ProCo You Dirty Rat

Three rotary knobs, a stomp-switch and a 9v power inlet. Par for the course really. Having owned and used a Rat2 for twenty years I had a reasonable idea what to do with the Dirty Rat.

Manual is a bit thin but there is no substitute for experimetation and using your ears. Finding the sweet spots with Distortion, Filter and Volume controls was a bit time-consuming BUT once you know where there are you have some great sounds at your disposal.

Sound quality is what one expect from a ProCo product; pretty quiet in use, but I'm not using great lashings of distortion so that almost certainly helps keep the extraneous noise levels down.

The Dirty Rat is used as an overdrive on my pedalboard. It provides a clangy, metallic overdrive that complements my Keeley SD-1's sweetness. A Rat2 takes care of the out-and-out distortion. Using the two Rats together creates a a very usable metallic distortion that is obviously different from the Rat2 operating alone.

Pedalboard set-up is:
Boss CS-3>>Blubber wah>>Dirty Rat>>Keeley SD-1>>Rat2>>BossDD-3.

Guitars are two Les Pauls, HSS Strat and a Hamer P90 Special. Amps are either a Hiwatt DR103 or a Marshall MG30 [for small venues].

The Dirty Rat works well with both amps adding a metallic edge for solos when I need it. It interacts very well with both the Keeley and the Rat2 producing a nice, edgy overdrive and a harder distortion.

It's a ProCo so it has some pedigree to live up to! My Rat2 dates from 1986 and is still going strong. I would expect the same longevity from the Dirty Rat.

The YDR was bought second-hand via eBay. Apart from the savings on a new pedal, it did offer a built-in compression circuit to enhance its sustain which was quite appealing. Although 'pre-owned' it would be hard to tell it is not a new pedal. I suspect the previous owner did not get on with it. I am delighted with what it brings to my sound palette.

Mounted on a pedalboard means the Dirty Rat is mains powered so no fears of battery failure. Should it go down it can always be taken out of the circuit without catastrophic results. Same applies to my other stompboxes on the board, of course.

It is built very solidly and that inspires confidence as does its older brother which has been subject to Doc Marten stomping for 20 years or so. I would expect YDR to demonstrate similar resiliance.

No contact with ProCo - but in truth I would not expect any such is the quality and reputation of their products.

Blues band guitarist. So good overdrive sounds are crucial. Hence the Dirty Rat and the Keeley SD-1 plus the Rat2 for distortion. Mix and match of these three stompboxes produces a range of usable sounds. A wah, compressor and delay are used to add more colour as and when needed. No modulation devices!

The Dirty Rat provided me with an overdrive sound that I had not really considered. I was planning on getting a Blues Driver but the metallic clang of the YDR proved both suprising and musically very useful.

Been playing for over thirty years so I have a fair idea of what sounds good and what doesn't. To my ears the Dirty Rat in overdrive mode sounds good in the Blues Consortium context.

This may be a minor point but the LED is far clearer and brighter than that on the Rat2 and has to be a big improvement.

Would I buy another if necessary? Probably - but not new. The problem is the Dirty Rat has made me very critical of my sounds. So instead of sticking to sounds I have been using for far too long, I want to explore different options. Maybe a Keeley Phat BD-2? A Monte Allums TS808 spec SD-1? See my dilemma?

I must repeat that the YDR is used as an overdrive so there is very little distortion dialled in. Having it on my pedalboard provides options should the Keeley or Rat2 fail [highly unlikely in either case]. It is a secure feeling knowing that I have alternatives at the twist of a knob or two.

If you need a good all-round, versatile overdrive/distortion stompbox, with a nice bit of built-in compression, check out the Dirty Rat. My rating is based on the RRP. Based on my successful eBay bid I would give it 9!

very straightforward 3 knobs. while at the store i tried the rat 2,and liked this one better i think it is proco's newest rat

i have a fender hotrod deluxe,& peavey xxl 212 combo with a schector,ibanez iceman and about 20 pedals, 6-8 petals on my board at any one time.it is remarkabaly quite for a dist pedal.david gilmour used this pedal or the simalar rat and you know he has great sound.i have been searching for the perfect dist and this my favorite so far.i own a boss sd1 & ds1,digitech bad monkey,rocktron metal planet,seymour duncan tweak fuzz,eh double muff,and eh big muff pi.the you dirty rat kicks all of their asses,more gain, more sustain,i seem to get better dynamics when making picking finger noises,and palm muting.this is great general purpose dist with sustain for days.i very rarly give tens.

built like a tank. thick metal case,military grade circuit board, heavy duty switch i could probabaly defend myself with it against a rouwdy fan and plug it back in and not skip a beat! as i have other dist pedals on my pedal board at the same time i could get by if it died .

never dealt with them but a 5 year 100% garantee abused or not cant be beat

i play classic rock,newer rock,origionals,blues rock and have been playing for 24 years. in comparason to other dist pedals i own......

boss ds1-complete crap it colors the tone while not adding enough bass.it sits on the shelf

boss sd1-ok overdrive bad monkey blowes this one away

digitech bad monkey-silkey smooth overdrive, transparent tone not enough gain though .if had more gain it would be perfect.

rocktron metal planet -mega gain mega noise better than boss metal zone doesnt fit my style.

seymour duncan tweak fuzz-misnamed should be "weak fuzz" not much volume,poor sustain, good fuzz sound quality for rythum playing

eh double muff-awesome tone. better than big muff pi by far although not enough sustain. has to be 1st in chain and somewhat of a un refined monster.hard to get sweet spot. havent decided if i love it or hate it.

eh big muff pi-"1 skid 4 spots"{truck driver term}on my pedalboard all the sustain and grunge you could ever want but that farty tone makes this a special situation pedal only.

the ydr has true bypass and 3 db of compression which gives it the sustain of the big muff, better gain than the ds1 and double muff.less noise than any of these other pedals,and great tone only the bad monkey has better tone clarity.for under a hundred bucks

After 10 minutes you'll get the jist of how it works.

For starters the true bypass works 100% perfectly.
I use it with a Gibson SG Standard and a Fender Strat into a Fender Blues Junior and you can get bluesy, rock, and metal tones out of it depending on where you put the distortion knob.
Ovedrive/distortion sound is what you get when distortion is set up to 1/2 way. After that you get a fuzzed up sound which is capable of Hendrix etc.
Depending on where the filter control is set you get a different sound each time. Very versitile.
Single coils have a different effect to what humbuckers do.
Sound quality is excellent and it is very quiet.
I haven't tried any other rats but I think this one is completely different.

100% reliable.

Haven't used it yet.

True bypass is excellent. Well worth #75 as I don't think I will need another distortion pedal as this can do 99% of the overdrive/distorion/fuzz tones that I want. Logo glows in the dark. This is the best distorion pedal I have ever had.

E-mail me with any questions.

Very easy! 3 Knobs. How can you go wrong? Distortion level, Filter level (high/low frequency) and volume level. Simple. No manual came with it, i don't know if thats normal but to be honest you don't need one! Thats how easy this thing is to use.

I use various guitars, mainly a Gordon Smith G60 single cutaway. I'm running it through the Dirty Rat, a Danelectro Fish & Chips eq and a Dunlop Cry Baby straight into a Laney LC15R all valve amp. This thing is amazing. I can get all the distorted/overdrive sounds i want. With the distortion knob turned nearly all the way down i can the slightly overdriven sound of Razorlight, turning it up a bit more i can get Malcom young, a little bit more, Angus Young. At this point the distortion knob has only done half it's job! Turned all the way up you get a very saturated distortion with lovely harmonics, but one thing this pedal will not give you is a Death Metal sound.

I've only had it 9 hours so i don't know how it will hold up. But by looking at it and holding it, i should imagine it will last for years to come. The steel casing is about 3mm thick!

Never dealt with them. I don't know.

Overall i think this pedal is great. I bought it because i was sick of the wimpy sounds coming out of my Boss OS-2. Wimpy sounds are no more with this beast. I considered a Big Muff, but due to it being pretty common and hearing bad things about the build quality i thought i'd give the ol' Dirty Rat a try. I must say, i'm very happy with my decision.

How difficult can it be?? Three knobs!

I'm using my YouDirtyRat like this: Gibson Les Paul > ProCo YDR > Boss GE7 Flanger > EHX Small Clone Chorus > Ibanez DE7 Delay/echo > Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100W head > Marshall 1960A cab.
I mostly use my amp's distortion (very dynamic and organic), but when I need a rougher/raunchier/unpolished sound the RAT does its job!!!
Be careful not to dial in too much gain (anything above 3 o'clock) or your sound will get muddy.
Sounds cool for soloing too, if you use your neck pickup.

I trust ProCo.

never had to deal with'em.

I play in two bands... one of them is soundwise very new wave/80s inspired (The Cure, Sisters Of Mercy,...), so I don't use my Rat in that one. But my other band plays indierock with a noisy touch and it's really cool to use the Rat for certain songs!
I've owned a RAT 2 before, so I can compare.... This YDR is even better!!! More power, a cooler look and of course RATTIER :-)
Some of my favourite bands (e.G. Sonic Youth) use RAT's.

Ease of use? So simple that a baby monkey could do it. Three knobs (one for distortion, one for tone and one for volume), no hassle. I got a nice tone within seconds of plugging it in. Didn't get a manual with mine, don't know if that's normal or not. Downloaded it in any case from the proco website.

Couldn't notice any hum or loss of tone when it was off. I'm plugging a Warwick Streamer Standard into the YDR which goes into a Boss Flanger and into a Trace Elliot Boxer 65. Sounds yummy most of the time but despite the extra compression I found the sustain lacked a little when trying to play some Tool on it. I don't normally play Tool so it doesn't bother me. I just want a warm fuzz tone for some my own music.

I've only had it a few hours so I don't think I can comment on this yet.

No need to contact them.

I play post rock and avant guard electronica. Really suits what I play. It's not too growly but packs enough punch to make my bass sound immense. I had a cheap DOD Extreme distortion pedal which sounded like muck compared to this. I'd definitely buy one if stolen. In fact, I might buy another for my guitar.

3 controls: distortion/filter/volume. I haven't really experimented with the settings I just dial the filter down & turn everything on Max! you cannot fail!

This beauty serves up the gnarliest gain boost you could ever wish for! it acts very much in the way of a preamp boosting the signal 1000x giving way to the most uncompromising overdriven fuzz known to mankind. It was great day indeed when I got to juice this thing at practice! The 3db compression feature allows for infinte sutains! you could seriously ring out a note for days on this thing without breaking up like most distortions. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this pedal to anyone searching for the perfect fuzz tone. I surpasses the big muff any day of the week... I think that is some accolade!

It's built like an oven, there is no way this thing is gonna break in a million years!

5 year warranty!

This pedal is the one I've been searching for all the time I've been playing! If it were lost/stolen I would buy another in a second! Well worth the extra cash you're spending for such a fantastic pedal. You'll basically not wish to use another pedal as long as you live after using the YDR!

There are three knobs and one foot switch. I guess it could somehow be easy to use but I am failing to so that. The knobs accurately adjust the tones, volume and distortion setting.

The sound quality is fantastic. The distortion can be dialed in from light to heavy and all points in between. The Your Dirty Rat has a high end that sounds like it is feeding back which really adds to the dirty sound. Also, the compression in this pedal is just right for my playing ability and musical tastes - it gives you a nice "classic over drive" but with a little originality thrown in to spice things up.

I don't think I will have a problem knowing the history of Pro Co and the quality of their products

I haven't used them - I wouldn't know

I have had a lot of different distortion units over the years but keep coming back to Pro Co. They cost a little more than the others but they last for ever and if you need to ever sell one - they bring a higher dollar amount on the auction sites. The You Dirty Rat has the same tone as one of the setting on the Pro Co Deucetone but I like having a stand alone unit and didn't want to send that much. I have been reading reviews on other RATs and it seems that some people say they all sound a lot a like - well I can tell you this one sounds fantastic and will allow the user to stand out for the crowd. A MUST BUY!