ProCo Rat - any good?

AlexC

Thinking of getting a Rat 2. I know these are highly regarded pedals used by lots of established/famous players and I've watched a ton of reviews but what do you guys think? Indispensable part of your pedal board or just a 'name' that looks cool? Any major pluses or drawbacks? Cheers.

bingefeller

You should consider the Mooer Black Secret before spending a lot of money on the actual Rat 2.  They are supposed to sound pretty much the same.  

AlexC

bingefeller said:

You should consider the Mooer Black Secret before spending a lot of money on the actual Rat 2.  They are supposed to sound pretty much the same.  

I'll check it out. Thanks.

LaCathedrale_UK

I had a Dirty Rat way back and thought it was the bees knees through my Blackstar HT-5 - now I'm playing through a Marshall-alike I was thinking of the Catalinbread Katzenkoenig to give it that early-thrash sound. I'd never heard of the Black Secret though - maybe that's a good shout.

EDIT: having said that, the Rat 2 is £78 new and the Mooer Black Secret is £50 - not exactly the same saving as a Klone, but I did just nab one off Amazon to have a play! 

the_pman28

bingefeller said:

You should consider the Mooer Black Secret before spending a lot of money on the actual Rat 2.  They are supposed to sound pretty much the same.  

£45 vs £63

A saving, for sure, but not like the Rat is extortionate and I'd rather have the real deal than a knock-off but that's just me! 

UnclePsychosis

The RAT is an absolute classic for a reason. 

Worth pointing out that they're hardly expensive either - £65 brand new. Personally I'd rather have the real deal than the Mooer which is £45 brand new and nowhere near as solidly built. 

AlexC

Any stompbox under £100 is a bargain in my book!
Might be worth pointing out that I'm more of a classic rock, blues, alt rock kind of player than metal - so I'm not after bass heavy mega distortion.

stickyfiddle

For me the Rat is basically the sound of half of all good music made in the 90's. Absolutely essential to try - you'll either love it or hate it.

ICBM

I used to love them, but eventually I began to realise that everything sounds the same with one - even though you can get a wide variety of sounds from chunky overdrive through to aggressive fuzz, it always stamps too much of its own sound on everything, and I eventually found it tiring.

Be aware that some current Rats seem to have reverse-taper pots - these are shit, they give completely the wrong range to the controls, with all the useful settings in a narrow band at one end.

Recent ones also have an inferior bypass scheme using a 3PDT rather than the better DPDT 'Millenium' (which should be called ProCo, since as far as I know they were the first to use it) bypass on the older ones.

The chip was also changed at around the time the bypass was, although contrary to popular belief it seems to make little or no difference to the sound.

All in all, if you can find an older US-made one with full-size pots, DPDT switch and LM308N chip - all of which are visible if you open the battery door - buy that.

clarkefan

No.

pintspiller

A mate had one. So much better than my Fuzzface

Hoof

Brilliant pedals. I have 2, and while they both have the LM308 chip, they sound a bit different. The older one is a bit softer and fuzzier while the newer one is a bit brighter and more urgent. Both great, and while I keep buying new dirt pedals these always seem to find their way back onto my pedalboard.

Sassafras

I've got an old big box one and for some reason it sounds great on slide.
Doesn't sound like the new ones though. I had a new one and didn't like it at all.

roberty

As @ICBM says it's very distinct. It's quite brash so I find it works well in energetic music, but not really in other situations

Edit: I have three including a deucetone if that's any kind of testimonial

LaCathedrale_UK

Trip report on the Black Secret inbound shortly! 

timmysoft

The Rat isn't for everyone, personally I love them! 

The Mooer is ok at low volumes but at band volumes it's nowhere near the current Rat2

DesVegas

Rat

VJIves

The Fuzzrocious Rat/Cat Tails tend to go for around £100 (or less) used, and for a little extra money you're getting a lot of extra versatility. 

JCA2550

Great one sound pedal that cleans up nicely with guitar volume rolled back. The Mooer and similar clones do pretty much the same thing but take up about a quarter of the space though.

MattBanshee

I actually really like the Mooer as it has the clipping switch that lets you choose between different diode sets.

Fantastic distortion sounds from a RAT, you won't be disappointed.

Cirrus

timmysoft said:

The Rat isn't for everyone, personally I love them! 

The Mooer is ok at low volumes but at band volumes it's nowhere near the current Rat2

Agreed, it's more tubby sounding in the low mids