ProCo You Dirty Rat

All 3 knobs create nice sounds with the full sweep of the knob being useable. You can't really make it sound bad. At very high gain, you'll get some mud, and a fair bit of noise.

The problem is getting the thing onto your pedal board. Its in/out jacks are both on the top of the unit (as you're looking down at it) and can be a bit tricky to get the patch cords in there if your board is small. The rubber feet don't easily come off, and even if they do, the screw that holds the battery lid in place sticks out, so you don't have a flat surface anyway. I ended up putting velcro on the feet. And finally, it has that weird reverse polarity DC jack. My power supply doesn't support those, so I'm stuck with a battery,

Very versatile drive. Low settings give a nice crunchy overdrive, beyond about 12 oclock it gets pretty fuzzy, but with pronounced mids. Beyond about 3 oclock it gets too noisy for me to use with my crappy gear and bad wiring. It cleans up pretty nicely with the guitar's volume knob, and is quite sensitive to pick attack. I find the distortion to be pretty tube-y sounding. Even all fuzzed out, I can still palm-mute effectively. With the gain into the fuzz territory, I can get an almost dead-on "Dead leaves and the Dirty Ground" sound. SO, yeah, with humbuckers you can get some pretty fat distortion out of it.

Others have mentioned that this is not a high gain pedal. It isn't. However, I typically play a les paul, and it's pickups are hot enough to make this pedal generate some pretty thick distortion. Not as much on a strat, but it still sounds nice.

The tone knob has a wide sweep, from a nasal trebly tone to a warm roar. There may be a bit of bass loss in general with the effect engaged, but it isn't too much. I keep the tone knob around 3 oclock (the knob is kind of backwards on Rats... turning clockwise reduces highs), otherwise the pedal is very bright. The trebly setting might be good for eardrum-ripping leads, but I play both lead and rhythym and can't really mess with the knob while I'm playing.

My main gripe is the pedal needs more headroom. I keep the volume at about 75%, and this puts it just slightly louder than clean. But at 75%, you're getting some noise, too. Well, glad I've got a nosie supressor.

Overall, though, the tone I dial in is a moderately heavy, slighty fuzzy distortion that works well for what I'm playing. And unlike a lot of fuzzes, I don't loose all my mids. Gonna keep it on the board a while.

Oh yeah... it's true bypass. SO no tone-sucking, but you'll sometimes geta little pop when you hit the switch.

Rat pedals are tough to the point of overkill. If someone tried to steal it, I would bludgeon them to death with the pedal, and I'm sure it wouldn't affect it one bit.

n/a

I play hard rock with a bluesy bent. Somewhere between old Aerosmith and White Stripes. So far, the pedal has exactly the tone I'm looking for. Fairly heavy, slightly fuzzy distortion. However, I'm a gearwhore, and there's no telling what I'll be trying next.

easy, filter control is backwards from your standard "tone" control though

I'll give it a ten because I have a million pedals, only kept the ones I like, and I like this as much as any of them. At first I dialed it in with low/medium gain like my other rats, and though, "oh, this is pretty good" played some Hendrix and stuff. Then I turned the distortion up past half way and my eyebrows went up. This is a nasty, nasty fuzz. Good clarity, though, like others have said. I just like the sense of "woosh" you get from it, it's full and thick, kind of like a Big Muff but not quite as sloppy...really really nice. A "big" sound. I don't like the other rats turned up that far, I use them more for overdrive or medium gain sounds.

Regarding op amps, I put a socket in this one, and tried a few different ops, but I ended up going back to the stock OP07DP. The LM308N was decent, but a little dark in this pedal, the OP07DP has a bit more clarity. (I ended up preferring the LM308 in the Turbo Rat and the Vintage Rat). I tried the Dist+ chip, the 741 I think it's called? and found it a bit too mild sounding. Same thing with the TL072. I'm going to try the NE5534AP when I can get ahold of some, but for now the OP07DP and LM308s are getting the job done in my rat collection.

the best! I have seen these things so beat up but still going on people's boards. made in USA! one small worry is on the YDR, there's a bit of a gap in the chassis between the bottom and top piece, so probably some dust and dirt from your shoe can fall through the crack. shouldn't bother the circuit board, but it could get on there when you move the pedal around, so this is a minor concern. my Turbo and Vintage rats do not have this problem

love it, I'll be keeping it around, probably mostly for hi gain fuzz tones. I love the whole rat family! what a great bunch of pedals. Initially I overlooked this brother because the name sounded kind of cheesy, I must have confused it in my mind with the "Brat" or whatever. I don't write in here much anymore, but I thought you should know about the You Dirty Rat. A welcome addition to the ProCo Rat Pack

Actually NOT too easy....See the review below from Pablo Gregorius. An example how not to use the YDR...

The most vintage sounding RAT with a slight more compression as the Vintage Rat. Very useful, organic sounding. It sound way better with vintage (weak) single coils (57/92, 69 custom...). From blues to jazz to rock.

Very versatile - but you have to know HOW to use it (Gregorius)

No need.

Play blues, jazz, rock. Amp: VOX AC15H1TV, guitar Fender Strat 57/6 pickups.

its easy to use, its pretty much like all the other rat pedals, distortion, filter and volume with a big stompy thing

well....er, i dont know what to say really. C'mon proco, what the hell are you doing? I couldnt get this to sound good at all? my set up was fender telecaster with kinman pickups, a fender hot rod deluxe. I got this because i have an old rat2 which i got on ebay for 20 quid a few years ago, it was one of those 80's rats which everyone goes on about, at the time i didnt know what a rat was. anyway its broke now after countless gigs, i bought a new rat2 to replace it which looked different and sounded absoloutely horrid in comparison, just horrible? so i bought a turbo rat, thinking new design, maybe the new rat2 is just trying to copy an old design which they've forgotton how to make? turbo rat also sounded horrible. so i bought a you dirty rat, again thinking 'new design for a new millenium' must sound good? it doesnt? it also sounds horrible? All the new products from proco have this...i cant describe it...un-musical raspy nastyness, which really hurts my ears? whereas my old one had a very musical..erm..nasty raspiness, which was very pleasing to the ears - i really cant explain it

the filter is VERY BRIGHT, almost ear peircing it hurts. I know its a dirty rat so it supposed to be angry, but the distortion level doesnt have a very smooth curve to it, it just seem continuously furious. This thing gets compared to the big muff quite a bit here and i've got to say that the big muff is in an entirely different league, they are not the same so should not be compared.

this pedal looks very cool, but i really struggled to get anything near the 'most versatile distortion pedal ever' experience which is being described by other reviewers here

If proco read this - the rat pedal was invented before i was even born. I've been lucky to try, own and gig a rat2 which was made it 1989 (i got it dated). its probably the best pedal i've ever used and really IS the most versatile pedal ever. All of your new ones are awful. I dont know what you are doing but if you continue to make your wonderful little black boxes of joy in this manner, nobody will buy your products anymore.

a little advive - go back to the drawing board and start again. oh and i put the hallowed 'Lm308 chip in my new rat2..and it made no difference whatsoever so its obviously not just that

sorry everyone for this scathing review, i'm now just really, really angry with them.

it looks like it would survive a nuclear blast, and probably would. one thing proco does get right is the housing for these things...

i've emailed them a few times asking why stuff sounds different, just cos i'm interested and got no response

tone is subjective, everyones ears are different. to me this sounds awful and its going straight on ebay.

i will never buy another new proco product again.

The Unit has 3 knobs,one for distortion,one for 'filter'-ing the sound and one for volume.Not that complicated but what makes it somewhat more difficult is the actual nature and results that manipulating the knobs make to your sound.
To be more clear,the unit's knobs are more multi-diamensional as each affects tone is numerous ways.Itll take a lil time to get used to since for example the distortion knob doesnt just add or reduce gain like in similar pedals but also changes the distortion's sound.It can get the unit to sound and act from light overdrive,to crunchy distortion to thick creamy fuzz to even a compressor when turned down.
It takes some getting used to but keep reading as ill describe what one can gain from using this pedal...

Setup Fender telecaster standar w/Kinman pups -Morley wah-carl martin compressor-Big Muff USA reissue-You dirty RAT-Ibanez Tri-Chorus-Ibanez Flanger-Boss delay-Crate Vintage Club 30

Ok,here goes...The You Dirty Rat pedal is the MOST versatile pedal i have even used in my life...The knobs can filter n alter the sound in so MANY ways its just silly...and it always sounds magnificent.
Essentially what this unit is,is a Rat pedal but more fuzz oriented (hense the 'You dirty'Rat name on it as thats what it means,a typical rat fuzzed/dirty-ed up)
I have owned the original rat n i was able to get most sounds with this new one.The new one however has added features n a wider array of personalities and uses.

The unit with the correct knob adjustment can act as a mild overdrive,a more crunchy one,a more 'typical' distortion,a light fuzz and balls-out fuzz.The sound quality is amazing...just mind blowing in all it 'masks'.
The sound can be altered,with the distortion an filter very responsive knobs,from mild and warm,barely breaking up,to a more bitting crunchy distorting one to a balls out thick fuzz distortion.Artists as examples would be SRV in milder settings,to AC/DC when is crunch area with it,to Hendrix,to the White Stripes.
Clear note definition,harmonics,great boom-ey low end and amazing clarity for a fuzz even at its more extreme settings.Great lead tones that sustain for ages.
However to be warned this isnt a high-gain pedal,it leans towards more overdriven territories,so dont buy one expecting to play metal.Its perfect for what it does,but it doesnt do Metal.Running it with an overdriven cranked amp though is bit different story,but still i consider it n use more as overdrive,not distortion.

The unit produces a compressed (not in a bad way at all,as it 'breathes' really wonderfully n offers a lot of headroom and bass responce,not squashed) sound,As another reviewer previously said turning down the distortion the unit can act as a compressor with supringly pleasant results.It makes your sound really 'tube-ier'.Not it isnt a compressor,shouldnt be bought as one and wont replace my Carl Martin but its a cool feature,a cool thing to know you got that option n fun to wank with.

in linear notes,its switching is silent and the unit itself is very silent with the Kinmans singlecoils with only being noisy when the volume is all the way up,something that it doesnt have to be done as the unit is very loud anyways in lower volume knob possitions.

Metalic,Chunky,heavy very very well made and tidy wirring inside.Im sure itll outlive me and it can take tons of abuse.
High quality again.

Never had to deal with them

To me this lil thing is the holy grail of overdrives and fuzz overdrives.The only thing i dont like is i like so many of it settings so much i cant decide which i want,even though i settled a sweetspot with it.i can play garage,blues,rock and wonderfully dirty-d funk with this pedal.
I bought it more for funk playing when i wanna dirty things up and i got this and so much more.The big Muff couldnt 'track' muted or syncopated strumming well and covered it in a mud of harmonics and gain,but this one is very clear,clean and sharp with that kind of playing,despite its gain levels.
Its a wonderfull studio tool as well cause of its multiple characters.
So far along with the Carl Martin Copressor this is the most HIGH-quality proffesional tool pedals i own.(ps. i wouldnt run this pedal along a compressor though,specially for rhytm stuff,as it already offers compression on its own adding more compression doesnt let it breath naturally and kills its good responce to dynamics plus adding noise.)


But again be warned,this thng WONT do high-gain sounds,If your looking for more heavy 'desert rock' sounds with similar character to this pedal,i suggest the Turbo-Rat or Big Muff pedals that are very high-gain fuzz distortions.

Really easy to get to grips with, three knobs. matching it up to the amp volume is easy to do...like the guy below replaced the stock chip with an LM308N. Oh dear god, the difference it makes is uncanny...

WIth the stock chip I had to have the filter almost all the way up to cut through the rasp...it was a good sound if thats what you like but the stock pedal really only gives you this option. with the LM308N you can get that rasp by turning the filter anticlockwise but with the LM308N in, you get more options and both the distortion and filter controls give you mroe scope

Im into henrix (who isnt?), radiohead, smashing pumpkins, reef, libertines and christ and loads more..i use a burns bison and a fender jag (Sjag3 pickups) into > Boss OC2 > Boss 0D-3 > You Dirty RAT > BBE Free Fuzz > Marshall Bluesbreaker. I use a Hotplate to bring the noise level down whilst keeping the tone.

My setup now kicks so much arse its untrue. I also have a russian big muff, modded to the triangle spec, and a modded crybaby..to be honest most stock pedals nowadays are gash but i spent 60p on the lm308n for the rat and about ??7 on the components for all the otehr pedal mods and they all sound killer. seriously do your homework and the rewards are untold. Guess I just like vintage gear.

Built like a panzer this pedal will never break, it will only cripple you first should you drop it!

Never dealt with them so...

Im in a soul/punk duo so i wanted something to drive the bluesbreaker into sex territory the rat allows this to happen! the BBE Free Fuzz just gets used for soloing, sound sok on chords but ive got the amp, od-3 and rat for rhythm work to be honest. use the OC-2 a lot as we have no bassist and this sounds great on bass riffage etc, been playing about 10 years. would definitely strike down with furious anger on anyone who stole this pedal and would defo get another, albeit with the LM308N in.

I love it now in all settings, helps me make music, thickening up the sound into superb tone.

I cant get enough of it and im constantly plugging in to use it all, and the ideas are flwoing. Highly recommended

3 knobs and 1 switch :)

I took out the stock ic chip and replaced it with the LM308N :) everyone should do this :) the pedal becomes warmer/nicer to play :) anyway, I give this a pedal a 10 because a Rat has a unique sound that stands out, I personally love it! love the sustain :)

I think you could break open a coconut with this :) its heavier than the average pedal! seriosuly built like a tank!! very cool quailty

If your looking for a pedal that has character! Rats are worth looking at :) the sustain is great! its one of those pedals that you just love to play with :) I would recommend that the stock ic chip be replaced with a LM308N. that was the chip that helped make Rats famous in the first place! why did Proco replace it with something less?? they should go back to the LM308N!! the pedals sound better with them!!

Not all that complicated, just three dials: distortion, filter, and volume. The instruction manual even comes with three settings to try: a bluesy one, one for lead, and a heavier one. The only problem this pedal has is the power source. I use a gator g-bus-8 to power all of my pedals, but this one was a pain. The pedal required a wire that would reverse the polarity form the gator. I ended up having to make this myself. Other than that, no problems.

The sound quality of this pedal is amazing. I am using it through a fender super reverb, and the tone is spectacular. The pedal is has a wide range of distortion available by turning the filter down to make the distortion have more bite and high end, and turn it up to get deep bass out of the pedal. Also the amount of distortion can be controlled using the nob cleverly named distortion. Paired up with my tube screamer this pedal is great.

This thing is built like a tank. It has a sturdy steel body and button. Although I have only jut recently bought this pedal, I think it will stand up to any amount of abuse you put it through.

I play classic rock and some metal, and this pedal has one of the best distortions I have ever had the pleasure of using. I would buy another one if this one was stolen without a seconds hesitation. I highly recommend this pedal. I have only been playing for 2 years, but have had decent experience with effects and other gear.

No manual, three knobs, pretty simple. I have found that balancing the tone and overall volume can take some time in a live setting, but nothing that I would call difficult.

I play classic rock, some blues, and 80's metal/hard rock. I actually purchased this to try to use as an overdrive pedal. My only amp is a 74 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, which has served me very well, but as you all know it only has a clean channel, so I have to use pedals for dirty sounds.

Tubescreamer type pedals dont have enough gain or low end to suit my taste, and other pedals were too distorted to use as an overdrive. I have a Deucetone Rat that I use as my primary distortion pedal, and I liked the Dirty Rat mode on it, so I decided to purchase the stand alone unit and try it as an overdrive. It actually works very well as a high gain overdrive unit.
Pros:
Nice sustain, and the extra compression tames some of the harsh high frequencies found in the other Rat variants. For me, this makes the pedal more useable at lower gain settings, so Im able to get more of an overdriven sound as opposed to a distorted sound.

This pedal is very gutsy sounding, nice, thick, good midrange presence, kind of has a snarl to it. With the distortion set at just below halfway, I can achieve most of the overdrive tones I desire. I use Les Paul Standard guitars with various Seymour Duncan pickups, and Im able to get nice crunchy classic rock/bluesy sounds with this pedal. I use the Deucetone for all of the heavier/nastier stuff.
Cons:
There are some things that I dont like about this pedal. First of all, the filter control, to my ears, is voiced VERY brightly. I use humbuckers and I have to turn the filter knob 3/4 to the right to achieve enough warmth to satisfy my ears. I wish the filter was voiced like the filters on the other Rat pedals, with more balance between bass and treble.

The second issue I have with this pedal is the amount of gain/volume available. I have to turn the volume knob almost ALL the way up to achieve unity gain with the clean channel on my amp. I wish the pedal had some more headroom available.

This pedal is not perfect, but even with the cons mentioned above, I have been able to make it work for me, and Im satisfied with it. The pedal is not noisy, and works well with my delay pedal. One note, dont turn the distortion knob very far past the halfway point unless you are into fuzz. For my style and taste, keeping the distortion set at just below halfway yields some nice Marshall-esque overdrive sounds. Not perfect, but works for my needs, and for a quality American made pedal, is a good buy at less than $100.

I have owned several Rat pedals over the years and have never had issues with any of them. However, when I recieved this pedal the LED did not work. I took the pedal apart and one of the leads on the LED was not soldered into the circuit board. I removed the LED and re-soldered it, now it works fine. Other than that, the pedal seems virtually indestructable, and after a month of continuous use, seems just fine.

I have been playing for almost 11 years now. I play three times a week at my local church, and am on two worship teams. One team plays hard rock style music, the other plays mellower contemporary style music. This pedal works well when I want to tone things down a bit, but still keep some edge and girth.

I chose this pedal because I have had success with Proco products in the past, and I hate the cookie cutter Boss/Ibanez overdrive pedals that seem to flood the market these days. I use the Dirty Rat for my slightly mellower, more overdriven style tones. I use the Deucetone Rat for my heavy distortion needs, and I use a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay pedal. Nothing fancy, just overdrive, distortion, and some delay. I use Gibson Les Paul Standard guitars with my 74 Deluxe Reverb amp.

As mentioned earlier, I wish that the pedal had a filter control that was more balanced between bass and treble, and I wish that it had more volume/headroom available. Even with those gripes, I still like the pedal and dont have any plans to replace it. It helps me to make music, and I would purchase it again if needed.

It's a stomp box that has 3 knobs. Volume, distortion and filter. There are a lot of variations possible. Mine didn't come with a manual, but i guess there is not much to say here really. You just have to tinker yourself. It's easy to get all sorts of good sounds out of it. It doesn't take me a lot of time to get the sound that i want. Battery changing is also straight forward, no screwdriver needed. It isn't quite as smart as the Digitech pedals (open them with a guitar jack), but you'll have it changed within a minute.

Ok first my set-up. I'm a blues player who also likes rock and hard rock in the classic fashion.

Fender American Deluxe Ash Strat
Digitech Bad Monkey
Proco RAT II
Proco You Dirty Rat
Dunlop Crybaby
Kustom 100w 212 Combo


I've owned a normal RAT II for over 3 years now. I bought this one with the intention of an extra solo boost on top of the first rat, because rats are known to be excellent volume boosters.

I of course compared it to the rat i've already had. With all the knobs turned the same they give the exact same output. The diffrence is in it's nastyness. The normal rat gives a tight sounding, mean and vintage "pink-floyd" distortion that makes your house shake.

This one gives more of a fuzz sound. It's nastier and thicker. One thing i couldn't do with the normal rat is getting a Hendrix-type fuzz tone. Well this one definitely delivers it! The amp i use is very transparant, even more then most Fenders, and i use always the clean channel. The You Dirty Rat can make it sound like a Marshall from the 60's that's pushed far over the edge (not volume wise though ;)). It's really amazing. When i used it for the first time i acually thought my amp was delivering natural fuzz and that my speakers where getting torn apart (no joke).

I intentionally bought this as a volume boost, but it's so much more. I've been looking for this kind of fuzz for a long time. Tried a lot of pedals like the big Muffs, but this one does the job. It's also very responsive to your attack.

I don't use the sound for rythm tone though, it's too nasty for that. I got my normal rat for this. This gives a lead tone that makes little children cry if you want to. The volume boost is also insane to a point i don't even use half of it.

Oh by the way, turn distortion almost all the way down and your filter on 2 or something, and it's a compressor! Yes, it can go from a compressor-like sound to fuzz as nasty as Hendrix had it.

It's a true-bypass, so it doesn't suck your tone, and if you run out of batteries, you still have sound.

This is a genuine fuzz pedal, and i've seen nothing yet that can step. Any negative points? Ok, it's pretty noisy with the distortion on high, but which pedal isn't?

It's built like a tank. The army can take this thing to war. They put it in exact the same case as the RAT II, which has proven itself already. You get 2 years of warranty, and the warranty card states that abuse doesn't void warranty. I mean, that doesn't need any more explanation does it?

Never had to deal with them, and probably never will.

This is my 3rd overdrive pedal. I'm not a fan of effects, because they are so overused these days. The only effect i use is a wah-wah and the only pedal i'd probably add to my collection is a phaser.

Digitech Bad Monkey - Silky smooth overdrive, makes your amp sound like a tube amp

Proco RAT II - Vintage overdrive. Kicks ass, can't go wrong with it

Proco You Dirty Rat - Genuine fuzz! NASTY $%^&!! Exactly the one thing i was missing in my sound


This pedal is very versatile. You can get so much fuzz tones out of it. The combinations of the distortion and filter buttons are unlimited. You can almost get it clean and go to very dirty. It's also really responsive to your attack. If you turn the volume of your guital low it also cleans up nicely. It's not for metal heads, they can go buy those $%^&*@ Boss metal distortion pedals. Classic rock, hard rock and blues are all written over this.