The JHS PackRat swarms your tone with 9 Rat pedals in one
Stomp on a Rat! Or maybe 9!
The newly announced JHS PackRat gives you 9 Rat pedals in one very compact pedal, and could be a great way to tame the classic LM308 based circuit. Using the same technology as the Muffuletta and Bonsai pedals, you can now swarm your pedalboard with Rat tones!
JHS PackRat
The PackRat was spotted in the wild earlier this week on UK guitar forum thefretboard, but until last night there was no mention of this little critter anywhere else on the internet. Now, finally, JHS has officially announced the new ProCo Rat-based drive/distortion, fuzz pedal, which covers 9 different Rat circuits, all in one pedal.
JHS PackRat · Source: JHS
The Rat
The original ProC0 Rat, invented back in 1978 in Kalamazoo, MI, has become a classic over the decades. It straddles low-gain, distortion and, at extreme settings, even touches into almost fuzz-like territory. So it’s safe to say that it covers a lot of bases.
9 Rats in one · Source: JHS
9 Rats
The PackRat uses the same JHS Multi-Mode pedal technology as the Muffuletta * and Bonsai *, to direct the paths of 261 components through 40 individual switches. This allows you to have 9 Rat circuits, giving you access to all the best Rat tones in one pedal. Below is a list of the 9 versions included and their years of production.
- OG V1 (1979-83)
- White Face V3 (1984-1986)
- Turbo V5 (1989)
- BRAT V6 (1997)
- Dirty V7 (2004)
- LA (1986)
- Landgraff MO’D (1999)
- Caroline (2010)
- JHS Mode
Stomp on a Rat!
All Rat pedals have their uses. But if you aren’t sure which one is for you, this could be a great way to try out all the rodent flavours. Personally, I really like the straight-up White Face or mid-’80s Rats, and the Big Box versions of the ’80s and ’90s, though I do own a Turbo Rat as well, which can be fun.
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The various nuances of the 9 Rat pedals are listed on the product page below, for Rat pedal aficionados who want to read all the details for each iteration. For me, this pedal might be overkill, as I already own a number of old Rat pedals and doubt I would have use for anymore. However, I can see this being a cheap way to pick up a load of great Rat tones, as used prices have started soaring in recent years. USD 249 for 9 pedals in one isn’t such a bad deal.
Simplicity
The unit has three controls for Volume, Distortion and Filter, along with a 9-way rotary selector switch to dial in the era of Rat that you need. I remember being 14 years old and wondering why my Rat had a weird tone stack, as it is essentially a low pass filter and gets darker the further you dial it clockwise. But this is kind of where the magic happens with Rat pedals, and once you learn how to dial them in, it can be a real blast!
I’d suggest checking out some of the demo videos below to see what all the fuss is about. I’m already a Rat fan, as you may have guessed, but if you have never tried one, then I think this new JHS PackRat could be a great way to get introduced to those tones.
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More Information on JHS PackRat
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JHS PackRat Demo videos
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