What year were the "really old" proCo rats made? I have one that I bought in the early 90's that I rather like.

I bought one in the 2ks I like fine...but, not long after, they reissued it with the "original electronics"...I don't have any idea when the good ones were made.

My Rat is a Small box one from the mid 80's. It absolutely rules for power chords and bluesy leads (think Thin Lizzy). It can do a great Randy Rhoads Crazy Train, too, but I don't get a request for that too much here in Twangville.

(Popmann, I don't have to pay you for that do I?}

More info on Rat pedals here:
http://www.ratdistortion.com/history.htm

Thanks!

Mines, the Vintage Rat I guess.

I know what you mean about the small one. My bro-in-law had one in the 80's and straight into his 50w marshall sounded fantastic.

i bought my proco rat in 1982..
after i heard that j. beck was using one...

i had that pedal for about 2 years, but tired of it.

a little too solid state-y for my tastes...

how many nashville players are going for that kind of sound?

Well, I'm no gunslinger, but likely everything you've heard out of me is the RAT. It was my only dirt pedal for a long time.

I think it's actually better at the slight grind I like than the more typical "metal" thing. It does sound really weird when you get it going up over half way. I never had it above maybe 10 o'clock-max. I always wondered what the rest of that throw was for.

...it will likely be sold soon, though. I'm just pleased as punch with my Barber...and really do like to keep as little on the floor as need be.

I bought one from Donelson music just a few miles down the road in 1988 or 89. I paid around $80 for it, and I sold it for that last year. I hooked it up and to my son's guitar and thought it sounded pretty darn good. I almost didn't sell it...then realized what the heck am I doing with this when I am a banjo player??
The paperwork came with some very cool cartoon rat illustrations.

I LOVE MY RAT!

Mine's one of the early 90's big box reissues (with the glow in the dark lines on the knobs)...I LOVE the tone of that box for bass...I need to find a way to incorporate a blend control into it somehow so I can use it live and not worry so much about losing all my bottom end when I kick it in.

Otherwise...LOVE the grit character of that box.

Totally like nothing else.

quote:

I need to find a way to incorporate a blend control into it somehow so I can use it live and not worry so much about losing all my bottom end when I kick it in.

Have you tried it in parallel. Using a two channel amp with at least two inputs on one of the channels you run your guit-fiddle into one input of channel A, using the other input run a cable out to the input of your Rat, take the output of your Rat to channel B. Use Channel B's volume to blend to taste. I hope that makes sense.

As I mentioned in the other thread, that outdoor festival gig was this last weekend...it went OK...my sound out the FOH was pretty nice based on the video we recorded...I ended up going into the JD-10 --> Keeley Comp --> Voodoo Sparkle Drive --> MXR Micro amp --> Bravo... I sent the effects send from the Bravo into Fulltone Tremelo --> Boss Volume Pedal --> Digitech Digital Delay stereo...the stereo from the delay fed back into the Bravo effects return with the other side going into the Fender Twin that was on-site from the backline company...

The blend of the bright Twin combined with the warmer Bravo really kicked ass. Travis Tritts gunslinger said that he feels the trick is to run two amps with one being a bit dirtier than the other...so I guess I was onto something without realizing it. The sun was so bright, however, that I couldn't see if my pedals were on or off. I had to rely on my ears, which sucked bad...

quote:

Originally posted by bluzdog:

quote:

I need to find a way to incorporate a blend control into it somehow so I can use it live and not worry so much about losing all my bottom end when I kick it in.

Have you tried it in parallel. Using a two channel amp with at least two inputs on one of the channels you run your guit-fiddle into one input of channel A, using the other input run a cable out to the input of your Rat, take the output of your Rat to channel B. Use Channel B's volume to blend to taste. I hope that makes sense.

I'd love to, but my bass amp has but one input. Hence my troubles.

quote:

I need to find a way to incorporate a blend control into it somehow so I can use it live and not worry so much about losing all my bottom end when I kick it in.

I used to add a separate DI line for Fuzz Bass.
I also sometimes used a little mixer (Fishman blender box) to keep it on one channel.

When I had the space, I used two amps and put a volume pedal on the Fuzz Amp so I could fade it in and out.

I was playing an old Gibson EB-0 into an SVT (clean) and a Big Muff into a Volume Pedal into an AC30. Sounded KILLER

jmp