Pro Co RAT 2 Distortion / Fuzz / Overdrive Pedal Reviews

Great budget fuzz/overdrive. Would recommend.

I'm a huge fan of the tones that David Gilmour creates. My pedal board reflects that. The Rat was the missing link. Very easy to dial in the levels from smooth overdrive to full on distortion. I'm very happy with this pedal. This and a good delay will put you right in the middle of DG's tones.

Set a clean amp and click on the Rat!

Back in 1979, I was working in Harry's Music Store in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Rat box was new then and sounded great. Earth Wind & Fire guitarist Al McKay came into the store to look around as the band has a concert in town that night.
We showed him the Rat and he bought one. Then, he gave us tickets to their concert that night.
I used my Rat from 1979 till a few years ago when I gave it my guitar playing nephew.
Now I miss it so it looks like I will be buying the latest version soon.
I have attached a link below to a 1990 video where I used the Rat on my solo.

Surprised by RAT. It is a great distortion pedal. It is a lot of fun!

Nice and dirty, great pedal with a classic sound. Hard to beat it.

I owed a RAT for many years, running it through a Fender Princeton Reverb for practice and a Fender Rhodes cabinet for performance. It was the key to my sound; everything else was window dressing. If you do not own one, you should, particularly if you like playing Pink Floyd's, Aerosmith's, or Hawkwind's music.

There's a reason it's a classic! Perfect for the grungy guitar work I needed it for and surprisingly affordable for the quality. You won't get a huge range of sounds out of this, but if you're pursuing that filthy tone which has been beloved for ages, it won't disappoint.

First I want to give thanks to Jonathan for always having the knowledge of the products at Sweetwater.
One of the best things about the RAT2 is that it is relatively inexpensive, which makes it a great option for someone who is just beginning to venture into the world of pedals. I have mine set up with a VOX AC30 amp and Fender Telecaster guitar.

.... and that is a good thing
I personally use the pedal at the front of my chain with the distortion set between 8:30 and 9, the filter at 2:00, and the volume at 4:30 to 5:00. I follow this with an Ibanez TS9 and then chorus and delay straight into either my Orange of Hughes and Kettner head, then out in to a 2x12 closed back cab packed with vintage 30s. I use the Rat in the same manner as Nuno Bettencourt in that it just tightens up and put some real clarity to percussive/palm muted parts by taking all of the woof out of the low end and replacing it with a tight, precision low end that is now unthinkable to live without. Thanks for the tip Nuno!

Every time I plug in this pedal I get the raunchy distortion my ear begs for. Great for classic metal (early Metallica ,Ozzy, Dio, etc) or classic rock and you can even get mediocre fuzz. Overall this an outstanding pedal for the money which every guitarist should have in their collection.

All this pedal nonsense gets to be too much I have tried too many including bogner burnley which is nice but none really are better than this if you dial it in right(go slow) I've has this a while and finally realized it's the only one I need period.Forget the shred happy negative reviews take it from a 50yr pro,just get it,If you think Jeff beck knew something you'd be right!

I really like the right, because it's easy to control, and you can go as heavy or light as you want on the distortion. The bass and treble is easily controlled as well. And it doesn't really affect the volume terribly much, whereas some other distortion boxes make you readjust either the volume on your guitar or through a foot pedal, or on the app itself. The red gives you just enough without being too much or too overly aggressive. The unit is a well-built metal case that can easily take a heavy hit. In 50 years of playing this is a favorite.

Love this thing in front of my Marshall DSl

Best Pedal I have found, I have been tinkering with various pedals over the years- TS 9, Keely Red Dirt, Boss OD- this is the one that delivers that tone I have been searching for. Most times now, it is the only pedal I use for all kinds of tunes, from Modern Country to Blues and classic rock- I can dial in a tone that works for all with just the one pedal. As always, the service from Jason and Sweetwater was spot on!!

You can shop a hundred boutique-y drive pedals ("transparent "- this and "blues driver circuit"-that, and realize you are looking for the same thing in all of them: harmonically-rich, musical, muscular dirt. Even if it's not your "premiere" distortion device, you need this to dependably give you fat, beautiful distorted tones. I have only owned this ugly black box a few days, and I am smitten. And the price… Buy one. Rock on.
Thank you Sweetwater.

Abslove the distortion from this beast. Sadly it started to drop out after a year or so but gladly Sweetwater covered the replacement and now I'm back in business.

Its popular for a reason. Jeff Beck, Dave Gilmour to name a few have used this pedal. It is versatile, rugged and has an awesome tone. I have other distortion pedals but the Rat is my go to no matter what amp I'm using.

I've spent a lot of time and money over the years searching for the "ultimate" distortion pedal, but I always end up coming back to the RAT. It's simple, affordable, quiet and has the perfect tone. It also has endless stacking and blending possibilities for any kind of crunch you want.

One of my favorite distortion pedals. Definetly reliable, built well and has a great range of overdrive/distortion. Love it!

I love this thing. Gets me that grungy 80s Husker Du/Replacements vibe. Throw a Crybaby in front of it and you got a stew going. And compared to other boutique distortions, the price is great!

Get one best pedal I have. Even better than some of my 200+ dollar pedals it's a keeper.

Amazing pedal

I love this darn thing. It does a great job of making my electric guitar sound, well, electric, without completely overpowering the melody. It plays well with other pedals and isn't one of the ones I have to isolate. It's probably the most solidly built thing anywhere in my music room. Works well with a standard guitar, a bass, and a taishogoto; doesn't work perfectly with an electric autoharp, but that's okay, since it's not really built for that.

The Rat is a very nice sounding and fun to play pedal. For the price, it's a real winner!

Heavy duty construction and fits great on my pedal board. Easy to dial in the tone your looking for and sounds great stacked with other fuzz/distortion and effects pedals.

I have been an active guitarist/performer/composer/etc for a half-century, more or less, using and abusing more bits and pieces of music-making goods and services than most journeymen get to experience- guitars, amps, pedals - and yet I had never had the pleasure of this particular pedal's performance until now. Wow! After decades of a set-up consisting of my #1 ('86PRS Custom 24) into a vintage tube amp ('72 Marshall 50 watt Plexi, '52 TV Front Deluxe, or Peavy Classic 50 (4 - 10"), depending on the room; I have decided on a wet/dry/wet system for my retirement years. A Fulltone Full-Drive2 provides the core tone - set for Flat-Mids and Wide - and the Rat gives me that just-right amount of edge and boost for emphasis and/or solo. Dynamic response is a necessity, and the Pro Co Rat delivers the goods.

Ten/ten I would buy again, and probably will! - k

I have only been playing guitar for a couple years. I have been branching out from acoustic to electric more because I have been playing rhythm in a rock band. I could never get the dirty sound I was looking for straight out of the amp, so I decided to venture into the land of pedals. I am glad I did because the Rat is everything I was looking for! Extremely versatile pedal. I love it! Of course, it almost goes without saying because they're so dependable, but Sweetwater's service was exceptional. Shipping was free and it arrived in two days!

Hey i like this thing i play mostly clean but when i want an edge i stomp on the little rat you may or may not like it but price wise it's worth a shot you can unload it easily if u don'tlike it but with a(little) tweaking here and there you'll get some very useable tones. i love playing the rat

This pedal can basically replace all of your fuzz/distortion/overdrive pedals. It's very high build quality and sounds absolutely great on any guitar I've used it with.

This is one of the greatest distortion/fuzz pedal out there.The Rat sounds amazing with both single coil or humbuckers.For 69 dollars this is a great deal.

I bought this pedal a while ago, and got rid of it as I was trying some other more expensive overdrive and distortion pedals. Ended up having to buy it again, because it is just too perfect. Such a great price, and works amazingly to cover overdrive, distortion , and fuzz tones. It'll be on my board for the rest of time.

I can get a lot of sounds from this pedal.

Perfect for 80s/90s rock and metal music, at least the ones worth playing (personal preference).

AC15's are great amps with a great sound, but let's be honest. They're a bit thin sounding for harder rock and dirty blues. Until you get a Rat, that is. I have never heard this level of thump and chunk coming out my amp before. Anything from subtle overdrive to Hendrix fuzz is at your fingertips. No buzz, no hiss, just thick,rich, full tone. The Rat also sounds great with my SS amps, but it's amazing with a tube amp. If you own a Vox, you need this. I only wish I would have gotten this pedal 20 years ago.

I was so glad that my first distortion pedal I bought was a Rat. This is an incredibly versatile distortion pedal. Played through a clean amp it can even sound great at low gain levels. To my ears it reminds me of a JCM800 on ten. The best part of this circuit is the filter knob. It is simply genius ProCo used a filter instead of a tone stack. This solves the ice pick treble of all distortion pedals. You can set it to sound bright or smooth. The bass can get a little too heavy at higher gain settings like most pedals but this is easily fixed with the EQ on an amp and the filter knob. I keep the gain between 10 and 2 o clock. My favorite way to play this pedal is to stack it with a tubescreamer like the Maxon OD808 (avoid the Ibanez TS9). This combo really tightens up the low end and notes ring out forever. My Maxon is always on and I control the crunch with my guitars volume knob and use the Rat for searing solos.

Awesome distortion!! ...if you can only call it that, it gets great fuzz sounds and when dialed back, you can get some sweet overdrive. Very versatile and no matter how you have the controls set it sounds good! Also not as important but it looks phenomenal!

I run 2 on my pedalboard ... one as OD and other as boost/distortion. It's a classic.

As soon as I plugged in, I forgot about every other effect pedal I own. They're all out the window. The only thing better than a Rat, is 2 Rats!

This one does it all. Fuzz, distortion, OD. A classic for a reason.

I have spent a lot on pedals in the $200 + price range and just purchased the MiXeR SBA which is a good pedal and don't regret but honestly with all the money spent on distortion pedals over the years, this is exactly what I was looking for. It has a lot of tonal range and no need to buy any more distortion pedals. It covers so much territory. The videos don't do this pedal justice. People say some pedals are built like a tank and turns out they're built like cheap junk but this pedal is built with quality and durability and has some weight to it !!!!! Very pleased with this purchase amongst all my purchases from Sweetwater.

This thing rocks and no wonder it's so popular and has been
used by so, so many famous artists. I mean David Gilmore
uses this pedal! Enough said!! Solid build and awesome
Distortion! Just buy it! Trust me, you need this pedal!!! And as always, Sweetwater and there customer service is nothing I've
ever experienced anywhere. I wish all retail stores had their
CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! The world would be a better place!!!
Oh yeah, when you call Sweetwater, ask for Dan Vranic. I promise he will take care of you. Excellent customer service and he knows he's stuff. If you want the best service ever..................... JUST CALL SWEETWATER AND YOUR DREAMS WILL COME TRUE!!!! Mine have

I like my rat pedal a lot. It's not the prettiest pedal but it's built like a tank, great quality knobs, easy to use, and very reasonably priced!

What can you say about the Rat? It is the sound of Rock n' Roll, it is built like a tank. There are no frills included, they are not needed. Add power, a Les Paul, and a couple power chords and you will be transported back to 1984. One down strum on E5 and your hair will grow back down to your shoulders, hit a G5, and you will lose all the weight you have gained since 1984. Go back to E5 and women with big hair will surround you!

This is my first pedal (which has started an addiction lol). I got it as a gift from my friend for christmas. I love the Rat! I get great sounds out of it and it can do anything from light drive to even a bit of a fuzz sound. Great pedal!

This is a great pedal , love it!

The Rat certainly has earned its reputation. I've run this thing through a Peavey ValveKing with 6L6 tubes, and a Marshall JCM 800 with 6550 tubes, and a little Monoprice combo with EL84 tubes and it paired well with all of those amps.

You can dial in classic fuzz tones, old school rock tones, all the way to straight up metal!

I cannot recommend this pedal enough, especially at this price point. I've had pedals that cost three times this much that I didn't enjoy using as much as the Rat.

Um...1992? '93? I got a Rat in a trade. Had no idea who used it or anything. My Arion distortion pedal, amp and Les Paul were stolen when my friend's station wagon was broken into after a gig. Also a great distortion pedal. YET. THE RAT CHANGES EVERYTHING. Still have the same one. Makes "not the best" amps sound like vintage beasts. Or it can, rather. So almost 30 years and I've no idea how many gigs and records this thing has been involved in. i only use 2 or 3 pedals at once and the Rat is always there. Get the distortion that helps you as an artist, keep in mind that sonically the Rat is great to have around. Peace.

If you don't have this distortion pedal in your chain then maybe think about it. Still working it around other distortion pedals but it seems best at the beginning of the signal chain. Love how it is great to blend with other distortion pedals without taking away tone from other pedals. Great pedal for stacking if thats your jam.

Far and away the best distortion I've ever played. Especially when overdriven. It doesn't break the bank either.

This thing sounds incredable, you can go from an overdrive all the way to a fuzz or metal sound and everything in between. It's a one pedalmfits allmtype thing, just turn the knobs and get what you want. For some reason it's got the most sustain of any pedal on the board, it makes me get 51/50,takes me to that Van Halen sound.

Best pedal in my board now! This thing works great with my MIM strat and HRD amp. Gets me anywhere from slight boosted crunch to full blown heavy rock!!

If I could only own one dirt pedal it would be a Rat. It will do anything and everything you need a dirt pedal to do.

I have 4 other overdrive / distortion pedals, including 2 from JHS, one from Earthquaker, and one from Boss, and I now use only the Boss Blues Driver BEFORE the RAT, and this only rarely, and almost exclusively for my Fender amp to mud the tone a little bit.
You could really just have the RAT and be covered in regards to distortion basically forever.

In a word fantastic. Excellent sound excellent price. Made to be stomped on.My first purchase from sweetwater. And it won't be by last.They contacted me personally to see if I was satisfied. I couldn't be more satisfied. Thank you Sweetwater.

Wanted a Rat my entire guitar-playing life, but for numerous reasons just never got one. Finally did. Wish I'd done so 25 years ago. Love this pedal. Ballsy tone, wide range of dirt, fantastic grind and expression. Essential pedal for any rock player.

I am a beginner coming back to my guitar learning and I have never tried a pedal like this before. But I love the way it makes my guitar sound. It is so much fun to play around with it, getting the different sounds from my guitar. I strongly recommend this pedal for different sounds and the dirty sound of sustain by turning up the gain and filter at about 3 o clock.
Lots of fun

Sounds great and well made. The one I received was slightly flawed. The dials did not have the white lines on them as shown in picture. This made it hard to line up the dials. Rather then mess with a return I painted the white lines on myself.

Great product. Gave my lousy picking a needed boost. Even a hack like me can sound like a pro..

Great sound,great price, fast shipping& great service

I Love it. I get the classic sound I remember from 80's metal. Makes me smile every time I step on it.

LOVE IT!!!! The sound and crunch you can get from this little box is off the charts! Extremely happy with this and it was a perfect fit and addition to my pedal board!!!

Have had the RAT 2 for a couple of weeks now. After reading numerous reviews and going for some of the sounds I was looking for, seemed to score with the RAT! Great price, bombproof build. Combined with a LP Tribute Plus and an Orange Crush 35RT there are all kinds of great sounds.

This my first experience using a pedal control. I read the reviews and also how popular this pedal was for experienced players. I am certainly a novice but have found it to be reasonably easy to learn. Still experimenting adjustments between it and my 1 x 8 Mustang GT practice amp. Overall I am very happy with this purchase.

I have this in my pedal board and have been really enjoying it. I usually start with a blues driver then when I want to crank it up I switch the rat on with it. I also like the metal construction, definitely seems like it can take some abuse.

Overall, a great pedal at a great price point.

The Rat is exactly what I was looking for to break out of that basic amplified sound. Lots of variation possible from just three dials. For the price I couldn't be happier with it's construction, look, and performance.

I ordered the proco rat pedal it soumds great highly satisfied and highly recommend this pedal

Shred shred shred shred.

I had not though of this pedal in a long time, but when I ran across a video demo, I remembered why I liked this pedal. The best part is that it isn't high dollar, but it sounds amazing and built like a tank, the way they used to be built. I can get anywhere from lower distortion to high distortion. It wears a few different hats and shines in each. I am happy I bought this pedal and I would recommend it to anyone. At least give it a chance, check out the demos.

It is not complex or sophisticated. It is a beautiful distortion and fuzz making beast. There is a reason Ira Kaplan (yo la tengo) has not one but two on his board at all times.

Great pedal , it has been a much needed addition to my quest for broader sound spectrum. Very easy setup

It sounds better and is more versatile than the Boss DS-1, The Big Muff and many others. Set at 9 o’clock it’s a great overdrive just as good or better than the TS9 tube screamer or Boss OD-1. Set at 12 o’clock to 2 o’clock you’ll get the 80’s hard rock and hair metal sound. George Lynch used it for years, the guys from Ratt used it and so did Nuno Bettencourt and countless others. Jeff Beck has used it heavily since the 80s. Set the distortion higher and it functions as an outstanding fuzz which rivals the Big Muff and Fuzz Face. Designed by a man in Michigan in his rays infested basement gave him the idea for the name. One day he accidentally made a different connection on the circuit board than he had planned to which gave this pedal its unique sound. Released in 1978 it has been a classic ever since. Romans 10:9-10

I've never been much of a high gain player. I've been using a Fulldrive 2 to push my little Mesa Subway Blues to 'edge of breakup'. But if ya wanna do classic rock or punk style you need crunch. So I got this, mostly because I'd read that it is less 'murky' than a Big Muff.

Well I just plugged it in.......and I love it. You get that crunch (and even fuzz if distortion dimed) but things are still articulate. You can sustain a note forever. Bargain for the money. Yeah, they're a lot of used ones out there, but usually the savings are negligible compared to getting a new one from Sweetwater with the usual fast free shipping. (Plus I always need strings, cables etc)

What else can you say about this pedal! Built like a tank and the sound is amazing! Just perfect!

I've always heard about the Rat(s) and had assumed that they were expensive boutique pedals.

I was thrilled to find out that they're not expensive at all. My old distortion pedal (beloved Digitech Hardwire SC-2) was double the price -- and still a good deal.

I play at home and for a church band, so heavy metal is never quite the sound I want but the range from light crunch to moderate saturation (blues and gospel to classic rock). The rat does a great job and with the filter in the 7-to-9 o'clock range it cuts through the mix nicely. Very touch-responsive too.

I go direct-to-board in a stereo setup. The rat is feeding into a tech21 Liverpool (Vox simulator) and sounds very life and tube-like for me. It also is good for stacking a Wampler Tumnus (original) into.

I'm still experimenting, but liking what the Rat does for me. I am going to have a good time deciding which distortion will stay on my board.

this pedal works great for getting a good clear distortion tone on very low tuned basses, i found that the best settings for this was dist at 9oclock, filter all the way up, and vol where ever you need it. seriously it produces one of the best low tuned bass tones ( low A to octave down E) i ever heard. which is usually difficult cuz low tunings are picky about what kind of drive you use with them. on guitar i find the it to sound really nice as well, a good warmish dist/fuzz tone. and dont let the made in china stamp fool you this thing is well made and made of good components, i build hand wired point to point tube amps and many different hand made effects pedals, i know well built circuits & components when i see them.

definitely recommend giving this thing a try on guitar or bass

This pedal can do from smooth blues to rocking grunge/alternative to hard rock. I absolutely love this pedal and it will always have a place on my pedalboard.

I have had this pedal since 1990 , I have tried others but keep coming back.
I highly recommend owning this pedal .

Greatest pedal ever! Just like the classic, overdrive to fuzz. Making the guitar great again!

I first saw this pedal at a club in Florida in 1983. I was a student, and i was floored by the sound of the lead guitarist in this small club band. I looked at his amp, his guitar, and his pedal. I saw "RAT" written on it. So I convinced my brother and guitarist in my band to get the same....a 65' Twin Reverb, and a RAT. that was the sound. After our first RAT was stolen in 87, I bought the RAT 2. It was great as well. I was always a bit bothered by the way all the greatest sounds were in a distortion range of 5 degrees at about 11 O'Clock on the face....that's my only gripe. it can become Raspy real quick. So 30 years later....I'm still playing my original RAT 2. It's a great pedal. And it's looks great. All the modern pedals look like wine bottles, with so many different logos and designs. I appreciate the simplicity of white on black, and the LED really helped the RAT 2 improve over our original. This is the first distortion pedal you need, maybe the last Then build from there.

My pedal board needed a distortion pedal in a bad way and this answered the call!

I play a strat into a blues junior amp and this pedal is the perfect pedal to bring out the dirt needed for some rock solos.

This nasty little guy gets it done! It's my favorite distortion pedal hands down. Simple and classic.

I had a vintage version of this back and n the 80"s but sold it when I got married. After years of using multi-effects boards, I began , migrating back to specialized pedals. I picked this up to replace my old one and it works beautifully. While I"m sure there are minor differences in sound, due to newer components, it"s honestly been too low my for me to tell. You can dial in anything from fuzz to heavy distortion. I highly recommend this unit.

With all of the options out there in distortion pedals, this one was a great choice; reasonably priced and doe's the job. No wonder its been around so long.
Thanks Caleb!

Not much to say on the pedal it has been around long enough its proven itself. Sweetwater customer service is on a level all their own Fast shipping, great customer service, no complaints at all. i will definitely be making future purchases with Sweetwater!!!

The RAT is great and the price is great also. This blows away most of the more expensive pedals out there

I really needed a high gain, punk rock sort of distortion, which I could get from my Boss Turbo DS, but I bought the Rat because I saw that the guitarist for Relient K, Matt Hoopes, uses this pedal. It's cheap and other people raved about it, so I bought it. When it first came, I was a little disappointed, only because I was having a difficult time finding the right tone I was looking for. Then I discovered it: the Rat sounds best with the distortion at about 10:30, the filter (with a Les Paul, anyways) at 1 o'clock, and the volume cranked! I found that I preferred the sound I got out of it if I used the bridge pickup.

ProCo, keep up the good work! This pedal is ridiculously awesome. Loving my new pet Rat!

Right amount fuzz right amount overdrive I love it

This pedal is loud!!! I love it!! Its a high quality sound pedal.

I love this pedal... it is a cool piece! from overdrive to fuzz sound! I have this on my pedal board!

The RAT was a totally unexpected new Christmas Toy (courtesy of Wife). She knew I had a specific sound many years ago. That sound was via an original late 70's RAT pedal. I had to sell it off just before we moved...

Of course, she went stealthily behind my back and talked with many knowledgeable people (such as the great sales tech here, Justin Rix) about WHICH RAT would duplicate the sound (Since There are no fewer than SIX DIFFERENT version, and within those models, probably about three or four revisions to each since the beginning of time!).

As soon as I hooked this thing up to the bass rig, I was unexpectedly blown away! I swear this one sounds just as good as the original that I used to have, without the finickiness or unreliability of a then 20-year old, rusted and beat up pedal!

STILL, a great stomp for getting some dirt!

Nasty overdrive, great on synths.

There is a reason this pedal has stood the test of time...It's still popular because it's built like a tank and it does what it's suppose to do...For this price everyone should own one...

I've owned this pedal for years now and I've pushed it through solid state and tube amps, Strats and Les Pauls. It holds up very well in all categories. It is a pretty articulate pedal that gets sold in reviews as something of a powerful hard rock distortion but you can dial it back to a really great classic rock/blues 'grit' kind of overdrive too. With the Filter dial, it can reach fuzz tones that aren't as harsh as a Muff that can be easier to mix in. Additionally, if you have a more powerful fuzz like a Muff, you can use the Rat to take the 'honk' out of the Muff by putting it behind the fuzz and lowering the Distortion setting. This setup has worked wonders on my Muff's tone and playability.

The only issue I have had with it is that it needs an adapter for a 9v plug that's sold separately. If you plan on using batteries though, it's not an issue.

Overall, it's a mainstay on my pedal board and has been super reliable no matter what gear I put around it (at times, making other pedals sound better).

A rat has been a key element of my relatively simple pedal board for over 15 years. When the foot switch started acting up I ordered another. It is spot on as good as my old favorite. The original foot switch was fixable with a contact cleaner spray so I decided to use the new one with a small tube practice amp. It is working out great for low volume overdrive, sustain and distortion. It does color your amp's tone a bit and adds compression but I like the sound for classic rock covers such as ZZ Top, Queen and Pink Floyd. It is not as useful for very clean overdrive. It is clearly the best value in a distortion/overdrive pedal. I would not want to gig with my classic rock band without it as it allows me to get the sound I want at lower volumes. I am not a fan of multiple channel amps and prefer to have the controls at my feet rather than back at the amp face.

I didn't expect to be blown away by this pedal...but I was. The ability to adjust the distortion and the tones rock! This is really nice. This is now my #1 distortion pedal on the pedalboard!

The only downside is the 9v plugs on the back are different from most pedals. I am using a daisy chain power supply, so I had to purchase additional cables/adapters to make it work. Not a huge deal, but something you need to know. The RAT does not come with an adapter, so that has to be purchased separately too unless you want to use batteries (a lot). :)

Still in all - I LOVE this pedal!!

Slightly unconventional, I'm using mine for a harmonica rather than a guitar. I've been working with it and enjoy the alternate sounds at my disposal.

Out of all the distortion/fuzz pedals that I've played through, this is far and away my favorite. I'm not a metal head so I haven't tested the Rat's capabilities in that direction, but as a Blues/Classic Rock/ Hard Rock pedal it is right on the nuggets. The sloppy glory of the Faces' "Stay with Me" or the snarling bite of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again?" It's there. It can go from thick fuzz to more measured subtle distortion and sounds good on both ends of the spectrum. I highly recommended it.

In my search for the tone I've had in my head I've gone through numerous distortion/fuzz pedals including a DS-1, an MXR Super Badass, the Rat and an EHX BM Pi with Tone Wicker. Out of all those, the Rat is the one that really had me convinced I had found the tone I wanted. Easy to use, rugged design, easy to access battery compartment and of course the amazing distortion tone this thing can produce is what keeps me going back to it. The clarity this thing has is awesome. I have the distortion cranked as high as it will go and can still hear every note. The only other pedal that produced that was the EHX BM, but fuzz ended up not being my taste, though the Rat can also do fuzz (I'm convinced it could do anything involving an over-driven tone). I would recommend this pedal to anyone that is looking for that distortion tone that can remain clear, or anyone looking for a distortion pedal in general. I'll be sticking with this for the rest of my musical career.

Simplest way I've found to get classic Angus Young tone out of my HH Tele. Great bang for the buck. Thank you Pro Co!

Works great on a clean amp. Works great in front of a dirty amp with little gain. Great to cut the lows of an amp to generate a tighter sound.

Has everything I'm looking for and highly recommend it!

This is by far the best distortion pedal I have played, and the price makes it unbeatable. This thing can create sounds ranging from gain boost to heavy metal, and it is my go to for now on.

This is a great pedal! Has a bunch of great sounds, and I am very pleased.

Thanks, Sweetwater!

Love it. Bryan at Sweetwater was very helpful with the sale of this pedal. He knew just what I wanted as for sound. Thanks

First pedal! It's been doing me really well as it can go from light overdrives to heavy metal distortion!!

I've used these on and off for nigh on thirty years. They're iconic....for me, NO other pedal is even in the same room with this. It spans the entire dirty spectrum. If the right tone isn't present, the right notes won't be either. The RAT is beyond compare!

The Rat is a special pedal that unlike the metal pedals that work through the signals given out by the speaker. It work as a unique pice that distorts sound through the amp. Distortion pedals are closer to an Overdrive the meal peal that disrupts sound in the speaker. It works on clean channels as we as the dirt station in fact better on the over ride amp. Its an amp pedal not a speaker pedal. I owned three of them and they were stolen from so called friends. They sold out themselves for a pedal so I got off cheap. Love this Pedal. And just bout two other pedals or I would have got it just spent my money on a new jerry Cantrell wah wah and a way huge swollen pickle Fuzz. A must for all types of pro music

I own a recording studio, and have a lot of large production as well as boutique guitar pedals. I purchase my pedals with a lot of consideration, and do not keep pedals around that are just average sounding. I can not believe that I have not owned a Rat pedal before now. This thing kills!! In the distortion world alone, I own an Earthquaker Devices Pitch Bay, Earthquaker Devices Terminal Fuzz, Electroharmonix Soul Food, Maxon OD808, Mr. Black Thunderclaw, OBNE Haunt Fuzz, Rimrock Effects Mythical Overdrive, Sanford & Sonny's Blue Beard, SmallSound Bigsound Mini, Walrus Janus, and a Walrus Mayflower. The Rat pedal does something that none of these pedals do. Think raw rock and roll. It's under $70. Buy one!

This is my first serious distortion pedal. I love the sound. The filter really makes a difference depending on the setting. It is built well, hardy and strong. And really, great distortion sound. I love playing with it, taping my guitar and grooving heavy.

I have had a few distortion pedals including the super badass....the badass is sweet but for less money, this is all the distortion you need! I play this through a vox ac4c1 12 and it is SO Sweet! I'm a gear head and love to try new equipment, my musical ear may not be as honed as some, but I can hear enough to know that this Rat is going to stay my pet! Try It!

Well, I ran my AXL Bulldog (les paul jr clone with Lindy Fralin p90) through the RAT, and then into my VHT Special 6 tube amp. Wow!!! what a warm crunch!! Thanks Alden!! As always, Sweetwater has the best customer service where you get the best communication, fast delivery, and followup!! Why go anywhere else!!!

I can get a full array of fuzz and distortion sounds with the Rat 2 pedal, from modern metal distortion to psychedelic fuzz (more Tone Bender than Fuzz Face) and a decent approximation of a Maestro Fuzz-Tone. Best of all, this pedal cuts through the mix thanks to a midrange leaning tone. You will be heard!

Can't really say much more then that!!!

I almost bought a $300 Bogber Ecstasy pedal until I gave the Rat a try & I couldn't be happier. A straight forward pedal with a ton on tonal options. I highly recommend this pedal.

Thanks Sweetwater for the video reviews of these pedals! The RAT does exactly what you said and it sounds great!

I was a little skeptical buying it based on the video demo, but I must say it blows away my other pedals at twice the price.

The sound is fantastic and variable from mild bluesy to pretty heavy rock. And it's built like a tank. I've got a new #1 favorite pedal.

Been looking at this pedal for many years and finally pulled the trigger. Great tone. Was exactly what I was looking for. Wanted a warmer fuzz than most other pedals I used and this thing nailed it. Luke Herian, as always you are awesome!

i have been using a pro co rat 2 pedal for months & it's now easily my new most favorite pedal of all time, say goodbye to my terrible & noisy electro-harmonix little big muff, big muff pi with tone wicker & the dreaded germanium 4 big muff pi because those pedals come no where near the versatility of the rat, i love this pedal so much i bought 2 more & now want a fourth one, this pedal is legendary for a reason & i have demoed all the older & now more expensive versions of this pedal & i easily choose the new stock version over all the vintage models, if you are tried of buying & selling pedals because you are let down by most of them just buy this pedal, i'm not an expert or anything but i have well over 60 different fuzz / overdrive / distortion pedals alone & now i have almost zero use for them because of this pedal, i just can't believe how long i waited to buy one, i feel like a huge idiot.

I've been wanting a Rat for a long time. It does just what I expected. It goes from a nice overdrive to edgy fuzz. It's pretty versatile. I run mine, Distortion at 2o'clock, Filter 2:30, Volume 11:30. That gives me nice drive with clear articulation. It works well with the volume control on the guitar. With the neck/middle pickup I get a good fat rhythm tone. Add some delay and I get a nice singing lead tone that cuts through real nice... Everyone needs a Rat! Thanks to Brandon Eden my Sales Engineer!

Fast shipping! Very good service. Thank you!

Thanks Tony Dayton Sweetwater. Great recommendation!

This pedal is amazing. I have owned multiple versions of it (and still do), and despite popular opinion on how the older ones are better, the new, stock version is simply fantastic. The vintage versions "warble" a bit more when turned up, but as someone who models his tone after Oasis / Heavy Stereo / Britpop, this current tone fits perfectly. Save the $240 and just buy the new one. There are demos on youtube that show how little, if any, difference there is. The Earthquaker Devices Tusk Fuzz is maybe the only better product out there for this, and that is long discontinued.

Works great, good sound

Everyone needs this pedal. From warmth to dirty crunch, this simple pedal does it all. I would highly recommend it.

I love the sound that I get with this pedal. I'm very satisfied as I always am when I order from Sweetwater.

I play in many different Rock Bands and that Hard Rock distortion (ala Pink Floyd) that needs to be dirty but not abrasive is hard to come by. This little pedal achieves that goal.

Outstanding pedal. I actually use it for vocal distortion, so much fun and for a great rate. Wouldn't use it on everything, but very great for specific usage and distortion fun.

Sweet water is outstanding. Period.

Perfect! I have a Vox AC30 for an amp. The clean and crunch sounds I get out of it are great, but I was having trouble getting a good BIG distortion sound. I tried a few other pedals, and nothing comes close to the RAT. This pedal sounds awesome with the AC30. The sound out of this thing is huge! I love it!!!

I've owned a Rat since 1984 and have since gotten the Duecetone. I can't say how much I love these pedals. I keep looking for others to come along. But I still go back to my Rat. Everything dirty in anyway that I've recorded, I've used the Rat. I'm planning to order another Rat II as a backup! I've heard mods work well for these pedals. I think they sound great just as they are. Hears to Rockin' the Rat!

I run a simple board, always have. Transparent style overdrives w/ different characteristics, compressor (sometimes) Delay and occasional fuzz. I wanted a big balls out distortion for the fun of it and figured why not a Rat. However I was pleasantly surprised at how tone useful and dialable it actually is. And a pile of fun. Def a keeper. Thought it would be just a goof but turned out to be much more applicable than that. So win!
Alan Gribble as always the greatest rep. Sweetwater keep it up!!

recently got this as a present and its so fun messing around with it. insanely flexible options too, from overdrive to distortion to a sorta fuzz-ish sound. only complaint is that it's loud once you turn it on and has a lot of hiss.

If you could only have one pedal on a budget, the Pro Co Rat 2 is it.
3 settings on a dial, OD, Distortion, and Fuzz. The Rat has been around a long time and marked it's place in music.

I've owned a number of distortion pedals and still have a few but the RAT to me is the best, period. Its versatile, powerful and my go to at gigs. Many times I do open mic blues jams and I don't know what amp I'll be using. But the RAT will cover nearly everything from low gain overdrive to heavy saturated tones. There is a reason so many great guitarist choose the RAT.
It's also sturdy and reliable. A classic.

Haven't been able to dive fully into this little monster yet due to circumstances out of my control, but what I have heard from it is incredible...

This pedal is amazing! I use it at church for our youth group worship and it works really well to add a little bite to the music!

Wow! This is a seriously fun effect pedal.

Let me start by saying that it is genuinely built like a tank. I wish all pedals were built like this because it can take a beating. But that's not what you're interested in knowing.

This pedal has one of those sounds that you just hear and can immediately recall numerous records that you've heard it on. Unlike most reviews, I couldn't ever call this an overdrive pedal. Even at its most modest setting this pedal is already over the edge and ready to explode into punchy, raunchy distortion.

Turning the distortion knob up only unleashes more gain and saturation. I'd say this pedal is perfect for 80s glam, 90s alt and grunge, and even thrash metal. This isn't an overdrive. At its most aggressive setting it can actually sound similar to my Keeley Dark Side's fuzz. In essence, this is a hard rock pedal at one of its finest forms.

I'm knocking off half a star because there isn't an incredible amount of flexibility here. It does one sound, to varying degrees, VERY well. For that, it's an excellent pedal and worth checking out. As a primary distortion pedal it will serve most people very well. Combined it with a good overdrive/boost and maybe a fuzz and consider your gain stages figured out.

A special thanks to my girlfriend for an awesome gift!

Really impressed with the drive and distortion RANGE. I especially like using it on a single coil pickup, and where, with the Rat2, I can still get a huge fat sound with sustain, yet minimize the FUZZ should I wish too. Rather tubey.

Turn the distortion knob down and you can get nice overdrive tones, turn it up and it goes into fuzzy, Sunn O))) style tone. My only complaint is that it can be very bassy at higher distortion levels, even with the filter knob turned down.

Its as good as any of the video reviews show and built solid! Its a must have!

The Rat pedal is pretty sweet! I play a lot of alt-rock and pop-punk, and this pedal brings exactly the type of high-gain, harmonic-heavy distortion I was looking for at a price that"s hard to beat! I play an Epiphone Les Paul through a Fender Deluxe Reverb, and I can either tweak the Distortion and Tone controls or keep the pedal on the same settings and simply switch pickups on my guitar for some noticeable tone variety. The Distortion and Volume controls function as input and output gains, making it easy to set the Rat at unity gain and avoid any jumps in volume when it is bypassed/engaged. I will say that it doesn"t do subtlety very well, so if you"re looking for a light crunch that sounds like a natural amp breakup and preserves all of your dynamic range, your money might be better spent elsewhere. But if you want a set-and-go hard rock tone in a box, this pedal is worth having around.

You can get a pretty wide range of sounds for a cheap and simple pedal. The quality is excellent. And its small enough you can squeeze one on your board. Ohh and tried it on bass and really enjoyed that too.

...this is a must have on your pedal board if you"re looking for a 3rd stage overdrive to sit in front of the mix during lead parts. Very easy to use and set up!

I had "the legendary" RAT way back in high school, and I wanted to recapture that old school raw feeling. The Rat 2 didn't disappoint. It still delivers that thick, deep distortion I wanted back then. Even better, now that I'm older and more nuanced, I've found this box has a lot of subtlety and range I hadn't noticed before. This really is the only overdrive/distortion pedal you'll need.

The first three OD pedals I owned were a big muff, green overdriver, and a Vintage Rat. Later on I got the Turbo Rat (possibly my favorite) the You Dirty Rat, and decided it was time to have a Rat 2 in the stable.

I was sent a dead rat, but thanks to the reliable and effective team at Sweetwater I had a fresh live rat in no time, no hassle.

The build quality of the RAT line in general seems to have taken a small decline in quality from the 90s/early 2000s versions. Just a tiny bit less robust in internal component quality. However I do LOVE the new updated BOSS style 9V input jack. So there is my half-star reduced rating.

I stuck in an old LM308 op amp (which will void the warranty) but in my opinion that is the op amp all rats need. The new OP07DP op amps to my ear have a slightly whistling and shrill high end. The old op amps, the 308, takes away that very nicely and puts any RAT where I want it to sit. It's just part of the recipe and it's unfortunate that they are not made any longer.

When I was ripping out Nirvana songs and rock solos through my Marshall I was immediately reminded of why I love rats in the first place, and why I've bought so many of them.

Great Deal from Sweetwater as well. And a shout out to Phillip Courtney if he reads this for being a good sales engineer.

Just like I remember it from back in the day. Built like a tank.

Gets nice tones and can even get a good fuzz through this. Like to use with my LP that has SD 59s and 50s wiring.

The Rat was the final piece in a quest to duplicate recorded tone live. I am a 70's & 80's Marshall fan and found most speakers had waaaaayyyy too much low end at blow dry volumes. Greenbacks were part of the solution and the Rat was the remainder. It filters the low end to a usable level allowing use of the bass control on the amp. The trick with the Rat was to limit the distortion knob to the 9-10 o'clock area to get the smooth singing leads and chords - depending on the amp's gain. Crank that knob up if you want more bite.

I gave it a 4.5 because the automatic 'I was blown away' on the 5 is just too cheesy. Very impressed and satisfied.

Exactly as advertised. Great sound, super value, and sounds just like the Sweetwater demo video.

Used frequently playing Alternative Rock Covers.

First let me say I do not believe in distortion pedals,i think they make bad players sound good,covering a lot of mistakes.I could not afford a tube amp of my choosing so i have a champion,(let me add)I don't like amps that let you dial in all the amps and so on and so forth.thats where the rat came in and may i say it really came in,if i didn't no it i would swear it was a tube amp.It has subtle overdrive witch makes it sound tubey.
and if the need ever came up it can get really nasty.I have been pl;aying guitar for over 50 years and its the best i'v seen.I play thru a gretsch,les paul and once in a while a stratacaster they all sound great thru the rat

The ProCo Rat 2 is an exceptional Overdrive, Distortion/Fuzz & Boost pedal comparable to many of the boutique & mainstream units available at 2 to 3 times the cost. With just 3 controls, the Rat 2 delivers an expansive menu of tastes. Use the volume and distortion pots to dial in anything from a clean boost to a thick hearty fuzz analogous to a sherpa's Himalayan wool-on-wool sweater -- weathered, worn, gravelly, gnarled & down right dirty & nasty! The filter acts as an inverted (so-to-speak) tone control whereby slight fluctuations to the right bring up the bass response & conversely, taps leftward, increase the highs. Full dimes in either direction open the flood gates of the damned or the righteous, respectively.

Housed in an all metal shell that'd make 9/11 black boxes jealous, the Rat 2 can divebomb without a parachute, take a tumble over the proverbial edge of hell Or meet you God-fearing folks at the pearlly gates chiming its way past the naysayers.

Coupled with 200ms of analog delay, soaked in a reverb syrup and slightly modulated with a slow phaser, the Rat 2 will give you a "wall o' noise" capable of holding your whole tone up! It's that good.

The Rat combined with my Big Muff and Tube Screamer then Phase 90, EP Booster, and Deluxe Memory Man Delay... really nails the David Gilmour lead guitar sound using single coil pickups. Switch to humbucking pickups and you can do Maiden and the like using the RAT. Get one. Do it!

After trying many,(too many) pedals for the "sound" I have been looking for ,since recreating myself....I should have realized,Joe Perry couldn't have been wrong all these years. I typically use 3 or 4 distortion boxes on my board live. Mild OD,and a couple gear grinders. I may actually end up with 2 of these guys on the same board. Oh , and sustain, even at lower volumes ,this sound folds on. This is the real deal,and it ain't the most expensive.

I am using the Rat on Bass , good solid overdrive, Intense Distortion,clean boost.

Built to last. My new favorite distortion pedal. As always, my Sweetwater Sales Engineer Paul Rowan provided best in class service!

Was looking to replace my big muff, which seemed too washed out and bassy, and this is the perfect answer. Creates a great range of fuzz sounds without losing the actual guitar tone. Tremendous harmonic overtones and feedback possibilities. I love it!

I really like my new pet RAT. It has a little more juice than I need but I find if I increase the filter and cut back the distortion, I can get a really smooth sustain sound which is what I wanted. Tons of ooomph and well worth the money.

I haven't had a chance to push this to it's boundaries yet. But when I used it, I got what I've been looking for. A very warm overdrive that does not get distorted when pushing harder beats or higher scales.

This is probably one of the best pedals I have ever had. The tone on this thing is just beautiful. I have tried it using single coil strat and a humbucker ibanez, in both cases the tone is amazing. From smooth to pasty distortion just by turning the knobs. Really classy sound.

When I first started playing years ago I heard about this pedal. After the PTSD of my first DST pedal being a Boss Heavy Metal. I turned my nose up at a pedal called "Rat" thinking it would be some grungy mess that sounded like crap.

I was totally wrong. This is THE distortion pedal. It lives on my board and gets used so much. Amazing sound.

Really a fuzz pedal that keeps just off the side of Velcro ripping. Low tones sound very fuzz while mids and highs are more distortion. A very fun pedal to pound out hard riffs and get crazy with. Even with the distortion down it still goes very hard clipping on low frequencies. Low gain pickups give it a totally different feel and approach. Single coil pickups are a hoot!!! Overall a very well made unit that has many uses. Every rock/metal guitar player should try one.

I have tried a lot of overdrive & distortion pedals and wanted something with a bit more "fuzz" while also working as a distortion pedal.
The RAT yields some excellent distortion , and the filter knob really does help clean up the low tones , but I just can't seem to get the fuzz tones people claim this pedal can do.
I will definitely keep it as a very nice distortion pedal for a bit of dirt, but I will still need to get a fuzz pedal it looks like.
I was hoping the RAT would give me both sound options in a single pedal, but it just doesn't do Fuzz like I hoped it would.

It's the sound of the underground It really does liven things up

I've had this pedal now for a week and I've moved the knobs on it every which way I can to see how many distortion sounds I can create. It is a good pedal. I play a lot AC/DC, Joan Jett, Rose Tattoo (bands that have a crunch electric guitar sound) and the Rat pedal gives a great crunch distortion tone. I also play a lot of metal, from early 80's British metal to modern metal. I can get a decent spectrum distortion from the Rat pedal.

OK..so the pedal is easy to use (3 knobs) distortion level, filter (tone), and volume. Finding the tone I want is really simple; from crunch to a muff fuzz sound. Now that's the thing to remember about the Rat, it's not a true metal pedal in the sense of how metal sounds from most bands from the mid 80's and on. Even a tech from Sweetwater called me minutes after I purchased this and said the same thing about it. It gives you crunch and muff fuzz range of distortion.

Compared to my Boss Metal Zone pedal that I mainly use, the Rat pedal doesn't come close to the extremely wide range of tones I get with the Boss pedal.

Moreover, the pedal does put out a nice range of distortion (crunch to muff fuzz), it's a GREAT price for a distortion pedal, and it's built like a tank! Which is great because it won't fall apart easily.

Special THANKS to the Sweetwater tech (Tyler Lamb) who called me within minutes of my purchase to talk with me about the pedal. This is another reason why Sweetwater is GREAT!

UNFORTUNELY, the bag of candy I look forward to receiving with my Sweetwater purchases only had 3 pieces in it...SO SAD!!

I've only played out with this a couple of times but so far I like it. I bought it primarily for overdrive but the distortion is pretty awesome as well. (I play it through a Vox AC15). It's too soon to say anything else about it other then it seems to be well built.

I know I'm like 30 years late to the party but this thing rocks! I couldn't quite get the tone I wanted to play my rock covers but as soon as I go this I was able to dial in all the classic tone I was missing. Easy to use. Made of solid metal. Only downside are the rubber feet. I tried to remove them to put the pedal on my pedalboard but they attach the whole bottom of the pedal as well. I put pedalboard tape on the feet and it works but I'm worried that with time it may fall off easier.

Though the unit seemed to be of heavy duty construction, I was slightly disappointed at first with the noisiness when engaged. I noticed that slight downward pressure on top of the controls or foot switch lessened it considerably, so I opened it for inspection. I found that a couple of wires soldered to the circuit board had not been trimmed properly, and were protruding far enough through the board to make contact with the enclosure. It was easily remedied, and now the noise is at the level you would normally expect from a drive/distortion/fuzz pedal. As mentioned, the enclosure construction is heavy duty, though the input/output jacks could be upgraded. Otherwise the pedal sounds very good with lots of sustain. ...it is worth the investment.

I bought it for my son He"s been playing for two years now Turning him on to all the old pedals from my days of being in a band

Was excited to pick this pedal up to add the vintage chip to but with the way they wire it now, its more of a risk to go in and make the change of chips, so I'm not gonna bother. Nothing sounds quite like a vintage Rat, which is one of the greatest distortion boxes under the sun.

I bought this one for my bass and the thing about it got my attention was the filter knob.
Once activated, it cuts down the lower mid and volume a bit, filter and volume adjustments are required to level the clean and distortion. Once it's done, play around the distortion knob and _\,,/
Solid and heavy, can take enough hit on/off stage. I am very satisfied with this one.
Can't speak for the guitar yet since I haven't used this with my guitars yet.

With a little tweaking of the pedal and a clean channel on your amp with a touch of reverb, crank the volume and let your heavy doom riffs affect the bowels of those nearby! Can produce stoner doom sounds (think Sunn Model T, Matamp Green, etc.) Would highly recommend for anyone looking to recreate those tones without breaking the bank for those vintage amps.

I would have givin this a 5 but I just could not bring myself to it and mostly because the filter doesn't really offer much and truthfully the peddle is almost overly distorted at least for the amps I've been using I may change my opinion when I get my new 100 watt Marshall amp, if your looking for that heavy 70/80 distortion peddle for your collection with a lot of volume this is the peddle esp. If you play a strat, a tele or a les Paul , as for the fuzz I don't get it.

I would have givin this a 5 but I just could not bring myself to it and mostly because the filter doesn't really offer much and truthfully the peddle is almost overly distorted at least for the amps I've been using I may change my opinion when I get my new 100 watt Marshall amp, if your looking for that heavy 70/80 distortion peddle for your collection with a lot of volume this is the peddle esp. If you play a strat, a tele or a les Paul

Don`t listen to the cork sniffers.
This Rat will do the job perfectly. I`ve owned old, big box, white and this reissue is just fine. Plug it in and KICK IT!!

Great hard rockin pedal for the price. I use it for solos so I keep it Hot. Lots of gain and headroom. Built like a tank!

As expected, this is a solid, all-around classic distortion pedal. Easy to dial in as little or as much disortion as you need. The filter knob takes a little getting used to, as it's different that other distortion pedals with a "tone" knob. But it makes sense once you get it straight. I only have Fenders with single coils, so I can't speak to how it sounds with humbuckers, but it sounds pretty darn good with singles.

Build seems solid; heavy duty for sure! Not the prettiest pedla out there, but it's got it where it counts.

At first when I got this pedal I was a little disappointed, I guess I was just wondering if getting a solid state amp before getting this was a good idea. But slowly this pedal grew on me. I know people say that the Rat II is not as good as the old Rats but this one is quite amazing. You just can't plug it in and expect perfect tone without trying some different settings first. This pedal is great at what it does and that is full on distortion. If you were looking for a little tubescreamer you've bought the wrong pedal! To find "You're Tone" that you are looking for in this pedal you will have to do some searching around. The slightest knob adjustment can completely change the sound. More than likely you will have to do some amp eq switches aswell. (I did). My settings are Distortion: 9 o'clock, Filter 11:59 (different than 12 o'clock, trust me) and Volume 2 o'clock. These settings, given my amp (Fender Frontman 212r) give you a Sum 41 All Killer No Filler kind of tone also very much like the Foo Fighters. As far as I can tell turning the dist. up will increase the fullness of the bass so that is why my flter is at 11:59 and not 1 or 2. Overall this pedal does what it is supposed to do and does an AMAZING job at it. Great job ProCo!

Its definitely got a certain sound. One of the things I like about it is that Its a good distortion in front of a Jcm 800 style amp. For you tinkerers, there are also some simple mods you can do to make it a little more articulate. If you are a huge fan of this pedal and want all the circuit tweaks from all the different versions, JHS makes one, its called the RatPack. Need I say its bombproof? This version adds a compression to high gain tones and it feels like it adds some sag that makes notes bloom. The trick is to find the sweet spot where your amp is still responsive for playing lead, but you get some sag if you dig in to the strings harder. I found there is a background hiss artifact to the sound that you need to dial out. If its hissing too much, back off either on the knobs or on the amp settings. Its a little fiddly but its one of those standard issue pedals that is still around for a reason. -- Vin/HGR.

for me, the rat is honestly pretty good but it basically is unusable after the distortion knob passes 12o clock.
Great pedal but can't get super high gain without getting mushed and muddy and all fuzzy but i do sometimes need fuzz sounds so this does the job too

Obviously simple to use. Didn't give me the "fat" sound I've been looking for, but with a reverb pedal it gives a nice lead tone. Guess I'm looking for a bit more dirty, but through the small Marshall I have, the sustain and fuzzy distortion isn't bad.

This amp was awesome in the store and into my friends amp, but shines less on cheaper solid state amps like mine. I wouldn't recommend for 8 inch speakers. Otherwise, this pedal shreds!

Is a great sound pedal, no questions about it, amazing distortion effect, but is a nightmare to place it in a pedalboard, the enclosure make this pedal very tough to add it in a pedalboard, is not about the size, is about the enclosure and the battery screw is too big and doesn't help to align the pedal correctly

My electro hamonix soul food is a much better sounding overdrive pedal, in my opinon....
It does sound a little better with compression. But i will say it is built like a tank, and controls pots feel amazing.
As with any pedal it takes some time to dial it in. its definatly worth the time and effort.

It's not something I use much. Decent sound through a DSL100HR and my Les Paul Standard but not the sound I was expecting. Tried it on my Mesa dual rect and same thing, more drive on that head without it. Its fine for Deep Purple covers with some adjustments but pretty much just sits on the PB collecting dust. Seems a little weak to me. I prefer more drive than what this produces. I'll keep it for that once in a while need.

Running this in front of a DSL100HR and all I can say is, I should have just got a BOSS DS1 or 2. Doesn't sound good to me.

Good sound, but way too limited. There is hardly any sound shaping available. The filter knob doesn't have enough "tweaking" ability. I'm putting this pedal on my "backup" board.

A great addition and very manageable

I was disappointed. The low end seems a little thin. I'm playing through a Fender Custom Deluxe Reverb that sounds BA on it's own. The filter knob seems to do little to shape the sound which is not great considering it's the only knob that serves that purpose. It just sounds a little edgy to me. I may try to mod it. I was just hoping it would be better out of the box. I like and play all kinds of music from Gwar to Rachmaninov.

1. not so versatile, either you like how it sounds or not.
2. on its own, I didnt get what I wanted (sweet singing heavy sustain), it needs a boost pedal before it to perform the best.
3. the filer knob, to me ranges from a very bad sound at 8 o clock to another very bad sound at 5 o clock, only at mid ranges suited me.

The RAT2 has a definitive good raspy sound. However, when boosting up the distortion, I get a feedback buzz with my system and pedals. I need to talk to Mike. Getting a new pedal soon and see if that controls things a bit more evenly.

I guess I'm one of those 2% (or fewer) in this world who does not agree with the RAT (though I have nothing against rats). It wasn't the hype, I swear. Just too compressed and fizzy. I prefer an OD or a distortion with way more low end and way less carbonation up top. Thanks to Sweetwater as always for taking it back.

I just received this pedal yesterday and plugged it into my Fender Blues Deluxe. I used my Strat (single coil) through this and it gave me anything from a classic rock tone up to a real heavy overdrive (think early Def Leppard, Sorpions,etc.)
Reading the reviews before I purchased this pedal, I expected a goood tone, but it surpassed my expectations! I was "WOWED" by the power and clarity it brought to my tone! Truly satisfying!
That was just the beginning. After running my Gibson Les Paul (Standard) through this it became SURREAL! Unbelievable power and tone. The overdrive is second to none! Flat out BALLS, but maintained the integrity of the guitar's original sound. I have never been this satisfied with my tone. I will NEVER give up this pedal. If I lost it I would place a RUSH order on it immeadiately. It is built like a tank and Pro Co offers the best warranty in the business. Check out thier site (proco.com). I can't wait to run this through my Marshall 40 watt combo! I can only imagine the sonic terror it will produce!
No, I do not work or represent Pro Co in any way, shape or form - but now I am a dedicated consumer.

I tried one of these some years ago,and I´m very obsessive with my guitar tone,at that time I knew very little about gear and tone,but still to this day,nothing comes close to its monstruous sound and great harmonic definition,you can go from Blackface combo to British stack and beyond;Years later gear has come and gone,but this little pedal is the only thing remaining,I want another one already!