Proco Rat 2 Distortion Reviews

Decent little unit

Build quality: the chassis itself is sturdy, but has spaces on the sides that will make dust have an easier way to the PCB. It appears to be a "feature" of the older RAT versions also, but I'm not a fan of it.

The rubber feet are not easy to remove, since the screws have an hard time reaching the bottom without them, and that makes appliyng velcro a pain.

Glow-in-the-dark controls are a nice touch.

Features: a no-nonsense pedal: gain knob, filter knob that works clockwise (makes the sound darker the more you turn it to the right), and level (volume) knob. While essential, the controls have the potential to make it nicely versatile. Note that the pedal requires a "jack-type" connector for power, so make sure you have an adapter handy.

Sound: gritty, ballsy, dirty. It loses a bit of definition in the bottom end maybe, but fortunately the internal components are not SMT and you can mod it to your taste if you want to. Still, when buying this pedal you should be aware that RATs have their "signature" sound. If you like it, you'll like this pedal. Works best with medium to high output pickups IMHO.

ProCo Rat 2

I remember wanting to buy one of these in the 80s (I should have as the originals are worth a fortune now). It is a very distinct sounding distortion, but I have to admit would challenge some very expensive boutique pedals attempting to do the same.

The tone control is not what can be described as subtle. At either end you are in 'muffled' sounding with no mid or top end and at the other end your ear drums being scraped out violently with rusty nail, with, as always the happy medium at 12 o'clock.

In terms of power DON'T FORGET TO PURCHASE THE ADAPTER or you will be stuck with using batteries.

There is also an extreme amount of distortion available up to and bordering on fuzz territory, and it is quite unique.

And then we come to the price, around 70¤ ...... how can you go wrong for this price. It is built like a brick (and also weighs like a brick) and totally over engineered being probably be one of the few remaining remnants of human civilization after the 3rd word war (it is built that well).

It gives you that classic 80s distortion and lets you re-live the drive sounds you remember from your youth, whilst helping you through mid-life crisis.

At the current market price, you have to have one in your gig bag. It is a must!

High Recommended

Wicked

This thing can do overdrive, distortion and fuzz even. And it does them all pretty good. You get a 5 year warranty from ProCo too. The filter sounds best before 12 'o clock and the distortion knob is where the tone really differs. It can go from Blues Driver type tone, to DS-1, to Big Muff almost (not quite fuzz fuzz but very very fuzzy distortion I suppose).

Would recommend, cant really see myself wanting any other dirt pedal besides a TS and Blues Driver maybe. That being said, putting a Tube Screamer in front of this makes it sound even better, I recommend that too

The legend of the RAT

Having heard so many great reviews of the rat I decided I had to try one. I'm not really into stacking pedals so maybe I expected a little too much from it. I found this great for chords but thinny on lead used on its own. I've heard them being fattened up using Tubescreamers and sounded brilliant but ultimately I sold it on. The other issue is that I found the noise level of it much higher than other pedals I have.

Decent, versatile distortion pedal.

It's hard to fault this pedal. It punches perfectly within its weight as a cheap but good sounding and versatile distortion. It has a very rich saturation and tweaking the distortion control gives a wide range of tone in terms of gain and harmonic content. I find that as you turn up the distortion it quickly goes from a light overdrive to a fairly bright drive sound; however the pedal also has a low pass filter that you can use to dip the higher frequency content without making the distortion dull and muddy. Aside from that the only control is a volume knob, which is as exciting as it sounds. So the pedal isn't loaded with features but what it does - it does very well.

The build quality is very good. The pedal is housed in a heavy-duty metal case, with a quality switch and very sturdy knobs. It's definitely ready for years of abuse. However, those looking to integrate the pedal onto their pedal board need to take notice of the fact that the AC connection is not a standard 9v connection so an adapter is necessary to hook it up to a standard power supply.

good pedal but needs some tweaking

I bought this to give me the classic/hard rock rhythm and lead tone with my strat. For awhile I used it on it's own but it sounded a bit fizzy when gained turned up past 12 o'clock so I ended up stacking it with the TS9 with gain on the rat at 9 o'clock and it sounds amazing. I am aware that this pedal has a good reputation for build quality but mine broke after about 20 gigs, the switch sometimes won't turn the pedal on which was quite disappointing.

A "must have" distortion pedal!

If you want that really agressive, grungy, muddy styled Sound of the 90's Seatle, this is a must have pedal. Its incredibly easy to use, with 3 classcal knobs:

- Distortion

- Filter (+bass; + treble)

- Volume (it has extremly high volume at max lvl)

It's not a beautifull pedal, mas who cares about that anyway..

It can get from indie overdrive tones to high distrorted, classical metal tones.

A must have!!

great but not very versatile.

build like a tank.

Thes best distortion pedal i ever heard!

I`ve been for about one year experimenting a lot of differents distortion pedals but, this is the one that i like the most! It?s just the sound that i was looking for!

I have a Vox Handwired Ac15 with bluesspeakers and the combination of the Proco Rat and the Vox it?s just perfect they pluged together it?s perfect!!

Even in a band situation the pedal show is very potential and you can really notify is presence! It?s is called a distortion pedal, but if you push it, it turn?s an excelent FUZZ!!

I love that pedal!!! I think it?s a must for everyone who have a Vox!!!!!!

This is a classic!

When I first time plugged in this pedal, I thought "this is the sound I was looking for!". This pedal allows you to sound like most famous rock stars: foo fighters, ramones etc.

This is a heavy duty device, built like a tank, no chance to break it in any situation: club, open air...

But, there are few "special things" you have to know. First, of course, the "filter" knob. It works like a "tone" knob but in the other side: it cuts high ends i.e. when you turn the knob to the right you get more low ends and almost no highs.

Second, the AC adaptor for this pedal must have different plug (similar to input jack).

Despite everything I think this is one of the best distortion pedal you can get for your money. Must have!

A Classic: from overdrive to Fuzz

This the pedal that never leaves my pedal board, I own 2; one in front of the other.

its the most versatile overdrive, distortion, fuzz pedal ever!!!

I also use it to distort drum sounds and, beats get pretty dirty and creamy... so Synth players can also use it.

One of my favourite pedals

The Proco Rat is my favourite distortion pedal. It has so much more character than a lot of distortion pedals I've used before, and seems to provide a bite and crunch that other pedals simply cannot.

The Rat is big and mean sounding when cranking its distortion; but it doesn't have to be. With more controlled and dialled back distortion settings, you can get a wide range of tones out of this pedal.

I'm a big fan of the filter control on this pedal, which is essentially just a backwards tone knob, but it really lets you reel in and shape the distortion to how you want it to sound.

As well as being one of my favourite sounding pedals, The Rat is one of the most securely built pedals I have ever come across. It's built like a tank, and no amount of stomping or dropping it will likely cause it any harm.

Fantastically versatile distortion box

The current production version of the infamous ProCo RAT distortion pedal. Same 3 controls for volume, filter and distortion, same strength of enclosure (I.e. near indestructible).

I've heard a lot of people swear that the old RAT's with the LM308 chips in them sound superior. Having tried an early 80's and mid 90's RAT prior to this one, I can say that if there is a difference, it is barely perceptible, and certainly not worth paying extra for. Save yourself some money and snobbery by getting this.

Despite being marketed as a distortion box, the RAT is surprisingly versatile. With the gain rolled back and the volume cranked, you can get a cutting overdriven tone that sounds great.

With the gain midway you can get some pretty convincing Marshall distortion sounds. This area is where my RAT tends to live - distortion and filter at 1 o'clock, volume at 3 o'clock. Single note lines sound thick and have great sustain, and chords sound absolutely massive.

Cranking the gain can give you some pseudo-fuzz tones. I don't tend to use the pedal for this very often due to personal preference, but it does have its applications.

Speaking of applications, this pedal is perfect for live and recording. The pedal cuts some of your guitar's bass and boosts the mids a little (almost like a tubescreamer) - this guarantees you being heard in the mix, and you can use the fantastic sustain of the pedal without being drowned out (unlike the scooped Big Muff). If you want your low end left intact, the Turbo RAT would be a better option.

The only disadvantage for me was the nonstandard 9 volt jack. I needed to buy an adaptor, which was a bit of a pain. All in all though, I highly recommend this pedal

Awesome & versatile

Great sounding noise maker - can get loads of great crunchy stuff from this! Goes from relatively laid back overdrive through to dirty distortion & fuzz ...

Excellent multipurpose distortion with some mids

You can get anything from light Hendrix-style distrotion to heavy metal fuzz from this pedal. It's more of a fuzz than distortion but if you take your guitar mic volume down and take the distortion really down on the pedal, it can create just light buzz too. However, I got kind of tired with it when trying to play pop/rock and easier stuff, the distortion knob was always dialed to maybe 10%. It sound best when you really want to distort, something like Nirvana.

It has an EQ presence peak (the mids are somewhat accentuated) so it sounds good with a band, cuts through (people can make out the guitar).

Note that it uses a special power adapter, which sucks. You need a converter for typical power outlets.

it used to be made in the USA

One of the legends but with a change of production place.

ProCo Rat 2

What can I say, this pedal absolutely rocks. This pedal was what I was looking for, heavy duty, great sounding and all the beefy tone behind it. I play a lot of Sludge and Stoner music and this pedal is by far the best for it. Recommended!

No brainer if you're into this sound

The RAT type of distortion is unique and this pedal does nothing but deliver it purely.

As far as the construction goes, it is bulky and, despite sturdy, could be finished better: the led isn't centered, the edges are roughly cut and there is all kinds of rattling when adjusting the knobs, so any tweak in the fly is out of the question.

The RAT sound is what it is, if you like it I find it hard to find a better pedal than this one. In the lower settings you'll be able to get a nice treble booster kind of sound, very raw but also great to find lost overtones allover the fretboard.

Anything farther than 10% on the gain knob will enter definitly into distortion kingdom.

Solidly built with a great sound

Excellent sounding pedal, solidly built, quiet even at high gain.

Classic distortion

Great solid pedal built like a tank, very robust but input came loose after a while might be wise to tighten every few months, looks good, plenty of gain, good tone shaping, has a lot of bass in sound, fairly high gain, raspy distortion, great lead tone for heavy rock.