You Dirty RAT Distortion / Fuzz / Overdrive Pedal Review

Great Pedal, but Terrible Customer Relations

First, I love the YDR pedal, you can't go wrong with it if you are a distortion tone chaser. It plays well with my single coils and humbuckers. The bad thing is that it came with a free T-Shirt offer for a really cool looking RAT shirt. I mailed it in but never got the shirt. I've contacted their customer relations twice now via email. They responded the first time that there… read more were delays and some shirts were out of stock and to check back after a certain date. I did as they asked and I never heard back again. About the same time I had an issue with another RAT pedal purchased as a 'demo' from Sweetwater and contacted their customer relations about getting a repair as I read several places that they said they fix stuff for free no matter new or used and send back chocolate bars and free t-shirts when they ship the pedal back to you. No so in my case as they said they would charge me a $65 'bench fee'. I broke out the soldering iron and fixed it myself. I should send them a bill. I hope these pedals hold up because they will not ever get any more of my money.

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Great pedal - Small Correction needed in the Description though

Great Pedal at a great price. In the description blurb it states that the YDR has 'glow in the dark' graphics. This is not the case; in fact, the graphics are standard white paint. I have a Rat 2 and it has glow in the dark graphics so I defiantly can tell the difference. Anyway, it doesn't matter to me, this is simply a nit about a flaw in the website sales description that… read more I thought Sweetwater should be aware of and fix.

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Fantastic pedal

Ive owned this for several years and has been my go- to as long. What makes it superb is that it is good at all settings. my other pedals are good at one or two sounds but you set it anywhere and its a professional, nice sound. All knobs at 12 gives solid, basic overdrive like a boss od-3 or ts808. Crank drive and turn the filter down and its a convincing, smooth fuzz. turn… read more the filter up and its a heavy distortion sound that's pleasant and not icepicky, I use this at gigs because its the only pedal that I can adjust anyway and be satisfied. I occasionally throw in my ts808 on my board but the Rat always comes back due to its flexibility Built like a tank and it glows in the dark. The knobs are big and firm enough that I can change the knobs with my feet. cant do that with a lot of pedals.

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Solid stand-alone high-gain distortion with a great upside

I read everywhere that there is something about RAT pedals that make them jive really well with Roland JC solid state amplifiers. I wasn"t sure how the You Dirty Rat would fare with my JC-40, but so far it has been great. I am playing with humbuckers, and the pedal seems to like the bridge pickup in particular. The YDR is super high gain, so don"t expect to get "edge of breakup"… read more overdrive-type tones, but the fuzziness from the pedal feels so open and ballsy to me, chewy and wide open. My favorite setting so far is distortion and filter at 10 o"clock. As is the case with all pedals, not every setting is going to be a home run, particularly depending on your rig, but once you get it just right it is downright inspiring to play through.

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Holy "RAT" Batman

What an awesome pedal, I searched review after review on this pedal and found various opinions on it. Here is my take: I play a Fender American Special HSS (LIndy Fralin p-92,bridge) through a Fender Blues jr. (no mods). None of the reviews wether positive or negative give this pedal its due justice. To really appreciate its "character" it must be played, not by others, by YOU!… read more The controls are simple, the distortion goes from nice and light and even cleaner when the volume knob is rolled back to full on growl. The filter knob is fantastic, kinda acts as a scoop knob/presence knob combo. Last but not least, volume to blend it perfectly to your rig. Don't let negative reviews keep you from trying this pedal, you won't know what you are missing. It loves single coils and plays nice with others, while being the coolest kid on the block. For a dynamic, smooth, OD/Dist. for under 100.00 this can't be beat !

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