Jam Pedals has launched a revised version of its much-loved Rat clone, with the Rattler MkII featuring a comprehensive circuit redesign that adds a mid boost and switchable clipping – and there is an all-new custom op-amp under the hood, too.
Now there might be some tears are shed by purists who mourn the loss of the now hard-to-find LM308 chips that powered the original Rattler – and were the bedrock of the original Pro Co Rat distortion pedal that inspired it – but Jam Pedals promises that the tone and response of the pedal is unaffected.
“Our proprietary design, featuring discrete components, preserves the open, dynamic, and tube amp feel that made the original Rattler so revered,” says the Greek guitar effects pedal company.
All this is a good thing. The Rat and variants thereof is one of the most versatile distortion pedals you can find, and can be put to work in a variety of musical contexts, from blues and rock to death metal. David Gilmour is among the Rat sound's many fans. This Jam Pedals version, promises to be more versatile still.
The design is familiar. There has been no messing around with the artwork; we still have a black rattlesnake on a cream painted chassis. And the drive is reassuringly familiar, too, with controls for Level (L), Gain (G) and Tone (L).
MkII, however, has some cool tricks up its sleeve. There is a toggle switch nested alongside the control knobs that allows players to select between symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping, and there is a second footswitch that activates the mid boost that is placed before it enter’s the pedal’s gain stage. Jam Pedals describes it as a “tone enhancer” rather than a straight-up boost.
You can tweak the boost’s output level and bass response via internal controls. But we’d definitely consider this to be a set and forget feature.
Given that the trimmer for the mid boost output ships from the factory with the level maxed out, we’d bet good money that most of you won’t even touch these controls. The internal dip switch turns a low cut on and off
Other features include click-less operation and you have various startup modes for the Rattler MKII.
You can set it so that the Rattler’s distortion is automatically on as soon as it receives 9V of goodness from a DC pedalboard power supply, or with the distortion and boost engaged together, just the boost on its own, or with both off – the latter being the most conventional way to configure it.
The Rattler MkII draws 95mA, is true bypass, and measures 2.9” x 4.7” x 2.2”. It is available now, priced £199/$249. For more details, head on over to Jam Pedals.
