ProCo Turbo RAT

3 dials, very easy to use

I play this with les paul and strats, through a tech 21 trademark 60 amp. I bought this with a gift card, so it didn't cost me anything. I guess that's why I'm not too upset about not being 100% happy with this pedal. It does have an interesting sound, somewhat like a big muff, but not as fuzzy. You can get a cool rhythm sound. Now, for leads... unfortunately, I have to use another overdrive with it for leads. This pedal by itself does not have any real sustain? That broke my heart, because I wanted to love this pedal. So, for leads I kick in an overdrive pedal before the turbo rat. You'd think that with the word "turbo" on it, it would scream? Well it does not. It's more like a yell than a scream.

It's built like a tank. If I threw this pedal at someones head, it may kill them.

I've never had to use them, but I understand that they are great with customer support.

Don't misunderstand, I don't hate this pedal. I don't even dislike it. I don't love it, but I do like it. Like I said, it does get a cool rhythm sound, I just can't use it on it's own for sustaining leads. What a shame.

pretty standard, 3 knobs: Dist, filter and volume.

When I first plugged in and played, I was NOT impressed. I guess I was expecting this pedal to blow my mind; based on it's legacy and all it's hype? Then I played with it a bit and started to figure it out. To use ALL 3 knobs together is the key to figuring out this pedal, they work interactively. Learn to use the volume control on this. I know this may sound silly, but I notice a lot of people tend to keep the volume on distortion pedals at 12 o'clock. In short, the higher the volume is set on the pedal, the higher the guitar's output, the harder it will hit your amps preamp section. This pedal has A LOT of output, hence the "Turbo" moniker. When I set the volume on this pedal at about 75% and played around with the distortion and filter knobs, this beast came alive. Saturated yet clear. Awesome raw fuzz type distortion. It's like a big muff, only more defined and more "pro" sounding(?). It's a very unique sound and i love it! My 2 gripes about this pedal: 1) it has a lot of output, so when the volume on the pedal is turned up, you will get that awesome tone, but when the pedal is switched off, there is a big drop in the amps overall output. 2) changing the battery is a pain in the ass. You''ll see what i mean when you try it. So, minus 2 points, I'll give this pedal an 8.

This pedal is built like a safe! Heavy, strong casing. So far, so good.

N/A

Great tones out of this pedal. The volume thing and the battery thing not withstanding, this is indeed a great, unique sounding pedal.

Very simple to use. A volume knob and two knobs which affect the level of distortion/clarity.

The sound which can be achieved with the pedal is liable to divide some opinion. There is actually quite a nice level of clarity in terms of tone, but the general feeling one gets when using the pedal is a powerful and slightly uncontrollable distortion as opposed to the crisp, mechanic sounds favoured by more technical players. This is a pedal best suited for grungey, messy styles of rock.

I used this pedal over a period of 6 years at numerous gigs (60 or 70) without a backup. It's been subjected to a fairly large amount of abuse over this period and, eventually, it started to show some signs of its age and began randomly cutting out. I bought a replacement which has so far not given me any problems.

No opinion.

I play a brand of pixies-esque rock and this pedal suits my style of play perfectly. I don't play intricate technical guitar solos whilst using the distortion, I simply use it for grungey power chords and licks in the Joey Santiago mould. For me, it's perfect for this purpose and I wouldn't choose any other pedal, but I am fully aware that players with different requirements (more technical or melodic) may find it inadequate.

While it's obvious what the controls do I don't think it's as easy as some people make out. It does take some playing with to get the sound you want. While it sounds good at most settings, be clear about what you want it to do and keep playing with it and you'll find some great tones- its such a versatile pedal.

Doesn't take a boss power supply. its a half inch jack style one- not hard to get an adapter though.

I use this with with either a tele with alnico II single coils or a les paul with a p-90 in the neck and a very hot humbucker in the bridge. I run it mostly directly in front of the guitar and have a loada effects running after it. I run a 40w fender hot rod with celection vintage 30 12" speaker.

Its noisy at high setting but then it is a really high output pedal- you want less noise, turn it down. It's true bypass.

Great pedal. You can get a nice thick crunch tone out of it and run this right up to metally full on distortion.

It does colour your tone- there is definitely a 'rat' tone. I use it as my main lead distortion. It adds a reasonable amount of compression, which gives you great sustain and harmonics (although this may be from my tubes and the rat gives this impression as it pushes them so hard). Due to the compression it isn't a very dynamic pedal- I'd look elsewhere for bluesy overdrive (I keep a boss bluesdriver on my board for that sort of thing), although you can draw off some gain with your volume control. Also does lovely swells with the volume.
It really fattens up single coils. I love that I can turn up with my vintage tele and small tube combo and get some great tubey clean tones and then I can stick on the rat and cut through another guitarist whose using high output pickups and a massive stack. It really pushes the front of your amp and it is amazing how much volume you can generate with it.

You can get some great fuzz out of the rat- I'v AB'd it with a big muff and you can get close to the sound but the Rat is a touch grittier. Which I like but if you want silky smoothe tones it may not be for you.

It loves other effects. I sometimes use an envelope filter before, and after I can add any combination of overdrive, phase, echo, tremolo and more and it sounds great. Doesn't need any more compression though and you need to be careful of anything that sucks power from it as it won't push your amp as hard.

As for artists you can emulate with this... I used it to cover alot of radiohead, some muse (although I did need to stick an EQ after it to shape it slightly), floyd, pumpkins...

I do gig without a backup. Seems as heavily built as anything I've come across.

no idea

I think the important thing with any effect is that you get a good strong tone without effects first and then you bring effects in to create certain sounds, not to solve problems. Also I recommend trying one first as, although I do consider it more versatile than a lot of distortion pedals, it is quite disinctive and may not be what you want.

I also don't think it works that well with solid state amps, I've only used it with one a couple of times and it sounded very sterile, kinda similar to matt bellamy's early tones when he recorded straight from fuzz factory into a desk. Again, I'd try it first.

Three Knobs. It's very, very easy to use and very easy to get good sounds out of.

The Turbo Rat is a fantastic, classic distortion sound. Nearly every setting I've played on is usable and enjoyable.

I bought it because I am using a Tubescreamer and a Big Muff and wanted a distortion that would fall somewhere between the two - it does this perfectly.

I was surprised by how quickly I was dialing in Sonic Youth-esque distortion tones from it. I knew that Thurston and Kim use this pedal but for whatever reason, I hadn't expected to hear sounds like that coming from it right out of the box. That was an awesome and welcome surprise.

I've also found good Yo La Tengo and Radiohead settings - in addition to it blending perfectly into my band's original songs (which are Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth rip offs, more or less).

PLUS, it's TRUE BYPASS!!!!!!!

For those interested, I'm using a Jap Strat with S. Duncan Rails >Boss TU-2>Modded Ibanez Tubescreamer>MXR Blue Box>Pro Co Tubro Rat>EHX Big Muff Pi>Sovtek Small Stone>Boss Digital Reverb/Delay>Fender DeVille 410

I couldn't break the Rat if I tried. The housing is super solid. I don't foresee any problems with this pedal.

I don't gig with backups. I've never had a problem with anything going out on me. Except strings. I have yet to find good strings that won't break. And I've tried a lot...

I haven't dealt with Pro Co but I've heard that they're fantastic which is part of what prompted me to go ahead and buy the Rat.

I play Post-Punk Garage Rock with surf, noise and funk influences. I can't imagine buying another distortion pedal after the Turbo Rat - it's perfect.

I've been playing for 7 or 8 years. I would definitely buy another Turbo Rat if it were stolen.

Really simple to use, didn't have to fiddle to much to get it sounding tasty, just took a few adjustments o the distortion and filter controls to get the sound I wanted!

My setup is A fender Highway one with a seymour duncan humbucking hot rail in the bridge postion. I'm just running this through a Guyatone OD2 with the drive way down for a nice crunchy/clean tone and using this as my main distortion. My amp is a VOX climax, similar to an AC30 but a bigger badder 80's version!

The pedal is a complete firecracker, blew me away when i first turned it on! It's got everything I want in a distortion pedal! I bought it after learning that Teppei from thrice uses it, which is the sort of sound I was going for, really heavy, but with note clarity and punch and not all scooped out and fuzzy! This thing does this well. I have to say that on it's own its ever so slightly thin, but with the OD2 behind it it sounds really thick and full but will still cut through the mix!

This pedal will sound great with the right gear and someone who knows their stuff using it!

I;ve only just bought this pedal (I liked it so much I wanted to review it straight away!) so no opinion here yet.

I play a lot of alternative rock, heavy stuff that I wouldnt class as metal ranging through Thrice, Jimmy eat world, Switchfoot.

I've been playing for around 10 years now and this is one of the best distortion sounds for my style I;ve played. I can;t decide whether I like this or my OD2 more! If it was lost or stolen I would definately replace it, It kicks ass!

There are three knobs. Pretty basic stuff. The "Filter" control doesn't function like a regular tone knob, so as long as you don't treat it like one you won't have a hard time dialing in wicked tone.

Set up: Mexican Strat (stock); Les Paul Standard (w/ SD "Phat Cat" P-90s); Traynor 'Custom Valve 40' (tube combo amp).

Sounds awesome with single coils through a tube amp. I was completely blown away by how versatile this pedal is; as expected, it can totally wail with all the sustain and beautiful feedback you could ever want, but it also cleans up remarkably well. It also responds excellently to the guitar's volume knob. I can get a killer Doug Martsch/Built To Spill tone (think intro to "Carry The Zero") as well as the shredding Sonic Youth tones I bought it for (Thurston Moore has used one for over 20 years, nuff said). In short, it covers overdrive, distortion and fuzz all in one tiny box.

Right now I have it set up before more Big Muff and together it's distortion heaven

I bought it two days ago but it's built like a tank. I don't think I'll be making use of their "any excuse, even abuse" warranty policy any time soon

Haven't had the need to call yet.

I'm into the whole independent rock gamut, from the mellowest to the most intense, and this pedal will find a place in every project. Extremely satisfied.

3 knobs named Distortion-Filter-Volume.
Pretty self explanatory i suppose BUT these DO NOT work in the coventional way other pedals do!They all affect tone even the volume knob and all knobs should be though of as tone 'shapers'.They all interact a lot which each other.
So its kinda tricky to learn the controls at first since they are like that BUT your rewarded with a wide array of sounds and options.

Setup : Fender standar Tels w/ Kinman pups into a Crate vintage club 30 and a few pedals.

This is the perfect distortion for me!!!It sounds like a high gain fuzz but it doesnt overide and muddy-up your sound in mud and harmonics!!!Its fuzzy but remains 'clean' and allows stacato playing and muted strings-stumming to come through.The fileter control does a good job adjusting the bass and tremble frequences and you always have thumbing lows and pleasant cutting highs.Overall it sounds mid-range-y in my ears.
The unit is very very loud,sustains very well.it sounds better in tube amps.Very good in solid staes ones but really SHINES with tubes.
If i had to name a few band sounds to describe the sound this pedal produces then i guess it would be close to say band such as early Black Sabbath,the White Stripes,Smashing Pumpkins(almost perfectly).
It will do Garage,Punk,Rock and even packs a lot of crunch n filth for Metal.

Its built like a tank and seems indestructable!!
Very heavy and sturdy made.in the inside its very tidy and very well put together.
In all a very HIGH QUALITY made pedal.

Well as i said to me,for the sound i want its just wonderfull!!!
I dont think ill buy another distortion pedal again really.
Reason i bought it is:i had (still own) a NY Big Muff.Even though i loved the 'tranzistor-y' high-gain distortion in that pedal,the amount of noise and harmonics it adds just made it impossible to use in some occasions.
The Turbo-Rat gave me all the sounds the Muff had and a few more but in a 'cleaner' more easy to control way.Its a more usefull and versatile than the Muff (although it lacks the sendless sustain the muff has)and i can also do palm muting with it.Im very very happy cause i loved that Muff-ish sound.PLUS its True-ByPass.
I also have a ProCo 'You Dirty Rat' pedal and that one is same quality but a lot more versatile (best Marshall in a box sound out there in my opinion plus Hendrix Fuzz).The Turbo Rat isnt as much,its destined for high-Gain distortion and does the job extremely well.If you want classic Rat,overdrive or more traditional fuzz sounds get another pedal.
The Turbo Rat is the epitomy of Fuzz sounding Distortion.

This pedal is actually very easy for me to get the sound I want. It's definitely not for everyone, but it only took me around 5 minutes to find "my" sound.

Thick and meaty! I have tried other distortions (Boss DS-1, Big Muff, Ibanez Smansh Box Boss OS-2) and I have to say that the Turbo Rat blows them the hell out of the water! It has a nice thick mid-rangey distortion that suits me perfectly. I keep the distortion knob set at about 12:00, the filter at around 10 or 11 (too much bass after about 12) and the volume varies depending on the situation. This thing is my holy grail of distortion pedals. I am using an Ibanez RG2EX1(basswood with "designed by EMG" pickups) and a Kustom Tube12 and this thing turns my tiny amp into a volcano. I was soooo tired of distortion pedals that had so much hype and constantly failed to deliver the goods. The Turbo Rat WILL satisfy all of your out of control distortion needs.
And note, the sound examples on ProCo's (or any other for that matter) website do NOT do this thing justice, this pedal is liquid hot magma in a tiny black box.

Built like a tank

Never had to deal with them

I lean more towards industrial/metal/experimental type stuff. Think the Deftones meet Ministry at a Jesus Lizard concert and they decide to go to the Melvins house listening to System Of A Down and Tool just happens to be there, so they all decide to go sit at Dimebag's grave and knock back some black tooth grins. I have been playing as a hobby for about 10 years and have gone through many guitars and amps in this time. I am by no means a professional musician and my exprerience with this pedal comes with a semi-shitty (or fully shitty, but at least it has a tube) amp and an inexpensive guitar, I cant wait to upgrade my amp and pickups to really see the full potential of this badass pedal. If lost I would be bummed but just replace it immediately, if stolen I would hunt the thief down and cut his nipples off. This pedal has truly rekindled my fire for this great instrument and I will be building a rig around its sound (now that I have the necessary fundage to do so) Damn, there are just not enough good things to say about this pedal. This is only my opinion and like I said before, it's not for everyone, I think it's either love it or hate it, but for certain needs it is king of the mountain.

I'm actually giving this LESS than others, because it did take me a while to learn how to use the tone knob, where to roll back the drive knob too, and how much the volume affects the output.

But that's not a "bad" thing really, I like pedals that I can explore. But for some people, it may be quite complex for a "Three Knob" pedal.

Now, here's where I think people are wrong.

First off, after about a year, this becomes possibly THE most versatile distortion pedal. I've been able to dial in fairly perfect Black Sabbath, Smashing Pumpkins, Opeth, even Dave Gilmour Fuzz Face Tones(gain from around 10 to 12 O clock depending on how much you need, usually 10.30 for solos, Filter approaching 12, volume knob up fairly loud).

People say the Turbo RAT isn't the greatest HI GAIN pedal - but it's honestly better than most. It doesn't have that rectified sound that people have come to expect from a "hi gain" pedal, and doesn't have the insane screeching that pedals like the Fuzz Factory do either. It's a more "solid", gritty sound. It takes a while to dial in a good solo sound - you can't roll the filter back too much or it'll fade into the background, can't keep it up too much or it's got too much of a piercing quality.

But it CAN do Metal. It's great for a Master of Puppets kind of Distortion. For more screechy Pantera stuff, not so much. That's what people mean when they say this isn't a great "Hi Gain" pedal. It does suck that for all it's versatility it can't step out of it's box enough to do this, but no pedal is going to be perfect. It also might sound a little "darker" and fuzzier(not necessarily in a good way for everyone) in some ways than the original Rat.

Never had any problems. Ever.

Haevn't dealth with them.

I like a lot of Alt Rock like the 'Pumpkins and Muse who have some warm fuzzy tones. I also like Post Punk and while it can do a mishmash of those styles I must admit it's not great at giving me the post punky bauhaus tones I'd love, but it's still better than most pedals, in all honesty.

Even though the pedal "seems" to have one tone, you'd be amazed as to how you can bend that tone to mimmic others.

Again, the most "notable" range of tones this can do include mostly the Pumpkins, Black Sabbath, and Dave Gilmour-ish Fuzz Face; it can also do some grittier, nastier wilder stuff; think the distortion on the bass line from Song 2(which used 2 original RATs) only nastier. So that's pretty much the exact sound set you're getting. Oldschool metal, warm alt rock, and some Vintage tones.

If you want a real messy gritty distortion, get a Fuzz Factory. If you want Pantera type stuff, you'll probably need to get a Mesa Boogie or Engl Powerball head, or a pedal that emulates their effect. If you want a smoother fuzzy distortion that's versatile, get this.

Fucking legendary pedal. You don't even "need" to do the LM chip switch, this pedal has it's "Own" sound so you don't need to emulate the older RATs for it to sound good, but you can still get pretty close.

easy knots and easy use!

It's a nice pedal and produces nice sounds.
I use it mainly for blues..and use it as a boost when playing heavier musics.
It's just a wide range pedal,and can manage all the sounds you want

so far so good

dunno

nice!!!

A little tough to get a good sound out of it at first. I found it is great for blues/jazz... both for lead and chords. I really can't get a "fully saturated" sound out of it that I am satisfied with but it is "killer" for blues. It has a really sensitive range of distortion adjustment, there is some great "sweet spots" - different of course with different guitars.... I like to have all the knobs around the "11 O'Clock" position with my humbucker guitar for playing blues. This sound great for playing slow blues with a fair amount of reverb. This pedal sounds great when you really "dig in" with aggressive pick attack. It is very dynamic at filter settings that allow the highs to come through.

Great for blues, jazz.. but not so good for heavier stuff. Great for "raking" style playing, arpegios, blues chording (9ths/7ths) with just the right amount of "hair" around the notes. It is dynamic at the right settings, great with both single coil and HB equiped guit boxes. It is NOT noisey. I have used it with various amps and find it sounds great into my solid state (digital!!!) Line6 Spider on the clean setting with the reverb up about half way. Nice warmth and presence.

I bought it used so I opened it up to clean it and spray some spermwhale juice into the controls. It is built VERY well and well worth the 59 Canadian "funny money" dollars I paid!

Great customer support. I emailed them about a "wall-wart" adapter and they got back to me on the next business day. Highly recomnended.

I play most genres of music with a focus on blues, rock, jazz and heavy metal. I have played for around 30 years. I would miss the pedal if it were lost or stolen but it was a pawn shop find to add to my collection so I don't know if I'd buy a new one - (cost). As compared to my other pedals this one is more subtle in its settings (compared to Boss Metal Zone and Landmine)It is however very similar to a low wattage tube amp when cranked up. It saturated like an overdriven tube amp with a tube rectified power supply. The bass "sags" with this pedal... this is not a bass heavy pedal. It sound a lot like my Bogen tube rectified P.A. (which I use for guitar). You will not get a "scooped mids" sound out of the Turborat but it is great for blues, jazz and rock.

It is not that easy. It takes a while to find the right settings.

Great. The turbo is an overdrive, a distortion and a fuzz at the same time and sounds excellent with both single coils and humbuckers. It has a strong midrange and IN YOUR FACE
sound. Some boutique pedals may sound nicer but the Rat is a players pedal, which will cut thru mix and responds to what you do.
No menatones fulltones, xotics could convince me like the turbo rat did.

I have to mention that it is an older (Made in U.S.) version from the early nineties, it also has
the LM308 Motorola chip. I heard the new ones are not the same ... what a pity.

15 years old, no problems.

I found this little treasure in the garage. After trying it out, i sold all my expensive boutique
stuff. Just kept an old tube screamer (STL) and this one.

Fairly easy to use but some time needed with it to get the sound you're looking for.
No manual with mine (bought second hand)
Dont bother with downloading one, the presets are shithouse.

I play an epiphone firebird 7 (minibucker equiped) through the Turbo Rat and straight into a Laney VC-30 (Vox Ac30 Copy). For what i'm looking for this setup is perfect. I can just about get any distortion tone, except for maybe extreme metal, with this setup. Some say that the downside of the Turbo Rat is the lack of sustain, bvut with a half decent amp and some fiddling you won't have that problem. Occaisioally i put the rat through the effects loop for a slightly warmer tone, btu my lack of good leads restricts me there.

can't be harmed.
Also make for a good weapon if the roadies get smart.

havn't dealt with them

Playing anything from slightly overdriven blues through to hard rock and metal the Rat will just about handle it all.
From what i hear it very easy to Mod.
the only qualm is the time it take to get a good mix between the filter and distortion levels.
Craps all over Ds1, Ts9, and any marshall amp distortion.
Great product.

eh i dont really like it. i own a DKMGT(somthing rather like that) jackson with an 81 and 85 emg actives and i really dont need more distortion. but for somthing with a ton less distortion its good
BUT IT HAS TO USE DAM BATERIES (unless u buy the plug in thinger which i have yet to find)

sound quality is great with my old guitar. made a crappy starcaster sound like a strat (vox mini amp 5wat)
they always sound cool cuz u can get nice high gain or low ass gain

oh ya ive dropped this thing so many times. its fucking invincible and as long as its batery works and the cables used work it works

none

nice for other guitar styles (not metal ect)
great for guitars without bitching humbuckers
its invincible
but its fucking hard to push down the button ESPECIALLY WITHOUT SHOES

There are 3 controls that you turn either left or right for less or more wet signal. After about 5 minutes you should get the hang of how to produce the sounds you want using those three controls (Distortion, Filter, Volume). Once that happens you're ready to rock.

Someone here mentioned in an earlier review that this was a 'dirty' kind of distortion. Well I must agree, this one is thick, but not necessarily metal thick. It's more diabolical, suited for music with a totally out there edge but one not so hung up on shredding. I'd say think industrial meets shoegaze meets indie and you're around the right area.

Actually when I first played this pedal at Long&McQuade I was very impressed. The distortion provided great flow, no fizz and a real strong overall sound. It will beef-up your sound without a doubt with favourable results. I use either an Eastwood Ultra-GP or an Epiphone Custom through a JC-120 and it's immaculate, exactly what I wanted. It basically provides the distortion that my Boss GT-8 is lacking.

I've had no problems with it thus far, and there's been a lot of stomping going on.

Haven't utilized the service

I am in a shoegaze band and this is exactly what I was looking for. A lot of my guitar heroes used the ProCo Rat or RatII, although I must say that when I tried out the Rat pedal it sounded a lot more thin and tinny compared to the Turbo, that is waht I liked about it so much, it really helps carry the sound without sounding too thrash-heavy. It's thick yet, but in a real groovin way. It's perfect for any sound that utilizes a lot of effects and for music that is pure sound focused.

I've been playing off and on for 11 years now, or 8 years of actually sticking with it. I'm no Steve Vai or John Petrucci or any of those lads, but I can play one hell of a melody and I focus a lot on effects. This little Rat fit right in to the sound.

I'd like to be critical of it, I really would, but as far as it goes right now, I love it! It's better than the DS-1 MS-1 or any Boss Distortion pedals (though I do dig em) and is right on par in sound quality with a Tube-Screamer, even though that one is for overdrive. They both sound great.

I don't think the sound will be for everybody but if you like something a bit different this is the one for you.

The general layout is simple:

It only has the 3 knobs BUT they are very sensitive.
It takes a while to get what you are looking for, but after tweeking it for a while you will be very happy.

The Turbo Rat does come with a manual but it is very limited.

I love this pedal!
I've been playing for 22 years, mostly classic hard rock;
ac/dc, zz-top, james gang, etc. I'm able to hit it all with the aid of this pedal.
My setup is Heavily modded strat or a vintage gibson sg ->wah->
boss tu2->voodoo labs microvibe->turbo rat->vintage ts9->mxr dynacomp
->Marshall 1/2 stack

Keep in mind it's actually a fuzz with a major attitude that makes it believe it's a true distortion pedal.
Depending on how much time is spent with it will depend on what it'll do for ya. Also cleans up wonderful when you roll off the guitars volume knob...very nice!

It's a brick shithouse man! you aint gonna kill it.
More Solid than most pedals out there. Like the proco ad states "made to withstand the abuse of the road!"

Awesome!!! Very nice people.
I was corrosponding with them about some mods and they are open to all suggestions.

Awesome pedal, but I won't recomend it because then you will have MY sound! But really it is great.
Ive played with dozens of distortion pedals from Boss, ibanez, MXR, electro-harmonics, and DOD ...None of them are even close.
If you really want that late 70's to early 80's killer hard rock tone,
then this is the holy-grail! (NOTE: when i mention 80's i am not talking about foofy queer warrent type garbage..I mean the the deep purple and ted nugent type stuff)

Pretty easy to use. Gain, tone and volume knobs. Tone works in the reverse of what you might expect eg. turning clockwise makes the tone darker.

I'm using this on bass. I find that the pedal tends to kill your tone, and put its own 'rat tone' on everything you play. The distortion is ugly, angular and very slightly syth like. If you want a pedal that preserves your tone and touch, avoid this pedal. If you want a pedal that jumps through the mix and adds nasty, angular fuzz to your bass, like I do, then I strongly recommend it. Minimal bass drop out and true bypass make this pedal very usable for bass. It wont be for everyone, but if you like the kind of tone this pedal was conceived for, there are few better at this price.

Gigged with it many times. Hasn't broken yet.

dont know

Something of a niche product, especially on bass, yet it makes no pretences about what it is supposed to do, and it does it very well.

Very easy pedal to come to grips with. It can be a little tricky in a live setting to get the right sound to sit in or cut through the mix, as desired.

I am using a Bartolini MMX/MMC equipped dual-humbucker Epiphone Ripper predominantly. That runs into a bunch of other pedals into a Trace Elliot head and custom 4x10 with Eminence Beta 10s.

Sound quality is great, true bypass is an absolute delight, no tone suckage. On some settings it can get really noisy, but isn't that the charm of this pedal. It ranges from downright nasty to fairly smooth, but not nearly as smooth as an old Russian Big Muff. It does destroy some bottom end in your signal, but that can be compensated for by adjusting the volume.

I have been chasing one of these for nigh-on five years. I was easily influenced by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, and I believe the sound I have is the closest I would want to get to her sound. This thing is colourful, and will give you a certain sound, but I find it doesn't bleach all your tones. I wanted ANGRY, and I got MEGA PISSED OFF! :)

Rock solid. I am using it without a backup, and on battery no less. I will power it as soon as I reqire my board.

No dealings with ProCo yet. I got a free cable in the box, which I am using from effects board to amp because my other cable died. Bonus!

I play progressive pop/rock style music, with its fair share of dynamics and experimental tendencies. I like big stand-out bass tones and this thing just adds another colour to the pallette.

If it were stolen, I would buy another. Only gripe is a slight lack of bottom end, but that's no huge loss in the end.

Ok its a stompbox, there are 3 controls which are placed at the top, not too far apart, not too close, turn easily but not too slippery.
Switch is ok, wear shoes though! hurts bare foot.
The tricky bit is the battery, the screw on mine was well tight!!! and I had to pull the lid a bit to get it off. Overall easy to use.
I got no manual, didnt really need one.

Ok so Im using a 2002 Fender Mexican Standard Stratocaster (sss)--> Jim Dunlop GCB-95 Cry Baby wah-->PROCO TURBO RAT--> mid. 90's Peavey Express 112 Transtube series. I bought this basically because I wanted Nick Zinners sound (guitarist of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) hmm.... i have been playing it for 30mins now and so far i cannot achieve this! I wanted a deep bassy riff machine with good sustain and will make that "chunk" sound when I mute the strings at the 1st fret and smack the strings with my pick. Not found that so far either....It seems to me that this pedal is good for a sharp, vintage sounding rythem sound...I tryed soloing with this and there seemed to be not alot of sustain!!! Mind you, I have only been playing 30mins...
The filter knob is a bit useless, from 1/2 way (12 oclock) to the left (7 oclockish) you get a sharp tone, very sharp on bridge coil, okayyish on neck coil... anything greater than 1/2way (12 oclock) you get toneless (the guy in the shop said it sounds like a big muff, idiot)
The distortion knob is ok, although when it is maxed out, it doesn't seem to be as distorted as my amp distortion (which I thought was quite week) perhaps its that filter knob again.
I think choice of amp(s) (use 2 I would) makes a big difference to this pedal, I used a Vox tube amp instore and it sounded "ok" solidstate, It sounds like one of the effects off my crappy Zoom 505mkII which I don't even use anyomore.
This was my first ever distortion effect (I've been using amp effects for nearly 5 years!) so far Im a little unsure, Definately need to spend more time with it!!!!

This thing seems nice at sturdy, metal (feels like coated zinc) bottom and sides, hard plastic front top and back. Hardass plastic feet, nice and grippy. Switch not loose, knobs not loose.
Generally feels like a mini tank!
I would gig without a backup, mainly because I can't afford to buy backup stuff!
nah, no need for a backup, if you did ever need a backup, you bought a dud!
Gave a 9, switch is the most vunerable part...

Not had to yet, I don't think I ever will so I cant really say...

I've been playing for 5 years and I've heard some pretty shitty effects through high school and college!!! (too many wannabies!)This sounds like it may well be one of those effects...
I play every thing really, so ill give you a little list...
Funk: not good at all
Blues: could get some rythem tones no solo
Hendrix: yes if you like a challenge when it comes to solos
Yeah Yeah Yeahs style: not really, need more bass annd sustain!
Pop punk: get a compressor and a Tom Delonge Strat. You would be a wannabie then.
REAL Punk: yeah, actually, could use it for that trebley crash of noise
Santana: no way
Use it for chords, thats ok
If it were stolen I would not buy a new one, I would try something else.
I compared this to a RAT vintage, Boss DS1, Boss SD1
RAT vintage is the same but less distortion. The Turbo sounded better (have no idea how to describe it) than the Boss pedals, although, they were pluged into a Roland Cube30 (great demo amp that, fools)
I really do think that if I had the chance to spend more time with this and the other pedals in the store with the same amp, i would of walked away happier (I hate music shop people, there always unhappy to help)
hmmm.... i dont know, i just dont know.... Im gonna have to buy more pedals!!! this one might be ok in a few weeks time, Im a total newbie to the world of stompboxes really!
The fact that it was only #50 compared to the rrp of #89 made me buy this thing.

please email me if you have any comments!

3 knobs and a switch. pretty easy. no stupid names(like DOD, manufacturer of the worst pedals around imo, has a tendency to do with distortion pedals) for the knobs. distortion and volume speak for themselves, the filter seems to act like a tone knob. careful with the volume knob as it is quite sensitive and this thing can add a lot of volume. (which is what some people want)

never read the manual, if it even came with one. i honestly don't remember.(i have something against manuals in general. i prefer automatics, but i live in Yurop nowadays so am condemned to driving manuals. ha!)

varying setups depending on what i'm playing and which band/collective but most-used setup: yahama pacifica (2x single coil + humbucker at bridge)> Trat > boss CH1 or ibanez cs9 > ehx holygrail > dunlop wah > amp supplied by venue or rehearsal-space (is usually tube amp, thank god) back where i used to live before moving to yurp i had a crappy peavey bandit (120 112 or some similar number, forgot it over the years, could look it up at peavey website, but too lazy) at home. now i got a free 20W mini-amp (VMI "the animal" had never heard of the brand) from a friend here but i hate it so much i play nothing but my acoustic at home now. but enough about my shitty setups.

for what i usually play this pedal is perfect. i mostly play post-rock, surfy-punk, powerchord connect-the-dots punk and noisy minimalism. the rat (along with holy grail) especially suits my 1-string dick dale-imitating surfpunk. got this pedal initially becuz sonic youth also use it and i used to be pretty crazy about them. i also use it for some bluesy stuff and even occasionally for some unorthodox reggae, but it clearly does not work nearly as well for that as for the aforementioned "heavier" types of music.

a very sweet pedal, with a wide range, can come pretty close to a relatively "clear" overdrive-sound, which sounds decent, but really shines in the fuzzy distortion.
it's massive gain turned up together with my humbuckers can be a feedback machine, but powerchords still come out very well even then.(blues chords forget it) this is avoidable by changing my standard setting to less volume and distortion, but like i said before this pedal is at it's best with the heavier distortion. also i find it sounds best through my singlecoil pickups.
and the bypass works perfectly.

i recently lost this pedal though and am now usually borrowing a boss metalzone. up untill i lost it and had to use the metalzone i had no idea how much i would miss this pedal. (bit of an unfair comparison, the metalzone is a different sort of distortion and not my taste at all) however, i always thought it was better than another bandmember's boss od2 and ds2 (he recently also bought a rat, vintage rat however, to replace his bosses after having borrowed my Trat)

mine never broke....because i lost the it!!!! in the 6 years up to that i had no complaints whatsoever though. in fact i found it so reliable i also ordered my new cables from proco(previous cables were lost) unfortunately i also lost those cables with my Trat.
hopefully one day i'll stop losing.
am busy with looking for a cheap 2nd hand one, because i'm having a hard time getting by without this baby, might even buy a new one soon because i can't see myself playing upcomming gigs without this pedal. and i use it at gigs without backup, mainly because i don't have money for a backup though. i always put in new (1 euro)batteries for a gig though. couldn't use adaptor because pedal was odered from gringo-land and that does not go very well with this goddamn 220V shit in yurp. batteries do last a long time though, so it's no real problem.
so reliable and exterememly sturdy. when the apocalypse comes, i hope to have my giant Trat-duplicate bunker ready.

i ordered it on the internet and never dealt with them since, simlpy because there was no need to whatsoever.

overall great pedal. suits my needs and was not too expensive. great low-end sounds. i see a lot of people recommend a equalizer to make the high end frequencies come out more, but i like it for it's rather dark sound. that's all a matter of taste though. it would be nice if it would sound a little fuller/warmer at lower distortion settings though, so no 10. but i don't know of any other (affordable) distortion pedal i'd rather have than this one. beats all the other distortions i've tried out or heard over the years (boss, most ibanez and certainly dod distortions, even bigmuff imo) once again, this could be a matter of taste though. but there are lots of people with bad taste out there (and they're using dod, did i allready mention how much dod sucks?)

i lost it and am now desperately seeking another one, will even buy it new again if i have to in spite of small budget. was planning to add a delay pedal to my equipment, but that'll just have to be postponed. can't live without my rat.

well, it isnt hard. you press the silver button to turn it on. and you have 3 knobs distortion, filter, volume. its easy to get a good sound. but its hard to get a quiet sound. this is a very loud pedal. there isnt a manual for mine but you can view one on the procosound.com website.

im currently using the rat with a boss ds-1 and an electro harmonix small clone. theres an electro harmonix bigg muff coming soon too. im using a squier strat. the proco rat makes the boss ds-1 look like a baby. sound wise. i always loved the tone i got out of my ds-1. its very scratchy. the rat blows it away. tit has a heavy bass sound. it wasnt what i expected. i expected a loud ds-1. an intence scratchy sound. but i got something so much better. the ds-1 is a strong pedal but sounds very weak if you compare it with a rat. i cant get the sound of kurt cobain. a turbo rat wasnt my first choise. i wanted a rat 2. but i could get this #20 cheaper. my pedals are top of the range. its the only thing ill go all out on. clothes, jewelry, games? no. if i can make good sounding music, then that will make my day. this pedal has made my year. this pedal is loud. this pedal is amazing.

its a little tank! i havent giged with it yet. i dont use backups for gigs because i cant aford them. my rat i think will do well live. rats look like there more reliable than boss pedals. i can depend on it with out backups. acording to all the other reviews, they last for years and years.

no need to contact them, and i hope there never is.

i play indie, punk, grunge, anything realy, but this pedal suits all. i wouldnt try jazz or blues with it. but you never know. iv been playing for 4 years and iv never come across a distortion pedal as incredable than this. its amazing that when they say its like a distortion youv never heard before. because it is. i love everything about it, i cant find any flaws. it helps me writer and play music. if your looking for a good distortion pedal, this is the one to get. its not exactly the cheapest pedal in store, but its the best. i 110% recomend it.

it's pretty straitfoward, battery change seems easy

ok, i play bass and returned this pedal after like a month. i dont know how this works out for guitar but IMO this is a p.o.s. the distortion is almost synth-like, sounds like a robot farting. and when i tried to back it into overdrive it still sounded unnatural, only with horrid string noise over the top. not the "good" kind (if you are into that). depspite this string-noise, it still sounded dull and smothered no matter how much i tweaked the filter or settings on my amp. i dont know, i guess im not a rat person.

i think i either got a dud, or it dosnt agree with me bass.

this thing could survive a holocaust and will probably outlive the human race, very solid, no problem eceltronics-wise

contacted them, they are helpful people

considering the repution proco rats have, they must get better than this.

Simple.

I run a '62 RI Tele into a VOX AC30 via a Boss TU2 tuner, the Turbo Rat, and a Visual Sound Liquid Chorus and Echo pedal.

I originally got the turbo rat because I loved the way it sounded on a Peavey Classic 50. It provided a great, thick distortion when layered over the top of the Classic 50's dirty channel.

My new Vox, however, is an entirely different beast and I have had trouble with finding a good spot for the Turbo Rat. The Rat is a distortion pedal that is designed to have its own sound in addition to whatever sound your amp and guitar produce. When the rat is engaged, the character of the Vox entirely vanishes. To a certain extent, this is not a bad thing as it allows me to dial in a fierce heavey sound (but definitely not metal). However, the low-end of the rat is pretty loose (not great for palm-muting) and the low-end of the Vox is a little loose too as a result of its tube rectifier. Thus, while it sounds huge, low string notes get a little mushy. I also have had an immense amount of trouble sorting out where to place the filter. As i shave off the high end via the filter, it also takes away some of the crunchiness of the sound. Perhaps this is somewhat the fault of the Vox being a bright but warm and rich amp while the Rat without the filter is a bright but unrefined pedal. The combination of the Vox and the Rat means that the highs of the vox come off in harsh instead of smooth. When the filter is used to compensate, the warmth and crunch of the vox is lost as well.

Had it for a year and have never worried. I've never known a rat to die.

N/A

I know my Sound Quality section came off pretty harsh. But that is because I consider this pedal a poor fit for the AC30. I only use it when I need heavy distortion and even then, the looseness of the low end bothers me. On the other hand, the rat worked great on the Classic 50. I have also used the rat with a Fender Deluxe 1x12. On these two amps (which have pretty piercing highs and the lack of a particurly musical overdrive channel), the Rat excelled and the filter worked. When coupled with the warmth and smoothness on my Vox, the Rat destroys my tone. So, basically I'm in the market for an OD pedal that will sit better with my vox. I think that I may even be able to keep the rat for some situations if I use an EQ to try and make it fit-in frequency wise with my Tele and the Vox. I think this is a solid pedal to have, especially if you want to add some distortion to Fenders or Peaveys. But if you've got a particularly warm and responsive amp, the Rat will destroy those characteristics. I'm keeping it as a back-up. Plus, you never know, one day I may find a useful place for it with the Vox. But we'll see. I think a numbered rating is too hard on this one, since I love it and hate it at the same time. hopefully this review will help anyone who wants to get High gain sounds out of a Vox or similar amp go the EQ pedal or boost pedal route instead of buying a Turbo Rat.

Really simple. Only thing that confused me at first was that you need to turn the 'filter' knob the opposite way to what you'd expect.

I use an Ibanez Iceman & Laney GH100S amp. Other effects are Marshall BB2, DOD Flanger & a modified Jim Dunlop Crybaby.

I only bought the Rat because it was really cheap & has direct bypass. I was going to use it as a kill-switch. However, after about 30 mins of experimenting I realised how awesome the gain is & it is now my main overdrive. Reallty thick sound with plenty of top end & string clarity.

The rat was beaten to hell & back when I bought it but it works perfectly. Its unbelievably robust.

Not had to deal with them.

I'm using it for Extreme Metal & would buy another at full retail price if I lost it. its got more gain than most people will need & a big volume boost. I have 5 distortion effects including a USA Big Muff & the Turbo Rat is the best & most flexible of all.

This is a review of the Turbo Rat Diode on the Deucetone.

I've compared the Dirty Rat, Vintage and Turbo diodes on the Deuce and to my ears the Turbo comes out on top. It supposedly has a bit less compression which, according to Proco, makes it brighter. Hmmm...I think it sounds warmer in fact than the Dirty or Vintage. Correspondingly, the bass notes are a little "looser" but "wider". I like it and to me is my favorite Marshall grind sound out of this pedal. The Vintage is more compressed and cuts through largely in the upper mids to treble - when you dial back the filter it gets a very industrial, shrill cut in the leads - not icepick though. The Dirty is most compressed and sustains longer but is a bit more tamed EQ than the Vintage.

While this is for reviewing the Turbo, I have to say if your going to shell out $90 or so bucks in a Turbo, you might as well save up and get the Deucetone...much more variety and interesting cascading between channels for new sounds. Also, the ciruit they use in the Deuce is differnt yielding warmer sounds overall. I know - I've had the Vintage Reissue and it sounded thin to me vs. the Deuce.

"What is good sound?". If good sound from a stompbox that boasts double the distortion of it's predecesors is gobs of sustain and gorgeous harmonics, then good sound isn't far off. Just tweak around with the three knobs (dist.,filter,volume) and it's 'magic' tone is yours. The manual with mine gave really cool and colorful summaries of each Rat distortion pedal (..."to bone crushing rock n' roll!").

I'm using a Jackson DKMG with a Seymour Duncan Distortion Trembucker and among other 'boxes', the Turbo Rat is sorta noisy on high impact settings, but who isn't using a noise gate (MXR Smart Gate)?! The only time the pedal seems weak is on lowest settings, like minimal distortion and volume, but turn at least one of those up and "Whoooo!"- watch out! I'm using a Crate (MX65R) amp set on kill! Straight tube tone without the tubes. Jealous? Just tweak those amp knobs, and a quality pickup helps. The artists this pedal reminds me of on my settings are Metallica on 'Kill 'em all'. I didn't try to sound like that sound but I was looking for a bright lead tone, which I acheived. The distortion range goes from unRat-like to distortion that the Rat name is sucessful for. That is, Rip roaring raging uncontrollable hell. I must say that this pedal to me sounds somewhat natural compared to overprocessed sounds, which is why I opted this pedal from my collection for a lead boost.

I can depend on it 'cause it takes a tank to destroy a small town. I have two other Rat pedals (vitage Rat re-ish and Rat 2) if anything went wrong, but I wouldn't bring them as a backup 'cause I shouldn't have to.

N/A

I play heavy fast rock 99.9% of the time. I think you could guess if this pedal works for this style or not. I've been playing for at least a decade. If it went missing or something, I-I-I'd rather not think about it...please. I love it's (un)natural thick sustain and unique Rat tone. I kinda wish the box was a bit smaller. My fave feature is just the tone...Oh, who am I kiddin'- it's called: The 'TURBO' Rat !!! I compared it against my Boss Metal zone (which never had a use for me ever, not that it sucks, but it sounds like everyone else with that pedal). I just wish it was less old school size but it also wouldn't be as cool, right?

It is very easy to get a good sound out of this beast. Not a wide variation though, but that really doesn't matter.

I own a Mesa Dual Rectifier and a wide range of pedals, including other distortions. I absolutely adore the TurboRAT even in comparison to my Mesa distortion. No matter what people's opinions of Mesa rectos may be... a quick comparison of price between replacing the tubes on a mesa head and buying a RAT pedal, leaves me LOVING this pedal.

When in my early years, I used to think hmm... turn up the distortion on all pedals to full to get the best sound. So originally I thought the T-RAT was useless, because it begins to waffle the sound severely past low distortion settings. There's a retard who has submitted a review above (Jordan) who resembles me as a 12yr old in this respect(he also turned the filter the wrong way to reduce 'darkness'! and was surprised that reducing the volume made the sound of the signal including previous pedals -quieter! haha!). Now in my increased wisdom, I try to use the MINIMUM amount of distortion possible at all times.

With the T-RAT, this is essential. If you try this pedal out, set the distortion to about 9 or 10 o'clock. I personally set the filter fully anti-clockwise, which is very trebly until I EQ it. On these settings if you play very gently, the result is almost clean. With more attack, the sound can be very aggressive and quite frankly, beautiful!

The sound of the pedal reminds me very slightly of a Big Muff but more aggressive and with a far better capacity for muted notes. However, no matter what anyone says, you could not do 'proper' metal with it because the muted notes are not defined enough. This pedal is best for playing single note riffs or small chords. It loves you being messy as well (hardly sounds like a good thing!), I've ended up changing my style to encompass messiness (string scrapes and lefthand-mutes) because it sounds so good.

I'm planning to record soon with my lead guitarist using the T-RAT and myself using my Mesa. I think I'd actually like it to be the other way round but I've recorded my rhythm parts already.

TRY THIS PEDAL PROPERLY.

It din't get a ten for sound quality because it could produce slightly better muted notes.

I can't really comment as although I've had it for years, I've utterly dismissed it as poo till very recently when I tried it again. I had a little trouble with the battery cable not working sometimes but this will just be the wire coming away from the contact.

Haven't dealt with them.

I absolutely love the sound of this pedal and have turned two of my mates onto it as well (both of whom own Marshall stacks).

I'll have another quick go at describing the sound just for the hell of it... Imagine the aggression of a 5150 with less 'bee in a bottle' quality to it (5150 owners: don't go mental, I like their sound).

Sorry to bang on...

I've had this thing for about 10 years. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I put it on a shelf. When I love it, I set the Distortion at 12 o'clock, the Filter at 12 and the Volume at around 9. This puts it in the ball park of around the same volume off as on. With this thing on I can get some pretty sweet controllable feedback things that are pretty nice, at least today they were.

I use the TurboRat in a pedal board through a Crate GCXL65 2-12 amp. Some people poo-poo on Crate but mine is very dependable with a decent sound, or sounds, since it has clean and distortion channels, chorus and reverb. I also use a revolving cast of several other pedals but right now the Turbo is the first in the chain, then wah, then echo, and finally EQ. Sometimes I use the Crate to pre-amp a Fender SuperReverb to get tube tone but usually I dont need that much volume and I baby the Super.
You can't use the Turbo on the extreme settings. It will squeal and squawk in a nasty way. Around the middle range of the knobs is where the sweet spots are, as are most pedals. You just gotta play with it. I like to use it to get a lead sound that breaks into a sweet feedback after a few beats, kinda like Blue Oyster Cult at the end of the big guitar solo where it goes back into the vocal part.
There's painful feedback and then there's the kind that makes people go "YEAH!." Sometimes I can get the second kind with this. But it does kinda make the sound a little more treble and harsh. That's what EQ is for and I am forever tweaking.

Its very solid and well built. Its not the most important thing in my setup but its a cool toy. I like it way better than my Boss DS-1.

I used to live in Kalamazoo where ProCo is headquartered and I know some of the employees are pretty cool but I've never been in a position to ask anything of them.

I play hard rock/alternative/surf/sleaze/psychobilly/slut pop and I think this is a fine device for achieving the sleaze tone that I've been lusting after. It it were stolen I'd be pissed but I might experiment with other things. After playing with it just today, I'd have to say I love the way it makes nice controllable feedback and a raunchy chunky nasty filthy sleazey monkey shreik tone when I choke up on myself and attack it sideways.

It's simple if you've had experience with distortion pedals and know what kind of sound you want and already have an idea of what the TRat can do. If you don't, read some of the reviews here and get an idea of how to produce certain sounds with the TRat.

I use my TRat in a number of ways with a number of rigs. My standard set-up is a Gibson SG into a Peavey Classic 50 2x12. I dont have much money to throw around on equipment so I gotta make the best of what I got. When I use the TRat I have the Classic 50 on the dirty channel right at the point of breaking-up. I use picking dynamics and volume control to go between clean and light crunch. When I get ready to use the rat, I roll the volume up and then kick the Trat on. The result is a very crunchy distortion. The amp overdrive provides the basic foundation and the T-rat layers it with heavier distortion. When the distortion on the rat goes above 11 o'clock, I do think that the sound of the pedal gets a little darker and looses a little high end . . . for me, this makes it a great heavy crunch pedal for chords and riffs. It is perhaps not best suited for lead, though I have no money and therefore I still use it and it works fine. The TurboRat (obviously because of the name) is meant to really get some serious distorted sounds. If you think this pedal is going to give you a nice, light crunch, then you didn't even try this pedal. You can use it as a quasi-boost by keeping he dist really low and turning up the volume, but there are other pedals that are much better suited to do this. It has very high output, I rarely put the volume over 11. The filter works to reduce a certain scratchy quality that exists when the distortion is at lower settings, where it cuts out less high end. While in most situations, the distortion and volume should never ever be used at max, the ridiculously high output of the Trat provides a really cool fuzz effect. With the dist and volume maxed out, so much signal hits the pre-amp that it breaks up in a way that feeds back almost instantly in a very compressed, fuzzy way, which is actually very cool for certain things. Coupled with my Visual Sound Liquid Chorus and Echo, I can get some cool sounds using it in this capacity.

Anyway, to make a long and boring story short, this pedal is great for totally rockin' out your chords in a modern rock sort of way. If you tweak the pedal correctly, it will provide a quality modern distortion for boutique or vintage amps. Like other reviewers said, don't confuse distortion for tube overdrive. Those are two very different things. This is distortion pedal so don't judge it because it doesn't sound like a Dual Rectifier.

Solid as a rock. I'm poor so I have no back-up. This is part of the reason I went for it. Had it for a year . . . works great.

No idea

I play in an original rock band that sounds something like OK Computer era radiohead meets the slightly heavier side of American indie only without the money to afford the production nor the talent of radiohead. But, we give it our all. I have also found myself playing guitar in an emo band (not a big emo fan, but the dudes in the band are my friends, so I do what I can). The rat adapts to both situations very nicely. It especially likes the power chords and octaves, and 9th chords that emo depends on. Thom Yorke also uses one in his set-up, which is cool, I guess. This pedal is affordable, it is dependable, and it does what my amp can't do . . . and that is high-gain modern distortion (though I wouldn't say metal . . . just a heavy rock crunch). It is not the most versatile pedal in the world, but it doesn't pretend to be. If you know what you want, then get it.

Oh yeah, I also play bass in a couple of bands and I use the rat for fuzz bass occaisionally. It worked better in that capacity than I thought it would. It also sounds absolutely sweet connected up to synths when I feel like messing with weird loops and effects. Oh, and I also want to point out that, in my opinion, it's very important to put the distortion pedal EARLY in the signal chain. I put it right after my tuner. If you put it after delay pedals, etcetera, I find that the "naturalness" of the sound is severly compromised and the negative sides of the pedal (such as it's dark quality and removal of high-end) are seriously accentuated.

There are 3 knobs and well... it's about as easy to use as a distortion pedal can be. I don't see how it could be rated anything other than 10 to be honest.

This is a completely subjective category clearly and I'd just like to say that I completely agree with the review that should be directly below this one which was complaining about some very misguided criticism aimed at this pedal. If you want some sort of tremendous lead tone like the kind you'll get out an Engl Powerball or some other tube amp then this is obviously not the pedal to buy. I have no idea why someone wanting such a tone would even consider this pedal - I mean within ten seconds of playing one or hearing one for that matter, it's obvious that this isn't that kind of pedal.

What it does do however, I absolutely love. I tend to just use this for simple power chording fun and the odd (very simple) bit of lead and I love it. It just seems completely ridiculous to me that a distortion pedal that does these sounds so well (as this one does) can be accused of providing "fake tones" as if there is only the one "true tone" that all guitar players must aspire to and as this pedal doesn't provide them it gets a 3. So here's a word of warning for anyone wanting to buy this pedal - you can't rate a sound solely in terms of numbers like the 9 I've given here, sounds by their very nature are incommensurable and as such as a rule I will recommend the rather obvious advice to listen to it a few times before you buy! That seems like common sense but clearly given a few previous reviews some people like to buy effects based solely on the numerical rating it's received. If you applied that logic to movies for example, you'd end up going to see maybe some romantic comedy or arthouse film when you really want to see an action movie - it's exactly the same principle for guitar effects.

I've only had one small problem with this pedal when for some unknown reason the pedal just wouldn't turn on - I tried using a power supply and batteries, but it still wouldn't work. This all took place in the context of a gig unfortunately and it subsequently rather ruined it. So in answer to the second question I would say that no, ever since that experience I always have a back up distortion pedal. However, I should also say that the particular pedal I owned had been through an awful lot of use over a few years and has in fact, worked perfectly ever since. I think that merits an 8 if you also take into account the much stressed point that it seems impossible to break this pedal physically (as opposed to the electronics stopping working - though I've spilled beer over it on many an occasion and it still works!).

I've never dealt with them so I will give them a 10 for no particular reason.

I play mainly indie rock type music and this suits me perfectly. I think the justification for my 10 comes from the fact that I've spent a large amount of money on distortion pedals over the years and this one (the first I bought and one of the cheapest) is the one I still use. I even still use it most of the time to gig with despite buying myself a rather nice tube amp.

three knobs, distortion is simple enough, filter it backwards from what you are used to, and volume is guess what, volume. simplicity with just enough flexibility

here's where the ratings get f'ed up. the only reason im posting this is because of some of the bad "sound quality" ratings for this pedal. a lot of people have complained about this pedal being very dark even with the filter set at the most trebly setting or with the pedal switched off(which is complete nonsense because it is wired for true bypass). Addressing the "darkness" attributed to this pedal by some reviewers, you must consider what it is you are buying this pedal for, meaning what are you going to run it through. the rat pedals were originally made by proco to give fender amp owners a stompbox that would give them a footswitchable jcm 800 style high gain sound out of their fender amps.

do not be afraid though, i have never run my t-rat through a fender amp and i can always get the sound im looking for.

i read that someone else described the type of distortion you get as black sabbath, and that has to be the truest interpretation of the sound this pedal puts out, in my opinion. However, this will differ greatly based upon what amp you are running the pedal through.

in music everything is based on opinion, and the people who didnt like this pedal are entitled to their opinion, but they should have done a little more research and known what it was that they were buying before they invested their money in something that wasnt going to give them what they wanted. based on most of the bad reviews of this pedal that i read, those people should have bought channel swtiching tube amps, because they didnt really want analog distortion, they wanted tube overdrive.

in my opinion the turbo rat does exactly what it is supposed to do, and very well at that. i think its pretty easy to see that most people who have chosen and love the rat, knew what the rat would produce before they used it. if that is not the sound that you are looking for, by all means move on to something that will suite your needs, but do not give a great pedal, that does exactly what it should, a bad review just because you didnt know what you wanted.

it's in a steel case that is thicker than 1/8th, i dare you to try to break this pedal. in i read an earlier review that said the knobs come off easily. I dont know what kind of dope that person was on, because those things are stuck on like the almighty put them there himself.

never dealt with them, all i know is that they ship candy with their cables and parts when they send orders to music stores

a great pedal, plain and simple. not the kind of thing i would run through a solid state amp though.

It's pretty easy to use, but I think I'd rather have the Boss style stomp. Though there is something classy about the switch.

Unlike the Deucetone, it's pretty straight forward.

The Filter is interesting, but it's only useful in the 8-10 position.

It's got about 5 different types of distortion down along the distortion noise. After the just-after-mid position it doesn't become terribly useful though, just adds a "little" more gain. But considerred the wild differences on the other side of the knob, it's not a huge setback.

Anyway, this is an AMAZING pedal! I spent so long looking for a pedal that would give me the heavy distortion I need without sounding like a Metal Zone.

The Distortion it gives is almost like both OD and Distortion at once - and it's HUGE. A wonderful fart pedal. Can be used for Metal, Light Rock, Hard Rock - anything! Though it probably is best for Hard Rock.
There's no fuzz tone, but that's what the You Dirty Rat is for :) If you had both those pedals(or a T-RAT with a Zvex Fuzz Factory), you'd be unspottable :)

I love this so much. I didn't try before I bought, I just listened to the tones on the website. And I got a great sound out of the box without any need to mess with EQs. And when I did mess with EQs - I could even get a Metal Zone like setting!

Tons of drive.

I'd recommend backing it up with a little chorus once in a while- despite what other reviews say, it has a very "scratchy" tone.

I really wish it had an EQ built in though... The Filter isn't the best. I'll have to buy a seperate EQ pedal now. But for the price, it's well worth it.

Brick. Knobs come off easy though, but I imagine they're just as easy to replace.

Their website was great, and offered some fantastic sound samples. Could have had a wider selection though, but it REALLY helped me decide if it was right for me.

Sorry, I just really love this pedal. As I said before, I play a variety of types of rock music, from 80s goth to alt rock, to Metal like Pantera. This does everything I need. I bought my Digital Effects Zoom 606, loved it but I'll need to replace it with other pedals, I bought a Morley Classic Wah which I LOVED but will one day have to alternate it mostly with a Dimebag signature crybaby for tweakability; but I can honestly see myself using the RAT as my Primary distortion pedal for a long, long time to come. Maybe some day I'll try out the other RATs.

Also a fantastic "backing up" pedal, especially for Metal Zone, and can be backed up very well itself with my Nobels OD pedal.

The lack of EQ like the Metal Zone has is disappointing, but not necessary if you have an amp with any kind of tone settings, especially with the Filter.

It's a fantastic pedal, but do NOT buy it if you just want biting metal leads - personally, I find it does Pantera like distortion a lot better than I thought it would, but it won't take you to the extremities of that level on it's own. People obviously didn't try or read up before they bought; just buy a Metal Zone and turn up the Trebles for that.

It isn't difficult to use, it just sounds like shit on every possible setting-- even when it's turned off! I hate to deviate from everyone's opinions for fear of getting hate email, but I definitely have to disagree on this pedal!

This is a great pedal... if you like the sound of a fat Chinese man sitting on your amp and farting into your speaker. It muffles the sound, even when turned off. Takes out highs and bite, adds tones of fake-sounding bass. I don't want more bass, I have an EQ for that. Honestly, I'm not very hard to please. I like nice clear, biting lead tones. I thought I could use a little more distortion. But this sounds SO electronic and solid-state! It KILLS attack and it sounds like you're playing through some weird synth effect, not a guitar. I guess some people in the Nu-Metal category would like this fake sound. I bought this pedal because I've heard good things about it on here, but GOD! Total waste of 50 bucks. This thing is overrated.

Yeah, I'm sure it will work if you drop it and all that bullshit, but it's still going to sound like hippo-fucking.

I'd call myself a classic metal shredder... I use a Gibson into a tube amp, and use various vintage DOD pedals (you can't go wrong with them... they're cheap, efficient, and they don't darken your tone like SOME pedals do...). The filter knob is totally retarded, it already darkens your tone, and if you turn the knob to the right, it just cuts more tone out. Also, I DESPISE the volume knob. For some reason, it cuts the volume of the whole effect chain, not just the level of the pedal. GUITAR-COMP-OVERDRIVE-RAT-EQ-AMP... I also tried using it before the overdrive, sounded like shit still. The Distortion just sounds fake. So all in all, it's useless. If you love tube crunch and response, don't buy this. If you play a Squier into a Crate amp, go ahead.

Couldn't be easier. Three nobs.

This is the greatest distortion pedal I have ever used. I play a Fender Cyclone II (American Jaguar Pickups, single coil) and a epi Les Paul through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I got the Deluxe for the clean sound and was almost oanicking when I couldn't get a good distorion out of it. I tried the digitech x-series hot rod rock distorion, the ds-1, and the metal zone. The digitech and the baoss just didn't have enough guts for me, and I was embarassed to step on the metal zone. That pedal has no soul. The Turbo rat on the other hand is not lacking in anything. It has so much gain and so much power and so much distorion it is unbelievable. It is such a raw, nasty, gutty, organic, thick, distorion. With your guitar volume you can go from great crunch for classic rock to almost uncontrolable (in a good way) distortion. I really can't say enough good things about this pedal. If you're looking for natural sounding heavy distorion, leave the digital modeling stuff at home and GET THIS PEDAL!!!

It's built like a tank.

I know they say not to give overly glowing reviews, but I can't help it with this pedal. I play in a cover band that does everything from Cheap Trick to Velvet Revolver to STP to Grunge to you name it. This pedal gives me unique sound that works for all of those styles. I've played with guys who use those PODS and other modeling things and They're all trying to get the sound that I have. They can keep trying, I'll take my turbo rat for a quarter of what they're paying, and I'll still sound better. BUY THIS PEDAL!!!

its a pedal, just knobs

Ive tried different od/distortion pedals and I found I was never 100 percent happy with the sound, I first noticed rats by hearing ex Blur guitar player Graham Coxons sound (he uses 2 rats), I really liked his sound so I checked out some rats and found I liked the Turbo version most (good to be influnced by an artist but should not copy unless u feel the sound is right for you, in this case, I went for the Turbo instead of the Rat 2), it has what ive been looking for, its got a big, warm sound, my USA Strat plus sounds perfect through it!! I have a RMC Picture added as well, what a killer set up!! the pedal does have abit of noise on full gain but thats no problem, I like 12 o'clock settings :)

ill be looking after it well but its built solid, no lack of quailty

Its the pedal ive been looking for, great for blues to heavy rock! it makes u feel u have something special in your set-up!! PLEASE stop slagging of effects when your using some cheap guitar with a silly amp??? this will not improve your sound, it adds to your set up, so if u have a great set-up! u will get a great sound from it

Three knobs, easy to use.

I have had several Rats, and have had this particular unit for a while now. I have never been crazy about the high-gain settings on this pedal, it was just too fuzzy for me. I always wished I had an overdrive pedal that blurred the lines between overdrive and distortion, something that could sound nice and mellow, but that could also sound crunchy and nasty. I pulled the Turbo Rat out of the closet about two weeks ago and tried it at some lower gain settings and found that it sounds fantastic. I can get a serious crunchy-in your face overdrive tone from it without it getting fuzzy. It sounds so thick and heavy, even at lower gain settings, and it is very crunchy. I ditched my tube screamer clones on my pedalboard and replaced them with the Turbo Rat. I keep the gain below halfway, and play with the filter until I get the warmth and crunch that I want. Whenever I lowered the gain on any of my other distortion/overdrive pedals the sound always thinned out somewhat, it just lost some dimension. The Rat stays full and aggressive, even at lower settings, and gives me a wicked crunch that none of my other overdrive or distortion pedals can give me. Pinch harmonics are a snap, and the pedal just sounds great. Im using it with a 74 Fender Deluxe Reverb, and a Fender-Rivera Twin Reverb II. I primarily use a Les Paul. I love this pedal now that I have found a new use for it. I use the Dime Distortion from MXR for all of my over the top distortion needs, the Turbo Rat covers everything else.

Built like a brick, treat it well and it will outlive you.

I grew tired of my Visual Sound Ultimate Overdrive and my Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive pedals. I wanted a medium-gain sound that blurred the lines between overdrive and distortion, and those devices either did not have enough gain, or just sounded too thin when I turned the gain down. When I tried my Turbo Rat with the gain at about halfway or below, I found the sound I was looking for. Warm, mean, crunchy, and full. Now I have the perfect compliment to my Dime Distortion. I play classic rock, 80's metal, and I play at church just about every sunday. I have been playing for 10 years now and know what sounds I like/dislike. The Turbo Rat gives me the mellower sound I wanted without being thin or wimpy, and it gives a me a huge crunch-tone. I dont like to give pedals perfect 10's, but for what Im using it for its perfect, and its Made in the USA and reliable. What more could you want?

10..like said previously..three knobs is easy enough

i bought this thing when i was first starting out about ten years ago and initially i hated it but i kept it anyway. since then i have found a million and one uses for this pedal. my main trick is to use it to boost my amp distortion (sunn beat lead 2x12). when ya boost the volume on this thing its actually loud enough to plug in headphones and hear it in the left channel. so you can imagine how much it will boost yer tone

ive had to replace the wires for the battery twice but hey...all pedals need that at some point.

never dealt with em

Oh I spent two weeks trying to figure out what the knobs did, the ones that really got me were "Volume, and Distortion"! Erm I am being sarcastic, if you cant work this box then you are too stupid to own a guitar.

It is extremely easy to get a good sound out of this, but it is only a one trick pony, if you want a overdrive, buy some thing that says "overdrive" on it.

I am playing a Paul Reed Smith McCarty with Bare Knuckle pickups (Bridge-Mule, and Stormy Monday-Neck), through a US Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, I also have a Standard cry baby, MXR Wilde Overdrive and a Boss RC20XL Loop Station. I also have a old Jackson Kelly as a Back up guitar.

I find that the pedal is quiet and there is little back ground noise, this works really well with the other pedals in my rig and absolutely loves the PRS, I can get great harmonic feedback with the Turbo Rat.

I play mostly Funk, Rock and Funky rock, also a little disco, Jazz and Blues. Prior to the Turbo Rat I was just using a MXR Wilde Overdrive, (which I love) but I wanted the "the extra one, so my sound would go to 11 instead of ten" (In Spinal Tap terms!) And the Rat is pretty extreme in that sense! It is not part of my main sound as I find that I start to sound a little wanky and start playing shred! But it does bring that extra aggressive edge when I want it.

The Rat is not really a "Scooped" sounding pedal and tends to add extra bang to the lower mid section resulting in a "chunky" sound that cuts well through a mix.

Never let me down, unlike my Wilde over drive!which decides when it wants to work! (But alas I love the sound of it)

Anyway play with a back up pedal? are they serious!? I have a back up guitar, but not pedals!

Never dealt with them

As mentioned I play mostly Funky Rock, through the gear that I have also previously mentioned, I have been playing for 14 years, and as mentioned I find the pedal very limited, but I bought it for the sound that it makes, I am well pleased with my Overdrive, and Clean Channel, but I wanted a agressive "Mega rock" sound to occassionally use for solos, and simply take the sound to a more agressive level, which this pedal does very well.

If it was stolen I would claim on insurance, if it was lost I would kick my self in the arse!

I compaired this to loads of other boxes of similar and more expense but this was the chunky sound that I wanted.

an idiot could use this pedal, 3 knobs, distortion, filter and volume, the only thing you need to know is that the filter works in reverse. AND it glows in the mutha fuckin dark!!!!!!

i use the Turbo Rat as my main distortion inbetween a fender jaguar 62 reissue/rickenbacker 330 and a fender pro reverb 79 and the pedal is the item i've been searching for, for years!! I've tried alot of different distortions and this one is the best for me, above shreadmaster, tube screamer, big muff. sounds lovely with differing amp styles. AC-30, Fender combos and even my old H&K solid state head and 4x12 cab. it's versitile and it's great for crunchy, rhythm type tones too. it's also wort noting that while recording, our producer recorded a vox continental organ through the turbo rat and it sounded amazing.....keeping the distortion in moderation of course!! vocals can be done in this style also.

i've had my one for a few years now and it's never let me down. I would and do, do gigs without a backup, i trust the pedal with my life!!

never tried, never needed!!

I'm in a signed rock band with pop styled songwriting and this pedal is all I need to get my guitar sound happening, other guys in the band are so impressed their getting turbo rats for themselves. If it were stolen I'd get a new one the same day, it's become the corner stone of my tone. I would have given it a 10 but there are a few drawbacks...1, it has mini jack style power input(this is not the UK standard) 2, it's really heavy. but these are small pricse to pay for the quality of tone!!

Very easy to use. Manual not necessary. Footswitch and knobs of excellent quality.

I use this pedal with both guitar and bass.

strat, turbo rat, big muff pi(russian), guyatone OD-2, boss NS-2 noisegate

fender jazz V, turbo rat, guyatone OD-2

The pedal has a harsh and definitely solid state sound. The sound is sensitive to dynamics, but with subtle and quiet picking, there is a dusty sort of clipping that tube-lovers will hate. The sound is aggressive, raspy, and fairly compressed. Not a very warm or 'vintage' sound, but this is one of the reasons i like it. For an idea of the sounds you can get, think early sonic youth. Thurston Moore still uses this pedal in his live setup. Thom Yorke of Radiohead used two of these pedals in his rig back in the late nineties. This pedal is awesome on bass. My green big muff kills the lows in my bass. The turbo rat boosts my lows and gives me huge sustain perfect for cheesy sludge-metal slides and feedback drones. A warmer sound on low distortion settings would be nice.

Made of military-grade components. Feels very solid.

Never dealt with the company.

I play fairly aggressive, dissonant and ugly rock. I wouldnt recommend this pedal to those seeking a warm smooth overdrive sound. ProCo pedals are fairly expensive, but you get a very durable product.

Puleeze. 3 knobs. If you can't figure it out then you have no business trying to figure out the six string instrument that plugs into it. Volume, stop turning the knob when your ears start to bleed or the neighbors complain (unless you're me and keep turning to REALLY give neighbors something to complain about). Distortion. C'mon, if you can't figure this knob it's time to go back to your guitar that has a hole in it. Filter. Every Eq system should be this versatile and yet simple.

I got this to back up a Boss Metal Zone. I've since traded the Metal Zone. This bad boy really cuts through a mix without sounding like a chainsaw. For those of you who think this pedal old-school/old-fashioned, there's a reason it's still around. It delivers. There are a LOT of us who play thru solid state amps for budgetary reasons. This comes the closest I've heard to a simple box that sounds tube-like no matter what the amp. I use this in front of a Crybaby>MXR Phase 90>Yamaha Chorus>DanEcho>Peavey Bandit II(Don't knock'em till you've tried them.)I was once on stage with a guy using a Marshall Half-Stack and they were telling ME to turn it down (and NOT cause I sucked.) I tell ya, this box WILL rip your lips off. Only thing I've found a problem with is it won't do nu/death/industrial type stuff. A little muddy on the low end crunch.

Just don't drop it on your foot. You'll be limping for a week

N/A

I've been playing for 20+ years. Pop, Rock, Blues, Country, R&B, Funk, both in Church and in clubs(I like getting paid on occasion.)Once I got this, I quit looking at distortion pedals. Give me my Rat and an amp w/a good clean channel. Me and my Strat(Duncan humbucker at the bridge) will do the rest. Lost or stolen? Bite your tongue. Go ahead and pay twice as much. You won't get twice the sound.

3 knobs, you'd have to be pretty slow not to figure this one out. the knobs are extremely sensetive though.

oh hell yea, that sums it up. i like good ol' bassy distortion, but i like to have an original sound. i use a gibson sg/fernandes vortex/ibanez rg 7 string > zoom 707 multieffects > proco turbo rat > ART equalizer > laney tt100. i get distortions kinda like obituary or morbid angel, if i tilt the treble and kill the mids i can get metallica-ish sound. my amps distortion was damn good but i cant get the sound i want without the rat.

i wish i was built like this thing. id start prize-fighting. too bad the ratings dont go over 10 on this one

havent had to deal with them yet, things built too damn solid

i play thrashy hardcore, alot like morbid angel. tons of 32nd notes, and somehow you can still tell i play every single one (thanks to the rat). but even when i slow down to whole note power chords im still getting that hellish bassy crunch. i will admit i wouldnt use this pedal on my clean channel, its really fuzzy, but with the slighest little bit of gain to compliment it, its unbelievable.

easy.. but you have to understand that the overall tone depends many from the filter/volume settings. so you can close the filter and upper the volume, or open and lower.

Gibson es335 -> Ibanez TS9dx -> TurboRat -> Fender M-80 or Marshall JCM800.

the rat is perfect _after_ the tube screamer. I use to set the TS9 just light overdriving and the TurboRat half drive (with the filter almost all closed), so I can swithc from one to another depending on the amount of drive I want.. I use both ON to have a louder sound that is not so much distorted to destroy my guitar tone. I have found this setup after having tryed a lot of pedals after and before the TS9, only at last I remembered about the turbo rat (I bought it about 13 years ago to distort a bass guitar). now I'm very happy.

see above.

it's easy to use i gotta admit

I didnt really like the sound initially.It's abit too muddy for me but when i added an ibanez tube screamer..it's way superb.I'm using a Gibson SG standard as well as a 40th anniversary telecaster.i cant really say it's that fantastic a pedal but it works miracles when u add other stuff to it.

Quite reliable honestly,but it's too heavy a pedal.Frankly,i havent used it for any gigs yet cuz i've already got a few pedals of my liking

To me it's quite an average pedal,i love the glow in the dark knobs tho.it's pretty cool but this pedal gives a really muddy sound.It gives a really thick sound.if u are playing metal,it'll be ideal but for me i dun really use it much.i dun mind selling it at a cheaper price tho.cuz i dun use it very often.PLS APPROACH ME HERE IF YOU WISH TO BUY THIS PEDAL AT A CHEAPER PRICE!!..hurhur

Well... 3 Knobs: Distortion, Filter (=tone), and volume
It takes some seconds to get how filter works, because it is like reversed. Volume is a killer. I don't use it much

I'm using Ibanez GRX-140, Snarling dogs black bawl wah and CRATE GX-10 with the turbo rat. There's no overdrive like sound, because the pedal is way too dirty for it. The sound is perfect for me, because I play metal

It's like a tank. Once I kicked it and my toe hurt the rest of the day

Not tried

This is good pedal for a metal player like me. But I think it was a little too costy, if you compare the prices other paid.

3 knobs to fiddle with, not to difficult, manual is pretty much
useless, watch out on the volume knob this thing is crazy loud

my setup includes American Standard Tele(lefty)->>Ernie Ball volume
pedal->>VOX wah->>ProCo Turbo Rat->>Boss CS-3->>Boss GE-7->>
Boss CE-5->>Boss DD-6 all piped into a Fender Prosonic 2x10 Combo.
This thing has a sound all its own, takes some fiddlin' with knobs
but when you find it you won't be dissapointed. My fave guitarist,
producer, singer is Dave Sardy (aka Barkmarket), if you don't know
who this is do your homework.

thats right...built like a brick shithouse and or tank,
get yerself an adapter and dead batteries aren't a problem,
I'd like to meet anybody named "Gary Gadget" that actually gigs
with a backup...who comes up with this crap.

if I had to deal with a company than something went wrong
at the time of purchase....if it were to break than off to
the store I bought it from

I like this pedal because its not like other distortion pedals, its
great on the clean channel, sounds way different than the gain channel. I've been playing for 15 years, mostly punk and alt. rock
(ie. Skeleton Key, Fugazi, Cop Shoot Cop, Brkmrkt, Unwound)

Well, it couldn't get much simpler than this, with only the distortion, filter and volume knobs( that actually glow in the dark, for easy tweeking on stage or something... ). Getting an usefull sound out of it is a matter of seconds.

I'm using a TC630 Talman - Turbo Rat - Boss RV3 digital delay - Fender Twin Reverb amp.
This pedal is extremely loud, so go easy with the volume knob. I tend to play with the filter knob set to zero, and just a bit of distortion, for an extra twangy sound that goes beautifuly with the lipstick pickups on my Talman (I've tried it with a Telecaster too, and it just loves the single coils !!!)
If you're into post rock, Turbo Rat is THE thing for you.
However, you can't seem to get this pedal to sound polite, polished, or to create an overdrive-like sound. Is much too dirty for that (which is a good thing for me :-))

Oh come on, this is a tank. It could survive an atom bomb. Battery usage is surprisingly low, too. I'd use it without a backup any time.

Never had to deal with them.

I've had this pedal for three years, and it's the best pedal I've ever bought. If it were stolen, I'd get another ASAP. I'm into clean, sustained, gritty sounds, without much distortion (think Mogwai, cca Come On Die Young), and this pedal delivers. After all, Thom Yorke uses two of them, and that's saying some. Also, Turbo Rat has this astounding capability to make any trashy old amp sound like a class A vintage tube amp. It' s very dynamic - play softly and you have a clean warm tone, play harder and it delivers a burning, dirty drive.
I played a Danelectro Fab Tone for a couple of times, and this thing is way better at those clean(ish) sounds. Also, I've bought it used, hence the low price, so I'm giving it an 11 for the value for money.
Beautiful pedal, get one if you can. I don't know what I'd do without it.

Its super easy, after you play around with it for a few minuts.
I didnt have a manual but you dont need one.It has 3 knobs dist,filter,volume. its that easy

Its produces any type of distortion I want.
Oh yeah it's noisey but in a good way.Well good for me bad for anyone on the block.I use a full stack crate with a peavey head.And a generic strat.If you play Sabbath,Nirvana,metallica,Or any other like bands then this pedal will work for you.

Its a tank.Indestructible
It's more dependable then anything else thats for sure.
I would use it on a gig with no backup .

Never needed them ..so I dont know

Its one of the best distortion pedals I Have used or heard.
Like I said Nirvana, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Smashing Pumpkins and band in thos categorys.If it where stolen or lost ..I wouldnt lose it.
Yes, I would buy another one or maybe upgrade to the dual one but would deffinetly be a pro co rat just maybe a newer version.Theres only one pro co rat better than this one. so it would be either or.
It helps make music and It helps music sound the way its supposed to.

Three really sensitive knobs.
Plenty of easy but challenging
due to the sensitivity..

Band: PURExxx (www.purexxx.nl)
Location: Amsterdam
Guitar setup:
Ampeg V2 head
Marshall jcm 800 combo (4404)
Boss SX-700 multi-effects
Wah Wah
Turbo Rat
Fender Telecaster

The Rat sounds really cool on a clean sound setup.
And ofcourse is the ultimate in sustain and preserving
body to the total sound.

As long as you use it with feel this pedal rocks.
Just buy one.

Are humans mortal?

not the faintest idea..

Don't miss this one if you are into modern rock based music