RAT- SHNOBEL TONE Ratatouille ...a Rat with the missing element revived!!!

SHNOBEL TONE RATATOUILLE DISTORTION 

$270.00 USD

I am a big fan of the Rat II. There are hundreds of clones. The more they cost the more refined they get. BIG But! The thing about the Rat II is it has a very chunky sound with a lot of bite but the most notable feature it has is it's breath. The sound is 10 feet wide. It is the most important feature because without it the and a bit of the typical refinement it heads in the the Boss SD-1 territory. Nothing wrong with the SD-1,  it is what it is, a great hard clipper, but just don't call your pedal Rat if you end up making a Boss SD-1 wannabe.

The Shnobel has refined the 'breadth thing over everything else. He has taken it away from being just a Fuzz like Metalish hard clipper OD thing great for solos and riffs. Instead of ripping the soul out of the Rat blueprint he has put it back in with a shovel. It is an incredible foundation pedal. It can be the total backbone and foundation of a tune. 

THE BUILDER

You wouldn't be reading this if you did not love a browse around a few sites with pedal vids. Shnobel the man started his site 10 years ago. He loves pedals and did 

not make his own until just over a year ago. His Rat  is his second pedal and 

like his first it took days and days and few hundred hours to get it to do its magic.

CONCLUSION

It is too big and too expensive. It is however otherwise near perfection as a sound shaping device that begs to be owned. It is like a great guitar that you look at that says 'play me'.

the fine print

A Rat is still around because it simply sounds good. The sound is the sum of it's parts. A Strat may sound better to you with Gibson humbuckers, ...BUT! ..it will not sound like a Strat. Bottom line?                                             A Strat is like the $70 Rat II.                                                                                A gourmet Rat is like getting a single 12"speaker cabinet and jambing in a second 12" speaker and calling it a new improved 1x12 cab. WTF? I love a Fuzz Face but I do not try to convince you it is a better Rat!                 Nothing wrong with the Shnobel pedal, I would love to have one, but if I did I would still keep my rat :-)