Affordaboard Filthy Rat - A worthy second effort?

Affordaboard Filthy Rat

The dirt is in the details.

A little while back, I checked out the Supersonic Drive from a new name on the scene: Affordaboard. Handmade in the UK, wallet-friendly, and packing some serious tone—it made a strong first impression. So naturally, I was curious to see if they could follow it up.

Enter pedal number two: the Filthy Rat.

Now, if you're even vaguely familiar with the world of dirt pedals, the Rat lineage needs no introduction. Sitting somewhere between distortion and fuzz—but leaning more towards distortion—a good Rat clone gives you everything from gritty blues overdrive to full-on fuzzed-out filth. And this one? It nails it.

Rat-ical Performance

The Filthy Rat keeps things simple—no bells, no whistles, just classic Rat-style controls with the kind of tone that encourages you to dig in and play. One of the biggest issues with many budget Rat clones is that they squash your dynamics. You end up with a fizzy wall of compressed sound and very little nuance. Not here.

With the gain rolled back, the Filthy Rat retains remarkable clarity and dynamic response. It responds beautifully to your picking hand—play gently, and it cleans up; dig in, and it growls. It’s a pedal that lets you shape the gain with your touch rather than just twisting knobs.

The tone control, too, deserves some love. Often with cheaper clones, the sweep can be a bit... questionable. Bottom out the dial and you're swimming in mud; crank it and it slices like a dentist's drill. But here? It’s usable across the whole range. In the demo, I used a Strat-style guitar with a bridge single coil—famously spiky—but the Filthy Rat kept things tame and musical, even on the brighter end.

Versatility Without Fuss

Of course, it does the classic Rat thing: gnarly, aggressive, hot-rodded 80s Marshall tones at the flick of a switch. But it also handles pushed cleans with surprising elegance. It's this versatility that really makes it stand out—especially at lower gain settings where it feels more amp-like than pedal-y.

And while we're at it, let’s talk value: £79, handmade in the UK. That’s affordable by any standard, but when you factor in the build quality and tone on offer, it feels like a steal.

Affordaboard: One to Watch?

With just two releases under their belt—the Supersonic Drive and now the Filthy Rat—Affordaboard are showing a strong sense of what players actually want: quality tone, solid builds, and no-nonsense pricing. If they keep this up, they could easily become a go-to name for budget-conscious players who don’t want to compromise on sound. I've made comparisons to Funny Little Boxes in the past, who have had an amazing rise to fame - very well deserved, Andy is a true gent. I'm calling it here, Affordaboard are next in line for this kind of rise too, watch this space.