New ProCo Rat vs. old: what's the difference?

  • Thread starter Thread starter diggy_dude
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Greg_L said:
I'm not reading any of this thread, so I'll just ask.....what's considered an old ProCo Rat?
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That old beat-up Rat pedal with missing knobs and duct tape over the battery compartment that your granddaddy used to have. Oh hell, son, you got to know what we mean!
 
diggy_dude said:
That old beat-up Rat pedal with missing knobs and duct tape over the battery compartment that your granddaddy used to have. Oh hell, son, you got to know what we mean!
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I have one from the early 90's. Is that considered "old"?
 
It's oldish. What's the serial number? People say the pre-300,000 ones are the vintage ones.
 
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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.
 
GGBB said:
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.
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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.
 
diggy_dude said:
People say the pre-300,000 ones are the vintage ones.
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Pre-300,000 just means not yet poorly made. It's used by Robert Keeley amongst others as a way of quickly determining the approximate age of the new Chinese RAT-2s. According to his website:

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.
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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.
 
My Rat was made in the USA by illegal chinese midget children using mexican parts that were manufactured in somalia before the country went to hell.
 
Greg_L said:
My Rat was made in the USA by illegal chinese midget children using mexican parts that were manufactured in somalia before the country went to hell.
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Definitely one of the good ones.
 
The original Rat pedal consisted of an actual rat inside of a metal enclosure. When the foot switch was engaged the rat was jolted with high voltage which caused it to squeal and screech producing that famous signature Rat tone. Since modern components are much cheaper to produce than live rats, the pedal was eventually redesigned. Although cheap components have replaced live rats, the new versions of the pedal still retain that famous tortured rodent tone which is so highly sought after by today's young guitarists.
 
The fact that somebody charges $65 to mod a pedal with less than $10 of components inside just proves that I'm an idiot for not getting in that line of business :( How about a mod to get rid of the hilariously stupid 25K max output impedance? :rolleyes:
 
mshilarious said:
The fact that somebody charges $65 to mod a pedal with less than $10 of components inside just proves that I'm an idiot for not getting in that line of business :( How about a mod to get rid of the hilariously stupid 25K max output impedance? :rolleyes:
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How bout a mod to ban you?
 
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