ProCo Vintage RAT

One knob for Distortion / Filter / Level...pretty simple but quite effective.

I've gone thru many different types of stomp boxes for 8 years now and they have all come and gone except for the Tube Screamer...and now the ProCo Rat. This distortion box is an amazing lil' thing that has a very nice distortion to it. It's best feature by far is the filter knob which shapes the distortion very nicely. I run my Rat thru an all-tube 30 watt combo w/ a modded Am. Std. Strat and a Les Paul Custom. This pedal has a strong and intense distortion but at the same time its not "messy" as many transistor based boxes tend to be. The gain can be dialed up high...can be considered "Marshall"-like, crunchy and thick but again it remains tight. Sounds great thru single coils...awesome thru humbuckers. A suprisingly very "usable" stomp box.

Metal housing looks tough to me...no problems yet.

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I've been relying on tube-end distortion (boosting the clean signal and pushing the power tubes for gain) only for a long time as I've never had too many good experiences w/stomp boxes. I had the chance to buy the Rat used for a fair price and its the best investment I've made yet. The Rat gives nice response, dynamic, tight gain, and a tone that is VERY usable. If you have an innate dislike for stomp boxes try the PRoco Rat for a pleasant shock:)

Easy to use! Easy to get great sound.

Three knobs: Distortion, Filter, Volume

Has a wonderful crunch that allows the notes to come through despite its strength. It is a very powerful yet musical distortion. Similar to the Marshall Shredmaster I have, but it is stronger (although it doesn't have quite as wide a variety of sounds).

This pedal isn't seen as often as all those boss pedals and such, and you may not have heard of it, but it is very good. A professional distortion that you wouldn't be ashamed of using in front of any audience.

Seems very sturdy. It's a big metal box.

Never needed any customer support yet.

This is definitely one of the best distorion pedals out there. It is great for adding a real powerful rock edge to your music without sounding like so many of those awful guitar nerds.
I use it to play rock and roll with my music and I love it, even though I am predominantly an electronic musician. Don't waste all your money on the marshall shredmaster (it has gotten expensive since it is used by Radiohead) and get this pedal -- it is not a compromise at all.

There are only 3 knobs! How hard can it be?

I REALLY like the sound for both ryhtm and leads! If you crank the volume it will make a cool fuzzy sound.

Its a heavy little metalbox, and it has never failed me

Never needed it

I play rock/blues/jazz/punk and for that its perfect.
My gear (nut much but anyway):
Fender American Stratocaster/Epiphone Les Paul Standart>>Crybaby>>Vintage Rat>>Boss CE-3>>Hughes & Kettner Attax 100

It's definitely an easy pedal to figure out and get a great sound out of. Plus, the glow-in-the-dark knobs are nice.

It's got great sound quality - suberb sound and amazing crunch. I use it on an acoustic lap slide guitar and the sound is unmatched. Great box.

I've had it for over a year in my live rig and I've never had a problem with it in over 200 shows. Built tough and reliable.

Never had to deal with the company.

Great sound, strongly built - I wish Rat's would get more attention as an amazing distortion box because it's got a distinct and great sound. Buy one - I did, and it was the best investment I made in a distortion pedal.

It's easy.

I have 2 guitars I use. Mainly I use a refurbished Series A (2 Singal coil pickups), I bought at a pawn shop. The other is a Samick Fat Tele with (Humbuckers- probly a generic brand). For an amp, raight now I use a Fender automatic GT. And the only thing between that is my "ProCo Rat vintage". The sound is great, the clean tones are boosted and the distortion can emulate any distortion out there.

It wont break.

Well worth pedal.

It's almost too easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. Three knobs- distortion=gain, filter=tone, level=volume. This is the big box pedal and I do believe it sounds much better than the small eighties box I owned seven years ago.

This pedal has great bite which can be smoothed out or sharpened with the filter knob. It is much better than my HotCake- it jumps out of your guitar and you can feel the crunch everywhere. Proco makes one type of pedal-distortion- and they simply make the best I've ever used and after fifteen years of playing guitar in different eight rock bands I can honestly say this is all I need between my guitar and amp. No other boutique pedal or vintage pedal I've owned satisfies me, not even close, the way the RAT does. It's the only distortion pedal I've kept over the years.

Impossible to destroy- believe me, there have been nights when this pedal was soaked in beer and kicked off the stage, batted around and thrown back. It's never skipped a beat.

Never needed it.

From crisp, chest pounding boost to ripping overdrive to all out psychodelic mayhem this box is tried and true. As I said before, it sounds more responsive and sensitive than the smaller box Rats. It has that bite that makes you want to play constantly. I'm using it with a Deluxe Reverb and a '52 RI Telecaster. I hope no electro-geek tries to make a boutique copy of this pedal- I hate that crap.

This pedal is easy to use. Three knobs: Distortion, Filter(bass), and Volume. There wasnt a manual, but once you realize what the filter knob does, the rest is simple.

This is a solid fuzz pedal. I really dont see the Marshall in it, though that is more apparent with single coils for some reason. With humbuckers, nothing but fuzz. However, that is not a bad thing. After playing a few riffs, I nailed the distortion off the Deftones's Adrenaline album. So if you are looking for a comparison, there you go. Unfortunately, this pedal does not have the sustain I would like it to, but I can always get around that.

I would use this without a backup.

Overall, this is a good fuzz/distortion pedal. Just to keep this brief, I would likely get it again. However, I am more of a distortion person, so if it were stolen, I would probably look at other pedals.

It's only 3 knobs. Very very easy.
The Filter knob is a bit sensitive.
I didn't get a manual for my pedal. even thought it was new.
but I didn't need one anyway, 'cause it's so easy too use this pedal

I'm using an Epiphone LesPaul Custom Ebony - Vintage Rat pedal and a Boss Tremolo Tr-2 Pedal - Hughes & Kettner Blonde Edition Amp.
The Rat Produces a noisy, dirty and warm sound.
If you want to sound like Foo Fighters, or Radiohead this is a great pedal.
I had a Boss MetalZone before this pedal and I think it sucked.
This pedal is much much much much better.

It's a big fat black metal box.
I don't think it would break even if I threw in the wall.

I play rock. sort of like foo fighters and Radiohead, so this pedal suits me fine.
If it broke (but i don't think it will) I may try out a marshall distortion, I've heard the Shredmaster(Used by Radiohead) and the Drivemaster (Used by the best band in the world Kent, they are from sweden) wolud be really great, but I gladly buy The Rat again.

very easy to use- i like the fact that the distortion seems to be exponential as you turn it up. very different from most cheap pedals in that the dist and volume controls play of each other, and for absolutely incredible tone, the distortion only need to be at about 3 or 4 with the volume on 7 or 8, and a good amount of crunch in the amp. the filter unit is odd, you add tredle (and harshness) as you turn it down.

BEST DISTORTION PEDAL EVER MADE!!! seriously. i think way too much faith is put into most pedals, and you hear too many people saying "sounds like a marshall", "sounds like a full stack", etc. that's stupid. you're not going to sound incredible playing one of these on the clean channel of a crate GX212. but if you put this thing in front of a good warm, crunchy tube amp and a couple of 4X12's, then use the volume to boost your amp into overdrive, i assure you that you will melt on site. the volume adds harmonic response and drive, and the distortion will go all the way to fuzz, but i doubt you will ever need to go that far. true bypass doesn't suck the tone out of your amp. seriously this pedal, when set right, can increase the noticeability of everything you play, but remember to tweak your amp, too. keep in mind that pedals can only sound as good as your amp, and you should use them sparingly. just because you paid $65 for something doesn't mean you should crank it. subtlety is the key here.

reliable. i've lost my temper at practice enough to know that you can't break one of these.

don't know, but rumor has it they're good with it.

SMOOTH, really smooth. i've tried a lot of pedals, and this one beat every on of them. it's not for everything, but if you play with it, you can get an incredible tone-very original with lots of harmonics. i play hardcore, and would not turn to anything else. again, don't run it cranked through your clean channel if you want a lot of gain. you'll just be pissed. if you want to do that, go buy a metal zone or something. just tell me when you're about to turn it on so i can leave the room.

This is my favourite distortion device. It is so creamy, liquid and powerfull. It can be a mild overdrive, a rich crunch, a powerfull lead with incredible sustain or a 60's fuzz a la hendrix.
I can reproduce classic dark marshall sound.
All rats are cool it was difficult to choose. I got this because it is little more creamy and hotter.
It screams so cool with my tube screamer. If you put en eq after it , you can get incredible sounds.
I tried any kind of distortion boxes and for the price this is the best you can get.
With this pedal i can cover almost any kind of music i need.
For blues (but i don't use it for blues because i have my tube screamer),
classic rock,modern rock, heavy metal(with my boss ge7) etc..

It is very solid. the footswitch is silent.

never dialed with proco.

If it were stolen or lost i would buy ut again.
i wish it had a leed.