Pro Co Reissue '85 Whiteface RAT review

This filthy little vermin is an alternative legend

  • £229
  • $299
Home of the grot-heavy distortion favoured by Nirvana and The Pixies.

MusicRadar Verdict

This Rat does make some great sounds, but that price tag is a lot for a pedal of this type. It's worth considering whether you really need that LM308 chip.

Pros

  • +

    Authentic grungy distortion.

Cons

  • -

    You need to justify the price.

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Pro Co founder Charlie Wicks (who sadly passed away in March) first started building the Rat in 1978 and, after a couple of incarnations, the Whiteface arrived in '85.

At the heart of the Rat's sound is the LM308 op-amp chip; it's what many collectors regard to be the key ingredient in vintage versions. This pedal is the only one in the current Pro Co range to include it.

The Rat is a basic design with Gain, Filter and Volume controls and an on/off stomp switch. With the Gain set low and Filter rolled back, you get a dark, vintage-sounding overdrive. As you boost the Gain and open the Filter, the pedal starts breaking up and the Rat's real character shows it face.

Push the Gain past two-thirds with the Filter set to max and you're into the harshest clipping territory. It's this fat, heavily broken distortion that has made the Rat an alt rock staple.

The popularity of pedals like this has taken grot-box fuzz pedals out of the junk shop and into the boutique world. If you obsess about vintage gear, you'll love the '85's faithfulness.

Equally, crank the gain and you can indulge in the same lung-filling levels of fuzz that Kurt Cobain, Graham Coxon and Frank Black made famous, too.

The only thing left to consider is the price: there's £140 difference between this and the £89 non-LM308 loaded Rat 2.

Stuart Williams
Drums

Stuart has been working for guitar publications since 2008, beginning his career as Reviews Editor for Total Guitar before becoming Editor for six years. During this time, he and the team brought the magazine into the modern age with digital editions, a Youtube channel and the Apple chart-bothering Total Guitar Podcast. Stuart has also served as a freelance writer for Guitar World, Guitarist and MusicRadar reviewing hundreds of products spanning everything from acoustic guitars to valve amps, modelers and plugins. When not spouting his opinions on the best new gear, Stuart has been reminded on many occasions that the 'never meet your heroes' rule is entirely wrong, clocking-up interviews with the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Foo Fighters, Green Day and many, many more.