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RAT Style Distortion Pedals

Invented by ProCo in 1978, the RAT is one of the world’s most iconic distortion pedals. Its hard-clipping circuit offers everything from crunchy overdrive to thick fuzz. This sound has been replicated numerous times. You’ll find many of them here!

RAT Style Distortion Pedals

In the late ‘70s, Scott Burnham was working out of the rat-infested basement of ProCo’s facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan (home of Gibson), tinkering with circuits to get the perfect guitar distortion tone. During the 70s, many brands were building their own distortion circuits, such as the Boss DS-1, MXR Distortion Plus, and Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
Burnham was looking for a bigger, and more aggressive sound than anything that came before. But struggled to find the formula, until he accidentally wired the wrong resistor to the circuit board, and the RAT was born. In the following years, it became the sound of underground music – from metal to grunge, everyone was using a RAT: Metallica, R.E.M, Aerosmith, Nirvana. 
Its popularity grew from the combination of incredible distortion and sustain without totally losing clarity – unlike previous circuits such as the Fuzz Face and the Big Muff. The RAT got its sound from the hard-clipping op-amp, producing a very aggressive distortion.
ProCo still make a reissue RAT, while many any pedal brands have produced their own versions, such as JHS, Jam Pedals, Walrus Audio and Mooer.