Classic Hard Clippers - Distortion+, RAT, & DS-1: The Dawn of Modern Distortion Pedals!

Today in Plague Scythe Studios, we dissect the OG hard clipping which laid the foundation for some of your favorite boutique drive pedals - the MXR Distortion+, Pro Co Rat, and BOSS DS-1!
Bionique Audio: www.bioniqueaudio.com/
Subscribe: / plaguescythestudios
Listen to Siderum: siderum.bandcamp.com/releases

[@andreasf6671]

After fooling around for years with obscure boutique pedals I've returned to the old 3 classics you're showcasing here (including an OCD and a JAM toobscreamer) and I've never been happier! Trying to tweak the stuff you already have is much more exciting than wanting more shit to get creative.

[@Eliphas_Elric]

Ever since seeing Obituary live, I've finally come to love the sound of a RAT. RAT into a crunchy JCM800 is a great oldschool Florida death metal sound.

[@russiangoose7053]

I do that with a Fuzzlord rat clone into a little orange micro dark scooped to hell into some T75's, it's so grindy and disgusting. It also has a mode to switch the EQ to something like a super fuzz for even more scoopage.

[@MarshallSetUps]

Fantastic video. Great technical explanations. I own all three, and they each have their place. My compliments brother.

[@gerashnaroth]

DS-1 was my first distorsion pedal, I´ve had it for some 22 years. Still haven´t managed to get a single nice tone out of it :)

[@dildojizzbaggins6969]

Hoo boy, better read through what you wrote there once again... :-x

[@Superchild88]

Run it into an on the edge of break up amp. The ds-1 and ds-2 want to see a compressed signal. It helps tame that high end shrill. If you have a two channel amp set your dirty channel so it’s actually “clean” and run the ds-1 into it. It will make a huge difference I how it sounds.

[@josephfalcone1078]

Exactly!@@Superchild88

[@shredmaster974]

By the way, your videos are really awesome, super interesting, super in-depth !!! Thanks !

[@zacharydavid403]

Played a Distortion+ and a boss Os-2 for years

[@litos_mendes]

nothing better than a ratt for a sludgy sleep esque sunn sound ... i love it

[@JamesSClapperton]

Slaying the dorkery. Love it.

[@AlexanderHaibel]

Both here and other videos, I love your "no BS" analysis of pedal performance. I do everything in the box nowadays, but these are still great to understand what's going on. For those of us without electrical engineering training, consider using a touch of animation with circles or the like to highlight areas of the circuit while talking.

[@WholeLottaBulldog]

Excellent presentation, as fkn always my boy

[@cmd_f5]

Fantastic stuff Ryan. I love these epic detailed vids. Recently picked up a Sonicake Rude Mouse, a Rat clone of sorts, for driving Marshall and hotrod circuits with something different. Absolutely love the gain at max, huge sticky fuzzy mess. Lol. Used to own the DS1 but sold it when I sold my tube amps. For now it's a kinda hardware meets software rig. It's working so far. Cheers man!

[@coveryourears3851]

LED mode on the R.attack sounds awesome, seems like it responds the most to playing dynamics maybe. Very satisfying, I see why you like it best.

[@bioniqueaudio]

« More is more ». Thanks Ryan!

[@JACKPAVAL]

I used the Boss ds1 in the late 70s-, early 80, and after the third one broke on stage for the third time (they all broke) , i went to the music store the very next day( monday) and bought an American made New Rat pedal . It was built better ( like a tank,) and sounded better than the Boss, and 30 some years later it still works . Look folks just because an item is "Vintage" or made in the 60s 70s 80s or whatever doesn't mean its good. Some of that stuff was junk ,and its still junk today, but its what was available at the time that's what players had to choose from.

[@robertschererx]

Thanks for your super valuable videos Ryan. The amount of useful information is incredible and it’s always worth watching even if it’s a longer video. 53:07-> Instantly recognized it btw :) I’m a Mark IV guy most of the time (which doesn’t need much added in the front end imo) and have a Dual Rectifier as well. Never liked it much in comparison until I finally tried some pedals in front of it. The Ibanez TSx gives you this almost generic version that’s seen so often, but I had a Turbo Rat pedal around and gave it a shot. Man, that’s when things became interesting! I use it as a boost with a little bit of extra texture from its Distortion control, set the filter to taste (for me at around 11) and max out the volume. Best result so far with it. I noticed though, that if I had it in the chain and turned off using my Mark IV, it alters the signal a little bit I think. Is this because of the lack of true bypass? Also I wished the jacks were at the sides instead of the back, maybe I‘ll just correct this at some point on my own.

[@robertschererx]

Hmm, just found out that the Rat IS in fact true bypass… Seems like I fooled myself. Makes it even more valuable now. Just wanted to add this to my previous comment.

[@curtisreid9100]

Very informative. Ryan does great work! These hard clippers (or any pedal) either work well and slay your audio senses or they don't - Vintage or the modern equivalents (basically the same design that the builder came up with at a time when cork sniffing wasn't part of the tone quest.) The guitar and amp used are always key ingredients to the chemistry of tone so what ever you put in between should always sound mojotastic ..... it could be something 44 years old and sounds like crap or modern and sounds great or vice versa (hoopla mersa I herja! ) It's a great big tone universe and we all have our preferences 😎 Keep up the great work Ryan!

[@troybadolato7697]

Thanks for this

[@shredmaster974]

39:30 : really good carcass tone 😍😎

[@LucifdeLuther]

I`m got myself Mosky Black Rat two years ago :) My version even has socket, so OpAmp can be changed easily. But Filter control has reversed direction, in line with screamers etc.

[@metal_helm]

can't wait to watch this. I have the blackout grind which makes my 8100 valvestate a monster, but I am looking for that extra 5-10% of sickness 😁

[@dq7860]

Try a Metal Zone with max level, no gain and EQs at 12:00.

[@metal_helm]

@@dq7860 will do

[@Vaifan1981]

Love me them hard clippers: I find myself leaning towards the 250 and the Turbo RAT over the D+/Stock RAT recently As Braxton Bragg mentioned earlier, The Quantum Mystic by Black Arts Toneworks is a fantastic take on the D+/250 topology. The Active 3 band EQ makes it super flexible. If you can get hold of the Custom Shop model that has a toggle for Ge/Si diodes, it's worth it. I have mine always in Si mode. People are quick to say YJM is the "popular" user of the 250, but Chris Spencer of the NYC noise rock band, Unsane, makes great use of his. I mentioned it in another video you made that Walrus Audio's Iron Horse V3 is another great modded RAT variant by having the Si/LED clipping diodes on a blend pot (plus it fixes volume drop-off when the distortion knob is at minimum that's common to all stock RATs). Also really love my JHS Packrat (super fun to go through the history of that circuit in one) and the ProCo Lil' Rat (I enjoy that a little more compared to the Moskey clone I once had) I do want to get my hands on MXR '78 Dist eventually. I will say if you want a better version of the DS-1, The Boss Turbo Distortion (DS-2) definitely has a much better tone control sweep. I would also recommend the Boss OS-2 as it's basically a SD-1/DS-2 in a single box with a pot blending between both Soft and Hard clipping (a pedal good enough for Kurt Ballou of Converge is good enough for me) Also thank you for helping to continue to dispel "grey spec" and LM308 myths.

[@kingpossie]

Thank you

[@machineryman7197]

Dirty amp: DS1 or Dist+ Clean amp: Rat That rat was really ahead of its time considering clean pedal platforms weren't a thing for another 35 years.

[@michaelgallegos8811]

Hey dude so many pedals out there I don't have either one of those ,ihave never owned a boss pedal ,or rat pedal.Hey Ryan I hope u are ok man ,I still know what u have been through bro I don't forget peoples pain man..wishing u a happy Thanksgiving for what it's worth, Iam numb about holidays personally. 🤘🦃🎶🎶😈👋

[@Eliphas_Elric]

If you want a killer variant on a DOD250/Distortion + check out the Quantum Mystic by Black Arts Toneworks. Similar I guess to the Witchking but different in execution.

[@GuitarUnderground]

MXR Distortion III is darker and heavier than the Dist+ and, for my use, it does a DS-1 thing better than a DS-1. They can run a really wide gamut of sounds. Plus, they're super cheap. Check it out.

[@le0_fx]

Couldn't completly watch that video yet, but I LOVE to use the RAT inside Helix to boost high gain tones. More than any other boost pedal. Gives such a nice growl to the badonk amp model, it's addicting to me. Little gain (around 2), no filter and all level. Maybe an EQ in front of the RAT, cutting lows and boosting 1kHz and highs by a few dB. Gonna build a physical rat with low cut and high boost soon I guess, it just sounds too good to my ears

[@slackbabbath9051]

Nice scream bloody gore tone with the DS1/SD1

[@claudespeed13579]

I hear Animals as Leaders, I click the like button

[@PlagueScytheStudios]

It's nice to know my favorite silent GTA protagonist enjoys bumping The Madness of Many in his stolen Infernus.

[@inzanestrings]

i looove my rat for doomy fuzz tones, i just crank the gain and level and turn the filter to a minimum into my soldano sl60 on a clean sounds thats ready to break up when hit hard and it gets so damn thick. also my modded ds1 can be pretty fun for raunchy grungy tones, or on bass for pure filth

[@ok-tchau]

I feel hard clip distortion pedals are fun to fool around, but everytime I A/B compare them to a preamp distortion on the mix they fall short. In my studio the dirtboxes only go to the final mix if they've been recorded with that specific tone from the get go, like when using a HM2. It's so hard to stray away from the classic "boosted Recto" tone when it sounds so much better 90% of the time.

[@carsonyuh]

Vintage dist+ use 741 which is a single opamp; cant speak for modern ones. The chimera likely uses a 4558 or 358. Excellent video btw

[@DapperHesher]

28:00 Dozer... noice.

[@CC-fi3pp]

🐀 🎸🏅

[@alexhuevera939]

wish you adjusted the output to match better for each pedal

[@PlagueScytheStudios]

For what part? The difference in output is part of what defines each of these pedals.

[@namnefternamn5463]

Sure there is a "grey specs" DOD 250! It´s the grey one! The yellow one had a different OP-amp (allthough there was a lap over and the very early Yellows ones had the old OP-amp). However when they started making the DOD 250 again in yellow shells they went back to the "gray specs" OP-amp. If you are going to talk about this, next time do a little research, the answer is only one google away. ;-)

[@PlagueScytheStudios]

You should take your own advice before you so confidently follow random internet "knowledge." The OP amp alone does not dictate a clipping pedals design or tonal signature. Here is proof. If you are going to comment about it, next time do a little research (see how douchey that sounds?). Start at 18:25 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqmWeKZ6Z711kLc

[@namnefternamn5463]

@@PlagueScytheStudios I´ve never said it doesn´t. But the gray specs means the 741CN chip and the early 80s yellow one had the LF351N chip. I assume you have never even tried the latter. If you had you´d know we are not talking about subtle differences as you do in your video. It´s a whole different pedal with a whole different sound! I´m not trying to be a jerk about it. But if you pay attention you may learn something mr fancy KZbinr ;-)

[@christiangratz8545]

What's weird about the D+ and 250 is the 250 doesn't suck tone in bypass

[@kimseniorb]

cheap clones dont sound as good as rat for some reason. its not identical at all, mosky rattack at all - not there unfortunately even considering how simple the circuit is