32 Favourite Compact Rat Style Distortion Pedals - 2024 Ultimate Edition

Controls - Tone, Volume, Distortion, Clipping : Symmetrical / None / Asymmetrical.

A cool take by Wren & Cuff's Matthew Holl - essentially your standard Rat with a couple of additional clipping options - and cute artwork - I much prefer the previous teal version - per mine and per the visual, the newer edition isn't quite so vibrant!

Controls - Bass, Treble, Preamp, Gain, Tone, Dirt, Low-Mid : +15dB / Flat / -15dB, High-Mid : +15dB / Fat / -15dB, Mode : Distortion / Overdrive, Dirt Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch, XLR out.

A proper potent extended range Rat - specifically developed for Bass players in the main, and featuring an XLR Out port. Sounds just as good on Guitar - this one has long been under the radar, and I'm not sure many of these V3's are out in the wild! A really distinct take on a Rat!

Controls - Level, Fuzz, Tone, Fat.

John Lyons' take on the Rat - with extra Fat control. It's largely because John called this a fuzz that I initially classified Rats more as Fuzzes - but now I classify them more as Distortion - while they do straddle both categories - this is one of those slightly smoother most fuzz-like and sustaining types - not really your typical Rat!

Controls - Level, Tone, Gain.

Your classic 3-knob Rat - pretty decent, but pretty standard too - decent budget version though!

Controls - Gain, Tone, Volume.

One of the best known takes on the classic 3-knob Rat - the Woodcutter edition - here fittingly with wood facia! Sound really great - and if you're looking for a classic 3-knob Rat then this should be at or near the top of that list!

Controls - Treble/Bass, Mids/MidFrequency, Voice : Vintage / Turbo, Level, Gain.

A cool 4-knob, but 6-controls take on the Rat courtesy of two dual concentric knobs - proper LM308 chip and sounds fantastic - 2-way Clipping Section, and more importantly 3-Band EQ with Parametric Mids. The whole Big Tone Music Brewery series is wholly superb - but never hit the popularity it deserved - somewhat ahead of its time!

Controls - Level, Filter, Gain, Clip : Silicon / Red LEDs / Vintage Germanium / Quad Silicon / Asymmetrical Silicon / MOSFET / Germanium+Silicon / Asymmetrical MOSFET.

A widely loved 4-knob Rat - with extensive 8 types clipping selection. One of my favourites too for sure.

Controls - CRUNCH } Level, Tone, Drive, LEAD } Level, Tone, Drive, MODE : Crunch (Remote Switching) / Crunch/Lead (Alternating).

The first of my controversial choices - several of us generally accept that the Lead Channel of the SD-2 is the closest Boss ever got to a Rat-style tone / texture voicing - while several also disagree and don't hear the similarities. You need to dial in the Gain and Tone just right - and yes you can definitely get into the right ballpark if you apply a little patience and due diligence!.  For me it's Level @ 3-4 o'c, Tone @ Max, and Drive @ 3-4 o'c.

Controls - Filter, Gain, Volume, Input Gain.

The first of a couple blended Rats - here mixed with a Tone Bender MKII profile to great effect - there have been a series of custom editions of this - including the more aggressive Blood Donor variants - while the original is still pretty perfect as is - some interesting textures to be explored here.

Controls - Volume, Circuit : Rat / Muff, Gain, Tone (Muff), Voice (Mids : Muff), Filter (Hi-Cut : Rat), Link EQ Buttons = combine all 3 EQ controls.

A really smart dual-circuit - where you can combine the two tone stacks together. Compared to the Keeley Super Rodent - where you can alternate the tone stacks. Both executions smartly deliver something more. The Rat with all 3 EQ's combined sounds quite superb.

Controls - Distortion, Filter, Amplitude (Octave Volume), Magnitude (Volume), Mode : OpAmp / Asymmetrical / Symmetrical, Octave (Blend/Depth), Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

The first of 2 Compact Life Pedal takes in this selection - both are excellent - where the Doomy O))) is all about the smart component selection, where Joseph has managed to significantly improve the tonality of the octave by swapping in a specially selection Silicon Diode that is perfect for the job. The combination of Rat Distoriton, Octave and Boost always sounds fantastic - what a glorious sound. Really cutesy graphics here too!

Controls - Bass, Mids, Treble, Mix, Gain, Volts (Starve), Volume, High Gain Footswitch, On Footswitch.

The second of my controversial choices - but this delivers such a fantastic Rat voicing. It's a really powerful triple OpAmp gain stage fuzz - with 4 transistors in their too! (there are 2 further OpAmps which I believe serve a different purpose!) - definitely sort of Muff adjacent, while its is own things really. Actually for the TX Pedals Animalizzer Multi-Muff you can dial in a superb Rat profile for hat one too. For the Frazz Dazzler the combination of 3-band EQ, Clean Blent, Volts (Starve) delivers a vast array of different fuzz and distortion sounds. It's not surprising that this is my favourite fuzz of all-time - I immediately loved it on first encounter - and that love has endured!

Controls - Distortion, Level, Tone.

Another intriguing combination with runs a Rat circuit into a Muff - you get quite a different flavour and definitely a different texture, with loads of sustain. Nice and simple with just 3 knobs - would be cool to have a 4th Circuit Blend knob here - so you can mix in the level of intensity for each circuit.

Controls - Distortion, Tone, Volume, Mode : LED / LA Metal / Germanium / Fat Cat / Bat / Fat Rat, Op-Amp : Fat Cat / LA Metal (RC5234) / Bat (CA741), Fat (Low Boost) : Fat Cat / LA Metal / Fat Rat.

There are 3 compact Drunk Beaver Bats - the Pink Standard Bat, the Blue Cold War Bat, and this Fat Bat which to my ears is the most potent of those 3. I do like a little extra fatness in my Rat, but it needs to be carefully regulated as it can otherwise get boomy very quickly. This Fat Bat is beautifully richly textured and sounds immense!

Controls - Volume, Drive, Filter.

All my EHX Muffs - bar the Metal Muff are Modded variants - mostly JHS Mods, but also Alchemy Audio. I was hoping to eventually get a modded version of the Flat Iron - but there don't seem to be any about. This is the very epitome of 'bog standard' it's a Rat for sure, but not particularly vibrant or textured. It's kind of like the difference between a micro-waved meal and a restaurant one - the latter carries more nuances and more complex flavours - but a bolognese is still a bolognese whichever way it is made!

Controls - Level, Gain, Cut, Ruetz Mod On/Off, Sweep.

This was one of the first Rat style distortions I acquired  - I really rated Foxpedal circuits - shame they're no longer active - I managed to pick up a fair few of their pedals early on - including this one. The Ruetz Mod allows for more Low Frequencies in the input profile, at the expense of some gain, and the Sweep not lets you blend between standard Silicon clipping and LED Turbo Rat clipping. A great sounding fuzz with the perfect complements of controls.

Controls - LARGE MOUSE } Volume, Presence, Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, PLEXI } Volume, Tone, Drive, Distortion Footswitch, Drive Footswitch, 4 Clipping Options via each Footswitch - Amber (2 x LED) / Green (2 & Symmetric) / Blue (3 x Asymmetric) / Magenta (4 x Symmetric), Gain Cycle via Dual Simultaneous Press  25% / 50% / 75% / 100%.

So I already had the predecessor to this Asabi - the El Guapo - which was not a modular pedal - but solely JCM800 + Plexi, while for the new model you can swap out the JCM800 circuit for a Large Mouse Rat Module. I was able to acquire one of those including the module at a decent discount. Interestingly this is not your typical sounding Rat, and despite 3-Band EQ and Presence - there are other better sounding Rats in this selection - it still sounds pretty impressive though and particularly on  Asymmetrical Clipping - my favourite combination is the Rat on Asymmetrical, and the Plexi on LED Clipping - those together produce a fantastic sound - while as mentioned there are still others in this selection which deliver more flavour - this is pretty decent, albeit a somewhat relatively pricey proposition - the Gain Cycling thing is also cool of course!

Controls - Level, Gain, Tone, Clipping : Asymmetrical / Symmetrical, Mid Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

A significant improvement in many ways to the previous model - now with a JAM Pedals proprietary custom OpAmp Chip, Asymmetrical Clipping, and a Mid Boost onboard. For me this version is a little smoother and more refined - than its predecessor - I love the new version while I also love the previous more raspy one too. I already had 2 Jam Pedals Rattlers before the MK2 - Standard and Rattler+ - the latter of which uses the Metal Can LM308, which to me does not sound quite so raspy and textured as the chip version - and which is more like the new version too! The new one more easily gets you into 1981 Inventions DRV territory while as you crank it the compression ramps up fairly quickly and you get a really beautiful Rat texture - it's fantastic and juicy, and a bit different to the one that came before.

Controls - Volume, Distortion, Filter, Type : OG / White Face / Turbo / Brat / You Dirty Rat / Ibanez LA Metal / Landgraff MO'D, Caroline Wave Cannon, JHS Mod Rat.

Another fantastic engineering execution - helped once more by John Cusack of Cusack music - this gives you 9 distinct Rat variants - but with just the 3 core controls of Volume, Distortion of Filter. I love this pedal, but have the same criticism as for the Muffuletta - where I could have done with a more imaginative EQ.

Controls - Tone, Tone Stack : SD-1 / RAT, Drive, Drive Clipping : Soft / Hard, Level.

3rd in the 4-in-1 series - at least in the order I'm reviewing them - so there will be a full review of this in a couple of weeks. Next week is the turn of the excellent BluesBreaker + OCD - Blues Disorder. I can just give you a sneak peak on the Super Rodent - in that I love the SD-1 Tone Stack on the Rat Clipping - that delivers a more vibrant and full-on tone. And improved EQ is such an important part in improving the output of the Rat pedal, alongside some clever clipping options.

Controls - 3-Band Active EQ ±18dB : Bass, Mids, High, Boost (+36dB & Range), Gain, Level, Range (Boost) : Mid / Treble / Full, Era : White Face > Turbo Rat, Low-Cut up to 1.5kHz, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

An immense sounding extended Range rat - where the additional controls and boost take you up into Metal Distortion territory. This and the Sentimental Bob Tephra have an incredible gain and boost extension that go way beyond the usual Rat spectrum - they both sound amazing as far as I'm concerned.

Controls - Gain, EQ (Ruetz Mod), Clip (Clipping Threshold), Volume, Bass, Treble.

One of the earliest extended range Rats I picked up - pretty decent sounding, but not as potent as some of the more recent examples. Has that extra low end input courtesy of the Ruetz Mod, and the split to Bass and Treble EQ controls gives it more heft than your everyday standard 3-knob Rat. Still decent after all these years!

Controls - Loud, Gain, Bite, Plus, Dampen. (estd.)

This is the first of 2 unobtanium pedals for me - as luck would have it - in sequential order. The NRG Effects Gnawer in the new format doesn't exist quite yet - I expect it to materialise later this year - where I've already made a commitment to Neil to acquire one of those. I based my mockup on the full-fat Purrer edition I should be getting within the next couple of weeks or so. And featuring Neil's new smart 'Plus' second channel solution - which is in effect a combined Gain and Volume Boost. My version will for sure have 5 controls and dual footswitches - where I believe my mockup is fairly close to the final version - while there may be some different labels on a couple of the controls! Hopefully I will have one of these by the end of this year! I will find out more - when Neil hands over my Purrer and Fuzzer editions - which I have selected to have in the standard silver livery, while for the forthoming Gnawer and Mauler - it made sense to have those in the Black enclosure variant! Obviously I've referenced the previous model for the demo - where the new version will have just one 'Plus' control for the second channel - which in previous versions had 3 controls!

Controls - Level, Drive, Clipping : Asymmetrical / LED, Range : Dark > Bright, Blend : Wet > Dry, Weight : Pre-Gain Lows.

And in quick succession we have the second unobtanium pedal - in that the Red Ryder Distortion is discontinued, and only one of my preferred colourway was ever made - cream base enclosure with wood facia graphic and cream knobs. In fact I suggested that colourway - but then somehow missed Nick's announcement on Instagram -  and someone else snagged it - albeit it had some kind of flaw with the LED.  There were a few wood facia editions made - mostly with black knobs, and on a variety of different coloured enclosure including some in cream. Not one of those has materialised this year though - I live in hope that at least one of those will hit the second hand market eventually - and I will then just need to acquire and swap out the knobs! So apart from a specific colourway variant - which is the least of this pedal - it has one of the most perfect complement of controls - with the Weight control sounding very much like a variable Reutz Mod - like the sweep control on the Foxpedal Wrath. I will have one of these some day! But it has evaded me so far!

Controls - Filter (clockwise), Bass : Turbo Bass, Neutral / Bass, Gain, Volume, Sizzle button, Pulse / Clipping : Symmetrical / Asymmetrical / LED / Ge-Mix, Pulse Off button.

I really love this edition - it sounds fantastic across all the clipping options - and the Bass and Sizzle buttons are really handy extras. I think I would have preferred a mini variable Bass control here as I mostly I've on the neutral mode as even the less potent Bass option is a little too much for me, and the Turbo Bass is way too much. My ideal sweet spot would seem to be somewhere between neutral and bass! This is a really fantastic beefed up Rat - and like the Sentimental Bob Tephra - just full of flavour - all the clipping modes sound great here too - while my favourite on this occasion is probably the LED one. A really smart execution of a Rat - its the perfect complement of controls!

Controls : Level, Drive, Mode : Fire (Silicon Hard-Clipping) / Swamp (Germanium Soft-Clipping), Lows, Highs.

I remember when this first came out - as I dithered a little as the first demo was somewhat inconclusive. Fortunately later demos were really able to bring that full flavour out - and this distinct take on the Rat is actually really decent. Stephen always has a knack at selecting just the right components and there's usually some extra magic in his pedals. A really decent take, albeit possibly no longer quite top-tier as there have been so many amazing editions of late!

Controls - Volume, Clipping : OpAmp / Asymmetrical Silicon / Symmetrical Silicon / MOSFET / LED / Germanium, Distortion (+60dB), Boost (+40d), Filter, Octave, Boost Footswitch, Bypass Footswitch.

This one was actually the last in the door for this selection - you can see from my review how recently arrived this one is. It's also one of the very best - obviously a take on the EQD Sunn O))) Life Pedal - but with more clipping options and a lot more range. +60dB on the Distoriton and +30dB on the independent Clean Boost really makes this a monster pedal. That's not to say the similar Demiurge Doomy O))) is not a monster too - it's just that this Tephra is a lot more so - say the Doomy O))) goes to 11 - then this one's a 15!

Controls - Level, Tone, Gain.

This one unfortunately landed at around the same time as the above Tephra, which kind of totally blew this one out of the water. This is a metal can LM308 variant - where I've always found those render a little softer, less raw and raspy than their plastic chip siblings! I've always wanted an SUF Skinner Box - as it's one of the best loved takes on the classic Rat circuit, while all my 3-knob Rats have been somewhat outmuscled by their more capable extended range siblings. There's just more vibrancy, more flavour, more depth in the very best of the extended range variants, the regular Rats just can't compete with that!

Controls - Volume, Tone, Gain, Calibre (Character / Girth).

Even though this is not really an extend range Rat as I classify them - this is still a wonderful take on the format - where the magic is mostly in the 'Calibre' control - which at times adds more distortion, or tightens things up further or just imparts more texture and flavour. It's a really versatile box that can be applied in all kinds of different scenarios - from low gain to high gain. And it sits well in a gain stack both before and after say something like the Thorpy Peacekeeper which works very well in combination - with those two pedals you have the most fantastic range of different gain stages, tones and textures.

Controls - Level, Fat, Gain, Hard Clipping, Filter, Soft Clipping.

This has long been a favourite Rat of mine with its superb mix of Soft and Hard Clipping and extra Fat control. Some of the more recent pedals in this selection take the Rat to a whole other level, while this still remains a potent option for me - I still really like this one!

Controls - Level, Tone, Distortion, Clipping : Si / LED.

This one is still under consideration - and there was another in this listing at one stage - the Greer Amps Gorilla Warfare, while I'm now thinking I'm probably better off waiting for another more extended range variant - more along the lines of my recent favourites here! I might still get this one, but the longer I put it off - the less likely it is to happen! This one's been around in several iterations for a while so I thought it was worthy at one stage - not so sure any more - I'm sure my readers will lead me to the right path - if I don't find it myself!

Controls - Gain, Tone, Input, Blend, Blast (Max Out), Clipping : Ge / Si / LED / Asym Ge / Asym Si / Asym LED / Transistor|MOSFET / No Diodes, Level, Blast Footswitch, Engage Footswitch.

And last but far from the least is this fantastic extended range take on the Rat. I have the prior edition with the more unusual tone stack controls, while the newer version has settled for more conventional controls in that area. My version still sounds fantastic, while the newer circuit likely sounds even better. I should probably get around to updating this one at some stage - even though those two will overlap considerably. I will still probably get one or two more extended range versions before I update / upgrade that which I already have!