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Hi! Sorry man I just finished my exams yesterday so I still haven't had the time to test the pedal properly... this week I will mess with it for sure. I was also hoping to get my jazzmtaser ultralight back since that's my main amp.
I can tell you the ruetz mod changes the pedal in a very noticeable way and for that price I would do it. About the clipping options I think I will have a better opinion in a few monts after the "honey moon" period 
(the Mosfet is a classic though). The no clipping part can sort of act as clean boost but it's not exactly 100% transparent...
As I told you what I really wanted the original RAT - this guy happened to build one with lots of stuff for a great price. The stock part of the pedal is really great - the rest is just bonus
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I installed the Reutz mod on my Rat. Originally it was switchable but I didnt use it and when the wire broke I just hard wired it Reutz. I forget now why I prefered it but I THINK I found the pedal a little over the top distortion wise but when I backed it off I lost a little top end.. the Reutz mod cleaned it up a little without the mud. That OR backing of the dist lost bottom end ..
I really dont remember since I havent used the pedal in a couple of years.
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OK Jorge.. Thanks for the reply.. And btw I am jealous of your super RAT 
Anyway I think I'll creat a topic about RAT mods..
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Ha ha I was lucky - i did exactly what you were doing, investigated a lot about the pedal. And then I found this guy and it was a no brainer: all the mods, cheap and Portugues made Good luck with your quest
Beavis Audio Research
This is a great resource for mods on RATs (and TS)
I will keep you updated!
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Update to any rodent lovers. Pulled my RAT out after having not used it for quite a while... not playing jazz (actually trying to get the lick from Beat It to not sound like shite) but I found the bass a little mushy. Posted on the gear page and finally undid the reutz mod.
Tried it now VERY quickly and it has tightened the bass up considerably.
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Funny in my case I like the bass better with the rutez on... will try again tomorrow!
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Well.. playing a fender lead 1 with a JSMoore pickup in the bridge (and an added lollar tele pu in the neck). I always found the bass notes (E and A strings below the 7th fret) sounded like I was on the neck pickup. Flubby and mushy. Only an issue when the distortion knob is cranked (which I have been doing a lot of lately)
Funny thing: Got back from dinner tonight and .. DAMN.. the flubbyness was back. It sounded like I was using my neck pickup again!! Well this time it actually was on the neck pickup lol.
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ha ha but tomorrow I will mess with the stock rat, have been using the ruetz on for a long time!
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Hey guys,
I started building and modifying pedals a few months ago, and i actually started by modifying my 2005 rat, so i have some thoughts about it.
Mods i did:
- changed the opamp for LM308
- changed a bunch of caps and resistors to make all values the same as in the version 1 rat.
- added a switch for 3 clipping options :
original (silicon) -> most compressed sound, not very organic
FET -> beefier, more organic sound, gets a weird kind of octave sound when distortion is pushed all the way up in SOME configurations (see below)
LEDs -> very high dynamics, glassy (too glassy maybe) sounding highs, more crunchy distortion
- added another potentiometer to blend between the stock rat and the ruetz mod. i made the ruetz mod before and i found it lacked balls and highs, i also found the original had too much of both .. now i can tweak that with one pot and i love it!
What i'd advise :
If you love the rat sound, find a vintage one, i find the new ones ok, but definitely harsher and not as nice sounding as they could be.
if you want a lab or something in between a rat and something else, try to find a pedal build to the rat specs, offering the options you need. Lots of people do that and the rat circuit is very tweakable if you take a bit of time on the electronic forums.
the diode options is definitely one of the most effective way of changing the texture of the distortion and many of its features. Many builders end up choosing one particular kind of diodes over another because they dig their specific sound (mine is the BAT46: great clarity, definition, dynamics, and an organic 'growl').
it's also very easy to tweak the rat to change the frequencies being distorded. you can think of the rat as 2 layers : 1 layer of middy distorted bass, and 1 layer of highly distorted mediums/highs.
the ruetz mod removes the medium/high layer completely, but you could easily imagine to be more selective over the frequencies/amount of distortion associated with each 'layer'.
Anyway. i hope that helps. i can try to answer some questions if you have some.. i understand how this circuit works, and i'm not involved since the rat is not one of the pedals i'm building at the moment 
I'm far from knowing everything about electronics, but i've built about 20-30 different overdrives including the zendrive, buzz around, rat, many lovepedals, tubescreamer variations, xotic preamps, etc etc and i have a not too bad idea of what's possible and how to make it happen, with an ear for the jazz sound
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Hi add4 I remember talking with you about pedals here and on Kurt's forum. Are you doing that just for friends or is it a business? Do you have a brand already or something like that? I'm curious!
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Hey jorge,
I remember you too
It started as something i tried, then evolved in an almost compulsory activity (seriously eating my guitar practice time) for a few months. now i'm finding an equilibrium between the two.
I first built things for me, experimented with designs and tweaked existing designs to my liking. Then of course, friends tried some of them and, apparently, liked them so they asked for some. and i'm now in the 'friends of friends heard about it and would like one' phase. which is cool, but it's a decision also: do i make a small batch of one model or do i continue experimenting for myself?
I wanted to do both so i designed better PCBs for designs that are liked by people which would allow me to build the batches a bit faster. And i continue to try things aside.
I have a 'brand' but more of the fun of it, like giving my 'brand' to my guitar teacher and some friends (i think half a dozen jazz guitarists in brussels now use my dirt boxes )
I'm thinking of making a small website with the ones i have build and don't want anymore, and i might put some of the batches there too.
If you want to talk about it, i think it's off topic so mp me if you want
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Great, I don't really need more pedals these days but I will PM you in the future if I need Good luck!
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