9 of the Best Mini Rat-Style Distortion Pedals

This LM308N classic replica with standard 3-knob controls was my very first mini-Rat pedal. Texturally it sounds great, while I feel it is somewhat underpowered as regards its output volume. I often had to boost downstream to get maximum utility out of this, and longer-term I tended to rely more on the Mooer Black Secret. There are still seemingly no official demos of this - and so I will use the larger compact variety as a reference - the circuit and key components are supposedly identical - while the larger size has a few extra clipping modes.

Alas no demo appears to be available for this particular variant which comes from Pedal Kit purveyor GDMC. Several assembled versions have been made available on Reverb.com and Ebay over the years - and this is for sure another classic Rat replica - with standard controls for Distortion, Filter and Volume. I will of course add a demo as and when one materialises.

I've long meant to acquire this variety from Dave 'Pickdropper' Friesema of Function F(x) fame. I really rate his mini fuzz pedals in particular - and this is for sure another must have. This has a fairly unique 4 controls - Cut (Filter), Sweep (Ruetz Mod), Level and Gain - and comes with 3-way clipping selector which I believe covers Turbo and Fat Rat varieties - I can certainly see 2 Red LEDs in the circuit - and one of the sets of Diodes looks to be Germanium - so Turbo/None/Fat most likely! Update - actually as amended now the Ruetz Mod is the 'Sweep', and the Clipping is actually LED/Non/Silicon.

Kevin O'Reilly undoubtedly makes some very fine Mini Pedals - I have two of his to-date - a Skreddy Mayo clone, and a TB MKII clone. Kevin's Pocket Mouse is another high quality reproduction with classic Metal Can LM308 opamp - and those standard 3 controls - Volume, Filter and Gain.

This was my second Mini Rat - and very much stepped in to take over from the BYOC Li'l Mouse - which sounds equally great, but doesn't have quite enough output volume for my liking. The Black Secret is far more effortless to use - and despite its Chinese mass-manufactured origins - has the original high quality opamp for an all-round quality delivery. It also comes with a 2-way Mode Switch - which switches the clipping diodes between stock Silicon, and 2 Red LEDs - to create the Turbo Mode!

I featured the forthcoming Lil Rat earlier this year - in every way an exact circuit replica of its larger Rat 2 sibling - with the more modern OP07CP opamp which many modern Rats nowadays deploy. It's significantly smaller than the medium-sized core Rat enclosure - but relatively quite a 'Fat' Mini Rat. It's about as stock as these come - with just the core 3 controls of Distortion, Filter and Volume.

I'm a big fan of Russian brand Shift Line - they made one of my favourite fuzzes of all-time - the Termofuzz! This is another fairly classic Metal Can Opamp variety Mini Rat - with just the 3 core parameter controls of Level, Filter and Gain.

I just latterly came to know that the Ratsbane deploys neither of the typical Rat opamps - Vintage LM308 or modern OP07 - but instead favours the enhanced harmonics of the TL071 opamp. This is truly clever engineering in getting all of that lovely blooming harmonic texture - and combining with different degrees of Saturation / Distortion and EQ. Everything about this production screams quality - down to those finely textured milled aluminium knobs. For me the competition here is really between the Picdropper / Function F(x) 4-Knob custom Rat - and this Ratsbane.

I've actually been having some fun mixing up the Ratsbane with the Pigtronix Mini Octava - which together generate that sort of Sunn O))) Life Pedal sound!