ProCo RAT 2

3 knobs (distortion, filter, volume), pretty basic. The filter knob has a bit of a learning curve as it there's nothing out there like it. If you have the distortion set fairly low, a low filter setting will give you a harsher sort of static fuzz, whereas a high filter setting will give a really smooth sounding breakup (extremely high settings will give you an near-jazz warmth. It basically changes the character of the distortion of the know through out its range, giving you an incredible range of sounds. Once you get the filter down, the pedal is at your every whim.

Usual live setup:
Guitar: Ibanez Jet King 2 Custom (GFS Dream 90 pickups)
Pedals: Rat > Dyna Comp > (other distortion pedals) > EHX Small Stone > EHX Hog > Yamaha Magicstomp II > Boss Volume Pedal > Line 6 Echo Park
Amp: Vox AC30 & an old Fender 85

My pedal about 5 years old, I've had it for over 3. The sound quality is amazing, it does anything and everything. My favorite part of this pedal is that' incredibly transparent, your guitar's character always comes through. I like it with all my guitars, but with my mahogany guitar loaded with P-90s (GFS Dream 90 pickups), that's my end all favorite guitar sound.

My favorite settings keep the distortion knob anywhere from 9:30 to 12:00. The filter (depending on where the distortion knob is) is anywhere from 10:00 to 2:00. I get a nice, dynamic breakup that goes anywhere from a smooth overdrive to a decided crunch depending on how loud I'm playing. It gets fuzzier & heavier with increased distortion settings. All of the distortion can be tempered with the filter knob to suit whatever you want.

Cons: It adds a bit of noise (as one might expect from a distortion pedal), nothing terrible, but it's something to consider (I recently got a EHX Hum Debugger and it completely eliminates the noise, I highly recommend this pedal too). It also takes out a little low end, which really irks some people, but I compensate with a little EQ work so it's not an issue.

It's never give me any grief. If I step on the switch, it engages everytime. It's one of only three pedals that's never given me any trouble whatsoever. Outstanding reliability.

I emailed ProCo a few years with some questions about my pedal (asking how to figure out the age of my pedal, along with a few other random questions). I emailed them in the morning and I got a response back in a few hours. Very nice.

Never tried them for repair work or anything like that though.

This is the only pedal I will give a ten to. It perfectly suits my style of play & helps me whenever I try to venture for a new sound. It's grown with my level of play and the minutest twists of the 3 knobs keeps it in tune with what I'm looking for.

I listen to bands like Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Do Make Say Think, Jim Hall, Mono, Death Cab for Cutie, and lots of post-rock & jazz. My sound is kind of centered around what you'll hear from all these influences.

I have a pedalboard the size of a bass guitar case and keep 15 regulars on it. That being said, the Rat is #1 and if I had to abandon all my pedals save for one, I'd keep the rat everytime. It's the best pedal in my arsenal, period.

Three knobs, EASY.

This is the new Made in China Proco Rat. I have owned many Rats over the years, and this one disgusts me. I own a vintage Rat with the original LM308N metal can chip, and it sounds fantastic. I thought I would order a new Rat to go with it. What I got was a made in China piece of junk. The new pedal sounds nothing like the original. The new pedal is too fuzzy, flabby, and harsh sounding. The newer Rats from just a couple of years ago dont even sound this bad. Some people may like this sound, but to me it just sounds like a cheap fuzz pedal. If you like it, great, but if your looking for the classic RAT tone, this isnt it.

The RAT pedals of the past were very reliable. The new Chinese versions have different circuit boards, and the switch is now mounted directly to the circuit board (was hand wired to the board in the past). Hard to say if the reliability will be the same, Im not keeping the pedal long enough to find out.

I use my vintage Rat for classic rock and fusion style music. The new one is unusable to me. Its just too fuzzy and harsh, where my old one is tighter and more focused with a nice smooth sound. I hate it when American made products get outsourced overseas. I guess Im old fashioned. For the record, Im not opposed to foreign made products if the quality is high. In this case, I feel that the new Chines made Rats are inferior in sound quality. This is the basis of my review.

Easy to use, just 3 pots:
- Distortion
- Filter (reversed tone control)
- Volume

I kind of re-discovered this pedal. I bought it a few years ago but always found it a little too muddy sounding with my Flying V ('57 PAF's).
Last year I bought a SG Special Faded (490 Humbuckers) and now I like it much more. It has great rhytm crunch (distortion at 08:00 - 09:00) and nice leads (distortion at 10:00 - 11:00).
Distortion settings past 11:00 get a bit fuzzy. Great for Black Sabbath stuff though.
Filter is a high-frequency roll-off tone control. Very nice.

I like the way the pots, switch and pc board are mounted to the chassis. Looks very very sturdy. Much better then those MXR and EHX boxes.
It's a brick. Brick's last forever.

Nah, I live in Europe. Don't expect much..

I play guitar for almost 35 years now. I've had dozens of distortion, overdrive and fuzz boxes. Sold all of them except this little heavy RAT.
If it was stolen I would check out that new 'ProCo Solo' before buying a new RAT.

no one can be that stupid to dont check this out ?!!!

Waph wushh !! Clean sounds ? forget it ! This meaty puppy works only
for Smashing Pumkins, Kyuss or QOTSA sounds. When you are in the blues
or jazz mood ? Al Di Meola, Hendrix, Clapton.....
You dont get happy, also when you try Metallica sounds..no not realy ! Oh and its shines only with tube power, Tranies will kill the sound.
So for what I have buy it, its great, but not a allround Fuzz/Distortion/overdrive Box, so 7 points for that.
Works nice ( interresting ) as lead booster. ( 8 points ).
I need this for alternative, psychedelic "grunge" attacks and yeah its great here ! 10 points !!
But I also have a Big Muff USA for different altern...psy...sounds.
And a Fulltone 69 Fuzz for live - allround - sounds.


My Live set up ; Fender Strat, Gibson Studio Paula and only sometimes my Petrucci Signature Music Man Baby....
This goes in a 50 Watt Marshall Plexi with 2 x 2x12 Cabs. or in the almigthy Mesa Lonestar 2x12.
Effects are ; EHX Holier Grail, Boss dd 3, Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe, Maxon TS9, Fultone 69 Fuzz and a Cry Baby classic.
and the Amp chanel switcher.

good solid metal box, all the knops are well done. OK !
Have it 3 years, no problems.

???????

I play since 18 years anything that is coming near my ears.
Mostly I need the RAT for Studio works or just at Band sessions practise things. At playing live, I like to have a simple rig so I dont use the RAT that much ther !
But all in all, its different from that Tubescreamer/Rectifier hype sounds, so it open up the horizon a littel bit more.
And at this price, its more than OK. But that is me, I only can say test one out, when you get tired from........

Easy to use. 3 knobs. Volume, Filter, Distortion. Only the filter know would give you any confusion.

This is definately one of the better sounding distortion pedals out there.

The distortion range can go from light overdrive to insane screaming distortion (frankly, anything past 65% on the distortion knob is useless to me).

The filter knob is very interesting. I have a hard time defining what it does, though I think increasingly removes upper mids. At 0-33%, this pedal sounds more like a DS-1...that is, it is bright and gnarly and in your face - great for punk and alternative. From 33-66% the distortion is more Marshall-y. It becomes a bit darker, but still has nice grinding upper mids. This is the AC-DC/Black Sabbath area. From 66-100% on the filter, the sound becomes a dark fuzz. Here is sounds pretty cool with a wah, but you aren't going to get chord clarity here.

Overall, the sound is great, but my only complaint is that the pedal has a synth-like harshness in the upper frequencies which I notice from time to time. This is minor though, and the overall tone is great.

I use mine in front of my Vox AC30CC2

I think this thing would surive a nuclear blast.

5 year no-questions-asked warranty!

Answered my emails next business day.

Very good pedal for everything from punk to blues to 70's and 80's rock. It isn't going to do metal, but it covers more other rock bases.

I use it to make my AC30 sound like a Marshall (when need be).

Like any good pedal, this takes some tweaking. I don't believe there is any pedal out there that sounds like magic by simply plugging it in and playing. It's all about how you tweak your pedal and how you tweak your amp; the two will work together so that the sum is greater than the parts. I don't believe that you need a manual for this 3-knob pedal, unless you're looking for the suggested pre-sets. If that's the case, then the manuals are available for download at the ProCo Sound website. I find it more fun to use my ears and find the sweet spots that work for me personally.

It's really a 10 for me, but nothing is perfect and this doesn't work with anything and everything, but then what does? What truly impressed me about the Rat2 is that, when I put it in front of my Marshall JCM800 Lead Series and found the magic setting for me, it was amazing. It kept my guitar tone intact and works excellently with my pick-ups (Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge and EMG SA-1 in the neck position). Each pick-up retained it's dinstinct characteristics, with the SDC having a more saturated, dense tone and the EMG cleaning up a bit and having a sweet, hollow sound, almost like it had a very light cocked wah on it. The Marshall was gain maxed out, volume high, but master volume keeping things in control. When I step on the Rat, the Marshall still sounds 100% Marshall, but has a thicker sound, with more saturation, but not too much fuzz (just a little hair to the tone). The thing that amazed me further was that, even with the Marshall on high gain and the Rat engaged, I could back of the volume on the guitar and the sound would clean up for a nice bluesy tone with a little break-up. WOW! Generally, distortions don't do this well at all, and that job's usually delegated to the realm of overdrives.<p>

I'm a HUGE fan of BOSS pedals, but they're distortions suck. I tried the Metal Zone, which had the exact opposite effect of most amps and pedals; when I first turn it on I think it sounds amazing, but after about 15 minutes--without touching a single knob--the sound goes to crap and all the tweaking in the world can't save it. It's like the pedal's circuitry warms up and the tone goes to hell. Very processed and transistory. Same with the BOSS HM-2 pedal; very bassy and transistory. Really kills the sound of a good tube amp and is absolutely a wreck when used with any SS amp. The BOSS DS-1 is a bit better than the other two but doesn't have the 3-dimensional quality of the Rat2 and, when you turn it down, it's basically the same gain and saturation at a lower volume. It doesn't clean up well at all for a bluesier vibe, and I like to back off and hit the chorus and echo for some Gilmouresque vibes.<p>

You can also use the Rat2 with the amp just at the very edge of clipping, where it's getting that nice bluesy growl on its own, then hit the Rat to thicken it up and push it into a nice hard rock zone for crunch rhythms and grooves and sweet soloing. Of course, there's noise and feedback with everything maxed, but then "Diming" everything is a very silly way to go if you want TONE. Sometimes I max the gain on the Marshall, but the Rat's distortion is at about 11:00 (40-45%), with the volume at about 1:00 (60%), and the filter at about 11:00 (almost exact match with the distortion knob). But that can change when the gain on the Marshall is backed off. Also, the EQ's on the Marshall aren't "Dimed," but set for a sweet tone that works for what I play.<p>

I haven't tried it with my Vox yet, but I expect pleasing results since this pedal is very versatile and surprisingly transparent when used properly. I just like to thicken the drive or gain that's already present and add a little more saturation. You can get the chainsaw/buzzsaw/jar of bees sounds if you're not careful, like with many pedals. And there are vintage fuzz sounds to be had in there. Excellent 80's metal--American, British, and European--abounds, as well as 70's and stoner rock/metal. I don't think modern hi-gain nu metal or thrash players would get as much use out of this pedal, but then I don't play in those styles, so I can't really be the judge of that. Perhaps they're in there as well.

Built like shit brickhouse. Heavier and more durable than a BOSS even, and BOSS pedals are like little bricks. This is more like a Sherman Tank. I would depend on it and gig without a backup because it's not a very temperamental or cheaply built pedal. I see them on Ebay and online surviving from the 80's in excellent condition, but then some people seem to feel the need to jump on their pedals, set them on fire in some sort of freaky homage to Jimi, or think that you turn them on by repeatedly throwing them at a brick wall. Some people treat their equipment well and some abuse it. If you treat this well, there's no reason you shouldn't have it for a few decades.

No idea; haven't had to use it.

I play a mix of 70's hard rock a la Thin Lizzy, Queen, and Cheap Trick, as well as 80's-to-present European-influenced hard rock. This pedal plays very nicely with a Marshall and I don't see why it wouldn't be compatible with many other makes and models. Like anything, you really need to play with good equipment. Nothing will make a piece of crap sound like gold. I've been playing for 20 years, so I know what I like by know as far as tone and equipment goes. At least, I know what works for me. I own a ton of other gear that won't really matter to YOU. If the pedal was lost or stolen, I would immediately buy another. In fact, I plan to buy a back-up just in case of such an incident.<p>

The aspects of this pedal that I love are the fact that it's very transparent with my Marshall, really thickening the gain and adding some pleasant saturation. The string dynamics are great. Muting works excellently. It really tightens up the sound without killing it. And it's very responsive to the input volume from my guitar, which I really love. There are a wide variety of tones to be found in this pedal. What I really dislike is that it doesn't take a standard power supply and the Rat power supplies aren't too readily found, though they're out there. It runs off of a 9v battery as well, but everything on my pedalboard is supplied via power. I'm looking around for the adapters for my Voodoo Lab power supply, which may feed the pedal, which would be ideal. <p>

I didn't really compare this to anything else, but just picked it up while browsing at a local instrument shop. It was used and I'd heard nothing but great things about Rat. Since I've primarily been using a BOSS OD-1 (have several!), but wanted higher gain sounds without losing the sound of my amp, I didn't know exactly what I wanted for a distortion. I can compare it to other distortions I've owned and it blows them all out of the water. The BOSS DS-1 is a really nice distortion, which many people seem to pick on needlessly (sounds great with a great set-up), but the BOSS MT-2 and HM-2 both sucked horribly. Those were my first distortions a few years back and they actually scared me away from distortions in general, relying instead upon my trusty OD-1's. I also tried the Carl Martin PlexiTone, which was really sweet by itself, but it didn't integrate itself into my complete set-up for the results I was looking for. It was a little more thick and "mushy" than what I needed. I need glassy sound where the strings are very distinct and separate, and cleans up with the volume knob. I bought the Rat and just tossed it in a box because I'm a gearhound that does stuff like that on a whim, thinking that some day I'll get bored and try it on for size. I recently pulled it out and was ecstatic with the results. This was what I really was looking for all along. I'll keep my DS-1 because I'm a BOSS fan in general and I like to keep some of their better models, but the MT-2 and HM-2 are long gone. Here's the gain I was looking for. Very impressed.

ez to use 3 knob pedal. battery opener too is easy, like your mom. only thing not real easy is getting a good sound there is more bad sounds than good sounds in this pedal...

not bad sound quality about just right really if you find the right set-up, Im using deville 212 and telecaster and it sounds better on my valve amp rather than on my little solid-state amp i had a chance to compare to big muff side by side and your moms muff had a more big feedback distortion sound but the rat had a more crispity crunch but yet a little on the lifeless side to say the least...but I can see why this is a great pedal because its more metal than I thought when I bought it but yet still an overdrive kind of feel

no reason not to give a 10 here, its built well and does well on batterys...like your mom's dildo...

Just wanted to try the rat 2 to be honest when I bought it, I got rid of my uber metal and metal zone for this at the pawn shop and I dont regret it because I didnt use those pedals much anyway and im still searching for a good sound to go with my set-up and im still not sure if this pedal is it but its alot closer than other pedals ive tried and owned... I found a good sound out of this thing at distortion just a little under 12:00 and filter all the way off :)

You have to tweak it well to reach the sound you want ! This is fairly easy to use

I'm using a Fender Fat strat USA, a Jackson King-V2 with with Boss tuner, noise supressor, DS1, Proco Rat2, Mxr 10 band EQ, Boss delay, chorus... plugged in a Tech21 Trademark 60 amp.

This stompbox is very versatile, a bit fuzzy, no noise ! Great for Rock overdrive and Old Black Sabbath tone. The one you should have to sound like David Gilmour. The lead sound with this jewel is incredible, great sustain and tone !!! For the blues... I prefer the Ibanez Ts9 or the Boss DS-1 too and for a solo boost (my DS-1 is my weapon for solo boosts !), but for all the rest I prefer the Rat !!
So, for a great rock tone, fuzzy tone, Hendrix-like, Gilmour-like, Iommi-like, Brian May-like tone this is the pedal you need !!!

For my rock, pop & jazz fusion concerts I will ! with my Ds-1 for solo boosts !

I've been playing for 10 years now. I play rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz, pop, progressive music ! and I will use it for Rock, Jazz, pop, old heavy metal (Black Sabbath) and maybe progressive (like Yes, old Genesis) ! ... SO that's a great ratio !

I own several other distortion/overdrive pedals and The Rat2, along with the Boss DS-1 are my favorites !!! I would definitively buy another one if something happen...


Goods: *no noise
*versatile
*great range of distortion
*fairly great price

Cons: *Cannot purchase in Canada (except on internet)...
*Miss a little bit of volume output
*Bit too fuzzy sounding sometimes

3 knobs - no problem

Using it with a various guitars through Marshall DSL head + Cab. I was looking for a subtle warm o/d tone I could switch in on the clean channel. This will do fine. The most important feature of any pedal IMO besides its effect quality is that it be true by-pass. Ideally it will have an indicator led aslo. This pedal meets those criteria.

I was very disapointed that when I got it, the unit was malfuctioning, The indicator LED was on all the time, irrespective of whether the effect is actually on or off.
Rather than go through the hassle of return shipping it (cost & time), I had a look to see if I could fix it. The underside component legs were poorly trimmed. One leg was left so long that it was shoring against the units casing, causing the led problem. That was easily fixed as it turned out. The PCB is obviously "stuffed" by hand as small volume production runs etc would make automation uneconomic. Don't be mislead into thinking that "Handmade in the USA" implies that you will get a boutique pedal made by a craftsman. If the hands are careless, the quality will be bad. This unit escaped any meaningful level of QC and functional test.

I sent this feedback to the ProCo website and directly to their management. I haven't heard back yet. ProCo have a very good reputation but my first experience with their quality was negative. If the unit I bought is representative of the quality ProCo are shipping now, it won't be long before that reputation will suffer.
If this unit was a 1-off maverick, they should say so.

I'm giving them a 1 on this category until they respond to my complaint at which point I will revise the rating accordingly - hopefully upwards.

Classic rock - warms up the clean channel on the amp allowing me effectively a 3rd channel. I don't find that it enhances the gain channel on the Marshall.

Playing 28 years. I use good equipment
Guitars: Gibson Les Paul / a de-Claptonated Fender Eric Clapton Strat, a Deluxe Nashville Tele, and a modified Ernie ball Silhouette guitar
Amps
Marshall JCM2000 head / Mesa-Boogie Studio preamp + 50/50 rack

Effects
TC Electronic GMajor, Various Boss pedals / a modified true-bypass + led Morley Power Wah / Ibanez TS pedals,

Celestion V30 speakers.

Lost or stolen ? its not a key part of my setup yet so I would probably take it on the chin.

I like true bypass + LED. When the effect is off, I like that it is not draining tone.

The quality problem is of concern to me though.

Overall rating because of the quality and lack of response from ProCo. Will revise when/if I get a response.

Three controls, distortion, filter and volume. 10 minutes and you will have your sound. Its very simple to use. But it is really a great pedal.
It has a rock solid on/off switch.

The quality of the sound depends on the amp you play. It delivers everything from light cruch sonds to heavy distortion. The heavy distortion fits all players who like those 80's hard rock sound. like me!
But now to the amps- I played it with a Peavey 112 Bandit as i tried it at the store- with the rat this cheap amp rocked!!! at home i played it with my trace elliot hybrid and it was not so good-it sounded a little bit muddy. I actaully bought it to boost my marshall dsl 50 head. But i will sell the head again because it sucks. I saved much money for this amp and as i finally got it i began to reallize that it sucked. Iam really disappointed from marshall- i think ill get a peavey or engl amp soon- and the rat will boost it to the max!

I would always trust it and play it without a backup!
It is build like a tank-rock solid construction!
Handmade in the USA!

hmm not deald with it yet- but they say that proco gives a five year warranty!- sounds good for me- originall text on the box: "Five year warranty- any excuse, even abuse" nice statement!

I play 80's and 90's hardrock/metal, everything from acdc, whitesnake (early and new- the rat fits both!), iron maiden, dio, accept, winger etc. to van halen and it sounds really good!
i would allways buy a new one if it was stolen!
i love the ease of use and the great sound that it delivers! I tried a lot of distortion/booster pedals, from boss DS-1 over DOD250 and malmsteen signature to line 6 dist pedals, but nothing had that great "rat" sound! its really amazing!
Try it if you are disappointed from everything else!