rat=modded distortion+

[dazzlindino]

Is the early version of the rat distortion pedal a modded version of a distortion+?
Also as a side question. I have a very good rythym crunch tone, but that tone for leads leave the b and e strings are a little plinky and not saturated enough.What type pedal would give the thin strings more drive/singing distortion.

[Mark Hammer]

If one reads the interview with the developer of the Rat in Art Thompson's delightful book "Stompbox", the answer to your question is "No". True, the Rat does use a pair of diodes to ground for clipping, as the Dist+ does, but it has a few other tricks. First, it uses two gain setting paths for content above and below around 1500hz, with significantly higher gain in the mids and highs (in the 1000s at max gain). Second, it compensates the op-amp it uses (LM308) in a manner such that it is effectively attempting to provide more gain than the device is capable of. That is what is responsible for the almost whistling sound it provides. Third it provides a tone control (Filter) that rolls off highs, and buffers that control from the Volume control (normally that type of tone control would interact with the volume control to reduce the output, if they were connected directly).

Your string query suggests that maybe your pickups need a height adjustment, or that maybe you need thicker unwound strings. Not a criticism, just a suggested solution.

[frank.clarke]

The other bugfix for the top 2 strings is a treble booster.