ProCo Vintage RAT

Even my pet dog knows how to tweak it...simple..level...filter..dist..i can get my tone in less than 5 mins tweaking those knobs..

Sharp...jagged..smooth...alot of midrange...cuts thru the mix/band very well..all of the knobs are very reactive to each other which is a good thing..a very versatile pedal..put the distortion to the max and the filter at 9 o'clock will bring you to the smashing pumpkins big muff territory..put the distortion at 12 o'clock will bring u to the punk territory ala ramones/green day and etc...there's still more to discover on this lil rat..

btw ...my gear setup is..
Yamaha eg303 with lace sensor red at bridge..silver in the middle and blue at the neck...--> Pro co rat --> Zoom ultra fuzz [discontiniued] --> Big Muff russian re-issue --> BOSS CH-1 chorus --> Muzzle and co. 8 stage phaser --> Line 6 filter modulator --> BOSS DD-3 delay --> Electro harmonix synthesizer modul --> Rocktron noise supprasor --> Peavey Blazer 20 watts stack with another Bassman copy trannie / Fender twin reverb re-issue...

I play in an experimental / noise / punk / alternative rock band..
so a couple of distortions and modulation effects are a necessity in my chain...

I think this thing is built to last eventhough it looks abit fragile and stuff...but what the heck..
The only downside of this thing is the battery compartment...it keeps coming loose everytime..

I don't have to deal with them..

Superb distortion pedal...i can say its better than any big muff or boss shitty distortion combined...it has the mid range and highs that cuts thru a mix or a band easily...enabling yer guitar to be heard clearly...its a very versatile pedal too...and with a simple tweak of the knobs...it can bring you to the alternative, blues, punk and etc territory...and this baby manipulate feedback unlike any distortion pedal...some sort like a theremin noise effect...[the only dist pedal that come close to the Rat is the ZOOM ultra fuzz which is also a good pedal]...

Two thumbs up for the RAT..!

Simple standard controls, only the filter works backwards....still a no-brainer.

Well, if I decided to list all the over-drive boxes I have owned, I would need an awful lot of space. Suffice to say there have been dozens, and many "boutique" pedals in the mix, such as Fulltones, Klons, Xotic and many others. It's as ridiculous as the number of amplifiers I have owned. All in the persuit of tone. At least I can call myself a "gigging" musician, so this stuff has been put to pretty good use over many years of playing (31yrs!). So, enter the "Vintage Rat". My current main gigging amp is a early 90's Fender Concert 1x12, 60 watt combo. Cool amp, GREAT clean channel (voiced much like a 59 Bassman meets a Twin), and the drive channels, which are so-so, I use only for a lead boost. They work well in that capacity. So, I get my main drive tone from pedals through the clean channel, using a Telecaster and a Strat. I have a Keeley modded TS-9 which covers my Jangly stuff, the T. Petty tones and a bit beyond, but I needed something to deliver thick-crunch, more Marshallesque in character. The RAT does this, and in spades. Frankly, I am amazed at how great it sounds with my rig, how little time it took to get a rippin tone (about 10 seconds), and how well the pedal cleans up when the guitar is backed down. I run the drive pretty low, about 9:30, but it delivers plenty of fat, biting crunch that sounds very close to a JMP-50 that I used to have, only to tell you the truth....better! More musical, and more overtones. I love this pedal, it is fantastic. It also takes a boost well too. If I hit the Keeley in front of it, it rolls into a Jubilee-like growl, and does not freak out at all. Note definition is maintaned throughout, unreal. This may be the best value in overdrives/distortion units out there. I don't get impressed easily, but the Vintage Rat is just killer, period. True bypass as well....they really did a nice job on this.

A tank. Literally.

I mainly play roots-rock ala Petty/Wilco/Jayhawks/B. Crowes these days, ...been playing 31 years, and gig almost every week. If I lost this, I would go out, that very day, and get another. It will never leave my board. Funny after the hundreds and hundreds I have spent on over-rated, overly-hyped TS-9 knock-offs. The Rat is in a class all by itself.

Very easy to get good sounds - set up for left to right operation - distortion, filter then volume. Dial in distortion level first, then filter (7 to 12 o'clock - fuzz tone; 12 to 5 o'clock - overrdrive tones). No manual comes with pedal - don't need it. Because filter is a bit difficult to understand until you actually use the pedal, it gets a 9.

Set up is as follows: Les Paul Standard => Rat => Reverend Drivetrain II => H2O Chorus/Delay => Evans JE150 amp. Very quiet. The versatility of this unit really surprised me. If I had to do a gig with either the Drivetrain or the Rat it would be the Rat because of its extreme range. Don't get me wrong, the Drivetain is very good at what it does, but can't get to the Marshall crunch zone of the Rat. For the Paul, I typically leave the filter control at about 2:30 and keep the distortion at about 10:00 for a very warm, bluesy overdrive with a touch of harmonics. If I need cutting power, I boost distortion to 2:00 where it starts to get intense. Same warm ovedrive with a nice sharp, yet musical crunch on top - again with great harmonics. You can get stinging fuzz by dropping filter below 12:00, but although its the best musical fuzz I've heard, I don't play too many tunes with fuzz so its not used too often. As far as sounds from famous artists, I don't try to emulate any exactly, but the range and versatility of this thing should let you do most of the stuff you want except maybe ultra scooped extreme stuff. You should also know that this pedal does some compression which I find makes the rhythm pick up on the paul way less mushy for both chording and solos - great! I've been playing about 25 years and this pedal gives me an alternative to the same old mushy TS-9 influenced pedals out there - boutique or otherwise. Its a blast to play with really good note separation throughout its range (except maybe with distortion totally dimed). Gobs of sustain as well. At least this is the story to my ears!! A few other thoughts - I found the attack and harmonics of this pedal are accentuated by using a sharper pointed pick ( in my case - Fender Medium Jazz pick.) Pure nickel roundwound strings also help on the warmth spectrum. A nice quality amp doesn't hurt - like a good clean tube amp or an Evans. You don't need a two channel amp with this pedal.

Yes - built with quality strructure and components.

N/A

See sound quality section - it will be the workhorse for my overdrive/distortion rerquirements.

This pedaul is capable of great sounds. Run through a clean channel of a tube amp, no one will no its not tube distortion. I used it for a while as my main distortion for a nice solid crunch tone. I also used it for lighter overdriven sounds for a while at lower settings. It is very easy to get good sounds, it only has 3 knobs.
As for ease of use, while getting sounds is a piece of cake using the switch is awkward. The pedal is very thick and has a button style switch. Your foot can not reach the button adequately with out lifting your heel off of the ground and you do not have a led light that tells you when the effect is engaged.
If you are the sort of person that does a lot of pedal changes, in concert the lack of ergonomics could be a challenge. Especially if you are a guitarist/ singer. After using this in concert I missed many pedal changes.
I solved the problem by purchasing boss's line selector. This way I could leave the pedal on all the time and go to clean by using the channel selector.
I wish this pedal had the kind of ac adaptor on a typical pedal. Especially since I had a daisy chain power supply that works with all my pedals except this one!
I bought the pedal used and therefore have not seen the manual

I have used this pedal mostly with the clean channel of a fender Deville 4 10. My main guitar is a les paul. This pedal sounded awesome. If you like a nice crunch this is the pedal for you. It really has a versatile tone that can be used for many styles. If you back off the gain you can get a lot of good Overdriven sounds.
This pedal has a lot of grit , yet has a lot of clarity when playing thick chord voicings. The individual notes of chords aren't muddy sounding. It also has a decent high mid presence giving you a good cut through the mix. At the same time, this pedal doesn't have a harsh sound. Its very warm and tube like.

I never had a single problem with it, nor do I expect to. It seems to be built very solidly.

never had to deal with 'em

I play mostly modern rock. I like to use a lot of full chords, much thicker than just a power chord. I found this pedal very useful for this purpose as well as solo/leads. I sold this pedal when I bought my marshall JCM 900 amp, since I needed the money and was using my new amp for my distorted sounds.
I have owned many stomp distortions over the years and found this one very pleasing and very tube like.
As I said before it is a very uncomfortable pedal to switch channels. I don't understand why more companies don't desing the switch the way boss does.
While my final rating is a seven, I mean by that above average. I have noticed that so many reviews are over inflated in their rating scores. If I gave I 5 I would mean simply -good. To me a seven means better than good.

If someone can't figure out how to use it, they must be pretty stupid. There are three knobs, distortion, filter and volume.

I have not played my G&L S-500 (strat) through it yet, but I bought the pedal because I have a 1969 Marshall Major and I need distortion. The two guitars I have played through it both sound great - Gibson Les Paul Classic, and an Ibanez Jem 7vwh I just bought a couple months ago. I tried it out with an American Jackson soloist in the store through a Marshall JCM 2000 DSL and the distortion on the pedal not only sounded far superior than the distortion on the amp (I am not a fan of the JCM2000 though, but if anything I am biased against pedals too!), but it actually has more of that classic [80s] Marshall (modded JCM 800) tone !!!!!! And before playing the Rat, I always completely believed that distortion on any all tube amp would beat out distortion from a pedal, even if plugged into a tube amp

My precise settings: Put the distortion one dot lower than 12 o'clock to 12 o'clock (depending how much gain you want), set the filter around 10 o'clock and the volume appropriately, however if the filter is that low then I have to cut back the presence and treble of the amp which then kills the tone with the pedal off, but gives a little more of that chug in the sound. I usually therefore run the filter around 2 o'clock so that both on and off is satisfied, and the volume around 1 o'clock, again to create balance with the pedal off and it works great.

The pedal seems like it is pretty well constructed, so time will tell how well it will hold up.

I took the time to go around to all of the music stores in the area and check out each pedal they had, but there was not one single other pedal that could deliver a tone close to the Rat, and I got it at around the same price too!

While the tone of a Boss Metal Zone may suit ones style more then the Rat, I am sure that few sane people would argue that the tone of the Metal Zone is even close to the tone of the Rat.

No manual with mine. Only 3 nobs,so it's pretty easy to work with

I mainly use a Marshall MG30DFX + Fender Std Fat Strat w/ Floyd with this and it sounds awesome. I needed to make my clean a little bit more dirty, and this suited that well. I play mostly rock, pop, and punk, and it was easy to find my desired setup.

This box is pretty heavy and it's big. The switch actually requires you to stomp on it to change channels which I think is a good thing. The only problem I have right now is i'm using a multi-voltage DC adaptor with it. It requires from what I last recall positive polarity with 6.5V or something. I set that up on my DC adaptor, but for some reason I have to wait a few minutes for it to start working. I'm guessing it's because my DC adaptor is a piece of crap, but I don't know. I may just get batteries and see if it works better with that. But when it works, it works absolutely wonderful.

never dealth with the company. I had never heard of them until I asked zzsounds what kinda distortion box I should buy for <insert genre>

Like I've said, I play mostly punk, pop, AND alternative rock. So this suits me well. I've been playing for about a year and a half. I've used this on my little brother's 10W amp, and it makes it sound so much better. If you got < 30W amp, make sure you get this pedal because it makes your amp sound like a >30W. If it were lost or stolen, I'd definitely buy it again. Like I said before, the only gripe I have is the thing with the DC adaptor. I really don't know why it does it, but I'm patient so I usually can wait till the box powers up. It makes everything sound so much crisper. If you don't own a JCM2000 stack or a Mesa boogie, then get this with ur amp. It rocks.

awesome pedal...get every distortion you want out of it. no need for a manual.

EH Qtron+ =>
Boss Compression/Sustainer=>
Ibanez Turbo Tube Screamer=>
ProCo Vintage Rat =>
EB Volume Pedal=>
Boss Noise Suppresor =>
Line6 DD5 =>
Line 6 DL4=>
into my Mesa Boogie Maverick (Dual Rect.)

Rat can be noisy with Gain at full blast...Still great though.

Yes and no. I gigged it hard for about 6 months until the volume Potentiometer stopped working properly. Still...See below...

The volume pot stopped working like it should after 6 months and I sent it in under warranty. It was prompty replaced and the shipped back with no delay. I was super impressed with their expiditing of warranty repair. They didn;t communicate much, but they got the job done.

It's well worth the money, for the functions. A little bit more height than most pedals I own, but still not a big deal.

Very easy, three knobs. Volume, Filter, & Distortion.

The sound is very jagged and sharp. It rips through almost any music. I have setup going Fender Strat > Boss Octave > Rat > homemade speaker ripper distortion(Death by Audio) > Vox wah > Fender Twin Reverb w/ Marshall 4/12" cab. Mostly just use the rat pedal for distortion, and hit the speaker ripper pedal for awesome sonic blasts. The filter knob is in the middle for deep lows and soaring highs. The distortion allows me to manipulate feedback like no other pedal can.

The only thing I dislike about this pedal is that the battery seems to slide around in the box. I'm afraid that this will tear the wires. Other than that, it's very reliable and has never needed to be serviced in the ten years I've owned it.

Never needed support

This pedal makes my other pedals sound better. I also have an old Big Muff and love that fuzz sound, but it makes every other pedal sound like mud in my setup. For metal, punk, shoegazer and pyschodelic rock, this pedal is highly recommended.

Simple really, three knobs, Distortion, Tone, Volume.
Would benefit from LED to let you know if it is on or off, but the True bypass it has is probably more use.
Has an unusual DC adaptor connector, which makes it harder to integrate into a pedalboard setup. I just use batteries, and in three odd months of regular use, haven't yet changed it.

Using a LP thru Teese RMC-3, Boss OD-1, Dallas-Rangemaster clone, to Either Laney VC50, or Homebuilt '59 Bassmann.
I guess the problem is that it is very hard to describe tone! The RAT goes from very little, to over the top gain, and has a lot of volume boost on tap. I like it set loud, but with the gain set, so things are just "chiming" or breaking up. With too much gain, you lose definition, and the original tone of your setup is swallowed. I tend to keep the treble cut at around 12:00, as otherwise the RAT is a bit shrill for my liking.

Metal Case
Well mounted battery.
Pots are soldered directly to PCB, which may make it more susceptable to breakage.
I gig without a backup, because at the end of the day, all you should need is guitar, lead, amp.

Bought Second Hand

In all honesty, I am still trying to find the perfect high gain sound. The RAT is useful, but doesn't quite capture my imagination. It is hard to describe, but it is hard to find the right balance between to shrill, and too dull. It sound better cranked - that is for sure - but there is so much volume boost on tap that it then means you can't equalise your amp's volume with the pedal on and off. It is a good Pedal, but to my taste lacks something.

Fairly easy to use, simple three knob operation as are most of your conventional od/fuzz/dist units

My main guitar is a Les Paul Standard, and I play thru a hiwatt head and a 2x12 cab. The effect is not noisy at lower volumes, but in louder situations it can start feeding back, which can be a good thing. I don't think this pedal can be used to emulate any one artists sound, and I say that in a good way, lots of other pedals may come an go but this will stay with me. It can do a fair immitation of almost any dirty sound from a little overdrive to thick fuzzy tones. Somewhere in between their is where it sounds best to me.

I think it's reliable, besides, it isn't that expensive to worry about.

Great pedal, will cover a lot of range. It's inexpensive, and the battery lasts forever, which is always a plus.

Just three knobs, easy to find the right sound.

I own a Gibson SG Standard -> MT-2 Metalzone -> Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble -> ProCo Vintage Rat -> Marshall AVT275. This is perfect for fuzz. It's not noisy at all and it can give a HUGE volume boost if needed. Very versitile fuzz too, it can match the sound of the Smashing Pumpkins perfectly or any other early 90's artist. This is a great pedal for fuzz, but don't try to play metal or anything with it because it's not meant for that.

Made out of steel, seems indestructible...

Haven't dealt with them before.

This is a great pedal and any serious guitar player should own it. I love its fuzz deeply and wish i had bought this sooner. As stated above, it is perfect for most early nineties artists, but should not be used for heavy metal. If it was stolen, I would definitly buy a new one.

Three knobs is all it takes- matter of fact its all it should ever take- volume, tone and distortion. The knobs are interactive. Very good volume boost.

Sounds like a modified germanium fuzz thats capable of going from fairly clean to fairly heavy. Nice wide range of distortion, and the tone knob has a wide range of tones available also. Gets too bassy when the distortion is all the way up- youll need to lower the tone knob as you max out the distortion. Nice pedal. Not noisy.

Built well, all metal construction- The Rat is built better than a Danelectro pedal.

Probably fine support- its made in the USA!

Cool pedal. I play blues and rock- Strats and Pauls into tube amps. The Rat is a nice distortion/fuzz pedal. The Rat is better than the MXR Distortion + but is not as good as the Roger Mayer Spitfire. Other stuff I own includes an Austone Millenium Overdrive and Austone Fuzz Nutz, Maxon OD-808, Maxon OD-820, Zinky True Grit (great overdrive in boost mode!), Barber Tone Pump, Roger Mayer Axis Fuxx, Banzai Cold Fusion, Wells 5:00 Shadow, Fulltone Soulbender, MJM Britbender (two knob model), Blues Pearl Blue Balls and Blue Screamer overdrive pedals, and the Boss SD-1 and BD-2 overdrives.

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This is a follow up to a review I did almost a year ago. My setup and gear has changed and I'm now running the ProCo Rat thru a Blues Junior w/Les Paul Special. Before I was running thru a Strat and my Rivera and it sounded great...but thru a LP it sounds quite amazing. Very solid tone, and rolling back the tone knobs on the guitar creates a wide variety of usable tones. This pedal continues to amaze me - best 50 bucks I've ever spent.

No problems yet - and its a used model too.

n/a

You can pick this guy up used and it'll be the best 50 bucks you've ever spent. I did some home recordings thru the Rat and a delay pedal only (thru the Blues Jr and LP Special) and sent them to my friend who uses a Peavey 5150. His response: "How did you get your guitar to sing like that?"

No manual, however one is not needed. Just three knobs, all labeled. It took me about thirty seconds to get the sound I was looking for.

It has a great, what I call clear heavy distortion. With the highest levels of distortion your guitar/amp tone can still shine through. I use it with my SG and Marshall amp for my heavy distortion in my indie rock band. It gets all the noise I need, but with great tone.

I'd definately use it without a backup. This thing is built with solid construction. You can run it over and it would still work. My only concern is that the knobs stick up and could be moved accidentally by my foot if mot careful. I just taped them to my setting.

n/a

I play indie rock, and it's perfect for the fuzziness I need for Built to Spill meets Mosest Mouse and Sonic Youth. I've been playing for ten years this is the best distortion unit I've ever used. I'd definately replace it if it were stolen. I'd recommend it over a fuzzface or big muff even. You should try one out for yourself. It only took me two minutes to know I needed it.

This is the large box Rat without the led.
Easy to use- three knobs for distortion, tone and volume.

Great sound. This pedal is better than my Blue Pearl Blue Balls, and this Vintage Rat is better than all of the other Rat models also. This large box no led Vintage Rat is the winner.

Built like a tank.

Dunno.

Great pedal at a great price. Dont expect any pedal to turn you into a musician if you cant play the guitar to begin with- these pedals are for pro players, not little whinning kids who are better off with a ten dollar Danelectro toy.

Dispite the fact there was no manual with this unit with only 3 knobs this unit wwas pretty easy to get a usable sound out of. with just a minimum of tweaking I managed to get the tone I was looking for for my set-up.

I use a Fender StaT (David Gilhmour model) several Fernades strat Types, a Guild Starfire anda custom made guitar through an Earnie Ball Volume pedal, FireBawl Wah, TS-9, Tech 21 Tri-od, Rat, Boss CE-20 chorus, Boss RV-3 delay reverb to a Peavey Classic 50 head with a 410 cab or Peavey Classic 30. This unit seems to be the missing link I was lookin for. I play blues, Blues rock and classic rock and as stated fills the bill admriably. Unlike alot of guitarists I like getting my tone from just my guitar and amp first. Therefore the pedals must fit into the way set up. I like alot of British players ala E.C., Brian May, David Gilmour and Ritchie Blackmore plus players like Stevie Ray and what I get for tone is a combination of my tone mixed with theres. Thats the way I want it. The only weakness I can see is my Battery cover tends to rattle and no on/off indicator.

I lokked inside and much to my surprise no big mystery. It seems to be constructed as tough as anything else out there and yes I would gig without a back up. I have for 15 years. I've only been let down once or twice.

Haven't had to deal with them. but heard they were O'K'.

I filled in some of this above.But If it were lost or stolen I would definitly replace it It has become an integral part of myn sound. like a said the tone for me was like discovering the missing link. I wdidn't take up guitar until I was almost 30 but always was interested in music (high end stereo). I was a basement guitarist for about 10 years and now gigging guitarist for 8 years. As a r3esult I have a pretty good ear and know exactly the tone I'm looking for. The Rat gives me one. One thing I'D like to stress is when your looking for tones from pedals just don't go out and buy the current fad< take your time and your own gear if possible.

the knobs are pretty simple and you can get a sound out of it right away, but getting a good sound takes a little bit of time. it takes a bit of patience to tweak the knobs just the way you want it to get everything from a Kinks sort of sound to a thicker distorted crunch.

guitar - tu2 - marshall guv'nor 2 - proco vintage rat - boss ge7 - boss dd3 - roland jazz chorus 120

i use the rat to give me some great crunchy sort of sounds. almost a british invasion sort of crunch. the guv'nor gives me the extra sonic push that i need.

when working or not working with other pedals, it sounds great. it's versatile, i love it.

solid as a rock.

never had to deal with them.

i play all sorts of different syles of music and the RAT can be tweaked to adjust to everyone of those styles.

i would immediately buy another one if this was lost or stolen.

it just takes a bit of time to get exactly what you want to hear.

3 easy knobs to mess around with, no problems in this area, knobs are smooth and responsive, rats are very well built.

my yamaha sg2000 feeds my marshall jcm800 half stack, i found the drive to be simply dreadful. Thin, transistorised in tone, virtually no sustain....what folks call a bloody racket.this pedal was a massive underwhelming experience for me.

tough as nails but i only kept it for 2 days so i cant coment long term, im sure it would be dependable.

no contact with em.

tonally..............overrated piece of junk !
thank goodness i have my analogman ts9/808brown mod for geting those huge tones with. the rat is one dimensional, soulless, sustainless, uninspiring to say the least. i had mine 2 days and it was back on ebay.......good riddance !

Fat box (mine is a reissue), 3 knobs with glow in the dark indicators - one for the gain, one filter knob that controls the tone, and a volume control. It's not hard to get the sound you're looking for, and it's especially easy to get a good clean boost.

I've used this through a couple of different setups.

This morning, I tried it with my (stock) Fender Cyclone, running into an EH Holy Grail, into a Line 6 Delay Modeler, into a Mesa/Boogie Mark III running through a Mesa/Boogie Recto 2x12. Through the clean channel with the onboard graphic equalizer set in a "V", I could get a swell clean tone with the neck single coil on the guitar on, the filter knob all the way to the left, and the distortion knob on just enough to color the sound. It was very sharp and cutting but in a musical way. (If you've ever heard Built to Spill's album, "Keep It Like a Secret", I was nailing the tone from that.)

With the gain up a little bit more, and the rhythm channel of the Mesa engaged, I found myself with a much more Marshall-ish sound than I could get with just the Boogie alone. Very nice cut, still sounds a bit transistorish but in a good way, and it cleaned up very nicely when I rolled the volume back.

In fact, this pedal will CONSISTANTLY clean up very nicely when you roll the volume back on your guitar, except maybe if you've got the distortion knob up all the way to the right. That's something that really impresses me. It cleans up similarly to a good tube amp.

You can get a pretty brutal heavy metal chunk - modern (if you've got a graphic equalizer) or vintage british metal tone with the distortion knob somewhere around 11 o' clock or noon, and the filter knob more towards all the way to the left.

I also got a nice grunge tone with the neck single coil and the distortion and filter knobs all the way to the right.

I plugged this signal chain into a Fender Twin after this and it lacked the bottom end that my Boogie had, but it still sounded great. I didn't play with it as much.

Also sounds great running through the Boogie with my 1970 Gibson SG Deluxe. I had a Screamin Demon put in the bridge to get rid of microphonic feedback that was coming from the stock 1970 pickup (which I'm stil keeping around, just in case), and it tightened things up a bit. Sounded great for anything rock, from bluesy Hendrix stuff all the way up to Tool and modern metal and hardcore.

It's a bit noisy, but nothing that gets in the way of having supurb tone.

I have one of these and my guitarist has a mid eighties/late nineties RAT (the kind in the small box, before they put the light in the middle of the "A"). These things are pretty heavy duty, definitely more so than any Boss or Electro Harmonix pedals I've seen, and the battery case is very solid. I would use this without a backup, but we've got two of these babies just in case.

Essentially I'm in a band that plays indie rock and hardcore, but we fool around with ambient textures...it's not really important, but this pedal helps get the sound of a Marshall half stack (sounding the way a Marshall should sound - IE a JCM 800, not a JCM 900) out of a combo amp.

The other guitarist in my band was using a JCM 900/1960A 4x12 rig until just the other day. We were in Music Go Round and there happened to be an early eighties Fender Twin (the kind with the ugly red knobs and grey grill cloth, two channels - etc) that sounded great and only cost $500.

We traded in the JCM 900, and I reccomended a Rat based on the fact I've been able to get a great sound out of them no matter what the application has been - using the filter knob to get different tones during mixing, as a distortion pedal for bass guitar, or just as a distortion pedal for a guitar or a boost. So, we played a show that very night (which ended up being the best show we've ever played). There was such a drastic improvement with the Twin/Rat combination that we both sold our existing cabinets the next day and got extra guitars. Needless to say I'm very happy with this pedal, so is my bassist, and so is the other guitarist.

In my honest opinion, this pedal is one of the holy trinity of distortion pedals - the Big Muff PI, and the Ibanez Tubescreamer - and outside of those three, you really don't need any others. There are so many tones within those three pedals that, I, at least, couldn't see myself using any others.

I highly reccomend these. Especially with the price tag used. Fantastic value indeed.

All the settings sound great--from low distortion, volume boost, saturation and total full-on distortion. The filter (low pass) that controls the overall brightness is very musical and never allows you to get an unusable tone. Plug in, turn on and rock out.

My setup:

Guitar > Boss OC-2 Octave > MXR Phase 90 > Proco RAT > MXR 6b EQ > EH Small Clone Chorus > Laney 100w Pro-Tube Head > Marshall JCM 800 1960b cab w/ Celestion GT12's.

Previously I was using a recent unmodified Boss DS-1 and I wasn't getting as much 'cut thru' or gain as I needed to sound full with a 3 piece indie-noise band. Now I can cut thru with a full-bodied, harmonically rich sound. I'm going to keep the DS-1 in the setup by using my Whirlwind ABY box to use as a selector between the RAT and DS-1 set semi-dirty/clean when I get a dual mono 1/4" to 1/4" plug made.

The Rat is good for getting a strong midrange rock guitar tone. Overall it sounds tight, slightly compressed like a Marshall amp, and as bright or flat as you need it to be. I wanted a ton of gain and only had to put it up to about 80%--additional gain seems to to add a bit of mud, a bit of compression and roll off the highs too much for me. Just tweak the filter enough to hit a gut-churning mid-squawk that is characteristic of this pedal--although there are many sweet spots in this pedal.

The thing I like about the Rat is that it almost totally eliminates pick/plectrum noise, which I cannot stand. There is still a minimal attack, but none of that obnoxious pick clanking sound that I cannot stand. The distortion is full-bodied and rich, admittedly in a similar vein as a DS-1 but with more articulation and definately more tight low-end as well. Very good for an 'engulfing' sound.

Seems good and tough. Knobs could be a bit better, but I'm a nazi when it comes to build quality.

I almost got a Rat Deucetone, but ultimately disliked the high price tag. What I need is a mix of distortion sounds--HIGH GAIN, SEMI-DIRTY, and CLEAN. I intend to use the DS-1 in my setup with an ABY box to switch out between the RAT side and the DS-1 side (DS-1 disengaged when I need to go from HIGH GAIN to clean).

Don't get me wrong--the DS-1 is a great pedal but perhaps a bit too heavy metal for me. I want something that is full-on distortion but more controlled than a fuzz pedal, but more rude than your typical distortion box... but something musical--which discounts crap like the MetalZone, Xtortion and the like. I contemplated a Marshall Shredmaster, but I forget how they sound and didn't want to risk a used buy, plus those are trendy right now and the price reflects this. The Fulltone DP1 had a nice sound, but was TOO sterile and more in the lines of a Queen distortion sound... not enough chaos in the sound for what I'm doing. So I decided to go the cheaper route and hook up with the good old reliable Rat. It does what I need it to do so I can't complain.

Very easy to use. 3 knobs and they interact with each other. Sit down and play with the knobs until you get a sound you like :-)
I bought this used at a 2nd hand music store and it came with no manual. Didn't need one anyway! I looked inside the rat and found the year that this particular one is made, or revised. Dated 1991. Mine is stock but I would like to add a 'scoop' effect a la Univox Superfuzz someday.

GREAT distortion / fuzz box. $50 well spent IMHO. As others have said, you can dial back the distortion (gain) and bump up the volume and use it as a boost for your tube amp, if you happened to be blessed with one, or crank up the distortion for more insanity! It's true bypass too so it doesn't suck the tone out of your guitar. The distortion this box produces sounds midrangy if you're playing at a low volume so crank yer amp and it will sound *much* better.
I use the Vintage Rat (reissue) with a Hiwatt DR504 50 watt head (pedal is GREAT for boosting Hiwatts!!), Gibson SG special (1992 made) with humbuckers, and a Fender 4x12 cab with Celestions. Crank the Hiwatt and the bloody thing will feedback for DAYS! It does the 'Won't get fooled again' overdrive thing just fine if you turn the filter knob just past the 2:00 setting and the distortion setting at about 10:00 and the volume knob pointing straight up. Wonderful overdrive sound. Dial back your guitar's volume and it cleans up reasonably well. Compared to most distortion pedals I've listened to, this thing doesn't sound mushy unless you overdo the gain setting. It responds quite well to volume changes and pick attack, especially when used with a good tube amp.

The unit looks well built, unlike the cheapie DOD and Danelectro boxes I see in music shops. I would gig without a backup.

Never dealt with ProCo, and probably never will.

I play mostly classic rock, and I'm a die-hard fan of the Who. I played on and off for a few years (now getting back into it), and always wanted a good distortion / fuzz / overdrive box.
Pete used the Univox Superfuzz but since those are hard to come by and are also more expensive, I believe I got a good deal on this one. For the music I play, it suits me just fine and if it were lost or stolen, I would probably get angry, sulk, and then buy another one.
If there is one thing that I don't like about the Rat, it's the lack of an onboard LED indicator but not having one doesn't bother me too much. One thing that I noticed when I began using this pedal is it makes guitar playing much more fun.
As I mentioned earlier, I wish it had a midrange 'scoop' setting like the Superfuzz. Adding one shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Great sound right away.

I but on the noisy side. Use a G&L ASAT with an old BF Super Reverb. After many, many years of basically using TS-9 type pedals the RAT is really a lot of fun. For classic distortion it can be beat. I only use it for a half a dozen tunes during a set but I'm really glad I have it. My set up is: ZVEX SHO,KLON, TS-5,RAT, BOSS DM-2 Delay. I rarely use the pedals together bt I leave the SHO on ALL the time. It's my favorite pedal! Anyway..this is supposed to be about the RAT. It just sounds great and has a totally workable distortion and useable midrange tone that works well in a band setting. Giving it an 8 for the noise but, to be fair, back in the old days this amount of noise was par for the course for a pedal like this. Not bad at low gain setting either. It really shines in the high volume zone though.

Seems to be very dependable but I've been aware of the RAT's reputation for 20 years

ProCo is a good Midwestern company. They make a LOT of other great, pro-grade products as well (snakes, cable etc)

I play all styles but use the RAT when it's needed. Been playing since I was 10 so that would be 38 years. Have played professionally (weekends) since 1972. What I really like about this pedal is it's sound AND it's no-nonsense price. I've owned them all and this high priced boutique thing is WAY out of control. You guys should really be careful with your money. I love the KLON pedal and feel that that one , in particular is worth the money, however for it's contruction alone. You should also learn how to do those "mods" you're paying $45+ for because they are super simple to do. My point here is that I could be perfectly happy doing a gig with my NOBELS OD-1 ($40) or TS-5($5)and no-one in the audience (except a fellow guitar geek) could tell the difference. Except for the KLON, any overdrive priced over $100 is a little silly. I'm really glad I got the RAT. Makes the gig more fun and it's a way cool sound. www.southboundrocks.net

Gibson Les Paul Standard Doubble Cutaway Plus
and Fender Stratocaster Traditional
Marshall JTM-60 (3X10") and various stomp box

This stomp box sound is excellence and very verstatile !!!!
can be used in all music style like Blues, Punk, Rock even Metal


I love this stomp Box very much !!!
sound great and it has a TRUE BYPASS design ....

Build Like a Tank, all metallic design except those control knobes

One defect is it doen't has a LED to indicate power status

Give it 9 because it doen't has a LED

The pedal has three knobs: Distortion, Filter(Bass) and Volume.

This pedal can produce some great sounds. The Blue Voodoo/JCM 900-ish distortion is easy to get, and fuzz is equally as easy to obtain. With my settings, which are distortion 12:00, Filter 2:40 and Volume: usually 12:00, I can get some thick rhythm tones. As far as lead tones go, I haven't played a pedal that offers better. High notes really cut through and low notes do not get muddy.

At low volume, this pedal engenders above-average tone. However, it really shines at higher volumes. If you happen to try this pedal at a low volume and dismiss it because you do not like its sound, try cranking the amp's volume. Chances are, you will see what thousands of other musicians have seen in Rats.

It is made of metal and the footswitch is solid.

There are so many low-cost pedals on the market that are really terrible. Rats are an exception. They are worth at least 100 dollars more than they are selling for. I would definitely buy another one if mine was lost. It would be too difficult to find a distortion pedal I like better.

Three knobs, but don't be fooled. All the knobs are very reactive to each other. Even increasing the volume knob will drastically change the tone. The tone knob also goes the wrong way to normal. It's easy to get a good sound straight away, but it takes a while to understand how the knobs react to each other. It's easy to get an average fuzzy tone thats a bit boring before you find the sweet spot.

I use a Telecaster, a Laney amp and the following pedals: EH ring modulator, MXR Blue Box, Boss DD3, VINTAGE RAT, DOD Grunge (for nasty fuzz effects, I'm not 14 like most grunge users), Boss Blues Driver and a Colorsound volume pedal.
This pedal gives the classic RAT tone. It's an unmistakeable thick and saturated distortion sound. Many distortion pedals sound good in the shop or at home, but once you crank them up with a band they sound rubbish. The Rat sounds thicker and more powerful loud with a band and, most importantly, it cuts through the mix. I didn't really appreciate this pedal until I started to use it live and loud. At low volumes it sounds like an average midrangey fuzz.
The pedal does a clean boost, fuzz, crunch. It will even do death metal if you scoop the mids with an EQ. It reacts VERY well to volume swells too.
The pedal sounds muddy if you put the distortion knob past 1 O'clock. If you still want more gain you increase the volume knob. It's got far more gain that anyone can actually need. Too much gain just makes you disappear behind noise. (I use my DOD grunge for that :))

It's a big metal box but it had a loose transistor when I got it that caused it to cut out all sound when I turning it on. But it's fixed now. It seems quite light and hollow when you pick it up so it doesn't seem quite as dependable as a Boss or MXR pedal.

I play indie rock with noisy experimental bits. I've been playing for 6 years. I collect pedals and I always come back to this pedal when I reherse or play live. I've tried most of the main fuzz/distortions out there. It really does sound great with a band and cuts through when you set it right. It suits my sound fine. It may not suit you however. It doesn't suit everyone.
It's not noisy except at very high gains. It doesn't have an LED so I'm often not sure if it's on or not before I start playing. But the RAT2 has an LED and the batteries don't last nearly as long. I've changed the battery once in this pedal in 2 years of playing every day.
Good for Punk, Grunge, Indie, some metal. It's very popular with modern indie/alt rock players (from Elastica to Blur) because it's not a typical metal, blues or vintage 60's fuzz sound (which a lot of pedals seem to be aiming for). Be warned: notice that many of the happy RAT users here seem to use Telecasters. I don't know if that means anything.
Great pedal. True bypass too.