Alternative RAT 2 potentiometers

Eet3m · Post by **Eet3m** » 04 May 2023, 00:11

Hey,
Does anyone know where to find potentiometers to fit a Rat? My Rat uses these:

https://stompboxparts.com/potentiometer ... meter-rat/

but I'd like to swap one of them out for a 50k pot.
Can't seem to find one that looks similar on any of the websites I'm familiar with.
Thanks!

Ben N · Post by **Ben N** » 04 May 2023, 09:57

Huh. Can't say I've ever seen one like that. You may have to improvise one by soldering leads onto a solder lug pot.

Eet3m · Post by **Eet3m** » 04 May 2023, 10:00

Damn, yeah I've spent all day looking but no luck. Such a strange design but I don't think anything else will fit nicely

mauman · Post by **mauman** » 04 May 2023, 16:25

I've seen them on old Ross pedals and a few others. If you get one of the right value and shaft type, with PCB lugs, you maybe could bend the pins 180 degrees. But safer to do as Ben suggested and just solder on an extension, or wire them in.

Nocentelli · Post by **Nocentelli** » 04 May 2023, 16:27

Eet3m wrote: ↑04 May 2023, 00:11 I'd like to swap one of them out for a 50k pot.
Can't seem to find one that looks similar on any of the websites I'm familiar with.
Thanks!

Are they not all 100k pots? Could you stick a parallel 100k across the lugs or is the taper important?

Eet3m · Post by **Eet3m** » 04 May 2023, 23:03

Yeah unfortunately I'm looking to keep the taper logarithmic as I'd like to have more precision in the lower gain range. I played around with a few pots and it seems like 10k works best for me. I think I'm just gonna wire in a separate pot on a switch and mount it somewhere else so I have the option to switch between low and high gain since OEM style pots seem very hard to find.

Eet3m · Post by **Eet3m** » 05 May 2023, 23:27

It isn't pretty at all but it works! 10k log pot soldered across the existing distortion pot turns the Rat into a low gain overdrive. With the new distortion knob at maximum, the clipping is equivalent to the original knob at around 30% up. Which allows for really fine control over the very low values, its pretty easy to set the resistance as low as 90ohms, at which point you can barely hear the clipping, but allows you to boost into the front of the Rat with a TS9 or even a clean boost to get a nice breakup sound. At the new maximum of 10k the distortion is more than I'll probably ever need haha. For a mod that cost me $2 and 5min I'd say I'm pretty happy haha. Highly recommend for someone who really likes the sound of the Rat in the lower range of gain.
I think I might get my hands on a drill bit and screw the new pot and a toggle switch into the enclosure to allow switching between the 10k and 100k pots.

I did a comparison with my Tumulus Deluxe and I'd say the Rat actually sounded quite similar in the lower gain ranges which is pretty cool for a $2 mod.