From Modest Mike's Mods     BBB Member A+ Rating  
Modified Pro Co Turbo Rat new with the box.
All of our modified pedals are warrantied as new.
  
We can also do these mods for your pedal. Call or email for details. See our shop for my personal email and phone number.. 

Modest Mike's Phat Rat is no big secret. We have sold bunches of these with a little help from Griff Hamlin. If you don't know about Griff, do a little googling. He has had a successful and varied music career that has spanned nearly three decades. Griff used one of our first Phat Rats when he made the youtube video. shown here. This video shows our modified Rat 2, but we do these same mods on the Turbo Rat. The Rat 2 will give you more available push.
From Griff:
"I love the Phat Rat... seriously it's the best sounding one I've played and I still use it a lot. I had a Keeley Rat also for a long time. You're welcome to use the video to promote it or demo it. And if you need a quote for your website or something I'll be happy to provide it. Thanks, Griff"
The only difference between our Phat Rat and our modified Turbo Rat is the clipping diode configuration: The stock Rat and Rat 2 use 1N4148 silicon clipping diodes to get that classic distortion sound. The stock Turbo Rat uses LED clipping diodes. The pedal is still a distortion pedal, but LEDs yield slightly less distortion and more of a push similar to an overdrive pedal. But believe me when I say, it still has plenty of distortion!

A few years back I got my hands on the AMZ Ebook at . I studied those mods, and then more study of variations of the original Ruetz Rat mod. We wanted to smooth out that harshness, and the Ruetz mod was a good start! Then we replaced a few key capacitors and resistors with metal film capacitors and resistors, some with different values. Jack Orman's mods (AMZ!) were a big help. We replaced the op amp (chip) with the OP07. We added a germanium diode in series with one of the other 1N4148 diodes.

What a difference! This mod takes the edge off of the harshness, and this pedal now sounds smoother more like an overdrive/distortion…instead of distortion gone wild. This overdrive/distortion sound was exactly what I was looking for. When the band gets loud, you can crank this baby way up with confidence. We have improved the bias and raised the input impedance. This pedal gets a full bodied sound, warm in the middle, and remains transparent when you push it. Instead of sounding like a noise in the background, your sound cuts right through the mix. You can now be heard nice and clear above any band. Our modified Turbo Rat has it all...no pedal stacking needed here!

A few months back we added a toggle switch to give you the option of more gain/distortion. This gives you the option to restore the signal that is taken away by the Ruetz mod. As you can see, we also took out the little outdated quarter inch power jack that comes stock on this pedal. We drilled the hole out to one half inch, and installed a heavy duty standard 9 volt power jack. This pedal has a 3PDT footswitch and is hardwired for true bypass.

"I had a great experience with Modest Mike's Mods. He modified a Rat2 pedal for me and the quality of the work is excellent. As I told him, the sound is so much better defined, but it still sounds like a Rat. It's still loud, but even at lower volumes sounds good. Of course, the upgrade was worth it just to get the standard 9v connection. It was back out the door to me quickly, and he answered every question I had. I strongly recommend MMM if you are trying to decide who should mod your pedal."

"Dear modestmikesmods, Hello Mike,
I just finished up trying out my new modded Rat and IT SOUNDS AWESOME, nice punch and tight bottom with a very pleasant high, it also sounds a little more compressed....this is why I'm a TONE JUNKIE....Thanks for modding my pedal....Kevin"
 
“Hey Mike,
Everything arrived quickly and safely. I LOVE your mods!! I am going to send you my wah pedal over the next week or so for your mods on it. Also, the blue light is excellent!
  Thank you for your professionalism...quick turn around...and excellent playing (I have listened to your youtube Steely Dan stuff....truly outstanding! I will certainly pass along your name.
Thanks again,
Patrick W.”
 
"Your modded RAT is awesome. It will definitely find a permanent place on my pedal board! Thank you very much!!! Cheers, Markus"

"The only good Rat is a Phat Rat!"  

"Hey Mike, I have an odd request from surfing your website. I had my Rat 2 modded pretty recently by another pedal maker and I'm not really digging the outcome. Is it possible for you to re-mod (if you will) a rat pedal into your "Phat Rat"?"
We did the Phat Rat mod, and replaced the switch that the other guys had put on there with our own gain switch. We just got this email back from Joseph:
"Mike, this Rat mod is incredible... that switch is great! It does great high gain, great low gain and can even be used to put some more hair on my amps dirty channel without feedback."

I received your modded Phat Rat, and it isn't hateful sounding as the reissue one. It sounds just like the you tube demo, I'm real happy with the tone starting smoother and the sustain really holds notes strong with clarity. The treble isn't at all harsh so the tone capacitors you replaced are right on!

"Hey Mike,
I just wanted to thank you again, the Rat sounds great! I used it with the whole band yesterday and this thing rocks! Much more usable than before (not counting when it was out of commission). With a little eq I can get some great Marshall-esque sounds. It can definitely create some very dynamic, versatile tones now. I'll be contacting you soon to mod my Dyna Comp and TS-9, hopefully next month when I have a little more money. Keep doing what you're doing!
Best,
Charlie"

“Worth every penny!! The Phat Rat is amazing!”

From Spain
Carlos purchased our modified Phat Rat and modified Dyna Comp with added Tone control:
“I wanted to let you know that I've received the pedals ok, great sounding! Just want to thank you for your attention, and I will have an eye on your store to check out the great mods you do!”

"Hi Mike,
I just wanted to say thanx for the fantastic job you did on the Rat and the Cry Baby, I love the way the Rat sounds and the Wah/Volume mod is amazing! "

"This... this is simply phenomenal. I have a Mad Professor One that was already an immaculate pedal, but this sweetheart,
oh my! This thing is just otherworldly impressive. The harshness from older Rat 2's is not present and the Distortion is smooth throughout. From the moment I plugged it in I fell in love (and it took me a little bit to fall for the Mad Professor One). Wonderful job, wonderful pedal. Thank you!"

"Mike,
I am extremely pleased with the sound of this RAT pedal. Absolutely outstanding, just what I was looking for and more. I actually sound good, like I know what I'm doing :). I love the gain switch. I feel I got a great deal, thanks so much!"

"I received the Ross-modded Dyna Comp and Phat Rat back today; thanks again for the super-speedy customer service. Both pedals sound great, and I’m very satisfied with the whole experience. Since I’m basically a Telecaster & reissue Fender Bassman, clean-tone kinda guy, the modded Dyna Comp fits beautifully and won’t be switched off very often. It’s also nice to have the Phat Rat (and other pedals you’ve modded for me) as part of my new tonal arsenal. Thanks Mike!"
Hi Mike,
Turbo Rat returned yesterday. That is a really great mod. It seems to make the pedal much more dynamic which is not what I would have expected. I can see using this pedal in ways I never would have before. Great work.
Thank you,
Dylan S.
 
Who’s next?  
“We make your sounds...sound good!"  
 
Thanks for looking, and keep rockin! Mike *Check out all of tour mods and pedals on Reverb, our website, and on youtube!