My Fuzzdog Rodent Rat clone is too dark. Have I messed up?

xscaramanga

I built a Rodent clone a while back, but I haven't given it tons of use because I can't get it as bright as I want. With the filter on zero it sounds darker than the bypass tone. It otherwise sounds great. I'd just like it to sound like it does with the filter somewhere around 10-12 o'clock instead of off.

It's one of these kits: https://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Rodent_distortion/p847124_7398084.aspx

I have the 4-knob kit but I bypassed the Ruetz mod, so knob 4 does nothing.

I don't think I made a mistake on the circuit. When I tested the board it was silent so I took it to a tech and we troubleshot it together. Eventually we found the diode I'd put in backwards but in the process we checked the circuit quite thoroughly (this was all pre-pandemic).

Is the kit based on an older Rat circuit that's a lot warmer sounding? Could this be a result of variation in component values? Or have I messed something up?

Is there a simple Rat mod for more top end? Not something that's frequently requested, I imagine.

I'll try to post some audio later.

Cirrus

I built that exact kit in December, and it's plenty bright - actually I was a little disappointed with it at first because it was on the more compressed end of the spectrum of rat sounds, but I tried a 3 different op amps and finally found an LM308 that did what I want, along with ditching the Ruetz mod (I think it's a shit mod haha) and going with a 56 ohm fixed resistor & 40pf cap between pins 1 & 8.

If it's really mellow sounding, are you absolutely sure you've bypassed the Ruetz mod in the right way? Because that's exactly how the pedal sounds with the Ruetz pot turned down.

xscaramanga

Cirrus said:

If it's really mellow sounding, are you absolutely sure you've bypassed the Ruetz mod in the right way? Because that's exactly how the pedal sounds with the Ruetz pot turned down.

Hmmm, worth checking then! Thanks.

xscaramanga

Update: I finally recorded it. Rat into clean amp for first bit of video, then boosting a dirty tone from 3:00.

What do you think?