ProCo RAT

very simple,three pots,distortion,filter and volume. The filter is basicly a tone pot.

I have a custom made 6w valve head that goes into 1x12 cab with a celestion vintage 30. My guitar is an Ibanez RG550Ltd with DiMarzio Evolution pickups. This pedal can produce a high level of distortion so even a very low output single coils can sustain a long time. The best way to start with this pedal is to set the filter pot to mach your amp and guitar(diferent amps need diferent settings)and than go from there. The Rat colors the sound considerably so it's not very usable as a volume booster. Drive on this pedal is pretty brutal and agressive..yes,agressive,that's the word.. one thing though..it makes a little popp while switching off and it's not so plesant.

yes,you can depend on this little box. I've never seen a sturdier pedal. ..and the batery lasts a looong time.

never needed to deal with them

i play everything from blues of Clapton,Hendrics,Moore,BB,Zepellin,Purple to Vai,Satch stuff and Stefanovski. Been playing for abbout seven yrs and i've had my share of pedals, guitars and amps.If it were stolen i would buy another, i love this pedal. I love this pedal for the heavy riffs , for milder overdrive i use boss od2

Easy, now lets destroy...

Aggressive with the ability to go crunchy and fat. Can be warm when on the soft bridge parts of songs.

Never had any problems at a gig. Very durable, very!

This is great for punk rock, alternative rock, which is what I play. It has character and variation.

You could kill a member of the crowd with the rat by throwing it at them. Built like a tank. Don't tell the police...

I use a tele mostly on a fender valve amp

Pretty basic and simple.

The sound is like a brighter, harsher, more focused Big Muff. It is definately not for heavy metal. Good for early punk sounds, eighties rock, or classic rock. Used in conjunction with the Dan Electro cool cat and Dan-echo through a clean tube amp (ie Fender, Hiwatt) you can get a sound like Pink Floyd on The Wall. Also good if used before a Big Muff. Over all a good pedal to help diversify your sound.

So far so good. I purchased it used on Ebay. The switch needs to be replaced soon, but that's not too big a deal.

Never dealt with them.

Overall this is a neat pedal to have in the arsenal. If your into todays heavy metal this pedal probably is not for you. I also wouldn't suggest it for blues by its lonesome, it is a bit crunchy sounding for it. I thoroughly enjoy the sound, but this is always subjective.

It's easy to use this pedal. The volume and distortion knobs are fairly self explanatory and the filter knob gives you lots of control over the overall tone. That knob is the key to the pedal.

For a ratty, very distorted, harmonically rich, edgy yet loose sound the sound quality is perfect. If you're looking for a pristine sounding dist. pedal that has a tight, focused tone - this ain't it. I love my Pro Co Rat. It has a sound all it's own that can't be duplicated. I use it for a few songs where I'm looking for that blown out speaker type of distortion - it's perfect for the solo stuff in Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years"...try it, you'll see. I'm going to give the rating for this category an 8, because it does what I want it to do, and I don't try to get a sound out of it that it wasn't designed to produce.

I've never had a problem with mine in the 3 years I've owned it and I bought it used.

n/a

I play rock, blues and jazz fusion. Been playing for 28 years and I own several few Fender tube amps, a Boogie and a Marshall 1/2 stack...and a strat, tele, les paul,... If I lost this pedal I'd definitely buy another one. It has a very unique sound that I count on for certain songs in the set. It's not for everyone and it certainly won't work for all kinds of music...I use it on a pretty limited basis when I want to get 1 specific sound (although the filter knob will get you lots of different shades of ratty tone). There is just something really cool about this pedal and it's very fun to use. It can add that spark to my playing that I need sometimes to break things up. You gotta have a Rat man!

It does not get much simpler than this.

One problem, though. Without playing my guitar, how can I tell when the effect is on and when it is not? I can't! There's no light! This has been a problem since I have looped the Rat with a few other effects and a multi-effects processor to slightly boost the distortion for guitar solos, and with some effects processor patches it is hard to tell when the Rat pedal is on and when it is not.

Amazing sound for a little stompbox. Compared to Rat, most distortion pedals sound very artificial and cheap. The Rat sound is full, rich and precise. The filter control is also very handy. In short: this stompbox delivers, the other ones just make promises.

(Of course the Rat distortion still cannot beat the gain of a quality tube amp.)

My Rat is more than 15 years old now and it still performs perfectly. Enough said.

With a product that is apparently unbreakable, who needs customer support? I don't.

I've been playing for nearly 20 years now. Metal and blues, Rat is superb for both. However, if I lost the Rat (or if it finally broke down under heavy use), I don't think I would buy another one. I am currently using it only to give a little extra boost when playing leads (while getting the distortion from my effects processor and/or amp); I guess I could get the same result by making a suitable patch with my multi-effects processor.

This pedal has volume, filter and distortion knobs, which are extremely easy to use. There has to be something wrong with you if you can't get just the sound you want from this thing.

I play an American Standard Stratocaster and an SG through a Marshall JCM 600 (and a new Mesa Boogie F30). This is by far the best pedal I own. I do not use a battery (it's charged through my pedal board) and have never experienced any wierd noises. I play mostly blues/rock/psychadelic/country stuff but occassionally like the crazy distortion sound for fun, which the Rat can deliver. I like the sound (and the ability to really tweak the distortion) even better than the crunch of my Marshall tube amp.

Although I have not really beaten on it, the pedal seems very well made. As I mentioned earlier, I currently plug it in to my powered pedalboard so the batteries (and related sound problems) have not been an issue.

Never had to call.

I highly recommend this pedal. It can really give you a wide variety of sounds from psycho-ass distortion to very rich, rather mellow tone. I read about the Rat in a guitar magazine and think I bought it from Pro Co's website never having actually played it. I have been very happy with this purchase.

Very easy if you know the basics of distortion pedals and have an ear for tone.

It's for my taste probably the best distortion box I've tried. Note the word *taste*, because that's in the end what it is about. The RAT might be a bit too much in your face if you want a mellow, crunchy tube screamer tone. It sounds like its name says but can be tamed by turning down the guitar's volume. I wouldn't like any other. The RAT has pots for distortion, filter, and volume. Filter is enormously effective to give the tone desired nuances from edgy highs to droning lows. I am using Tele, Strat, and Fender amps. The RAT allows me to sound dynamical. Individual strings shine through.

Built extremely sturdy, compact and sensible. Has what is needed, does not have what's not needed.

Never needed, so I can't rate this.

Get one use on eBay for $40-50.
Been playing since the early 80's. Tried the RAT when I was into metal and didn't like it. Thought it didn't have enough fuzz. I'm now older, supposedly more mature, and more into Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Van Halen, Minutemen and other classic, hand-made stuff. I feel this pedal captures the dynamics of playing well and makes me sometimes feel like I'm 15 again.

easy

a squire japan guitar ,a cheap rubbish amp,it works together with a boss dd-3.the sound is fine,compared with rat2,less bass,but more clear and sweet,i can get a very nice warm overdrive sound as bill frisell does,but the high dist set is not powerful enough.not as melvins as the rat2,but the tone is quite simular as the tone fred smith did in the patti smith album <dream of life>.and can get a lou reed low gain tone.
the rats are far better than the boss pedal.the boss dist/od sounds like toys.

seems good but i just bought it 2 days.

sorry.

it is good for my type. jazz blues alternate,it can give the music i play a soulful tone.a very good dark tone,like a coffee if the muff was vodka and the boss was sprite.it can sing and cry,after all it has a soul.really.

3 knobs pretty simple.

i play blues, rock, folk even funk sometimes, Strat to Crybaby to Rat to Boss Chorus to Fender Hot rod deluxe. ok the reason i gave the Rat a 5 is because i'm really inbetween with this pedal. I absolutly love the sound of it. It is very diverse for a 3 knob pedal. however when using it live it just does not cut. the sound just completely drops volume wise, i don't know if this is just specifically my pedal or if it's with rats in general but when i kick on my distortion i want it to ........... well KICK.
and the Rat just really doesn't do it for me. However no matter what amps i use in the studio (always tube) i come out with a great sound.

except for the volume drop again i'm not sure if it's specifically my pedal this thing is a tank when i first got it 4 years ago, I brought to gigs and such in a green mini duffel bag along with alot of other metal objects and aside from some cosmetic damage it managed to stay in tact.

never been able to get ahold of them

i give this pedal an 8 because it sounds great it is very versatile and it's a tank. but i had to drop some points for my volume dilemma

oohhdear, three knobs

bleehh !! if you like door buzzers /hair clipper/ bumble bee sounds this is the box for you. thereis (just too stiff for me) just better sounding stuff out there(more detailed)

bullet proof cassing,simple strog swich you'll have your work cut out braking it

what??!!

i got sucked into buying it, ya "had" to have one, i miss my super medal pedal.....whats this...medal zone alright!!! i sold mine to gary from tad who got his riped off in n.y. he was happpy i had beer money every thing worked out