So-- I use a Rat a great deal, and the other day, it just cut out. The output suddenly dropped by an incredible amout, and I disappeared from the mix. Clicking the stomp switch off and on again rectified it, but it took a while (I had to troubleshoot why I had no sound) and it was a very uncomfortable thing to go through.

Now, I use a switcher that bypasses my distortions and/or toggeles between my Rat and my Big Muff sounds. So I never hit the stomper on my Rat, and I had no physical contact with the Rat before it dropped out.

Any ideas? I can't figure out why this pedal would start intermittently quitting on me.

I have a 1980 Rat and that happened to me years ago. Look at the output knob ,I actually broke mine (the pot shaft ) and for the last 20 years or so have had 2 washers under the knob to pull the pot shaft back up. Works great .

I also shoot some t.v. tuner cleaner into some of my older pedals pots occasionally.

Most likely it's the switch.

I have many Rats and the Switch is most likely the culprit. I recently found that by spraying some Caig Deoxit in the switch(through the top) that it solved the problem. Tuner cleaner would probably work as well. If not it is simple to replace the switch.

If it is the switch that is causing the problem a looper won't solve the problem unless you short the switch out so it is always on.

If you have any questions feel free to drop me an E-mail daosmun@chartermi.net