Rat Evolution
There are probably a zillion different distortion pedals out there. The ProCo RAT is the one that I have found most useful and now JHS have given us all the different RATs in one cage (stomp box).
As regular readers know, I am not really a fuzz person and with one exception (ok two but they are very similar) not really a distortion person. Overdrives are another matter and a very different disease but that’s for another time and place.
Though I am not really a distortion person, that does not mean that I have not tried a number of distortion pedals. When I say try, I really mean bought, tried for more than ten minutes in a shop, used in my playing for several hours (or tried to) and with two exceptions, packed up and returned.
The major exception is an old one, the ProCo RAT. I have owned RATs over the years, from the original RAT from when my hair was brown, through the TurboRAT (idiot that I am, I traded it for something that I thought I would enjoy, wrong again) and currently to a RAT 2 on my wet dry wet rig board. I tend to set my amps up clean, or just on the edge of breakup with the guitar volume would all the way up, and use pedals for overdrive, and when I feel the need, distortion or fuzz. I like the RAT. It is simple. There’s really no faffing about. You set the level of distortion, the output volume and how bright or dark you want the sound. It works with every amp that I have ever tried it with and the RAT 2 is bloody inexpensive considering how versatile it it.
I like the RAT so much, that when I heard JAM Pedals’ version, the Rattler, which I liked as much and on occasion more, I spent the $$ on it. The Rattler is a superb distortion pedal, handmade and with great sound. But it’s still one circuit.
JHS Packrat
This brings us to JHS Pedals’ brand new Packrat. According to company founder Josh Scott, this is not a mere RAT clone, it is in fact the circuits from a number of RAT variants in a single device with each circuit selectable from a rotary switch. Not DSP, not just a different series of filters, but actual different circuits, apparently over 260 components in this standard sized box.
Other than the rotary switch, the Packrat operates like a regular RAT with a simple one input, one output, one footswitch layout. The various RATs in the Packrat are;
| Mode | Replicates |
|---|---|
| The OG | The original RAT sound |
| White Face V3 | The original RAT with a reversal of the filter knob |
| Turbo V6 | LED rather than silicon diode, more "touch" |
| BRAT | Adds soft clipping and reverses filter knob |
| Dirty RAT | Germanium diodes instead |
| LA | Replicant of the Ibanez LA Metal RAT clone |
| Landgraff | Replicant of the Landgraff MO'D RAT like pedal |
| Caroline | Replicant of the Caroline Pedals WAVE CANNON |
| JHS Mode | The JHS modded RAT |
Do you need a Packrat? Well friends, that is entirely up to you. I own a RAT 2 and wanted another one for a different board. I also really liked the Turbo RAT when I owned it and while I don’t trust long term auditory memory all that much, I would get both the RAT 2 and the Turbo in this pedals for the extra $100 CAD roughly, I would get seven other RATs. That made it sound like a decent investment to me, even if I found that I only liked one of the other ones. Works for me.
Josh Scott has done this sort of thing before, bringing multiple Big Muffs together in the Muffaletta (never tried one, not a Big Muff fan) and brought all kinds of Tube Screamers together together in the Bonsai (bought one to try the TS10 option, liked none of the sounds - no surprise really, I don’t like Tube Screamers so I returned it. TS lovers love the Bonsai) What is important in my opinion, is that if you like the core pedal in these compilations, you get a lot of variance for your dollar.
Conclusions
For about $312 CAD, I think that the Packrat is a very good deal for the RAT fan, who wants the option to choose the sounds of different RATs in a single pedal. They only started showing in stock on October 29th and while you can order online from JHS, please consider supporting your local guitar store if you can. Thanks for reading and until next time peace. If you have any questions or thoughts, click this link to send me a private email.
