ProCo RAT

A very easy pedal to get a good sound from. Maybe no great sounds here, but many very useful ones. Pretty straightforward. No manual, analog patch editing (read:3 knobs).

This will be going into a Top Hat Club Deluxe using Reverends, Fenders, and a PRS. Using it for simple power distortion rhythm with an occasional lead. No noise, true bypass switching long before it was fashionable or necessary. Just a terrific, no nonsense classic rock distortion box. Sounds from Lynyrd Skynyrd to fusion jazz in a $50.00 non-boutique box.

I've had this for 16 years, although much of that time it's been in a toolbox or onstage with my rhythm/keyboard player. Still, I believe I've changed the battery once since 1988 or so. Extremely reliable and dependable.

A 9 rating across the board. I play lounge and wedding music, which actually sometimes calls for extreme tones (remember, the wedding demographic IS getting younger as we old guys age); other overdrives are a Fulldrive 2 and a Barber Burn Unit. Other ODs I own are a reissue DOD 250 and a Morley JD10. When I bought the Club Deluxe I was surprised at how ratty and bad most distortion pedals I tried were. I looked at a bunch of boutique and near boutique boxes, actually buying Bixonic and Fuller DP1 pedals to get a high gain distortion to complement the FD 2 and the Barber. Both sounded TERRIBLE with the amp, and not much better with my high gain beasts (Mesa Mark III and Budda SuperDrive). I oulled the Rat out for laughs and to my surprise, it thoroughly pounded the far more expensive units I'd tried. Sometimes, I guess, more expensive doesn't mean better. Anyhow, I've played for almost 30 years, the last 13 or so with high gain amp distortion exclusively. The TH was purchased as a quick-setup, simplified alternative to all the cabling and loops I've gotten accustomed to. The Rat looks like it will supply a very important texture that the Barber and Fulltone don't quite reach, although they will stay on the board. The Rat provides any extreme of distortion you could want, sings (unlike the DP1 or the Bixonic), and is built like a stone. And it sat forgotten in a closet for many years waiting for another chance to rock out. Loyal, too. Gotta love it...

if you can't use this pedal, you probably can't read, either, so you won't mind me saying you're a dumbass

the only weird thing about my particular pedal (all rats? i dunno) is that the filter pot was the reverse of what you would think of as logical order (treble on the left, bass on the right). maybe if you didn't have ears you wouldn't know if you've dialed alot of bass or treble. thus, a 9

this pedal has awesome bass response!!! really great for non-scooped mids distortion. the treble is a little grittier, but not in a bad way. incredibly smooth tone on most channels. exactly what i was looking for in a distortion pedal. definitely not an overdrive pedal. has so much gain, btw, that cranking this up and a boss ds1 as a booster all the way up and the pickups all the way down let me pick up tv signals on the clean channel of my amp. crazy shit!

got it third hand with no battery cover (now duct taped). built of what looks like die-cast metal, it ain't breakin' anytime soon

i play punk/hardcore, and this pedal really does it for me. may not be for everyone, but they're pretty common, so try one before you buy it to make sure it's you

Well - three knobs. Distortion, Filter and volume. That's it. What more do you need - really?!

Well, I had mine "customed", and I think I made the pedal go too far. It is veeery "toney" - it really get your tone to the max. The gain is monstrous. I prefer devastating rock sounds, not metal really. More like EyeHateGod, Sleep, High On Fire, Neurosis, Electric Wizard, Melvins... you know... music with LOTS of mids, not scooped mids. It growls and gowls. It's so beautiful. My amp is also cusomised and it sounds like like Orange on steroids but with 6L6's - and with this thing - instant feedback, just the way I like it. It is VERY dirty pedal, so forget solos and stuff; o.k. not really, but personaly I think this is a rhythm pedal. It's so powerful. Not for everyone. But the ones that like it won't sell it - EVER. Me included.

Reliability? Well... Mine has no led indicator, and you know how old those are. So... If I can still use it, how can I complaint about anything??? Only have to change battery once every milennium. Just step on it, hear the most fearsome "click", and that's it.

What customer support? I really don't think I need them anyway.

Well, I like the dirty sound it produces. I have an amp which is dirty, guitar has heavy gauge strings, and the pedal that is the dirtiest possible. Only better thing in my opinion would be Orange preamp as a pedal. Nothing else.

Making a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich is MORE DIFFICULT than this thing.

It really doesn't matter what guitar or amp I use with the Rat...they all kick serious ass!I bought my first RAT pedal in 1986.But after 2yrs. it went dead.I QUICKLY BOUGHT ANOTHER ONE!! I think the best feature is the type of compression it uses.I always seem to get an even rsponse with minimal peaking or losing notes.The RAT can produce cheesy,Punk-Rock mayhem to Carlos Santana's smooth,fat soul-burn.IT'S NOT AN OVERDRIVE!! Don't even think about it.But if you want classic dirt-bomb dist.,then LOOK NO FURTHER! The FILTER knob is the key.It gives the RAT lots of tonal character.

Very dependable!If you throw it hard enough,it'll bring down a charging rhino!Use an overdrive pedal if you're going to get bluesy.

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A CLASSIC!!I put it in the gallery of greats along with the EH Big Muff,Ibanez SM-9,and(believe it or not)the Boss HM-2!The RAT has it's own sound and is great for 80's metal.For nastiness, it's no match for the Fab Tone and doesn't have the flexibility of the SM-9.But it's more useful LIVE and can get real cheesy when you tweak the filter knob.In it's price range(under $100)the Pro Co RAT is one of the best ever!! Mine is retired...for now.

very easy to use. three knobs, that`s it

ive used it with various amps (Sundown Rebel 100, Fender Bassman 50) and my Gordon Smith GS2. Sounds thick and punchy when distortion set on 12 oclock. Dont turn it up too much, the sound gets compressed and muddy. if you want something transparent and clear, look somewhere else, the RAT is kinda dirty pedal. use it also with a parametric eq, this will allow you much more variety in sound.
by the way, it sounds great as a bass distortion pedal as well!

naver had any problems with it. it`s made of metal.

great pedal for punk and alternative. i am gonna look for a pedal with more clarity anyway, but the RAT isn`t bad. a good pedal

It is very simple... only 3 knobs! But i will not give it a 10 because you need to experiment a lot with these highly interactive knobs to get your sound.

THE BEST distortion pedal i ever had!!! Any BOSS distortion sounds weak in front of rat!
I bought it in 1986 (used!) and never had to buy something else.
I had the first version of rat, the one without the light signal and it does not glow like other rats.

I dont want to give it a 10... i want to give it a 1000!!!!!! I use it since '86 without a back up, i kick it, i drop it down, i step on it, i do everything and this fucking thing still works!!! I dont have to change the batery in less than 6 months!!! And the battery works untill the very last minute of it's life!!!!

As i said, it is so reliable that i never had to deal with them... so, creating such a good product (amongst others) means CUSTOMER SUPPORT too! that's why i'll give it a 10!

The most reliable thing i ever bought!!! I wish anything in this world would work as good as RAT. ProCo created a veeeeeeeery nice distortion, and made it last for ever!

easy to use. gain, shape and output level knobs

I don't like this unit. It has a squashed sound and high gain setting that messes up the sound like a very strong fuzz and it sounds hard on lower settings.

it's build like a tank

didn't deal with them

Either my unit is defected or the truth is what i hear. it is only usuable at lower gain settings, otherwise it kills your guitar sound. It sounds like your guitar is vomiting when you play threw it on high gain settings.

It couldn't be easier to use. I have had it for 20 years and have always looked at it as very easy. The volume and distortion knobs are simply that. I always used the filter knob as a tone control.

I have played it with numerous setups over the years. Main guitar is a 71 Tele that has been used through Marshall Stack, Fender Super 60,
Yamaha Combo and a few others that I can't think of at this time. The sound has always been as fuzzy or crunchy as I wanted without any sign of feedback

Like I said, I have had it for about 20 years and the only thing I have ever done is change a battery.I do think there is only 1 or 2 screws left holding it together though

Never had any issues

I currently play alot of Blues and some hard rock/metal. I have played everything from Jazz to Punk over the years. I would and have recommended it to others over the years. I did at one time use 2 of them at the same time for extra punch during solos(I was playing alot of 80's metal at the time). I do remember wishing at times that it had a power indicator on it so you know when it's on. Overall I would say it is probably the 1 piece of equipment that I have used the longest.

Very easy to use with three knobs making for boring tweaks.

I've had the thing for close to 15 years. The more I play with it the more I dislike it. My Rat sucks the tone right out of the guitar (G&L S-500; Silvertone) and no matter how low I set the filter (compressor?), the tone gets sucked away. However, it does provide a great deal of distorition and, when the volume and distorition are all the way up and the amp set to overdrive, you can get gobs of feedback. This is the only real reason why I haven't gotten rid of the thing, yet (besides the fact that I am a bit of a packrat when it comes to gear). I suppose the best thing about the RAT's tone (or theaft of it) is that it has allowed me to figure out what I really want is a good, old tube overdrive, either emulated or real. My impression is that the RAT works better with solid state amps than with tube amps, but that may just be my ear. The volume boost alone would be my prefernece if going into a tube amp (for me that means a Traynor Bassmaster head into 2x15" Scorpions or a Garnet Deputy II with one 18" speaker--mostly used for bass).

Built like a tank. Only problems I've had is to change the battery twice int he last 15 years. Wish more stomp boxes were so efficient with power. Would gig with it if I had no other choice.

Never called, don't expect that I ever will. Therefore, I have no opinion.

I play all sorts of styles but mostly (and much to my chagrin) I end up playing solo blues solos (I am so bored with bules when I'm not playing it--with few exceptions most blues is rehashing of old tried and true riffs. How about something different for a change?). Been playing now for 21 years in and out of bands but mostly writing songs. Would not replace it under any circumstances as I don't care for the sound that much--now if it's tone were more tansparent....

You just plug it in and rock out. This distortion is very open to experimentation...

I use the Rat with a '68 Gibson SG, an Epiphone Firebird, and a cheap-ass Epiphone SG Junior through a Marshall JCM 800 and occasionally an Ampeg V-4B. (I know, it's a bass amp...) Here's the breakdown. '68 SG,sounds great with distortion at 2-5, tone 6-10 and level cranked. Epi Firebird, depends, but usually sounds like ass. Epi SG Jr., sounds crazy at any setting but sometimes cool. I also use it to record vocals sometimes.

It works pretty well, although the switch sticks from time to time, due mostly to old age, I think, not shoddy workmanship

Never had to contact 'em...

I've been using it alot lately, it's a good distortion, and also works well as a gain boost. If you want "smooth grit" get a Rat and play with it.