Proco RAT

[Robert****]

Who's got one, who loves it, and why?

DVM, didn't you make a copy of these? I couldn't find the thread, so maybe you could enlighten me about what you offer in this thread?

[Spudman***]

Who's got one, who loves it, and why?

DVM, didn't you make a copy of these? I couldn't find the thread, so maybe you could enlighten me about what you offer in this thread?

I've got one that I've had for many years. I don't use it to play out with but it sounds great at the house with the Blackheart and the Crate Powerblock. It will clean up and give just a little grit and drive to a clean signal or get really compressed and fuzz like.

Initially I didn't appreciate it because of the lack of low end but when you turn up your amph and play in a group situation it cuts through better because it's not trying to push the low end.

[duhvoodooman***]

I never owned or even played the "real thing", but I have built two Rat clone pedals from BYOC "Mighty Mouse" kits--one for myself with their original kit, and a second one recently for Sunvalleylaw, using the new-for-2008 v.2.0 kit. You can read about each at these two links, which also contain links to audio clips:

My v.1.0 Rat clone

SVL's v.2.0 Rat clone

I love the one I have--it's just got that quintessential 80's distortion sound to my ear, and it will do the Clapton neck pickup/treble rolled off "woman tone" like nobody's business. Sustains for days. It's also not overly trebly & harsh on the high end, like many distro pedals sound to me. This older BYOC kit also incorporated a "diode lift" mode that basically turns the pedal into an opamp boost pedal; it still has a fair amount of gain-based distortion, but not nearly as much as the stock Rat setting. The kit also adds an "overdrive" mode that utilizes the less severe clipping set-up used by the Tube Screamer pedals & their many derivatives and copies. Mods that I added myself included switchable stock silicon diodes and red LED's on the main distortion clipping stage, and another known as the "Ruetz mod" (named after the originator) that reduces the gain and flattens the EQ profile with the flip of a switch. So lots of tonal options in addition to the classic Rat sound. I use it constantly.

But if you want tonal options, the new v.2.0 kit I built for SVL is just amazing. The posting I linked above describes it in detail, so I won't repeat all that here, but it has 6 different clipping modes--3 distortion and 3 overdrive. I modified the two clipping stage components so that each group of 3 includes silicon diode clippers, red LED's, and FET-based clipping (all the rage with the "boutique" pedal crowd). And I threw a Ruetz switch into that build, too. I liked the incredible range of tones on the finished pedal (12--six clipping settings x Ruetz switch off or on) so much that I've seriously been considering selling my original build and getting one of these--it's that good! But I'll let SVL chime in here, because he's had a lot more time to fool around with it by now that I did!

Oh, yeah--built, decaled & painted for $125 + shipping, US & Canada only.

[sunvalleylaw]

Mine can do the standard Rat sound, like Spud's but has more bottom end and a lot more options. It is a great pedal, and a hugely versatile distortion unit. With the Viking, it gets a great "Woman" tone. I would not mess with a stock Rat and order one from DVM. I heard Spud's Rat at his house last weekend through the gear he mentioned, and it has a good sound, but the one DVM built has so much more. Worth the extra in my opinion. :

[Spudman***]

I heard Spud's Rat at his house last weekend through the gear he mentioned, and it has a good sound, but the one DVM built has so much more. Worth the extra in my opinion. :

I have to agree. DVM's pedal is so much better than the original.

[Justaguyin_nc]

I got the Vintage version of The Rat... it's been in the chain since I got it..
I been thru a few pedals in the last few years and the rat can make about all their sounds.
Great Muff sounds, nice signal booster.. can go High and low..
it just has a good sound to it thru my gear.
if I went to barebones at this time..
it would be the rat, electric mistress and delays...

Oh and my Digitech ex-7....

and... and... well..

The Rat is a nice investment that I have enjoyed since purchase.

[Robert****]

With the Viking, it gets a great "Woman" tone. :

So Vikings and Women go well together?

[sunvalleylaw]

So Vikings and Women go well together?

Well, like . . . duh!

Seriously, I like this pedal a lot, and I was thinking while hiking today I didn't fully answer your question why. My distortion pedal has been my Boss DS-1. Not bad, and does some things well, but was overall a bit thin sounding to my ears. I wanted something fatter. This does that. Also, it gives good, fat sustain, and can clean up well (hard to do with the DS-1), and DVM's build is so versatile, I can get a good overdrive out of it that is nice in its own right and different than the Bad Monkey overdrive. A little hairier maybe, a little hotter, but really nice. And I have only scratched the surface so far. There are essentially 12 settings if you count the Ruetz mod, and then the dial adjustments from there. A real distortion chain swiss army knife that just has it. You should order one so someone that is a better player than I has one. :

P.S. We need a Viking smiley!

[frisellfan19]

Who's got one, who loves it, and why?

DVM, didn't you make a copy of these? I couldn't find the thread, so maybe you could enlighten me about what you offer in this thread?

I owned one and thought it was a piece of junk. Way too harsh and noisy.

[markb]

Had one, loved it but didn't use it that much. Get one with an LM308 chip (pre-2003). The recent RAT 2 I bought when my old one went bad was no replacement at all. I got the old one fixed and sold the new one on.

[Jimi75]

I used to own the original ProCo RAT back in the late 80's, early 90's. It is a very good pedal and it helped me get some nice tones out of my 1-channel Marshall that I played at that time. As far as I remember the distortion was very homogen, smooth sounding, lot of sustain and as I only had a 1-Channel amp I was depending on the pedal cleaning up very well, which it did.

[Andy]

I also had one of the originals , used it for a good year or so.
very smooth tone, I traded an original TS9 for it.

if only we could go back in time:

[R.B. Huckleberry]

I have the Vintage Reissue version, from back when they were still being made in Kalamazoo MI.

I revisit it often. In fact, I was jamming with it this afternoon.

I love it. I find that my personal "sweet spot" is in the first quarter/third of the Distortion knob. Any higher than that & the neck pickup of my McCarty gets a "kazoo" sound going when I play high up on the neck (more like a fuzz pedal). Setting it where I do gets me more gain than an OD pedal, but chords don't turn to mush.