The ProCo RAT Distortion & RAT-Alikes: King Of The Dirt Pedals?

Published on 8 Mar 2019

In this episode we get down and dirty with arguably the king of classic distortion devices: the not-so humble ProCo Rat. In equal parts loved, despised, revered and feared, its contribution to music over the past 40 years is immeasurable. Dan has always been a fan, me less so, but this episode has definitely made me rethink everything I thought I knew about the raucous rodent!
We run through a bunch of Rat and Rat-alikes and ask most of the obvious questions. It begs a follow-up episode featuring more of the more contemporary takes on the circuit, but as ever we can’t do every pedal in one episode. Enjoy!

Pedals in this episode…

• TheGigRig Three2One


• Sonic Research ST-300 Turbo Tuner Mini
Australia:

• ProCo Rat (White Face, old)
No longer made

• ProCo Rat (old reissue)
No longer made

• ProCo Rat 2 (current standard model)
UK & Europe:
USA:

• JAM Pedals Rattler


• Arc Effects Soothsayer


• JHS / ProCo Rat 2 Pack Rat
UK & Europe:
Australia:

• Mooer Black Secret
UK & Europe:

• Walrus Audio Iron Horse
UK & Europe:
USA:
Australia:

• 1981 Boss DS-1
No longer made

• Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini
UK & Europe:
USA:

• Walrus Audio ARP-87 Delay
UK & Europe:
USA:
Australia:

• Walrus Audio Fathom Reverb
UK & Europe:
USA:
Australia:

• TheGigRig G2


* Why do we have preferred retailer links? Find out here:


Interesting bits and go-to sections…
- Intro playing: 0:00
- What are we doing today? 1:33
- Famous Rat users? 2:57
- Today’s amps and a Marshall tangent: 4:09
- Tube Screamer for reference: 7:23
- Boss DS-1 for reference: 8:53
- The filter control? 12:50
- The other Rats today: 14:50
- Dan’s old Big Box Rat: 16:00 (16:45)
- …and with Mick’s Strat? 19:40
- …and Dan’s ’61 Les Paul Junior
- Low gain through to gating: 22:40
- Clean up off the volume pot: 23:25
- Jam Pedals Rattler: 27:58
- Rattler with Mick’s Strat: 30:35
- Tube Screamer with Rattler: 32:43
- Arc Effects Soothsayer: 33:20 (35:15)
- JHS Pack Rat: 39:45
- Vocally midrange and a neck humbucker: 44:45
- Walrus Audio Iron Horse: 48:21
- Mooer Black Secret: 54:00
- All on? Surely not: 59:14

Guitars and amps used today:

• Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster – Mick’s video at
• Fender Custom Shop ’63 Telecaster – Dan’s video at
• 1961 Gibson Les Paul Junior – watch Dan’s video at
• G&L Fullerton Deluxe ASAT Special:
• Gibson Memphis 1958 ES-335: no video yet
• Marshall 1987x and 1960AX cabinet with 4 x 12-inch Celestion G12M Greenback speakers
• Sovtek MIG50 with Zilla custom 1x12 with WGS12L speaker