So I heard that Chris Novoselic from Nirvana used a ProCo Rat for distortion. I wanna replace my DS-1 for a Rat, and put the DS-1 on my guitar board. Would you use the Rat as distortion for bass or is there a better but similar option.
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ProCo Rat for Bass? Yes or No.
- Thread starter FunkyFever
- Start date
Rats of various type have been a long time Bass Player favorite.
The ProCo will work, but there are many newer options that are even better, and more tailored for Bass, either with better Low end, better bass eq points, or blendable cleans!
Fuzzrocious Cat Tail or Cat King
IdiotBox Blower Box
Broughton Locust Star
Dunwich Amplification Volt thrower
MXR Bass Distortion
I'm sure there's many more I'm missing too. The Rat was a popular circuit design, and all of the above started off with the Rat design, and put their own spins and flavor on it.
The ProCo will work, but there are many newer options that are even better, and more tailored for Bass, either with better Low end, better bass eq points, or blendable cleans!
Fuzzrocious Cat Tail or Cat King
IdiotBox Blower Box
Broughton Locust Star
Dunwich Amplification Volt thrower
MXR Bass Distortion
I'm sure there's many more I'm missing too. The Rat was a popular circuit design, and all of the above started off with the Rat design, and put their own spins and flavor on it.
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Yes it was a popular circuit, and I will look into those. The only problem I can think of is price, because pedal tailored specifically towards bass (Behringer being the exception) are often really expensive, and the Rat is only like $69 US Dollars on Musicians friend.
Larry Graham has used a Juggernaut since his time with Sly & The Family Stone. It's a version of the Rat, one which I believe ProCo re-introduced.
The options I mentioned will cost a bit more $$, but having tried a couple of them vs an old ProCo Rat 2 and Turbo Rat, it's worth it!
Most affordable options I mentioned will probably be the MXR and the Idiot Box, with the Cat Tail not far behind.
Typically about $120-140 new, but pretty easy to find a gently used one for around $99 or so.
Think of this as a potential two pedal expense. In my experience with the Turbo RAT and an active bass, you'll want an EQ or blend option after the RAT to beef up the distorted lows. However, with a Quarter Pounder equipped P-bass, I leave the EQ off as it gets boom-y in the low end.
On that note, it's a great touch of presence/crunch for your top end, and the filter knob makes for an array of tonal possibilities.
It's also kind of difficult to attach to a board, but if you love it, you'll figure it out.
On that note, it's a great touch of presence/crunch for your top end, and the filter knob makes for an array of tonal possibilities.
It's also kind of difficult to attach to a board, but if you love it, you'll figure it out.
Good point, been a while since I used a ProCo, and had forgotten I always used it with either a Graphic EQ pedal after it, or with a Boss LS-2 Loop Blender to get it sounding good in the low end.
Yup, that's the winning formula: LS-2 – Turbo RAT – GEB-7 running 50/50 dirty/clean. Expensive, but beastly.
Passive seems to trigger the circuit better than active, and that's probably what Novoselic was doing at the time. I should note that there's two buffers (Boss Tuner, LS-2 in front of the RAT) in my signal chain and one immediately after (GEB-7), so the signal is kept hot.
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Just a note of clarification that the Cat King does not have any octave up effect. We have mods like this, but it doesn't come stock.
OP - happy to talk Cat Tail/King, if you're curious. Welcome to RAT land!
I had an early 90’s big box reissue Rat that sounded fantastic, but it did sap a good bit of the low end.
If you can find a Peavey Dirty Dog, it does a similar job very well. I recently had mine listed for sale, but since decided to keep it. In keeping with Peavey tradition, it’s huge and could also serve as a doorstop.
If you can find a Peavey Dirty Dog, it does a similar job very well. I recently had mine listed for sale, but since decided to keep it. In keeping with Peavey tradition, it’s huge and could also serve as a doorstop.
Jam Pedals Rattler Bass is a fantastic bass-centric rat distortion but not the cheapest option. I like it better than the Blower Box, personally, but I don’t dislike the Blower Box at all and it’s priced better than the Rattler.
Those big bands often record with multiple amps and DIs and blend them together. I’d recommend getting the mxr bass distortion. It’s a rat clone that’s more tailored for bass so you don’t have to have to mix it with a clean sound to retain low end.
I had a turbo rat and used to use it for solo noise stuff to get the “brassy” sound - as has stated could never use it in a band context as it lost the lows and in some bands that’s ok but never fit our mix... better options these days unless you already own an ls2 to blend it in.
Yeah. Great pedal. I toured with a RAT because its all i had at the time. But if you can get that same drive sound and not lose your lows it is one of the best tones possible for overdriven bass.
Yes! I use my ProCo Rat before my Morely Fuzz/Wah. Makes my guitar player smile every time. Awesome growl!
I also have a B7K, After Shock and Red Witch Zeus. All are those fun, but I love my Rat!
I also have a B7K, After Shock and Red Witch Zeus. All are those fun, but I love my Rat!
If you’re looking for a budget option, skip the ProCo and go with a Mosky Black Rat. It’s a cheaper clone of the ProCo, and IMO retains low end better. There are better pedals out there, many of which have been mentioned already, but they’re all considerably more expensive.
Get the MXR Bass Dist instead. You can thank me later.
My favorite Rat clone right now is the Walrus Audio Iron Horse. I can get a wonderful and wooly square wave meets ripping sound. If that's your thing, I'd recommend it highly.
~NvN
~NvN
