ProCo Vintage RAT

If you have this pedal, you *must* make the resistor gain mod. Its just one clip of a resistor leg and best to drill a hole so you can mount a switch. It totally changes the response of the gain curve, to a point where I've never switched it back to stock mode since doing the mod.

Pre-mod, too fuzzy, not enough bass and the gain curve was clumsy. Post-mod I absolutely love this thing, the gain stage now offers whole worlds of smooth fuzz-free OD with warm bass. The output gain is huge, running it at full is probably an extra 12dB or so, Its pretty quiet for a fuzzbox too. Did I mention you need to mod this ? I'm really fussy about distortion, especially the break-up point and where the sound goes from there. I generally play single coils into valve amps, to try and keep a little more bite and note to the signal. The modded Rat performs fabulously as an OD, and you can flick the switch back to stock fuzz if you like.

Solid, good pots and switches, and no problems so far.

No issue.

I now think of my Rat as a hi-gain OD rather than a distortion/fuzz, its become far more useful in this capacity. I think I'd like a dedicated treble and bass instead of the roll-off tone pot, but I can usually work around that. A keeper.

Three knobs. How easy is that? Well, see below for one small issue.

I play noisy post-punk rock, in the vein of Sonic Youth, Big Black, Slint, Jesus Lizard, etc. My tone comes from the Rat, a Boss EQ pedal, a '65 blackface fender showman, and a 2x12 mesa rectifier cabinet. Using the EQ to shape the sound and act as a pre-amp, I get a great overdrive tone from my amp, reminiscent of Jesus Lizard, Shellac, etc. I use the Rat when I want to get a really raunchy sound that lets me play articulated notes with lots of sustain as well as generating musical, controllable feedback. So I put the distortion on 100%, filter at about 20% I suppose you could use this for an overdrive-type sound, but I think it shines when you let the distortion flow.

What is nice is that with the rat, you don't lose the notes amidst even an avalanche of distortion. Also, it raises harmonics to the level of the actual notes...sort of like what I've heard about the harmonic percolator, but not nearly as pricey!

I had a problem with this pedal with recordings, where I found that even with volume at 100%, I would find that the levels dropped when I hit the pedal. This puzzled me for a long time, and even prompted me to rely on other pedals that I don't like as much. I finally found that if I run the EQ AFTER the rat, then the rat can scream and boost your volume significantly. I don't know why, perhaps some kind of compression that is in the pedal. Anyway, with the EQ lined up afterward, it also solves the low-end drop problem reported in other reviews, and gives it a viciousness that I can't find from any other pedal

Totally dependable. I have never had a problem. One annoying issue was that the plastic battery holder came loose and would flop around inside the pedal. But a little duct tape fixed that easily.

I emailed proco recently about the volume drop and never got a reply. I guess this makes sense considering that they no longer make this pedal, but geez, how hard is it to answer an email? Fender immediately replied to a series of emails about my showman, even though that was made over 40 years ago!

This is a great match for the kind of music that I play. I've been playing for 20 years, and I haven't yet found a pedal that gives me a tone this unique and powerful. If stolen or lost, I'd hunt one down on ebay. If you play grungy, noisy, rock, this is an essential pedal. It's also a fantastic value. Almost every other distortion box I've tried gives a really fake, compressed sound. You can pay $100 more for some boutique pedal, I suppose, but why?

The more gain you use the less filter you need, set the volume to taste. That's all you need to know to get lots of tones from vintage rat.

The RAT is an institution like the ts-808, but unlike Maxon ProCo never screwed it up (too much). The RAT is to rock as ts-808 is to white boy blues. The definitive distortion pedal. This is the distortion pedal all other distortion pedals are measured against. Is it as heavy than RAT? Tighter sounding than a RAT? Muddier than a RAT?.......

Somehow a lot of guitar players have never used a RAT. WHY!? I have heard it said many times that every guitar player should have a DS-1 at some point in thier lives. B.S.! Every guitar player should have a RAT at some point in thier lives.

A rat pedal sounds raw and agressive, but somehow transparent and focused. Depending on your pickups you may loose a touch of bass, but in a band setting this positions you clearly in the mix. You will be heard if you play through a RAT.

The rats great strength is that it covers almost any gain range from ultra light barley there overdrive tones to balls out fuzz tones and works well for rhythm and lead. You can always hear your strings and pickups. The sound is distinct but it doesn't take over your tone and mask it with synthetic garbage like most distortion pedals.

Much like those other type of rat it is hard to kill a rat.

Still made in the USA and it's not even "boutique". RAT RULES!

Easy to get the right sound with these three controls. Three pots and on/off button - easye....

I use this on a Marshall and Use either a Fender Strat or Gibson LP. If I play on a "clean" channel and use this for distorting the sound - it gets verey "vintage" and Bluesey distortion. It does not take away the character of the instrument.

And it seems that it is true bypass too.

Solid as Rock

I Play Blues and Rock - mostly, and i Really think it is a good match for this purpose. Played for 30+ years, and own a lot of gear.

If somone stole it I would try to get anotherone again.

I have compared it tot the other standard distortion pedals, but I liked this best

Duh! A switch and three knobs.
That being said you should know how to control the tone and volume on your guitar and amp.

I've used this with my Les Paul Deluxe and the sound was good but not great. Then I plugged my '96 MIA Fat Strat Deluxe and was blown away. I'm not big on effects. I like to use my Cyber Deluxe on the Champ settings with my Strat and needed a little extra push. The Rat is just amazing. It's better than the Digitech and Boss pedals I've tried. I saw one "professional" gave it a 1 and two others who didn't like it. I don't know what they were running through it but I've been playing twenty-five years and to my ears this is as good as it gets in the distortion pedals avaiable today. You'd have to pay double for one of those boutique pedals and not get much more out of it.

Seems well built.

I don't know.

These aren't being made anymore. They'll be very much in demand in a few years. A vintage Vintage Rat.

Very easy to use; it has three knobs: Volume, Distortion, and Filter, which is a backwards tone knob. The heavy-duty push-button is a little difficult to use live, but it allows for a more durable pedal. I like the idea of the glow-in-the dark knob marks, but they're pretty much useless in most settings.

Excellent. It's a very silky-smooth distortion that can range from a warm overdrive (distortion at 9'o'clock/Filter from 9'o'clock-12'o'clock) to a sharp albini-distortion (distortion all the way up, and filter all the way down). But because the distortion is so smooth and silkey, it is very predictable and beefy... as in: not a lot of feedback, no pops in volume between notes.

Very reliable. Should have an extra distortion pedal or 9v adaptor for giging. Again, the push-button switch can be difficult in accuracy.

N/A

I'd like to try out a turbo rat to see what it's like. But otherwise, I really don't need other distortion boxes. I also use a 70's Fender Twin Reverb with the overdrive pop-out switch; so I can cover a lot for a little. If you have a solid-state amp, you should consider a Boss overdrive, or something else a bit more warmer and crunchier. I will admit, the Rat gives a lot to single-coil pickups, more than other distortions I've used. And in general, I think the Rat is extremely versatile and well worth the price.

Three knobs... I think it's enough! The filter is not so easy to understand at the first try, and that's why I didn't give it a TEN.

Simply GREAT. It's the best distortion I have ever tried, better than the Muff, better than any other stompbox. I have been looking for years for that hot, creamy and still aggressive distortion: eventually I got it! Since the first time I plugged it in, I couldn't do without.
I play classic rock (Hendrix, Page, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Cream): the Rat it's my goldmine! I use it with a Telecaster, and through a Ts-9 and a CryBaby. I don't need anything else to have my sound.

Never ever had a problem. Furthermore, it fell on the floor a lot of times: it's ACTUALLY a tank!

Never dealt with ProCo.

If you play what I play, you couldn't find anything better. Ultimate vintage distortion.

It's pretty simple. 3 knobs! Thay don't give any manual, no need of.

Distortion : You can go from an overdrive-like sound to a more distortion sound. I like when it's all way up!

Filter : Well, it's not really an "inverted treble knob", but it seems like! I'm not an electronic freak, so I can't really say why but... it's a filter! I really really love that characterestic!

Volume : hum hum...

I really love the Rat. The Rat is a pedal of it's own style. It's one of the first distortion stompbox! It sounds a little fuzzy, but it's still a distortion. I like it for solos or things like that. I don't use it like an agressive distortion, but you can. Line 6 and DigiTech copy the rat but you know... the original is always better ;) (but the line6 copy on the pod is still good).

The rat is my favorite pedal in my setting and I looove it!

I never had problems with that black box!

Never had problems.

I really love this pedal! It's my favorite distortion for solos. But when I need an agressive sound, well I don't use the Rat... I really love the filter knob. The rat has it's own sound! Use it on a tube amp... it's not that great on solid state... but I tried. It's still great!

First of all it needs a negative power adaptator or an hand-made short-cable with negative polarity(obviously connected to a positive adaptator);for this reason its use isn't immediate but there are lots of pedal with this charateristic. I would have preferred to have a led indicating when the effect is on,I don't understand why they didn't put it.The manual is very good and explicative however,like few pedals.

I'm using a fender stratocaster and a telecaster with a fender DeVille 4x10,and I must say it doesn't make noise,but I also use a boss ns-2..It's the best distorsor I've ever had,I used a boss ds-1(very bad,false sound),an MXR dist+(very good on light settings but too much treble).It's a very powerful,rich and fat sound.If you know the Gilmour's solo of Echoes(live at pompei version)you will get somthing very similar to it.Even with a low distorsion it has a great sound.

I'm having it for a short time but it seems very strong.The case make me think about a second world war armed van(I don't know the translation for carro armato).

Well,I just registered it on the proco web site,very simple.

I play 60's rock,I play in a pink floyd cover band (www.terzacorsia.it)I love the old sound but also radiohead,kula shaker(great crispian mills)u2,Hush.I use a crybaby,boss ns-2,ts-9,small stone,vibratrem,univibe,ibanez de-7,boos vol pedal.I play also original songs. Every year I play from 60 to 80 times in live shows,so I can test my setup in very different situations:my overall rating is very good,it's the distorsion sound I've been serching.

Distortion, Filter, Volume. Pretty easy. If you can't figure it out then
I feel sorry for you.

Ok, I plugged it in, kicked it on, thought to myself "sounds like a more harsh version of my amp overdrive (AVT150 Halfstack). I turned the pedal off, and the amp overdrive. Wow, total difference. The Rat is more midrange. It isn't JUST what I was looking for. I still love my Big Muff. My whole purpose was to get more colours to paint with. That is exactly what I got. The rat is very verastile working with the amps eq and a graphic eq.
I play it with a Gibson Sg standard through a marshall AVT halfstack. I like the overdrive on the marshall but was looking for a broader colour range to work with in my studio.
The rat has good high end, mids are very present, it cuts a little bit of low end, but it's not bad. It's totally different from any pedal I have heard before. It's alot brighter than a big muff (russian version all the way). The filter knob is cool, I guess it sweeps alot of the mid and high frequency. I have yet to try it with my fender mex strat, but I'm sure it will be heaps good.

Looks like a lil safe box or something. Doesn't look easy to break.

Havn't dealt with them, don't think I will need to.

I play alternative rock. I usually have my gain/distortion knobs around half way to one third of the way up. It says "vintage" rat, but I get a real not vintage sound out of it. It gives me another tone to work with.
At time yea, it can sound a little big muffy, but in a very good way. The Rat is a perfect addition to my bag of tricks, I am very glad I gave it a try.

No playing around here. Simple and to the point controls.
The Rat has 3 knobs. Distortion, Filter and Volume. All it takes is to set the distortion level to your comfotable easy-listening preference, and then just fiddle with the filter a bit, to tweak the sound to your ears. Nothing special.
They did lose two points here on one important issue. No god-damn LED! Looking at the electronics inside, it is no problem to wire one for yourslef, but it's a bitch that it doesn't come with one. How can you go and build such a great product, and forget such an important feature?

The Rat sounds amazing! I would've given it a 10 with no problem, but there is a feel, when playing, that you do lose a bit on the low-end. Don't forget this IS a guitar distortion, and if I know anything about electronics (and I don't know a lot), I'd say that it's meant to work at frequencies higher than what we normaly play.
It doesn't stop this baby from kicking ass, though. From the lowest of the lowest grouls to high pitched twangy solos and slaps and pops. It just sounds great.
It has a Filter knob, something you'll find yourself fidling around with a lot. It basically sets the tone of the sound, but it works more like a filter. When dialed in at 0, it gives you a huge low growl, filtering the high-end twangs of your pick or thumb. On my gear, it sounds more or less like the bass on Tool's Lateralus.
Turn the filter up half way, and you have a more active low-end, mixed with lots of mids. Sounds like the bass on any heavy Muse song.
But then you hit the high numbers of the filter, and **** starts hitting the fan. It just sounds wrong... like an electric guitar tuned a whole octave too low. This is basically the only sound problem I found until now.
The Distortion knob is a distortion knob. No explanations needed, I hope. I play it on about 30-50% at most, as it gets far too heavy for me if set higher than that, but it still sounds good. Hardly any feedback even at 80%. The metal types will love this, as it gives you such a gargantuan growl, you'd probably take over the whole sound of your band...

A god-damn tank!!! It's even quite ridiculous. The body is a huge metal box, black and square all around. If you take a look inside, the electronic board takes up not more than 30% of the space inside. A waste of space, makes for a big size, which is a downside, BUT, it's great for hiding drugs, which we know is a big problem for musicians
Three knobs made of hard plastic and an on/off foot-switch. I usually play bare-foot, and that switch is killing my foot. It's so painful! You actually need to use force to switch it. Meaning, the switch is good hardware, and will live long.
Turn it upside down, and there's a battery compartment, with a nice metalic cover. On the inside of the cover, it has two clips which will hold the battery in place. Changing batteries takes just a few seconds. No screws, no tools needed.

Amazing distortion pedal. Would've given it a 10, but the lack of a LED is really annoying me.
Something else bothers me though. Going through the GuitarGeek.Com database, you'd find that most proffesionals using the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff (Russian and USA), and not even one bass player who uses The Rat. Though they do have only twenty or so bass players in their database, so that's hardly a statistic.

To close this review, if you have the $99.99 (Music123) buy it!
If you happen to have double that money, check out Pro Co's Juggernaut, the bass distortion.
But whatever you do, don't settle on their cheap models (Rat 2, Turbo Rat, You Dirty Rat). The price tag really represents the quality of the product here.
They made a fine reissue, use it!

Some specs, taken from the Pro Co homepage:
- Input Impedance: 1 Megohm
- Equivalent Input Noise: -110 dB
- Output Impedance: 1 Kilohm
- Maximum Gain: 60 dB
- Filter: 6 dB/octave low-pass
- Power Requirements: 9V battery or external DC power supply (RPS-1)
- Battery Consumption: 800 ?A/600 hours
- Height: 3-1/8" (79.4mm)
- Depth: 4-1/2" (104.3 mm)
- Width: 5" (127 mm)
- Weight: 1.5 lbs (0.7 Kg)
- Shipping Weight: 2.0 lbs (0.9 Kg)

It's hella easy to get this stompbox working. Distortion, Filter out high or low end, and Volume- instant recipe for disaster! The manual just discussed how cool their pedal is and the sounds you get:from sweet blues or screeching rock n'roll.

I use this pedal as a lead boost. Let me explain how well it does for my tone (omigosh). I use Jackson whammy eqipped axes and I run it into an MXR Super Dyna Compressor and Maxon 6-band eq set for active pickup crunch. The amp I use is a Crate MX65R. My tone is good for some metal. When I plug the Rat in I get the over-the-top lead metal saturated tones with mucho sustain and harmonics galore. I bought this 'black box' 12 years ago and I never thought I'd use it again- sure glad I did. I does create some hiss, but when you're dealin' with high gain I mean..! Tone I get from my settings mixed with the amps distortion is pure heavy metal, not really a vintage tone which I thought I'd get (which I did not want).

It's built like a tank without treads. The, 'manual', says the switch is high grade- we'll see. I'd gig it without a backup, but I own '3',the vintage, vintage 2, and Turbo, so maybe I should'nt

Have no idea.

I play in a hard rock style but, I've been told it's similar to punk.I love this pedal, it's great for the stuff I express.I've been playing for as long as I've had this pedal:12 years. I love it's simple controls. I pulled the pedal out of it's darkness and upped the gain a bit (I think) to 9'o clock, and left the filter the same as I found it, and cranked the volume. If you're thinking of buying this pedal, be careful: it's like a fuzz box. It's good for heavy classic rock and retro-ish rock. But hey, I've got an '80's heavy metal tone out of it, go figure! Rock out!

Pretty easy to use, although it will take some tweaking to get the sound you want. The Filter switch seems redundant as you can do the same thing with the tone knob on the guitar.

I've been reading the other reviews on this site and I'm a bit puzzled because everyone seems either to love the PCRat or to hate it. I'm splitting the difference because I think that it does what it does well, but is very limited. What I mean is that it has to my ear a pretty muddy harsh transistor sound. If this is what a Marshall stack really sounds like then I'm not interested... but if you like that serious metal sound or if you want a Pumpkins fuzz it will produce that, but if you're looking for a warm stinging tube lead sound, forget it.

It made out of cast iron, but the battery shakes around inside.

NA

I play mostly roots rock, country type stuff so I don't have much use for this. It's fun to fool around with and get all Spinal Tap with my LP but I can't see using it either live or recording. My Boogie amp gets a much rounder sound and if I need punch I can use the Marshall Jackhammer. Very thin sounding on top.

3 knobs- you don't need to know anything else. One controls the amount of distortion, Filter adjusts the trebly-ness (far left means sharper, crisper sound while far right means really bassy, muffled-sounding), and volume controls the volume. Freakin awesome.

I play a Fender Jaguar (discontinued Japan line) >Dunlop Crybaby Wah>Boss Ds-1>Rocktron Pulse Trem>ProCo Vintage Rat>Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I can get a lot of good sounds with this. I am a huge admirer of Cake and really dig Greg Brown's guitar tone (on Motorcade of Generosity and Fashion Nugget). When I heard that he had one of these, I started to look into it. I really like the more-authentic sounding, crackly distortion you can get out of this, and I really admire the versatility of this thing. You can definitely get some good vintager-sounding tones with this, and cranking the filter up can give you this really bassy, fuzzy sound- a lot like the guitarist from the Black Keys. Less filter gives a better, sharper lead tone and more filter gives you an insane amount of fuzz that somehow still allows you to hear individual notes. I don't know who was talking about how they couldn't figure out how to get the right tones, like a "crunch" they wanted, but for me it's incredibly easy. You can definitely get a crunch sound, and I really like how you can just get mild distortion on this thing, unlike with my DS-1 where it's either all or nothing. This pedal is amazing for lead distortion, although if you play rhythm you might want to look into getting something else, like a DS-1, that can just provide standard, all-out distortion. Overall, however, this is a great pedal and I'm really glad I got it.

Haven't had it for very long at all, but it seems pretty damn sturdy.

I haven't had any problems yet

I play "Alternative" rock (whatever that means now)...like I said before, I really like Cake, and I don't like putting limits on myself and trying to fit some certain kind of style. This is great for me, especially great for lead guitar, and the pedal is extremely versatile, and much more natural-sounding than other distortion pedals I've been exposed to. I'd say this pedal's ability to cover multiple bases alone gives it an easy 10.

Three knobs: Distortion, Filter(a treble roll off), and Volume. Incredibly simple. It takes no time at all to dial in a great sound, and there are a number of great sounds in this pedal.

I'm using this with a G&L ASAT Special, ASAT Classic, Legacy, a Hamer 25th Anniversary Edition & an Ibanez NDM1. My amps are a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue & a 1971 Fender Champ. Obviously noisy with the Distortion turned up while using guitars equipped with single coild pickups. Other than than that, no more than the dirty channel of any high gain amp. In fact, less than a lot of them.
ProCo advertises "a Marshall feel to Fender amps", and the Rat delivers on this promise in spades. It's not "transparent" like a boutique TubeScreamer type pedal. The Rat has a character all it's own, and does more than just add grit to your tone. There's a definite Marshall midrange grind to this pedal. that's a good thing, believe me. My Fender Deluxe Reverb has excellent clean tones, and a wonderfulnatural power tube crunch when turned up. But sometimes that's way too loud at that point. Actually, MOST times it's way too loud. So I've been using overdrive pedals for classic & hard rock tones. The DRRI reacts VERY well to OD pedals so I've been a happy camper. But I wanted more for certain musical situations. then I remembered the ProCo Rat from my youth. Always wanted one. Glad I got it. It seems to pick up where the TS9 TubeScreamer leaves off, with a lot more(usable) gain on tap. Warm and bluesy on lower distortion settings and excellent hard rock/metal crunch tones as you turn up the Distortion knob. Dime the Distortion and the Rat becomes a fuzz pedal. This becomes more prominent sooner in the knob's range if you amp is on the verge of distorting on it's own. Pretty cool: Overdrive, Distortion and Fuzz in the same box...all just the twaek of a knob away.
I find the best setting for the Filter is 12 o'clock(for my sound needs). As you turn thr knob clockwise, treble frequencies are cut. This can give you a very dark, bassy tone. "Muddy" for some, but a usable & unique sound.
The Rat has become my Overdrive/Distortion sound. Period.

Tough casing. Neat & clean wiring inside. Mil-spec circuit board. Sturdy feeling pots & knobs. I don't like the battery clip: it attaches to the (metal!) battery compartment cover with a 2 sided adhesive strip. Maybe this is just how it was done in 1977(when the Rat was first produced), and ProCo does this to preserve the "reissue" vibe. A metal clip welded to the cover would be ideal. I guess if it starts to bug me I could Super-Glue the clip to the cover. the cover secures to the pedal via a screw that can be tightened/remove without a tool.

All said, The Rat seems like it was built with gigging in mind. I'd trust it on a gig without a backup.

Five year warranty. Haven't dealt with ProCo. The dealer(Music123) has a 45 Day return Policy, but I don't think I'll need it. I've dealt with Music123 in the past, and they're a pleasure to do business with.

I've been playing for 18 years. I'm primarily a rock guitarist, but I dabble a lot in blues, funk & metal. The tones available from the Vintage Rat have made it THE pedal for me. My rig is now: Guitar--->Rat--->Amp. If lost or stolen, I'd replace it immediately. I've been looking for this kind of overdrive/distortion tone to complement my amp's cleaner sounds for years. It was under my nose the whole time.
I have come to a point where I just want a simple rig. yet squeeze every rock, funk, blues & metal I like out of it. the rat/Fender amp combination is inspiring.

I think it took me about 5 minutes to get the sound I have spent the last 10-15 years trying to get with other pedals/amp distortion. I bought this used, so didn't get a manual. I have found that by alternating the Distortion and Filter dials anywhere between 10 o'click and 2 o'clock I can get a fine variety of toney distortion. When I bought it, I didn't think not having an LED would be a problem, but if I had the choice, I'd like the light there.

Gibson Les Paul Studio -> Boss Noise Gate -> {Boss Compression/Sustainer -> Proco Rat -> Boss Chorus Ensamble-> Boss Tremolo} -> Bespeco Volume Pedal -> Boss DD-5 Delay -> Marshall Practice Amp.
I don't use this for fuzz, so I find this practically noise-free. I don't need the noise gate when using the RAT on it's own.
For warm, Marshall-type distortion this pedal is ideal and it is PERFECT for the Blur sound (well, Coxon uses rats, so no big surprise there), but you can also get fantastic Green Day / AC/DC rock distortion too by reducing the filter and turning up the distortion. This is very tonal, real distortion and retains your guitar's natural tone beautifully. For this reason, it is not suitable for heavy, artificial, heavy metal distortion like Anthrax, Pantera (Dimebag RIP), Metallica or anything that requires chuggy palm-muting. I occasionally want that sound, so for that reason, I have a Boss Metal Zone on order. I think you can safely say you'll never find a distortion pedal that does EVERY type of distortion well.

One minor problem - the switch started being a bit dodgy recently and not switching on. A quick squirt of WD40 into the base of the switch seems to cured that (fingers crossed!) Other than that, it's a big black box and sturdy as hell (unlike the top-heavy RAT2.

N/A

Like I said, if you want thrash-metal distortion, go for the Boss Metal Zone. For everything else - The ProCo Vintage RAT. Trust me, you'll never look back.

Cake.

This review is for an original Rat, not the reissue. The pots on this one date '79, which was the first year these were made. It says "tone" instead of "filter" on the middle knob (I think this changed in '80) and it says "Sound Inc." on the ProCo logo. And as you might expect, this early version blows the reissue away. The RI is good, but compared side by side, the original is creamy, smooth, and very real sounding (vintage Marshallesque), whereas the RI sounds thin and generally fuzzier. It also sounds more like the OD, distortion, or fuzz (yes, it really does do it all) is coming from the amp, not sitting on top of it.

I've had this pedal for almost 15 years now. I always go back to it. I play a tele and a strat through a 59 Bassman, JC-120, Vox Cambridge, and others. It seems an especially perfect match with the strat and the JC.

Oh my god. This thing's been through hell and back and has never let me down. People should start saying "Built like a RAT."

I emailed someone at proco once and somebody got back to me and was very friendly and helpful and kept in touch. I'm certain that if I ever needed service, I'm in good hands.

I play rock, classic rock, modern rock, punk rock, indie rock, some reggae, jazz, country, whatever, and this RAT has been in my chain for 15 years. I would shell out the $200+ for another original one in a heartbeat if anything happened to it. I bought a RI as a backup, but never needed it, and after using it as a second OD for a little while, I found that it just doesn't do it for me like the original does and got rid of it. If you can afford the original and find one, that is the only way to go imho. This is my favorite pedal/effect hands down (I also have a vox v846 Italy, roland space echo, supa-trem, etc.), and the original "vintage" RAT truely deserves the high marks.

Controls are distortion, filter (clockwise - subtly remove higher frequencies - not a reverse tone control, then volume. I find these controls pretty easy to use.

I just got this unit and ran my Paul standard through it into my Fender. If there is such a thing as a "Marshall in a box" - this thing comes closest to achieving it!! Weird thing about people saying it thins out the tone - I haven't experienced this. But maybe they haven't turned the volume up enough to make the bass frequencies level with the natural signal. For sure, matching the natural signal volume to this this boosts upper mids and highs. However - you can tame these by cranking up the filter. In the end - I think this thing fattens up the tone - but it really doesn't add more bass. My favorite settings are Distortion at 11-12 o'clock, Filter almost at 4 o'clock (I prefer a touch darker tone), and volume at 11:00 o'clock - this balances the unit against the natural signal. With this set up, my Fender turns into a Marshall stack complete with sustaining Malcolm Young crunch - very cool!

On the lead side, it's very fluid notes, with enough rasp to cut through - very Marshally, but unique.

For Fuzz - this unit is really nice. To be fair, I haven't compared this to other fuzzes, but at least you don't lose note definition when you crank the distortion into the fuzz zone.

For classic bluesy overdrive, at least with humbuckers - not so great - I leave this task to my tubescreamer. The problem is that with the distortion below 9:30, it starts sounding not so full with the internal compression more evident. While this compression works great in the mid to upper distortion ranges, it doesn't excel in the lower overdrive settings.

That said, for solid Marshall crunch and extreme fuzz, this is outstanding. If it had a good tubescreamer tone in the lower drive settings, you would not need another distortioon unit in your rig for sure!

I've seen the Keeley mod to make this more of an overdrive pedal for classic blues, etc. This might be a way to make this pedal a jack of all trades.

Don't know yet.

Great - very willing to answer questions.

My style in our cover band are very wide ranging across most musical categories from mellow up to AC/DC type music. I've been playing long enough to know various guitar sounds and styles. I've looked at a number of pedals for distortion and this one is the best.

3 knobs, work it out.

Stock this pedal isn't great, I couldn't really use it as it was impossible to get a similar eq between having it on and off, as it cuts the bass completely. The tone itself is slightly harsh and buzzy also. I performed this ultra-simple mod where you replace one resistor with a trim pot, and it lets all the bass through, and improves the tone, making it much more usable. It sounds really nice and warm with humbuckers now, but with single coils it still sounds thin.

Simmple to use.

I play professionally so have tried just about any pedal out there. This is the worst I've ever used. It thins you sound by about 70%,
has tons of tasteless muddy distortion so no matter what guitar or amp you use, it'll just make everything sound the same. Bad. I don't know what's the deal with the "filter", it's nothing more than backward working treble knob.
Why the hell they call it Vintage is a mystery to me. It don't sound vintage or modern either.

Looks well build but it's not. Bypass switch (cheap Mexican made) doesn't work right and the pots are somewhat loose and have plastic shafts.
I've dropped the peadal and the volume know just snapped of completely with the shaft so had to replace the whole pot.

Didn't need it.

Good pedal for people who are tone deaf or can't play guitar what so ever because with all this bad distorted sound no one will be able to tell what you're playing or if you play it right.
As for theprice tag one would have to be slightly retarded to pay about $100 for metal box with a chip and few resitors in it especially when it sounds the way it does.

Easy - set distortion, then filter (tone), then volume.

Proco claims this pedal does it all - Overdrive, Distortion, and Fuzz. I run an LP into a old Fender Vibrolux so I needed a good unit to dirty up the sound. Any distortion to be had by the Vibrolux requires cranking the volume - something I don't like to do. For classic bluesy overdrive (drive 9:00, filter 3:00), this pedal is mediocre. The vintage blues clip can be achieved, but to me its a bit harsh - which is exactly the point. That said, it will do the job if you've no other pedal. Which brings me to this pedal's specialities: Distortion and Fuzz. For distortion crunch similar to a Marshall (Distortion at 12:00; Filter at 12:00 to 2:00), this pedal really excels. Very crisp and sustaining punch to the sound, yet very full, musical and smooth. For Fuzz (Distortion 5:00 ; Filter at 7:00), this pedal sounds awesome - you can exactly nail the Stooges first album (1969, etc.). While the fuzz gets intense, you can still make out individual notes - impressive. I had a Big Muff in the old days (late 70's) and this fuzz is far superior to it - maybe the Muffs today are made better than that piece of junk! Overall - very pleased with this pedal's capabilities.

No one questions the reliability of these units from my understanding. So I'm really "forecasting" the reliability here.

Dunno.

If you're a tubescreamer fan looking to light a little fire under your butt for those screamin' Marshall type leads and crunch rhythms - this is the one. It kind of takes up where the tubescreamer leaves off, with it own unique tone. I've been playing so long I've lost the ability to hear sounds above 15,000 Hz...Most humans can hear from 20Hz to 20000Hz - so wear your hearing protection (well, there went my credibility in the sound quality section)!! That's OK since I tend to prefer warmer guitar sounds vs. icepick treble sounds - so you could say I have an automatic "filter" control built into my ears. The only knock on this pedal is its awkward shape/size - I wish it was more compact. Yes, if stolen or lost - I'd probably get another right quick!! Great tone and value.

Plug in between guitar and amp. Step on silver switch. Rotate one or all of the tree black knobs.

I use this with my little amp. My big amp doesn't need any extra distortion because it is a 5150. This does a real good job of making my V1512 sound good. Only gets a nine cause 10 is why we are always buying something else to get "that" tone. I think that tone is only really available at about 103 decibels.

This thing isn't like a tank, it is really more like a 64 Buick. I play every week without backups of anything. Whoever can afford backups probally isn't reviewing products here on harmony central. However, when I'm 70 I'll probably be able to sell the thing in good condition on eBay.

I have played for 27 years. This is the first distortion box I have owned. I am always searching for something to sound like a cranked half stack Marshall. I used to have one. I really like my 5150 combo, but I leave that downstairs. So in my bedroom I have a V1512. It's an Ok amp, but with no FX loop, delays are crummy. This Rat has made it into a much better amp. Now I hook my DD5 in between dist and amp. It also basically turned it into a two channel amp. The Rat has enough adjustment that I can dial in a good eq for 'clean' and don't have to re-adjust for Rat dist. I compared it to a Hughes and Kettner ZenTera but this was a $2900 less so I bought this instead. Not really. I tried to buy a Rat on eBay for weeks and weeks. I ended up buying one new because I thought if I didn't like it after a few months I could almost get all my money back, within about $30. This isn't gonna be sold for awile.

Easy...three knobs.

The VRat is used into a Fender Deville 2X12. I use my Carvin Bolt hardtail with it which has one bridge HB, and two smaller blade HB pickups. It's very quiet. The optimal set up for my taste is Distortion at noon, Filter at three o'clock and volume slightly higher than the regular signal from the guitar. The Rat really sustains and has a fat (not bassy, but more upper mids) tone on the low strings and nice sustain on the high strings. There is a metallic kind of chirp on the high notes as you pick the strings that really sounds cool. However, its not a metal pedal with scooped mids and all that crapola. You can even do overdrive on this if you set the distortion down to about 10 or 10:30 - but it won't sound like a tubescreamer - its different.

Very pleased with my Rat - very fun to play and responsive.

I play lots of styles and really like jazz as well, but I can't shake the fascination of rock guitar. I always come back to it - such a pure sound. So...the Rat is a great tool to get your distortion textures. Sounds hard yet smooth at the same time. I've really only compared this up against the DS-1 and it was very superior - no harsh overtones like the Boss. If it was stolen I suppose I'd get another.

Easy to get a good sound.

This is a follow up to the review posted previously in which I said this cuts your low end....yes - in a solid state amp!. I gigged running this pedal through a tube amp and it was a world of difference! Very fat tone with huge sustain. It was great.

I play many styles and the Rat can do both overdrive and distortion. Its a keeper!

Easy

This is a classic case of "It sounded good in my room, but when I gigged..." This pedal cuts your low end when you engage it. When transitioning from a clean tone, to this - the lows are greatly reduced no matter what filter and distortion are set to. Puzzled. At lower volumes, it seems to keep the lows, but at high volumes - I don't know. I only know that I brought it to the gig, I had to really crank the level on this pedal just to approaximate the same lows I had playing clean. Unfortunately, the highs were way over compensated yielding a scratchy crunch sound - bummer. Very puzzling. My Drivetrain doesn't do this. And I don't think anything is functionally wrong with the unit since it seems to sound great at very low volumes.

See sound quality - enough said.

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.

n/a

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.