OVERDRIVE- PRO-CO RAT ....still a surprisingly good pedal ...well worth a spot on your board

 PRO-CO RAT 

$70.00 USD

The very first pedal that some say is the first OD
because it that came out in 1978 proceeding the
Tube Screamer that arrived in 1979!

Designed around the Motorola LM308. Only switching to a Texas Instruments OP07DP in 2002 when the part became defunct.
The first enclosure was a large rectangle but in '83 they went with the one we have now.

.
In 88 they changed the name to the Rat 2
when they put in the on/off LED.
Small insignificant mods have come and gone
but the basic sound has never changed more than a shade of grey.
It is not like the Tube Screamer that has made big changes many times.
John Scofield has always had one. It was Curt Cobain's dirt pedal of choice! Even Slash uses
a handmade copy with the LM308 chip.

So not hard to hear but the original chip in the Big box is fatter! 
The older chip was still used for the small box from 1983 to 2002.
NOS of the old chip have been used for very small runs LTD. Edition 
promo's on a couple of occasions.

But 'fat' is all in the low end. In a band context that will disappear by being eaten by the drums and bass!! 
Still if you wish you can get a pedal that is part for part replication of the Big box by handwiring the whole thing wit NOS (new ols stock) of the exact parts. 
The Ananashead  LM308 Fuzz has both the best build and the best price at $90.00 USD.

CONCLUSION

The Sweetwater vid is really well done

you get a really good idea of the two or three useful sounds

that can really fit into a lot of players 'sound.'

I especially like the 'sweet spot' that gives 

you a fat raunchy chunky sound

It works really well on rhythmic playing.

It has great definition, very full ...but tight too.

It is one of very few OD's that has

balz but can lay back behind a vocal

and not over power it.

There are about 20 OD's out there that get a 10 out of 10 ...if you have one ...even more LOL

and have some room on your board you may soon find it slipping into a lot of your tunes.

Another thing ...a lot of 60's and 70's dirt pedals had a great sound and when you hear them

you just gotta have one. BUT the down side is they are very quirky ...often noisy and very difficult to zero in on the sweet spot. The RAT has 2 or 3 sweet spots ...it is easy to use and it's cheap!
If you can spring for the extra money the Ananashead LM 308 is the way to go. It is even built in a standard type B box so it takes up less space on your board.