Pro Co You Dirty Rat Distortion Pedal

Me encanta el sonido, justo lo que buscaba, con mi telecaster suena increible.

This can get an amazingly broad array of pleasing OD, distortion, and fuzz sounds- especially with another OD before and/or after if the amp signal is clean. I can hear crazy amounts of harmonics and octave notes at different settings. Simple and powerful 3 controls. You can hear the design influence of it's predecessors- fuzz face, tone bender, and Big Muff fuzzes. Many of those sounds are in this box. It's glorious and bombastic.I grew up and learned to play guitar in the 1990's, big fan of Nirvana. I didn't know what types of pedals Kurt Cobain or other famous people used. It didn't matter, we used what we had and turned it up LOUD to get there. Didnt know any better. This RAT pedal will get you all those similar, familiar classic sounds and, more importantly, search for our own sounds with it as a tool. There are copies of this circuit design out there, and I can now absolutely recommend the original here to anyone considering a cheaper copy, or an expensively revamped boutique version. This pedal is sweet. Just played it for an hour straight. No regerts.

I bought this one to modify it came out great.

As most guitarists who play electric guitar and use effects know this is a pedal that has been around for many years. I have not played through the older original RAT so I can't compare the RAT2 to that but I find this to be a pedal that I could use and get by without anything else. I suppose I am like many players who think that the size of the pedal is clunky and won't fit on a current board, or think that it's just for hard rock or metal. The size is not an issue with me as I bought it to use with a wah on the floor and not part of my regular pedalboard; and, my intent was to use this for classic rock tunes that require a wah/distortion sound. I will use my A/B switch to go between that separate rig and my regular pedalboard. But now I have a dilemma. I play my USA Strat with Lawrence Wilde L45S humbucking pickups (single coil size) into a very good tube amp and I find this thing useable for anything from a light breakup tube-like blues tone to an all-out fuzz with sustain forever. I could use this in place of other pedals I use now.Will this replace the best overdrive, best distortion or best fuzz pedal out there? No. And that's a matter of personal taste anyway. But if you are a gigging player and don't want to take a $300 overdrive out with other expensive pedals that might go AWOL while you take your eyes off them, this pedal, or better yet, two of them, will get you all the dirt tones you need for a wide variety of musical styles. It's really a great pedal and now I feel rather silly for not having given this serious consideration long before now.I encourage anyone who tries this pedal to strum your guitar without the pedal engaged and lock that sound in your brain, and then engage the pedal. Unless you've got the pedal slammed to maximum distortion you'll hear the original guitar sound with distortion added and not a totally different tonal quality added to your original guitar sound. I've used both high end boutique pedals and pedals priced for the working musician and many just don't have that transparency. When you have this quality you can effectively use the volume and tone controls on your guitar. If you are a guitarist who likes to utilize your guitar controls you'll know what I mean. For example, a Tube Screamer is known to add a very noticeable midrange-hump to your guitar tone but if you're looking for a similar tube-like overdrive without the mid boost this will work. I know that fusion jazz guitarist John Scofield has used a RAT for a long time and I never could understand why he would use this pedal based on my previous misconception of this pedal as not useable for fusion or blues styles.If you are looking for a different type of dirt pedal and are tired of all of the Tube Screamer clones (a Tube Screamer is the standard and I'm not knocking it and have used one) try this and you might not feel like you've still got to add a second or third dirt pedal for distortion or fuzz. The build quality is excellent and the controls are smooth. It is well shielded and will hold up to stage abuse.

Review of Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: I have heard much about this pedal from the reviews and several players which have used the older/most current version. All have been extremely positive to say the least although the older version seems to have an edge up. I received it, opened it up, and immediately the quality of the build was noticeable/+. Plugged it in and……hmmmm? First two weeks I put it through its paces with a SG, LP, and Jag. Was about to return, but after much experimentation during the third week…..ok now I get it! This pedal may not be for everyone as it has a real “bite” to it and can be overdone if pushed. I play mostly “classic rock” and this definitely increases the “edge”. It is a good addition to a pedal board and for the price! As others have said…..buy it! 4.25/4.5 of 5 stars.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...it's not the same as the vintage version. Whatever. I've owned two of the originals. Great pedals and I bought into the myth that the new version just can't stand up to them. I bought this for my kid, warning him, "Sorry, but the guys on TGP say the new version just doesn't sound like the old ones." I'm here to say that's a load of bull. This pedal has all the snot and spirit of the original RAT. It has the same personality and tone. I suppose if you had them A/B'ed, you'd hear some tonal difference between the two. Not necessarily better...just "different." Listen, if you're an older musician like me who wants to relive the original, or you're a newer player like my kid who wants to sound like his punk/hard rock heroes who used this pedal, look no further. It's super affordable and sounds awesome. Let the TGP guys buy insanely-priced vintage versions and boutique copies. This will get you all the way there and you won't sound like such a cork-sniffer when you talk about your hand-wired pedal no one has ever heard of.