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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pro Co RAT2
The Pro Co "The RAT" is a distortion pedal produced by Pro Co Sound. The original
RAT was developed in the basement of Pro Co's Kalamazoo, Michigan facility in 1978.
[1] Numerous variations of the original RAT pedal are still being produced today.
The pedal has changed in appearance over the years, but its tone has remained
largely the same. Pro Co has also introduced variations of the RAT, including the
Turbo RAT and the You Dirty RAT, among others.
History
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, such as the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face. 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.[2] 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.[2] 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.
R2DU (1984-1988)
Juggernaut (original) (1979-1981)
RAT2 (1988–present)
Turbo RAT (1989–present)
Vintage RAT Reissue (1991-2005)
BRAT / Roadkill (1997-2001)
Deucetone RAT (2002–present)
Juggernaut (reissue) (2003–present)
25th Silver Anniversary RAT (2003)
You Dirty RAT (2004–present)
SOLO (2006–present)
'85 Whiteface RAT Reissue (2010)
Circuitry
The Pro Co "The RAT" is a distortion pedal with a quite simple circuit, which can
be broken down into four simpler blocks: distortion stage, tone control, output
stage and power supply.[2]
The design is based around a single opamp, originally the Motorola LM308 (switched
to Texas Instruments OP07DP around 2002-2003). The distortion is produced using a
variable gain circuit with diodes shorting the output to ground at a certain
voltage level to produce hard clipping of the input waveform. Originally, 1N914
diodes were used, which were later replaced with 1N4148 since RAT2. The 'Turbo RAT'
pedal uses red LEDs 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
germanium diodes (clipping at a lower forward voltage).[2][3] The distortion stage
is followed by a passive 'reverse' tone filter and volume control.
The general design is very similar to the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal. A major
difference is the opamp used (the LM308). Known for its poor slew rate, it largely
accounts for the sonic difference between the two pedals.[citation needed]