BiyangDS-8 Electric Guitar Effect Pedal "Mouse" Distortion 3 Mode True Bypass

OK, I'll try to be brief. I have owned and used RAT distortion pedals since the early 80's. I know them for what they are. The best dirt box you can get. Don't agree? Fine with me, as we all have choices and mine is the RAT. Now enter the Mouse by Biyang. This is a discontinued product from them. It does have the LM308 chip inside and is wired like a RAT. The 3-way switch is handy. Normal is like an average RAT2 pedal. The Max and Turbo positions are simply the icing on the cake as they give you more drive options. Good deal.Inside, the board is populated with some good quality components and this is impressive. The Achilles heel here is the in and outs from this box. Being PC mounted, they are plastic barrels with metal exterior nuts to hold them in place. One can, and will, pull one apart if they're a might loose, or it will give you a weak signal if loose. Must keep them, now get this, "hand tight" as a nut driver can easily strip the plastic. Some have the correct 560 ohm resister in the filter circuit, some have a 56K instead. A mix up at the factory? Maybe, but with the 56K in there, the pedal is weak. Mine had the 560 and it sounds about 95% RAT when used.Bottom line: This is a well built pedal (note the I/O) and has some good quality components inside. You roll the dice when it comes to the filter resistor and if you're not into electronics and can replace the 56K with the 560, and you get one with the 56K, then it's not a nice pedal. Get one with the 560 and you're golden as they say. If you like to do mods to pedals then this is a good one to do so with. It's well laid out inside and the options are many. The box is well made and has more fasteners than a small car, so it's not going to fall apart on ya barring the I/O's that was mentioned above. For the price and the potential of many mods, it's a good deal. It has a larger footprint than the RAT2. Personally, I like it because one can get the classic RAT tone and then go further with the Max and Turbo options with the switch atop the box. The prospects of mods to this unit makes me happy as I can do many things with this circuit as it's built with plenty of room for anything imaginable.

So damn close to the real rat if you have the correct resistor.. See attached photo on what resistor needs to be swapped out..Had just about every Rat since they came out, the Pro Co was my favored in the late 70's..This Mouse is close to dead on early Rat with less noise! Issue is if you have one with a 56k Ohm resistor and not the 560k ohm it sounds fizzy with no body when using the controls.. The box is built well and components are cleanly installed and top grade parts..