That's a Vintage Rat Reissue (not an original). They were made from 1991 until about 2004. Rat serial numbers aren't coded in any way, but I've seen much lower serial numbers on the Vintage Rat Reissues that were made at the end of their production run. If you post a pic of the guts, I can pin it down for you. In particular, the op-amp and the codes on the pots (if there are any) are useful. Meh, thanks but I aint that concerned about it. It's been sitting on a shelf for a decade doing nothing.

Another decade won't hurt. We will still mod Rats with serial numbers under 300,000 (pre-early 2008) for $65. If your Rat's serial is over 300,000, we'll mod it, but we have to charge $99 because of the extra work these units require.

Mar 14, 2010. I haven't tried the CHinese ones, but from personalm experience I find there's preciously little difference between the sound of my '89 one and early 2000s ones, even with the different chips. I think it's any pedal with a serial number greater than 3,000,000 is made in China. Robert Keeley refuses to mod the. RAT2 Pedal NEW! Ships FREE to USA! Our units ship w/ 2.1mm Power-in Barrel Jack. $65.00; Buy It Now; Free Shipping. 93 watching; ; 172 sold. View Details. Each new RAT2 has a factory serial number for your protection! Classic RAT tone. The standard that all other distortion devices are measured against.

He's referring specifically to Chinese made RAT-2s since production moved from USA to China well before 2008. Rat serial numbers are not recorded and are only vaguely sequential. But based on what I've seen, a serial number in the 80,000 to 100,000 range dates back to around 1988 - the period when the RAT-2 was released and the original Rat (small-box, black-face) was discontinued (there was an overlap). That's what I would call old, but YMMV.

Mellow to mindblowing distortion with true bypass and much more! The Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal is different from any you've ever heard, with sounds ranging from a mellow twin to a raging English stack. Bluetooth Usb Driver For Windows 7. Its smooth distortion puts extra punch in rhythm work and makes solos cut through with authority and power.

The Rat2 has glow-in-the-dark luminescent control graphics and new LED status indicator for easy use on dark stages. Steel enclosure has a 'no tools' battery compartment. True bypass mode utilizes passive switching of both input and output to eliminate the loss of power and clarity caused by other devices. My Old Friend Maybe I can help out on the old Rat versus the new Rat argument.

I had a Rat back in the 80's, and I loved it. Somehow through the ever-shifting. Maybe I can help out on the old Rat versus the new Rat argument. I had a Rat back in the 80's, and I loved it.

Somehow through the ever-shifting, unpredictable and treacherous sands of time (read that 'STUPIDITY'), I lost it. Over the ensuing years, I played various other boost / overdirve / distortion pedals including the excellent Chandler Industries Real Tube Driver, Exotic Effect's BB boost (Phenomenal pedal by the way), Tube Screamer, and Boss Super Overdirve to name a few. All were great in their own way. A few months ago, I was in a pawn shop, and spotted a new model Rat under the glass. On a nostalgic whim, i picked it up and brought it to band practice that night. The other guitar player was excited when he saw what I had, and told a few 'back in the day' stories when he used to play one too. I set it on my pedal board, hooked it up, and with one strum it all came back to me!

I thought, 'THERE YOU ARE - my old friend!' It was instantly recognizable, and I was delighted to hear that familiar character - still there in all it's 80's era glory! Fantastic warmth, incredible string-to-string separation, abundant harmonic content, I could go on and on. I am here to tell you, the new Rat puts just as big a smile on my face as the old one did.

I just wonder why it took me so long to come back to one. The Rat has not left my pedal board ever since, and it's going to stay there. I still use the BB. It is the best clean boost that i have ever played. Between the two, I have all the bases covered with no need to worry any more. Don't waste your money! I am very curious as to why this thing has such great reviews.

I guess if the only distortion you have used is a ds-1 or some distortion that came from an amp. I am very curious as to why this thing has such great reviews. I guess if the only distortion you have used is a ds-1 or some distortion that came from an amp modeler then this thing sounds better. I decided to give this new Chinese made Rat a head-to-head test with an older Rat I have from the early 90s (1991 I think). There was no shock at all in which the winner was.

The new Rat has a very harsh and ugly sound that is not musical at all. I tried pairing with some other distortion pedals I had including an old Big Muff Pi, a Marshall Guv-nor, Metal-Zone, and and even a BK Butler Tube Driver. None of which helped this little sucker out.I would suggest seaching out one of the older Rats that were made in Michigan. They can be ungodly rude sounding, but with an amazing cruch and musical quality not found in most modern distortions.

Props to ProCo for making one of the best sounding distortions ever made. Unfortunately, their pedal-making turned sour when they decided to have their stuff made in China. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: Maybe I can help out on the old Rat versus the new Rat argument. I had a Rat back in the 80's, and I loved it. Somehow through the ever-shifting, unpredictable and treacherous sands of time (read that 'STUPIDITY'), I lost it. Over the ensuing years, I played various other boost / overdirve / distortion pedals including the excellent Chandler Industries Real Tube Driver, Exotic Effect's BB boost (Phenomenal pedal by the way), Tube Screamer, and Boss Super Overdirve to name a few. All were great in their own way.

A few months ago, I was in a pawn shop, and spotted a new model Rat under the glass. On a nostalgic whim, i picked it up and brought it to band practice that night. The other guitar player was excited when he saw what I had, and told a few 'back in the day' stories when he used to play one too. I set it on my pedal board, hooked it up, and with one strum it all came back to me! I thought, 'THERE YOU ARE - my old friend!' It was instantly recognizable, and I was delighted to hear that familiar character - still there in all it's 80's era glory!

Fantastic warmth, incredible string-to-string separation, abundant harmonic content, I could go on and on. I am here to tell you, the new Rat puts just as big a smile on my face as the old one did.

I just wonder why it took me so long to come back to one. The Rat has not left my pedal board ever since, and it's going to stay there. I still use the BB. It is the best clean boost that i have ever played.

Between the two, I have all the bases covered with no need to worry any more. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: Pedals with the serial number post 300000 will apparently be of lesser quality because of the lack of a certain chip the gave the Rat it's creaminess. I have one of 'lesser' quality but I run it through a Fender fm212 with a MIM strat (stock pups) and I think it sounds amazing. It puts the amp's overdrive to shame of course and it makes my sounds much stronger and heavier. I feel like I'm wielding a weapon when the Rat is on.

This is my first distortion pedal and I will never get rid of it. I may get a TS9 to supplement but Im very happy with this purchase and I love the sound. Simple 3 knobs.

The first controls the distortion which maxes at 12 o'clock and when turned higher it adds fuzz from some nice low end. The Filter lets in the high frequencies at 0 or it turned all the way counter clockwise and you can roll them off as you turn it up or clockwise. The volume knob is self explanatory. All three knobs turn with precision and the entire build is high quality. The button is solid. You can smash skulls with this pedal then melt faces as you plug it in and it still works perfectly. Not a bad price for this distinct sound at all.

This is my first distortion pedal and I love it. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: The Rat II is a familiar effect, but works and sounds a bit different than other standard rock distortions with it's Filter control and cross-pollination of distortion and fuzz. It's capable of covering a lot of ground. David Gilmour, Sonic Youth, jazzer John Scofield, the Foo Fighters and Blur are just a couple of famous names that have used this pedal to conjure a wide variety of tones, from freaked out to smooth and soaring.

If you're loking for something that bridges the ground between a Boss Ds-1 and a Big Muff, this is it. There is a lot of hype surrounding the older style Proco Rat IIs, but this newer version holds it's own with the old Rat II model that I remember (everyone had one). The Filter and Distortion enable you to really straddle the line between fat Big Muff-style distortion tones and buzzier aggressive-style fuzz. When pumped through a good tube amp running with just a little hint of grit, it sounds awesome. There are a lot of different distortion tones on tap here but it's very easy to zero in on what you want once you get acquianted with how the Filter and Distortion control work together. It won't do traditional overdrive sounds, but that's not what it's supposed to do. On lower Distortion settings, you get a lo-fi, 'boombox speaker' type of texture that is a lot of fun to play with.

Exchange Rates International Finance Copeland Pdf Viewer. The Filter control is pretty powerful. I find it useful as a method of 'tuning' the pedal to your particular setup. It can keep your basic tone pretty much intact, or you can fatten or thin it as desired. It's basically a standard tone control on steroids. The Rat II feels extremely solid.

The interior parts are well-protected by a very robust steel enclosure. The battery door, pots and jacks all feel sturdy though some have criticized that they are not as good as the ones used back in the day. I can't really tell the difference and chalk it up to the hype the earlier models receive on the Internet. It's price tag isn't bad at all for what you get though. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: I am an electric violinist. There are very few of us out here in the music world so I find it important for me to share any knowledge I can with the community. I had previously used a boss ds1 for my distortion pedal.

The rat has a warmer tone and if you push it, a fuller distortion than the boss ds1. I have come to like this pedal a lot for my electric violin (yahmaha sv-120) because anything that can warm up the higher piercing frequencies will help a lot. But of course with distortion pedals, it's all about your sound and your personal taste. This pedal is working for me with my current setup and the current sound of my band. Therefore I like it a lot.

Sturdy, ergonomic, great sounding pedal. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: I purchased this pedal looking for a White Stripes to Smashing Pumpkins style crunch, vroom, woosh, hiss, and so on. I played along side other pedals like OCD and ZVex but I found this pedal to have the non-metal thunder I was looking for.

However, when playing it through my Roland JC-120 or Fender Champ 600, I realized that I could max the volume and lower the gain on the pedal for overdrive. As a matter of fact, the pedal is dynamic enough that I can still get pure clean tones with it through the Jazz Chorus amp by controlling my attack.

The amount of things this pedal can do with three knobs and $ dollars is just ridiculous and although I will purchase an original when the opportunity presents itself, the ignorant complaints of boutique cork sniffers shouldn't turn you off to purchasing this pedal. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: As far as negative reviews for this pedal go, you're going to see, in general, two complaints. Some people are going to tell you that it just doesn't hold it's own against the vintage rats, or even the older RAT 2's that were made in the U.S., and others are going to tell you that the RAT just isn't a good pedal. The first complaint is. Somewhat exaggerated, but still completely valid. The newest RAT 2's don't have the same smoothness as the old ones, and none of them will get you the same creamy sound that a vintage RAT will get you.

However, that doesn't make the RAT 2 a bad distortion pedal. In fact, it's still a wonderful pedal and an even better value. You'll still get a very powerful, versatile, smooth distortion from it that is relatively controlled sounding while still managing to sound warm in comparison to a lot of other pedals in this price range. If that's not enough for you, you can even get your pedal modded by Robert Keely to get a tone that's even closer to the original RAT, but be forewarned, on newer RAT 2's this will cost about as much as the pedal did.

The other reviews. And I don't mean to sound cocky at all when I say this, mainly come from people who don't know how to use the pedal effectively.

Let's be clear, the RAT 2 is a VERY powerful pedal with a LOT of gain. The result is that it's very SENSITIVE. Take it down to zero and then barely nudge it up and you already have something akin to a boost. Because of this the 'Distortion' sound will cap out at around 12 o'clock and from there on out will become fuzzier. This doesn't mean it's a bad pedal, it just means that it dials up in gain very quickly and by 12 o'clock your already hitting a sound that a lot of other pedals would get at their max. This actually makes the pedal very versatile. While it's still no complete replacement for a true fuzz box or overdrive pedal due to the fact that any sound you get out of it will have that 'distortion' color to it, you can easily pull sounds that would do in a pinch, or even in general, if you're looking for a fuzzier or blusier sound.

The trick with this pedal is patience and hard work. Sit down with it in store, take everything to zero, and spend a lot of time barely nudging the settings, mixing them very precisely.

Your sweet tone is in there, it's just probably not anywhere near where you'd expect it to be. People looking for a bit more body might want to try putting a TS9 or TS-808 in front of it with the drive cranked just slightly to use as a boost.

Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: This dirtbox is definitely something you should pick up. Gives you a unique sound that's great for rock, grunge, punk and many other kinds of music. Pretty basic controls on this pedal. There are simply 3 knobs on it (distortion, filter, and volume). When you have the distortion knob at about 8 o'clock it works as a slight crunch, but when you crank this baby up to around 3 o'clock you get some gritty grunge sounds. Another cool feature is that the red LED on the A in 'RAT' lights up when the pedal is engaged. Built like a tank, should last years and years.

Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: I finally got one of these pedals after years of shunning distortion pedals and so far I'm pretty satisfied with it. For the longest time I've only used amp distortion for live performances in my original products but now that I'm in a covers project I'm playing around with some other options. The features on the pedal are really good. True bypass with simple controls are always a plus.

Only thing I would say against it is that they should really mention that you need a 1/8' adapter to use an external power supply with it (luckly I already have one for my TS 808). The sound of these things is great too.nice warm and full tone.

To my ear it's almost like it picks up where a tube screamer leaves off with just as much versatility in the dynamic responses. The comparative tone between the two of them is different but not so different they don't belong in the same pedal board.

It cleans up well like a good TS when you role back the volume but it can also do the hard clipped chunky rock rhythm stuff or liquid, singing lead sound the more distortion you use. It's great to have in addition to my overdrive pedal(TS808 or Full Drive 2) when I need to go from Chili Peppers to Alice in Chains. The only other cons are that 1)It might not sound good with all amps and 2)You need to turn up to get the best sound. I tried it out with my 40 watt Egnater and my 6 watt VHT combo. The Egnater sounded good enough at bedroom level but definitely prefers to be pushed.

The VHT, which is an awesome sounding class A combo by itself, sounded like garbage with the Rat. This amp doesn't seem to like distortion/OD pedals in general though so I'm not sure what to make of that. In any case I'm pretty confident the pedal will work well in my live set up.

For this type of pedal there doesn't seem to be anything better out there at this price range. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: Truth be told, no it's not a old school Rat. But it is a Rat '2'.

Newer tones for a new generation I suppose. It's definitely got a more biting, aggressive, even harsher sound to it.But here's what I really like about it. The controls are very functional to start. The distortion and volume controls are very balanced so it doesn't get too loud. It responds very well when you bring down the volume to clean it up and works well pushing a tube amp (as always pickup selection is key).In short, it's not the laied back vintage sounding pedal it was years ago.

It's a modern sounding version with all the control and handling you'd need. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: I have been playing over 30 years & have had many pedals. Only a few are memorable - The Rat is one of them.

This product I have bought twice & I have been wanting a new Rat for a long time.If you ever have this pedal and it goes missing as mine did. Its one you will think of It every time you go looking for that perfect note.

This pedal offers great control and exciting results with minimal effort (3 knobs!). I hope to try more ProCo products. To my ears, it offers a bit of fuzz along with expected distortion sounds. Solos will sing and sing. I like that the knobs turn with some resistance & don't just fly when turned. The filter control is a sort of magic ingredient, and the pedal seems to have a nice amount of compression built in.

It has very good pick & attack response, and it cleans up when rolling volume down. Its hard to describe, but its the only product like it, and it is a great value. I am really happy I have my new Rat2 pedal! This a great pedal.

I had a late 80's rat and it was always magic. This new one is as good. The tone is easy to dial in.

Its built with steel - very durable! Everything about it feels solid and well made. Being my 2nd Rat in over 20 years. I am pleased with the great value ProCo and Musicians Friend have given me. From my view I scooped up a great deal.

Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: I can't say enough great things about this pedal. It is as good as I thought it would be, and I was expecting a lot. It makes your guitar strings actually feel like their coated in electricity and gives each string and each note definition and character. I think the coolest thing ever, although certainly not the most important, is that it glows in the dark. Other than that it's got everything you need and nothing you don't. Could use a normal input for the power cord rather than the 3.5 pin style of power adapter, but that's it's only drawback really. This thing seems to be made of cast iron.

It's surprisingly heavy and seems very sturdy and well-built, the quality of the sound is awesome, it's absolutely electric distortion, your strings come alive with this pedal, and it works with your tube amp for great tone. Think of the opening chord in Radiohead's Electioneering, that's RAT distortion. Absolutely love the versatility of this thing. Whereas the Boss DS-1 is a portable generator, this thing's a nuclear power plant. This price for the world's best distortion pedal, yeah I'd say that's a pretty good bargain.

Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: You really get to enjoy the sound quality coming out of this black box. Very versatile, going from a bassy crunch to a noisy fuzz. I was getting the best from this, until the electronics failed.

It seems to not have enough room inside for the 9V battery without getting some cable twisted or summat. Well, now I'm making the warranty thing work, so I'll get a new one soon, and I bet it won't break. I'd rather get an earlier USA version (not chinese) and I haven't tested A LOT of pedals, but I'm sure you wouldn't be dissapointed after buying one of these. Comments about Pro Co RAT2 Distortion Pedal: I've been playing for over 30 years, and I take my tone very seriously.

When I was young, playing in high school bands, it was a '79 LP Custom into an '81 big-box Rat into my '79 Marshall JMP halfstack. (full on Blow By Blow tone!)When my big-box was ripped off in about '85, I bought the small box Rat, which is still on my pedalboard today. Yah, I have a few TS-9s (vintage and newer), a Maxon OD808, a TS808, a Fulldrive II, an OCD, DS-1s, an Ibanez Tone King, a Zoom Driver 5000, a Boss OS-1, a BK Butler Tube Driver, a Radial Tone Bone, a Big Muff, a Fuzz Face, some custom distortions, the list goes on, and they all serve their purpose.

The Rat is the only I could desribe as a 'Marshall-in-a-box'. Also, I've had a number of Rats. I still own the '85, an '86, a newer vintage big-box, a Rat II, and a Roadkill Rat. YES, the older ones sound a little more creamy, that's why you usually have to pay over $200 bucks for one now.

The Rat II is close, but not quite as sweet. It has the desirable chip (LM308, I believe), which is a MUST in my opinion.(Even the Roadkill has 'the' chip. Its built cheaper and isn't true bypass, but still sounds 'creamy'.)The newer vintage RI big box sounds OK, but its much more 'choppy', probably very similar to the one for sale here. If you KNOW HOW TO USE IT and what to expect from it, there is nothing else that comes close. DON'T EVEN BOTHER if you don't have a decent TUBE amp and are willing to take the time to dial it in. The filter is the key. Also, learning how much distortion to dial in.

John Scofield (awesome!) uses his with the distortion almost all the way down (8-9 o'clock)as kind of a raunchy clean boost. The sad thing is, if the new ones are made in China, and don't contain the coveted 'chip', I'd either fork over the bucks for the new '85 White Face Rat, or buy an older USA model used.

The OP89 (or whatever) chip DOES NOT have the tone of the older units. Bottom line is, you NEED a Rat, just not this one.