Description
A history of the famous RAT pedals
The origins of the Pro Co “The RAT” can be traced back to the mid-1970s, when Pro Co engineers Scott Burnham and Steve Kiraly repaired and hot-rodded existing distortion pedals. Burnham decided he could build a superior product from the ground up and designed “The RAT” pedal.
In 1978, The RAT” was being built as a custom-order product. Only twelve of these pedals (including one prototype), commonly referred to as the “Bud Box” RAT, were produced. Each pedal was built in a standard project box, hand painted, and hand drilled. In 1979, Pro Co began mass-producing them. This iteration was built in a custom designed, rectangular sheet-metal enclosure, with an L shaped removable top/back section giving access to the internals. The top panel was labeled with Pro Co Sound “The RAT” and the three control knobs as Distortion, Tone and Volume.
In 1983, Pro Co switched to a smaller, U-shaped enclosure. Finally, in 1988, the RAT2 was introduced, which included an on/off LED. Various RAT2 circuit board layouts and wiring configurations have surfaced in the last few years, including the noted “RAT3 version A and B” all under the RAT2 moniker. The RAT2 model is still available today, but in 2008 production moved to China and is now manufactured by Neutrik for Pro Co Sound.
The distortion is produced using a with shorting the output to ground at a certain voltage level to produce hard of the input waveform. Originally, diodes were used, which were later replaced with since RAT2. The ‘Turbo RAT’ pedal uses red for this purpose (red LEDs have about a twice as high forward voltage as the original silicon diodes), while the ‘You Dirty RAT’ pedal uses 1N34A diodes (clipping at a lower forward voltage). The distortion stage is followed by a passive ‘reverse’ tone filter and volume control.
SMALL BOX RAT
The switch to the “Small Box” RAT was essentially just a cosmetic makeover. While the circuit remained the same, the enclosure evolved into a more compact version, with a 12-gauge U-shaped base. The Pro Co logo sat next to the RAT logo on the pedal top, silk-screened in black inside of a white box. In 1986, the logo was reversed to white on the black, painted metal.
RAT 2
The RAT 2 signaled the next generation of RAT pedals. While the enclosure remained the same, the silk-screened logo gave way to a Lexan/Mylar overlay with glow-in-the-dark graphics. A red on/off LED was also added. In 2003, Pro Co converted the RAT 2 to a sloped enclosure, which had been used on the Turbo RAT since its introduction.
