The ProCo Rat2 distortion pedal is an updated version of the original Rat that is suited for rock, blues, punk or jazz. It has the classic Rat tone. The Rat2 is the most widely sold of all the Rat distortion pedal models.
Picture of the ProCo Rat2
History of the ProCo Rat2
The original ProCo Rat was introduced in 1978 as a custom-order product. Numerous models of the pedal are still sold today. The ProCo website has a list of five current models, The ProCo Rat2, the Turbo Rat, You Dirty Rat, the Solo Rat and the Deucetone Rat. The Rat2 was introduced in 1988 and began being made in China in 2008. The ProCo Rat has been used by such guitarists as Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh, David Gilmour, Andy Summers, Thurston Moore, Kurt Cobain and James Hetfield. The original Rat is discontinued, making the Rat2 the most popular of the Rat distortion pedals.
Features of the ProCo Rat2
The ProCo Rat2 distortion pedal has distortion, filter and volume knobs. The distortion knob dials in the amount of gain and the filter knob rolls off brittle high end frequencies. The volume knob turns the outputted volume of the pedal up or down. The ProCo Rat2 also has a on/off led indicator, all-steel enclosure, and is powered by a 9v battery or optional AC adapter. The pedal has true bypass switches so when the pedal is off, no extra noise is introduced into the signal chain. The circuitry on the ProCo Rat2 is similar to the Boss DS-1 with differences that give each pedal its unique tone. The circuit of the Rat2 is quite basic with a LM308 op-amp. The distortion is produced by using a variable gain circuit with diodes to produce hard clipping which is heard as distortion. The pedal is very dependable with a rock solid circuit and enclosure.
Sound Quality of the ProCo Rat2
This distortion pedal is renowned as having a great sound that is perfect for driving tube amps during solos. The pedal is also suited for rhythm work and has been used on some great albums over the last couple of decades. The pedal easily goes from light overdrive to high-gain distortion. Although not a great pedal for death metal, a great tone can be achieved that sounds like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, or Green Day and can even approach the tones used by Metallica or Black Sabbath depending on your guitar and amp. And it introduces very little noise into the signal path which can ruin the sound of other pedals. If you are looking for a very dependable pedal with a range of classic tones, I would definitely suggest the ProCo Rat2 distortion pedal.
Specs and Dimensions
The DS-1 is 89mm wide x 103mm deep x 79mm high. It weighs 1.7 lbs (0.8 kg)
Warranty
The ProCo Rat Distortion pedal comes with a five year manufacturer’s warranty.
More Info
ProCo Rat Website
ProCo Rat on Wikipedia
Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal
