“We take drugs to change our moods. How easy it is— we‘ve got all kinds of receptors in the brain for endorphins that will immediately give us a chemistry that makes us feel good. And you have to see that the chemistry that makes you pessimistic, the chemistry that gives you this terrible feeling that’s all it is, is a chemistry.
One of my biggest things about trying to awaken the Personality is to remind you that the vehicle operates as a chemical thing, that the experiences of this or that, the up and down, the good mood and bad mood, the upset and not upset, and the melancholy and the not, it’s all just chemistry; nothing more, nothing less. But that chemistry—the whole thing about operating correctly through your strategy and your authority is that you align, you balance this chemistry. And that you don’t distort it so that you’re moving more towards the pessimistic or more towards the other side.
So many human beings that have been involved in drugs in their life and whether those drugs are pharmaceutical abuses or whether they are pleasure drugs or whether it’s alcohol or whatever the case may be, so many beings have gone that way because they have not found in their life experiences that were transforming. And it is the transforming experience that adds depth to the field of consciousness. It’s why we have a human experiential way.” -Ra Uru Hu
The POT is pretty much the same as half of the King of Tone, with an external MODE switch standard. It is the same as the KOT with HIGHER GAIN option, so you can use the full range of the DRIVE knob and it has a little more drive at the top than a normal gain KOT. The DISTORTION mode is improved though, for a louder, stronger distortion sound. See http://www.kingoftone.com for more info.
Power Jack is standard on the POT –
The TREBLE trimpot is inside, just like the KOT.
There are also two new DIP switches inside! They are a bit subtle at some knob settings and modes:
DIP1 : LO-MID lift switch. The tone from your lower strings will be enhanced a little when DIP switch is ON.
DIP2: TURBO switch- with higher gain settings you’ll hear deeper compression, especially in DIST mode. You will hear a brighter, crunchier sound with this on at higher DRIVE settings when this DIP switch is ON.
The three modes, as on the KOT, are:
1) Normal Overdrive mode (OD mode): This is the standard King Of Tone sound, – a touch drive available than a tube screamer. Can get much louder than a tube screamer. The RED side of KOT has this setting from the factory.
2) CLEAN mode : This mode has less distortion, it can be used for clean boosts or clearer, louder sounds. It’s sort of a cross between a true clean boost and an overdrive. CLEAN MODE is even less compressed and louder than the OD mode. I love this mode with high drive settings too! The YELLOW side of KOT has this setting from the factory.
3) DISTORTION mode : more drive than the standard mode- a touch of hard distortion. The sound is more compressed, yet retains the pedal’s character. Same volume as OD mode.
At low DRIVE settings, or when playing softly, there is not much difference between the three modes, they all can get pretty clean and have the same level at low drive settings. The ability to clean up when playing softly is a very useful feature of this pedal. The Drive knob works like the KOT with HIGHER GAIN OPTION, so you can set it anywhere and get great tones.
The DRIVE knob taper is different than the KOT. It comes up faster and more linear, while KOT has a lot going on from 2:00 to max. So comparison to a KOT with HG option will not be the same at the same knob position unless it’s up all the way, where they are the same.
We are making these by hand in China by the same people who are making our Analog Delay. Though it’s made in China, we use the same parts as the King of Tone – best Japanese chip and capacitors, not cheap Chinese parts. No surface mount parts, NO ROBOTS, everything is vintage style and hand wired for easy maintenance and repairs unlike most Chinese pedals and most USA “boutique” machine-made pedals which are disposable if they have any problems like a pot, jack, or switch that wears out.
POWER SUPPLY: A Standard Boss PSA120 type 9V DC adapter will work fine. Center is negative. The pedal uses only about 6mA of current at 9V. You can get a fuzzier sound if you want, at lower voltages, for example the SAG mode on the pedalpower2. When your battery dies you will notice the pedal will not get nice and clean, the sound will be hairier. Use a good Alkaline battery or a power supply for best results. You can use higher voltage for more headroom, 12V is common, 18V is safe too. Clean boost may be improved the most with higher voltage.
CHIPS: You can also try other standard dual op-amp chips in the Prince of Tone. Just make sure you put it in the right way, with the pin#1 dot on the side with the chip socket cut-out. The TS-808’s JRC4558D chip sounds good in this pedal, especially with single coil guitars and smaller Fender type amps. You can try a high fidelity chip for the CLEAN mode which may work well.
Size
We made our own case for this pedal, it’s lower and a little shorter than our Beano Boost / Orange Squeezer / large SunFace box, and a little bigger than the Astrotone / Peppermint / small Sunface size.
Size is 2.5″ wide x 4.5″ long x 1.5″ tall, not including switch/knobs/jacks.
Buffer option
If you run through some long cables to your amp, or through some tone sucking pedals (volume pedals, etc) you might want to add the optional buffer inside the POT. If you run the POT into a pedal with a good buffer like our ARDX20, then it’s not needed at all. There is no room for a battery with the Buffer option. The buffer will work great at higher voltages like 12V or 18V also. See our BUFFER page for more info.
Vintage RAT 1991-2005
As the vintage instruments market surged, demand grew for a reissue of the “large box” RAT pedal. The Vintage RAT can easily be identified from an original in two ways. First, the Pro Co logo does not contain the “Sound Inc.” text written down its right side. The reissue also features an easy access battery compartment on the pedal’s bottom.
For 25 years, discerning guitarists have used the Rat’s “magic” sound, its perfect blend of distortion, sustain and cutting power, usually found only at a volume too loud for club and studio work. Painstakingly researched and designed to produce a sound that is radically different from any “fuzztone” your have ever heard — a sound that sings and wails the blues, or spits and screeches the hardest rock’n roll. A sound that is as subtle as a vintage “twin”, or as bone crushing as a wall of those famous English stacks. The Rat’s smooth harmonic distortion and effortless sustain put the extra punch in rhythm work and makes solos cut through with authority and power.
Tune in just the right amount of overdrive, get the presence you need without any tinny treble, and balance the volume for the perfect extra “kick” for lead breaks. Distortion, sustain, fuzz, overdrive: the sound remains unmistakably yours. Not fake or gimmicky. Also the rat will not change the tone or power of your guitar when it is turned off; its true bypass switch disconnects it completely from the circuit when it is not in use, eliminating the loading effects common among other devices.
The Vintage Rat is a reissue of the original production models built circa 1977. It offers fat smooth distortion with effortless sustain. It gives a Marshall feel to Fender amps and humbucker muscle to single coil pickups. There is a wonderful natural compression to the Rat. As you search for your sound, you owe it to yourself to check out the Vintage Rat at great music stores everywhere.
VRAT Suggested Resale $149.95 RPS1 (Bat elim.) Suggested Resale $16.99
