Not For Sale
Model Description:
ProCo Sound Inc. was started up by Charlie Wicks in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA in 1974 to make professional audio equipment. It’s black, it’s bullet‑proof and is great at getting down and dirty. ProCo Sound Inc. set the proverbial rat amongst the pigeons when they unveiled their first RAT distortion pedal in 1978. The RAT’s circuit was designed by ProCo engineer Scott Burnham. The first proper production ‘big box’ RATs arrived in 1979 and lasted until 1983. The familiar ‘small box’ RAT followed in 1984 sporting the same circuit as its predecessor. The ‘small box’ pedals are identifiable by the silk‑screen ‘white face’ (black logo on white) followed from 1986 with the ‘black face’ (white logo on black) versions. These vintage original, much sought after ‘small box’ RATs are now pretty rare and are shooting up in price on the used market.
Pedal Description:
This particular vintage pedal is one of the last 3-C ‘no brackets’ version of the ‘black face’ RATs that were introduced in 1986. The ‘no brackets’ refers to white line boxes around the control labels that defined the 3-B version. The next version 4-A RAT 2 was introduced in 1988. For those that inhabit the ‘Nerd Zone’, these classic pedals used the legendary Motorola LM308N integrated circuit (IC) that reputedly contributes to the RAT’s distinctive edge. And what an edge it has! Solidly constructed, the RAT is heavy and sturdy as a proverbial tank to last under stage use. Fortunately, this one has only seen light duty, with only a few scuffs during its life. The effect covers a wide range of tones from mild overdrive, through raspy crunchy distortion to wild fuzzy mayhem. It lives up to its enviable reputation by responding dynamically to touch and guitar volume in a way that others simply can’t match. They are also very, very cool.
Features:
- Made by ProCo Sound Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A. in 1988
- The ‘Distortion’ knob controls the amount of gain
- The ‘Filter’ knob controls the tone by rolling off treble EQ
- The ‘Volume’ knob controls the output level
- 12-gauge u‑shaped enclosure construction
- Standard footswitch turns the effect on and off (true bypass)
- Standard ¼” input and output mono jack sockets
- Powered by external DC power supply or by 9V battery
- Easy access battery compartment with thumbscrew on base of the pedal
- ‘Small box’ ‘black face’ white‑on‑black ‘ProCo RAT’ logo (1988)
- No LED indicator
- ‘The RAT Made in U.S.A.’ sticker with serial number on the base of the pedal
- ‘Woodcutter’ label over the pots
- No box or instruction manual
Artists:
- Jeff Beck
- Matt Bellamy (Muse)
- Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme)
- Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
- Graham Coxon (Blur)
- Robert Fripp
- Bill Frisell
- David Gilmour
- Joe Perry (Aerosmith)
- John Scofield
- Sonny Sharrock
- Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine)
Trivia:
The Rat’s feral name was apparently down to the environment in which the pedal was designed; a rat infested basement.
The RAT’s unique sound was, as the story goes, the result of an accident. Scott Burnham mistakenly installed a 47k resistor into the op-amp gain section, when it should have been a 470k resistor. The error caused the circuit’s op-amp to overload before the diodes that were intended to produce distortion. Distorting an already distorted signal was unique at the time.
Detail Gallery:
