Proco Rat mods

[tchen]

just picked up my first rat 2. so far i like it a lot and am surprised i waited to long to get one. i was just wondering if anyone has experienced any mods with his pedal that are worth while. i read some good reviews of the keeley mod, but $100 just seems to expensive to spend on an already made pedal. can anyone vouch that its worth it? or know of someone who does these things cheaper?

[culturejam]

There are half a dozen mods that are most common. I think the most important of all is getting a proper op amp in there. Check and see if yours has the LM308 (the good one) or something else. I also think the LM301 sounds just as good, and it's cheaper.

You could also do the "Ruetz" mod, which involves replacing a specific resistor with a pot (or an internal trim pot, if you don't want to drill the case).

And you could always add a switch to swap between silicon diodes and LEDs for clipping.

And yes, $100 is way too much to mod a Rat.

I can think of at least three or four guys who would do the mods for you and are very respectable. PM me if you are interested, and I'll give you some names.

[culturejam]

For extra mojo, you could opt for a metal-can op amp. Does it sound better than it's plastic DIP-case counterpart? Not to me. But it looks cool, and that's 90% of what mojo is all about.

Here's a clone RAT I'm working on now with a metal-can LM308: