Pro Co Rat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Produced by Pro Co Sound, the Pro Co Rat is a classic guitar Effects pedal. The original Rat was developed in the basement of the original ProCo facility in 1978. Numerous variations of the original Rat pedal are still being produced today.
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[edit] How it works
The Pro Co Rat is a distortion pedal with a very simple circuit, based around a single op-amp the LM308. The distortion is produced using a variable gain circuit with diodes shorting the output to ground to produce hard clipping of the input waveform. This distortion stage is followed by a passive tone filter and volume control. This is exactly the same scheme as the BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal.
Note: When most people refer to a Pro Co Rat pedal, they generally mean the Rat2.
[edit] Versions of the Rat
Robert Strand's webpage lists the various Rat versions produced over the years. Versions include:
- The Rat
- Rat
- Rat2
- Vintage Rat
- Turbo Rat
- Brat
- R2DU
- Deucetone Rat
- You Dirty Rat
- Juggernaut Rat
- Solo [http://www.procosound.com/ratindexa.htm}
[edit] Popular Modifications to the Rat
The Rat is a popular pedal for modifying. Some of the possible modifications include:
- The Ruetz Rat mod which involves simply cutting one resistor to alter the tone. Gain is reduced somewhat and the bass is no longer attenuated. This can translate to thicker (fuzzier) bass response.
- The Mighter Mouse mod involves a 3-way switch to select between Rat2 (clipping via OPAMP only), Turbo Rat (clipping via LEDs), and MOSFET clipping modes. It also shows an alternative to the Ruetz Rat mod using a potentiometer to replace the resistor instead of simply cutting it.
- The original Rat pedals featured the LM308 IC which is now quite expensive. Recent Rat pedals now feature the Texas Instruments OP07DP. Other OPAMP ICs that people try include: NE5535A, LM741, TL071 FET-OP. Many install an IC socket to enable easy swapping of ICs.
- 2.1mm (BOSS style) 9vDC adapter socket mod. Because the tip on the BOSS style adapter is negative, one needs to install a plastic 2.1mm (switching) socket to avoid shorting out.
[edit] Notable Musicians who have used the Pro Co Rat
- Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
- Graham Coxon (Blur)
- Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)
- Fred Frith
- Jyrki Laiho (Circle)
- Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket)
- John Ashton (Psychedelic Furs)
- Steve Stevens (Billy Idol)
- Buzz Osborne (The Melvins, Fantômas, Venomous Concept)
- Mikey Dees (Fitz of Depression)
- Joe Perry (Aerosmith)
- Jeff Beck
- John Scofield
- Bill Frisell
- Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World)
- Davey Von Bohlen (The Promise Ring)
- Trevor Peres and Allen West (Obituary)
- Craig Chaquico (Jefferson Starship)
- Buckethead
- Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
- Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)
- Jon Buckland (Coldplay)
- David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
- Joe Boo (Virus)
- Walter Giardino (Rata Blanca)
- Peter Buck (R.E.M.)
- Jeff Golub
- Marc Ribot
- Steve Wilson (Porcupine Tree (used until 2001/2002))
- Nick Barrett (Pendragon)
- James Hetfield (Metallica)
