History of the ProCo RAT Pedal and Myths Debunked
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- The ProCo RAT might be the most beloved distortion pedal in guitar history. So what happens when you give a pedal nerd like Josh permission to give a TED Talk on the RAT? This episode happens. Josh studied over 100 different RAT pedals in preparation for this week's episode, and it shows. This is the deepest dive on the ProCo RAT you're ever going to see.
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PackRat Episode: • JHS PackRat: Every RAT...
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Version Walk Through:
Bud Box 1977-78
Dual Bud Box
Scott Burnham Ring-Mod Prototype (Bud Era)
1979 / Version 1-A "Fringe Logo"
1979 / Version 1-B "Tone Knob / Fringe Logo"
1979 / Version 1-C "Tone Control / Metal Knob"
1979 / Version 1-D "Tone Control"
1979 Juggernaut (and Reissue)
1981 / V2 "Big Box Filter"
1984 / V3-A "White Face"
1986 / V3-B "Black Face"
1986 / V3-C "No Brackets"
1987? / RAT2 - LED Prototype
1987-88 / V4-A "RAT2-LED-Flat Top"
1989 V5 "Turbo"
1991-2005 "Big Box Vintage Reissue"
1997 V6-A and V6-B "Roadkill / BRAT"
2002 "Duecetone"
2002 Era? "ProCo Preamp Prototype"
2003 "25th Silver Anniversary"
2004 V7 "You Dirty RAT" and Proto
2006 V8 "Solo" and PROTO RATZO
2008 V4-B "RAT2 Chinese Made Slope Enclosure"
*We're aware Josh calls it the "Chinese Slope" in this video. We were unaware that was considered a derogatory term and have changed it on all content since this video was recorded.
2010 "1985 White Face Reissue"
2014 V9 "FATRAT"
2015 V4-C /4-D / 4-E "IKEBE 40th Anniversary Exclusive Colorways" (Japan Only)
2021 V10 "Lil' RAT"
#jhs #thejhsshow #procorat
JHS should make a pedal called the Rhatt Shull that is specifically designed for mediocre slide tone.
That'd be so awesome haha
😂🎉
Come on, the sparkle paint Novo and P-90s make it sound better.
I think that tone was Dave Gilmore approved, so it could be the Pink Rhatt
Sick burn
The image of Josh with an armful of RATs, crying while eating Subway, trying to figure out why they all sound the same, is a funny one for sure
😂😂😂
You mentioned that EarthQuaker Devices uses a standard enclosure, but if I recall, they're actually using their own custom enclosures now. I remember hearing they used to use the standard ones, but they found they could make their own for cheaper or something. The Octoskull logo is actually molded into the baseplates now. Pretty much spot on with the standard size dimensions, but they're their own enclosures. It's crazy.
Yes, we do the same. It's still a standard enclosure though. 125b size.
@@jhspedals ah gotcha. So by standard, you’re simply referring to the size and not so much a specific manufacturer or supplier. Rock on!🤘
Josh, guys, this is so damn rad. LOVE seeing the history of this passion we all have. You guys are doing great, hard work! I’ll admit when I started watching you guys the silly idea of “just try stuff” has stuck with me and has debunked a lot of dumb guitar falsities. So thank you for everything!
I first played a Rat in the mid 80’s, when someone loaned it to me to put in front of my Roland JC120. It sounded fantastic. I used it on some really heavy, dirty recordings, for both rhythm and lead. No other distortion pedal needed. At some point that band split up and the Rat went back to it’s owner. I’ve missed it, but was stoked to learn from your vid that I don’t need to go looking for an original 80’s Rat: an off the shelf modern one should give me the same sound. Very interested in trying that, after many years of hesitation. Thanks!
At 13:40 - reminds me of how the old Tonka toy trucks used to chip paint. Super cool look!
I so totally enjoy these long videos/vlogs about pedals. I have seriously, legitimately learned so much from watching you guys & I have found a revamped love for pedals again. I went nearly a decade as a straight boring plug-in & play guitar/amp player with no pedals except a Boss tuner pedal. I used my tube amp’s gain/overdrive for so many years. Thanks to you guys, I’ve started not only playing, but buying pedals again & playing guitar has become ‘fun’ again. And that guys is a gift that I wish I could literally pay you back in cash for! So thank you guys so very much! Once I subscribed to the channel, I immediately became a junkie & started watching all the time! I use your videos to cheer my bad days up as well as use them for information before a pedal purchase. 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼‼️
Excellent review of perhaps my favorite pedal. I first got bit by a Rat in a jam session back around 1992. The drummer had one, and let me use it. It was from the late 80’s, and I had to have it. He reluctantly sold it to me. Next came a 80’s White Faced Rat . They were identical sonically. It has been killing me for a long time listening to people cry that one is better than the other because it’s the same exact sound. In fact Rats are the most consistent pedals I’ve ever owned. Won’t go into how many I have or sold or have had stolen from me but a Rat is a Rat. Love these guys who say the chips sound different too, but sorry fellas, they sound exactly the same in reality. Thanks Josh and friends, you did a great job here. (I never thought of putting one on my bass, thanks for that too)
I remember these from the early 80's, one of my instructors at GIT used one, Frank Gambale.
My first history of a RATT pedal was at Kik & Associates music store mid 80's if I remember correctly. My friend had a habit of shop lifting. He would show us his haul when we got back to the car after looking around and testing guitars and gear...
One day Chris reached over the case while the store clerk wasn't looking and grabbed this RATT pedal. We all knew of this pedal and we were so excited to see this that me and my other buddy Jim (Chris's cousin) completely ignored the fact that Chris had just shoplifted this.
Needless to say I stopped hanging around Chris for fear of being busted along with him in his clepto phase.
This video brought back a lot of old memories that I had completely forgotten about. I don't own a RATT pedal but I do have the Nembrini plug in RATT. I think I'll go play some of that now.
I really enjoyed this episode. I have been playing guitar for years and got my first Rat a few months ago, because they are inexpensive and I heard John Scofield played/plays one. I like it and use it from time to time.
I first saw a rat when i was at my friends dad's jam space - I showed up with a DS-1 and my friend plugged into the rat and we just jammed shitty garage rock grunge stuff. I now have a 1981 DRV and put it on everything. I adore the rat sound and love it everywhere in my signal chain.
The "SOLO" its a hint to Soldano SLO...its the same font
Genuinely impressed you made a ring mod sound... musical!
Also, excellent nerdy history content, and great humor as always. Love it!
This really reignited my love for the Rat. I forget why I loved it in the first place. It has such a unique "growl" effect to it that you can't really find on any amps. Kind of regret selling my Turbo RAT now! I used to use it to get some Bauhaus-esque vibes which it was surprisingly good at(wonder what the architecture of the HHICS100's drive circuit was like) thanks to the lowpass filter.
Well got the RAT 2 reissue brand new... adn yes, only 70 dls. And sounds great. It's now my main distortion pedal.
Incredible knowledge and geekery! 🙌 I’m fascinated by the recent Beato video with Nuno Bettencourt where he talks about using a Rat with the distortion down because it tightens up the bottom end of the amp and makes it more percussive. Do you know what’s happening in the circuit to do this? Could it just be the frequency of the input high pass, or is there something more fiddly going on?
Thanks so much for your videos. What a contribution to the guitar community 💪
this was awesome!! thank you doing this and please do more of them, and maybe release them as a dvd series or something because id be all over that. its always amazing to sit down and learn the history and evolution of gear
Today I found an old, well-used looking, (dented a bit, but not rusty) V1 Big Box in a pawn shop for next to nothing. Very lucky today. It has tone written on it instead of filter. Tone gets brighter clockwise, and the pedal sounds great. No mods by the look of it - now I'm trying to figure out the date from the pots. All 3 pots read 1378118, so I'm guessing it's probably early '81?. Any idea how to read the pots? Any ballpark idea what it might be worth? Thanks
Back in the day, The Rat was so ubiquitous among my friends that we just used "Rat Pedal" as the generic word for distortion pedals. IMO the most versatile dirt pedal ever.
Josh, did you guys consider/look at the Pro Co Rat Tail (guitar cable with a Rat circuit in it) when you were making the Packrat?
Yep
That’s some damn thorough analysis right there. Love it. Love you guys.
This was a great episode! Thank you so much for being so awesome!!!
I am actually washing the dishes right now as I listen to this.
Don’t know if it’s been mentioned but if it hasn’t, here’s a (not that significant) tidbit. The 91 reissue first appeared with the smooth paint as shown in this video, not long after, maybe a year or two, they started using a textured finish paint, which doesn’t look as good imo.
108:54 Perhaps the word you're searching for is "dynamic." More descriptive in terms of audio.
Nicely done video, guys. I am surprised you didn’t mention the reverse polarity of the Rat2. (Future show: “What’s the deal with reverse polarity?”)
The UA plugin based on the Rat May create a “Rat Revival.” Do you like the plugin?
My first Rat isn't a Rat. Obviously, it is a Rat, but it's not called a rat. The Walrus Audio Iron Horse. I've got the V2 and honestly it is one of the best pedals I own. I use it for everything. I was looking for a new main drive pedal, and after a while I kinda just decided that for how and what I play, a Rat circuit was going to be the thing that would fill the drive niche I needed. So I did a bunch of searching for the one that would work best for me, and I found that the modifications Walrus did to the circuit would be perfect for me, and it was. It's never leaving the board. The Rat is simply one of the best pedals ever. It just sounds so good. It doesn't matter if it's a beater you picked up for cheap or the most boutique take on the circuit, it's gonna sound great.
Man I enjoyed this so much. The Rat is probably my favorite pedal and I loved every minute of this nerd-out love letter to it. It's so awesome that you guys went through all this effort to document everything more meticulously than anyone ever has. Thank you so much JHS!!
Josh, you did an AMAZING job on the PackRat. I picked one up over the XMas holiday. Wow! This is a serious pedal and noticeable differences between the variants, and you captured them all!! Probably the most versatile pedal on any of my boards. Highly usable and recommended for all.
I'd like to hear a shoot out between the mini surface mount Rat and the currently available Chinese built Rat 2. This video it did sound different to my ears, but an A/B comparison might be nice.
Ok, so I’ve watched this several times, and today is the first time I heard Josh say “thank you surface mount”.. you know someone screamed and threw their vintage rat across the room as soon as the words left his mouth.
Great video! For completeness, I think there might also be a v4-F version. I bought a replacement rat in about 2010-11 that is sloped but has a 1/8inch 9V power jack. Don’t see it in your overview
Josh, do you know if it's true that MXR intentionally made the later editions of the Distortion+ more Rat-like? One of my all-time favorite pedals (and a mega-underrated sleeper) is the MXR Distortion III, which is like a smoother version of the Rat - almost, daresay I, like a Dumble-Rat - and I've wondered for years if they were pushing the Distortion series closer to the Rat as the latter got really popular.
Best Rat clone is the kmise crunch pedal with tone not filter. Black Teeth is ok too. For different takes on the Rat. Thank 6
Josh should do a focus puller pedal.
Fabulous episode! Gratitude
22:18 talking about bass rat… Alisson, check out the Formiga B Drive by Cachalote Audio. A brazilian rat for bass named after an ant. ;)
30:16 Eating Subway and crying in the corner... XD XD XD
Holy fuck, that about summed up my early 20's
I got it!
The knobs is better to be a sliders! (For the perception)
I bought my 4A RAT2 I assume in 88, when it was first introduced. I've never noticed that it glows in the dark!!
Low gain toanz on the rat are so lovely on bass 😊 one thing I love about the jhs show is that you guys always talk about multiple uses for what are essentially “guitar” pedals 👍🏻👻🤗
Finally got to watch all of this.
Josh, you’re meticulous obsession over things has made you the official guitar pedal historian over the internet. Well played.
Also, Addison needs more credit for his bass grooves.
I wake up at 2AM and pick this video to lull myself back to sleep, well that didn’t work!
It took me a good 10 seconds before I realized why a mouse trap was on the board.
The disappointed but honest myth crushing is fantastic
Shoegaze post core sludge band
First time I encountered a Rat pedal was plugging into the channel insert of a SSL 4000G console. Thought it was great we were plugging this cheap pedal into a half million dollar console for a vocal sound.
Tech question. I have an old-style RAT pedal with the abnormal power input. Think male instead of the ordinary center negative female. This won't work with my onboard power supply. Question: if I leave the RAT pedal in the chain, but unplugged while turned on, signal will pass through. Is that a bad thing for tone? If I plug into the wall with a wall wart, will it provide the same buffer quality as a Boss Metal Zone MT-2 which it might take the place of? Maybe I should sell it for one of the newer center-negative models.... Same question for an old Big Muff.
Awesome show guys, I don't think I could learn anything more about the history of the Pro co RAT until you say but wait there's more! I have to say I enjoy all pedal nerd content and you guys make it fun! Just preordered a Pack Rat.
I have this zebra neck on my Precision bass and immediately I have better feeling about it all just because it looks so much more cool to me.
This episode was pretty fantastic and just in time. I have been thinking about getting a Rat for a bit and was eyeing the Fat Rat. This episode has sealed the deal. Placing the order now. Thanks for making such cool content and pedals!!
G R E A T as usual!
2 questions:
Why did you choose the variants you did for the packRat & can a blend be modded to it for bassists?
Have the DuceTone and box, was too much pedal for me & hardly ever used. I should take it out for another spin! I just dont think the Rats are my kind of sound.
Can't believe I'm just getting to this episode!
Josh, you should look into fjord fuzz from norway and tell us what you think.
I just got my Ratpack in the mail. Can’t wait to jam on it tonight. 🤙
Does the Deuce Tone help you get that brown sound?
I never got on with my rat I wish it would do the edge of break up thing, and the filter didn't seem to do much, wish I'd never sold it though because it's always good to go back and try again you never know you may have been wrong
If your filter knob didn't do much the pot was probably defective. The filter substantially alters the tone, even with slight adjustments (e.g. on mine, if I have it at 12 o' clock and back it off to around 10, it's a big change). As for edge of break-up, that's definitely not the Rat's strong suit, but you can achieve pretty good results if you dial in some moderate crunch, boost the pedal volume, then back off the guitar's volume knob until you achieve the drive you want. I've always found it to be a surprisingly versatile pedal. I have a more tube-like OD and a batshit crazy fuzz, but I use the Rat like, 90% of the time.
Amazing video and amazing research even if you don't own a Rat. As a Rat owner, this was incredibly enjoyable. Keep it up!
Took me a few days to watch this but I made it. I am one of those people Josh was talking about. I'm interested in purchasing a Lil Rat. But when you hinted that it has a different chip I was like: "Don't like it, then.". So, you insulted me, but that's ok, because you're right. Is there a Rat clone kit out there that you recommend? I like to make my own stuff.
I own a 1d tone control Rat. I bought it at Modesto Music on 13th street in 1979/80. Still sings like a bird 🐦
Slew - Think of someone being slew footed, it takes a bit of time for the slew foot to catch up to the other foot. Some time drag so to speak. At least that’s how I look at it.
I've watched this like 4 time all the way through, and I'm just obsessed with the history of these. I want it for all pedals. Tube Screamers, Klons, Boss, all of it. I want it. Make it happen
I tried it on the bass this weekend it is an incredible pedal!
I love Rat! Since day one I discover it, and this channel is basically become my favorite on YT. Important saying that angry charlie began my path in to pedals kakakaak. JHS rulz
I got a white Rat but first played a rat back in 2004, but I didn't like it at the time. Please send some Ratpacks to Japan!! I can't find them anywhere!! God bless!!
Pedal geeks. Everybody back in the 80's knew to put RAT in front of an old Fender amp because it was more portable than wheeling around a Marshall. And generally, Boss/Ibanez pedals sounded best in front of a Marshall 800 or a Roland amp. This was standard practice back then because there weren't that many choices. By the late 80's with the VH hair band craze, the market got flooded with a ton of crap. Peavey, Randall and Crate amps sucked, Ampegs were good but they were usually huge. Overall though, most everything sounded better then. Not all this overwhelming amount of boxes and tone chasing mania.
Thank you expert of Rat. It was great. Probably go get me a Rat now, I guess.
The "clean" rat sounds incredible.
Dude, "tone enclosure" is a real thing.
Please please, pull back on the cameras a little bit so we can see the guys' left and right hands when they jam. Please please and thank you!
Seriously, thank you!
I can see a ProCo musical coming.
History of the Memory Man please!
This was completely facinating thank you
Did jhs save anyone else’s life lmao these people are treasures
Bro my entire life has been saved so many times by so many RUclips channels it’s hard to keep track.
@@9ZenMedia relatable content
Quarantine would have been a lot darker without this and other pedal shows.
Thank you all!!! We're so honored to be part of your journey. Keep it up! 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Not life but tons of cash on pedals I thought looked good then sound bad or just not what I'm needing.
Nick - on the Tone/Filter pot taper question, I've always guessed that the people who designed the Rat realized that it sounded best with Tone below 50%, but they quickly realized that guitarists don't want to set Tone low. They want more, uh, Tone. So you flip the wiring, and now setting it at 70% is actually setting it at 30%, and bang, classic Rat.
Below 50 it's sound so nasal it hurts my ears personnaly
@@stoneysdead689 compression comes to mind, even equalizers.
That's what I used
That's actually useful information, thanks.
I was introduced to the Rat by an amazing busker in San Francisco’s financial district around 1981. It was a shocking and humbling experience, because he had withered arms, only one hand and only two fingers. (Lookup Thalidomide.) He wore a tubular slide held on by a rubber band, over a terry wrist band. He held the pick between two fingers has been crafted into opposing pincers through surgery. He setup the lap steel, Rat, and a battery powered amp on a small stable on the sidewalk. With that rig he played thunderous, high energy electric blues far beyond anything I have been able to summon using two hands and ten fingers. I saw him playing on several occasions, and I took away several lessons from that experience.
I also have a similar experience. My guitar teacher was a dwarf who’s hands were disfigured and he played an electric as a lap steel and I’ve never heard a better guitar player.
Thank you for that story, Greg. Stories like that teach me an important lesson: "stop complaining and practice more."
I remember that guy! He played great slide guitar!
I remember him too! I saw him at Market and Powell often. He was awesome. I eventually started playing lap steel myself.
This comment needs to be up top, really interesting side bar here to chase. Hope jhs sees this.
This is an amazing article and video. My father bought a RAT in the 80s and has had it since. I started playing guitar in the early 2000s and the RAT was my first distortion pedal handed down by my dad. After watching thus video I have identified it as a 1979 version 1D. Very cool history!
Josh man, you're a great guitarist and it's time to accept it. When you talk down on your playing; those of us who can't play even half as good, feel twice as bad.
I mean...he's not the flashy kind, he's more like the "everything I play no matter how simple it is sounds freaking good" type
@@Unusualsuspect24 he's actually agreeing with your opinion besides pointing at the obvious objection others would make
@@Unusualsuspect24 well he does wear cool t-shirts. Even if you never heard if the brand though.
he has good taste
Yeah
I read somewhere that Bonnie Raitt uses a Pro Co Rat to add a bit of grit to her tone. What struck me the most about this is the huge missed opportunity from Pro Co to approach her and release the signature BONNIE RAT (or the Raitt Rat)... Am I rite???
HAH!
TBF, Bonnie Raitt is one letter away from being a RATT herself.
The shoe fits!
There’s something heartwarming that someone can produce a 1h40 video on a series of pedal and over 100,000 people will watch it
Almost 400k
I know I'm asking for a lot of work, but I'd love more of these deep dives into the history of circuits or whatever else inspires you! I haven't watched it yet but I already know it's amazing. ALL HAIL THE RAT
This is why I subscribed and hit the bell for JHS Pedals channel years ago! THIS. RIGHT. HERE.
Love these history classes :)
Seriously, one of the top 3 guitar related channels on YT. I also really like Ted Woodford’s luthier channel and Darrell Braun’s guitar review channel. Greatness.
Thank you!
I think the phrase you were looking for in the mess of the version history was a 'rat's nest'. :)
If the world doesn’t implode or explode, 50 years from now, guitarists and pedal builders will still be watching JHS videos.
we will be lucky to make it 50 months...
There's a Bud Box one somewhere in Washington State, I remember seeing it at Al's Guitarville in the late 80s.
As a cool part of the adjacent-history to the very first ProCo Rats, Systech which was originally in the same Kalamazoo-MI building as you explained earlier, used the same knobs that were used on the earliest-original Rat pedals that you show. My two Systech Phase Shifters have the silver-insert/black-body "Bud" knobs - used for the Emphasis control knob on my two units :) Dan Gibbs, near Flint, MI :)
Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage
So the first cut to Nick has the camera focus on the pedals instead of Nick... and it's awesome. Can you do a show that is just exploring every inch of your collection???
Looks like a soft focus filter. Looks like they’re doing something different with the video.
@@aceflibble Got it. But doesn’t the focus on Josh look softer too? Maybe they’re using the Woodcutter filter?
@Sturphy you mean this? ruclips.net/video/Q2kieOoMJmg/видео.html
The operative word is "can"
Dirty
A bandmate bought me a Rat2 in 2002 when my DS-2 failed and I never looked back. I had worlds of fun writing and playing with that pedal. Thanks for the marvelous history lesson. I look forward to getting my grubby little hands on the PackRat.
Thank you for elevating the pedal discourse. Honoring the history, respecting the circuitry choices, and then adding some JHS spice. Projects like these do more than just support/promote a new pedal; they deepen the conversation about sound manipulation.
What I personally love about the rat is that the gain goes all the way down to nothing.. I don't like when an od or distortion pedal always has some level of gain when engaged
I have a WFRI and it has a decent amount of od level gain when all the way down.
I'm always amazed when a pedal truly hasn't been superseded - e.g., a Fuzz Face is a classic sound, but you could argue that there are better, more usable, more musically versatile fuzzes now, whereas (I would say) the Memory Man or the early treble boosters have truly never been improved upon. And hearing that Bud Box Rat, it's just, well, "There it is." Best distortion pedal ever made, 45ish years old, and they got it dead right from the first unit.
At first I thought, no way I’m going to make it through an hour and a half of pedal history on ONE pedal. I was wrong. And I greatly enjoyed it. I almost picked up the lil rat a month ago. I think I’ll go look for a RAT2 per recommendation right now!
I would very much love to see an episode on Addison’s bass rig. He’s always got the best bass tones!
I agree their jams always sound really good
@@brownmonkeybananayellow I'm with it
Woodcutter Doug, really should've let that myth live on. He was a beast for productivity. New myth, legend has it Woodcutter Doug outperforms SMT mass production rate, only Rat pedal builder with a zero defect rate ever.
This is like a new John Henry legend.
My puppy decided to eat my ProCo cable today. She's a fan.
I first heard of the Rat and bought mine in the middle to late eighties before the LED version mine has the brackets... I absolutely love the RAT...I have performed as a working musician and its been on my pedalboard from the time I bought it in the eighties until present... absolutely nothing ever was able to kick it off my pedalboard...except for the last four years I performed in a Southern Rock festival performance band and they didn't care for the RAT so I used a BB Preamp instead to accommodate them... but now I'm in a different band and the RAT is back on my pedalboard where it belongs! Great show Josh!
Absolutely love your channel! My husband plays guitar - I don't - but I learned so much about pedals and your show is so interesting, even for someone who doesn't have a musical bone in them ;) PS I was going to order a T Shirt for Christmas but sadly shipping to the UK is the same price as the T shirt (and then we have import taxes, handling fee and VAT on top of that, which would make the T Shirt somewhere in excess of $80...)! Anyway - Josh your humour is fab and we love your show!!!
the very first pedal I ever purchased (Italy, 1999: I was 17, so 22 yrs ago) was a RAT 2, and I'm so proud of that 'cause I barely knew what a pedal was... but I... CHOSE it, by playing and trying it in my town's local shop.
I just entered the shop, and asked to try some stuff, to "make my guitar sound big"... I wasn't even sure if I needed a distorsion pedal.. the guy that used to work there just sit me, put the first guitar he had next to me in my hands, and put in front of me three pedals. He just said: "listen, here's three pedals that you NEED. Play them, choose one, and they're gonna be perfect anyways, so just see what is best for you". They were a Marshall Guv'nor, a Big Muff (big enclosure), and a Rat 2.
I needed 5 minutes, maybe less... I was blown away by the Rat, easy story. And again, I'm proud of myself after so many years, because only much later on, after playing it for years, I discovered what piece of guitar history I had CHOSEN with my ears, and not with stories heard on the internet or somewhere else.
So... thx JHS for celebrating once more this huge pedal, and thx for helping people discovering sounds with their ears, and only with them.