Loading... Please wait...
FREE SHIPPING ALL US ORDERS OVER $99

Pro Co Rat Distortion Guitar Pedal - Part 1

Posted by

Pro Co Rat Distortion Guitar Pedal - Part 1 - There has always been a legend that the Rat pedal was invented by mistake by Pro Co engineers Scott Burnham and Steve Kiraly. I have read that one of them put the wrong resistor in the feedback loop of the  LM308 op-amp which technically should have made the chip explode. Luckly this didn't happen but it did give the pedal a ton of gain that we know and love. As well as help define the 1970s and 80s hard rock sound. A honky mid-range gain pedal like the Rat was a huge tone machine back then, we are talking a time when Fuzz pedals, and MXR Distortion, Ibanez 808, and Muff ruled the day. This was a bit different this was fat like a HEAVILY overdriven amp ! Not fuzzy, not mild, BOOM in your face. Great for chords and leads all at once.

Pro produced only 12 of the original Bud Box crude rat pedals in 1978 but they knew they where on to something. In 1978 they released the Big Box Rat pedal which was pretty much the same till 1984. Early one's say tone in the middle, later one's say filter but there the same tone sculpting knob. These pedals just kicked ass, I got one for my 16th birthday from my grandmother which I still have today. You could plug into a Fender Twin and you actually had a early version of channel switching going on. Clean and Crunch BOOM ! The pedal has evolved over time a bit but will get to that in part 2. 

RAT ON !