So I finally built a RAT...

[Geiri]

.. and it sucks! No I'm just kidding!

There's something wrong with my build. The pedal works. Here's the details:

-I don't have the LM308 so I've tried both NE5534 and LM741 and they sound exactly the same.
-All the components are correct values
-Everything is in the right place (believe me, I've checked a few times)
-No bridges anywhere. I use a hacksaw to make sure there's absolutely nothing in between the tracks.

So the volume pot works as expected but it needs to be further than 12 o'clock to be at unity. The filter works as expected. The distortion knob works as expected except there's not much gain at all. If I turn it all the way up and play gently on the guitar, it's pretty much clean (not transparent, but clean). It distorts when I play hard but not nearly as much. There's more gain from a Honey Bee than this..

I'll happily provide any more info but really, what the hell is wrong with this little piece of crap?

[Vince]

Hmm That sounds odd as my rat is super high gain. It wouldn't be a dodgy gain pot or component?

[Geiri]

I haven't measured the pots to be honest but I might! I think I might also just make another board and see if it happens again.

[mirosol]

Should not work correct with anything else but LM308.

Page 7: http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/nationalsemiconductor/DS007758.PDF
and front page: http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ne5534.pdf
As you can see, the 308 has COMP between pins 1 & 8, while 5534 has BAL between pins 1 & 8. Those are not pin-to-pin compatible. If someone got his Rat working with NE5534, he must have swapped the compensation cap from 1-8 to 5-8...

The symptoms point to bad component or possibly a "wrong" multiplier stripe on one of the resistors...
+m

[Jon the Art Guy]

Just a suggestion, Beavis built a Rat with a mod that replaces the 47ohm resistor with a B1k pot. It's called the Ruetz mod, and does some smoothing out of the voltage going to neg.

http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/FKR/images/MightierMouse.gif

[dodido]

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[Jon the Art Guy]

I wasn't trying to fix his problem, just suggesting something to add since he's got the guts open. Taking circuit advice from me is a hilarious mistake. Yes, I'm somewhat charismatic. Yes, I'm also very very handsome. I also have no clue what I'm doing and am barely past the "magical fart fairies that live inside the metal box with knobs" stage.

But yes, I agree with you completely on my handsomeness and Charisma.

what were we talking about?

[dodido]

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