45

Good!

Very easy and great price. All the components are labeled and the pcb is really easy to read. Great sound!
Koldo S., 09.02.2015

Nice

Nice
Pablo J., 17.03.2015

Easy project

I made mine with mods so it works better with bass. Easy layout on the PCB made it easy for the mods. My 3. Musikding kit and not the last. Most of the guitar pedals needs just a cap or two changed to make them work with bass, and since you are already building the bugger, its fast to do those mods in them while you are at it. A+
Teijo K., 21.03.2015

Great distorsion

Very good sounding rat! Turn your gain pot to pass from overdrive sound to a muff sound
Alessandro P., 25.03.2015

Nice

Really nice pedal. It produce a more detailed and dynamic sound that my Mesa DC3. Actually its a really versatile distortion.
Its pretty easy to build and has great value for the bucks.
Giampiero D., 09.10.2015

Great sound !

This is my first attempt at building a kit and I managed allright thanks to the useful documentation. Ive no experience in electronics, I just read the basics about components before starting and bought a new soldering station. I completed the soldering and wiring in two afternoons and Just tested the pedal : sounds great, great distortion, Im really glad. Now I just need to put that stuff in the enclosure...I recommend this kit which I found quite easy to build. This is my first and not the last, thanks MuzikDing
Renaud F., 21.10.2015

Great product

I am thrilled with these kits, love the sound, works perfect! These kits are also perfect as a mod platform. I wasnt quite happy with the filter circuit, so i replaced it with a big muff type flat midranged tone circuit, and now its perfect for my taste!
Maarten C., 22.12.2015

Awesome Sound

This is my second effects kit that I bought here, with the first being a Tubescreamer. Both these kits were easy to assemble. I got this one done in just under 2 hours. The basic circuit sounds good but there is one thing that I would change, and that is the filter knob. Im used to turn the tone knob clockwise to add treble like any other tone knob. This filter knob turns the other way around. I guess this is by design but I changed it to my liking. I definitely recommend these kits to anyone that wants to get into electronics, and to everyone that is looking for a high quality guitar effect on the cheap.
Pim v., 21.02.2016