ProCo RAT 2

Three knobs, very easy.

Perfect 10, but thats for me. Others have not liked the sound, we all have our particular tastes.

I have had it for a while with only one probelm, see customer support.

As I said above, I did have a probelm. But before saying this, I have to say that bought this pedal new about seventeen years ago. In that time I have dragged, dropped, and used this thing everywhere. The abuse that it has taken, any other effect pedal would have fallen apart. But get this, something did fry, I sent it back, they fixed it for free, no questons, paid for return shipping, they also included free candy in the box. My point is, this thing is made like a tank, but, if you happen to have a probelm, pro co's customer service is like dealing with a small buisness. You should have no probelm at all.

This is a really great pedal, a classic, but it is not for everyone. Think Brown sound, think classic rock. Metal guys who like a manicured hard sound may not like it, but, the Indie guys will love this. The best thing about it is its pretty consistant; also, you can pick a used one up pretty cheap. You can get one used for thirty to fifty dollars. So what do you have to louse, try it.

It is really easy to use, and easy to dial in a good sound. If you think 3 knobs can't be that hard to use, pick up a ds-1.

Glow in the dark logo and controls. Neat when on stage (I "set and forget", so just need to know if it is on or off). There is a red light in the "A" that indicates if it is on or off (at least in mine-someone in another review mentioned not being able to tell if his was engaged-not sure if his was faulty, or if ProCo stopped this feature(mine is the original version)) .

As said, "Filter" seems to be opposite on the high end roll off-far left is extreme treble, far right (clockwise) rolls the highs off.

I bought this pedal when it FIRST came out (mine has to be like 15 years old now). I was a kid then, and just wanted a distortion pedal, and got this because it was metal and black. But now...

My current set up is simple. I'm using the RAT as a gain boost for my JCM900 Marshall half stack (guitar-wah-RAT2-Marshall-reverb/delay in the loop). It really adds some nice over the edge sound without getting too muddy or noisey. It also really thickens up the notes, all while retaining the clarity. Can get nuts and muddy if you start maxing everything out. I run mine: Dist=9 oclock, Filter all the way (5oclock), Volume=3 oclock.

Complete bypass, so no tone coloring at all when it is not on. It will even bypass without a battery in it (also very good if your battery goes dead live). Battery life is EXTREMELY long.

I'm knocking off 1 point for this rating because I'd like to back off the treble just a little bit more, but the Filter is already maxed. This pedal could be a life-saver if you have a bass heavy amp, by but the JCM900's are notorious for obscene amounts of treble, so it is probably more the amp's fault than the RAT...

As I said earlier, this pedal is close to 15 years old. Normal wear and tear-I wore the footswitch out, and had my local tech replace it. My input jack wore out in the back- literally. The jack itself didn't go bad, but the threads of the jack just seemed to wear out, causing the nut to fall off. I took it apart, fed the jack through a little more to get the nut on it, and good as new. This thing will outlive me. I'll be using it (probably with the same battery) after the metal shell disentegrates, and I'm left with 2 cords running into the chip itself!

Honestly, I can't remember if I ever contacted them. If I did, it was probably before the internet existed! (the funny thing is, that is a true statement)

This is an intergral part of my sound. It actually makes my old Marshall sound "like it is supposed to". Without this pedal, I'd probably get rid of the Marshall. It is that good. I've owed this pedal almost as long as I've been playing (been playing 17 years), so it is a part of me. It is totally dependable and does exactly what I want and expect it to do. If it were stolen (no way I'd "loose" it), I'd definitely buy a new one, and just hope to god that ProCo changed NOTHING from its original produciton specs!!

like everyone said, you must be a complete idiot if you cant handle a rat 2. it easier than playing punkrock.

it's great. i use it trough a marshall JCM 800 with a humbucked fender strat. it rocks asses.

i guess that this is my biggest problem... while i was coming back from a gig, i was unloading the truck and didin't notice my rat falling out of it. it cause the truck to ran over it. i actually ordered a new one today.
hey, i wouldn't survive that either, give the rat a break right?

haven't spoken to them yet...

it's awesome. it's one of the best sounding pedals to use on a marshall JCM800. you do have to play it loud to get the ultimate sound, but that's what guitarists are for right. if you want to hear it on my recordings check out www.cluelessweb.com for free samples.

your a moron if you can't figure it out. it's the same as any other dist. only the filter takes place of the traditional tone control witch is basicly the same but works "backwards" and controls the highs not the mids like my ds-1

great with high output humbuckers i have the filter all the way down for more of a fuzzy crunch. very warm plenty of gain but very quiet playing through a fender cyclone->ds-1->rat 2->rogue chorus (don't underestimate cheap pedals)->morley pro series II-> crate cr-IIr great aic sound great for garage grunge

can't tell hasn't broke yet probably as tough as my '80 AMC eagle stationwagon

would be an 11 but only goes to 10

na

This is a update to my review below.
I emailed ProCo and got an answer within 24 hrs:
It sounds like your Rat is defective. We had a run of bad pots that have
since been replaced. I am in contact with our export agent to decide what
the best course of action would be.
I realize that a product made here is a service problem for a dealer over
there but, it disappoints me to here how unhelpful they were for you. I am
truly sorry for your trouble. We will come up with a solution for your
problem.

I think its really great they react so quick and accurat, try that with Boss!

This is a update to my review below.
I emailed ProCo and got an answer within 24 hrs:
It sounds like your Rat is defective. We had a run of bad pots that have
since been replaced. I am in contact with our export agent to decide what
the best course of action would be.
I realize that a product made here is a service problem for a dealer over
there but, it disappoints me to here how unhelpful they were for you. I am
truly sorry for your trouble. We will come up with a solution for your
problem.

I think its really great they react so quick and accurat. In every production enviroment things go wrong, but it show great class to immediatly admit this and react so prompt to a overseas customer.

Thumbs up for ProCo!

As Easy as any other pedal, no surprises or innovations here.

Gibsons Les Paul Classic, Marshall 8100 100V stack.
I don't know if its broke or something but its useless.
After the 9 o'clock position the distortion does not add any distortion. If I turn it back to the lowest position (7'o clock) it won't make any sound at all. The filter must be turned all the way left, otherwise the sound gets to dark to be used for anything.

Really well build

na

I play in an rock coverband. I need sounds from Radiohead to Metallica. I've been playing for 25 years.

I must have a bad apple considering all the positive reviews below.
I anyone has suggestions on how to make it work (haven't opened it yet) please let me know.

Its very simple, 3 knobs, 3 uses for each. 1 switch.

i use an ibanez sz520qm through a carlsbr 100watt solidstate amp. I had to say i was really disapointed with the distortion from the RAT2. all i got back was a fuzz, not a distortion, id call it a crunch. it was no different to the 'cruch' channel on my amp. so really i wasted money on something i already had. It was 100% identical to the crunch except the added fuzz.

This thing is build like a tank, it is really heavy. But it gets a 7 because if the distortion is turned anything past 1 o'clock then the sound of it is really jumpy & basicly unusable. So you cant go past 2 o clock on the distortion on it.

havnt had anything to need support for.

I mostly play a punk rock / metal most of the time. this pedal wasnt what i was looking for. it is more of an indy/jazz funk blues kinda thing. What i wanted was a crisp overdrive, not a fuzzy crunch. It is good for different types of music, but not mine. So i give it a 7

Three knobs: distortion (where you choose the amount of gain), filter (this applies to the high frequiencies of the sound), and volume. Though the concept of filter is somewhat not so easy to understand -since the more filter, the less high frequencies- it's pretty easy to get a good sound from the rat.

The rat is a great sounding pedal. The gain knob is very versatile, you can get a sweet crunch sound with the gain at 9 o'clock and turn it up to a fuzzy big muff-alike sound. You must always turn the filter knob according to the gain knob (the more gain, less filter) or at least that's how I use it :)

I'm using the rat with my jazzmaster and it respects the sweet sound of my guitar reasoneably well.

Wow, it seems like a tank. One of the heaviest pedals I've ever saw.

Never dealt with them

I've been playing in bands since I was 13, now I am 22. My guitar sound is very similar to bands like Radiohead, Luna, The Cure... so I need a box that can give me a big amount of different distorstions. The rat does them all.

The RAT is, in my opinion, the best overdrive/distortion pedal out there. Because of one word = versatility. Seems like you have a VOX v810, a DS-1 and a Big Muff in the same box. A great deal.

One DISAPOINTING thing about the rat is the ausence of a led... sometimes you are using a light light crunch and if you aren't hearing your guitar too well, or if you are a singer/guitarrist -wich is my case- you can certainly know if you are with the rat on or off.

Another BAD thing is that the switch isn't very accesible. Again, being a singer/guitarrist doesn't help with this. I wish the swith button was like a Boss, where you can turn the pedal on with your eyes closed.

Anyway, the RAT is helping me a lot. One of the most reliable distorsion boxes ou there. Believe me :)

its all been said...

i blew my amp so right now im playing an american strat through other effects into a 10W Ibanez ss.

Not any more noisy than other analog dists. True Bypass so no sound when off.

it sounds great through my little amp, so i cant wait to get my Hot Rod Deluxe

i had a big muff but sold it as after buying my RAT, i had no need for it. I think the RAT sounds much much, better than the big muff. it can be very similar to it at some settings, except on the RAT you're not drowned in fuzziness.

Not reeally for you if you only want to play metal, but if you're like me and play metal occasionaly its fine. I play more alt. rock and blues.

it's been used by numerous artists, the most famous being Graham Coxon of blur, and Kurt Cobain used one on the recording of nevermind.

I think the protection could beat that of boss!

would use without a backup, and havent had one problem with it. Wish i could say the same for those EHX pedals....

Go get it, you wont be dissapointed.

Sounds very powerfull and natural

Well, usually od/dist pedals deserve words such as "only morons can't use it", "stop playin' if you can't get a good sound of it" and so on. IMHO, that's not the case of RAT, which has a very strong interplay between the knobs, so I needed a little twiddling to go for the sounds I'm after.

Rig:
1994 40th Anniversary American Strat>Vox Valvetone>TS9>RAT2>EHX russian Small Stone>EHX Electric Mistress (very old, green writings, read my review on HC!)>EHX Deluxe Memory Man>Boss TU2>Music Man 212 HD One-Thirty.
It's very versatile ("filter" changes the sounds from this to that) but quite extreme at the same time: note that it has a very high-end character, which makes it closer to a fuzz rather than to an overdrive.
I learned to depend on it somehow, but I would never use it as my only od/dist pedal: when you tweak the filter knob, at a first glance it may seem similar to a crunch, but I also have a TS9 reissue that blows the RAT away for that.
It's great to make the overall band sound dirtier: doesn't have the best sustain you'd need, but I don't, given the purposes I bought it for.

Bought it used, had it for one year, so far so good.
I got my scooter stolen a few hours after I bought it (police found it one week later), but it shouldn't be important if you're planning to buy a pedal.

Never dealt with ProCo.

When I bought my TS9, I was considering to sell the RAT.
Glad I didn't, it's giving a kind of garage touch to my band's style (www.phidgeband.com ) which I'm loving.
There's always a new song you're writing, and you have to keep your options open: my band's recent stuff wouldn't be what it is without my RAT.
Forget about bluesy and creamy tones, this thing is rough and I like it like this.