ProCo RAT 2 vs Vertex Steel String MkII Clean Drive
The ProCo RAT 2 and the Vertex Steel String MkII Clean Drive are both pedals sharing bright, full, gritty. The ProCo RAT 2 leans low gain and fuzzy. Current prices: $88 vs $149.99.
cited
Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.34% — somewhat different
cited
Genres both listings are associated with.- Rock
cited
Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- bright
- full
- gritty
- mid-forward
ProCo RAT 2
Proco · pedal
cited
Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$88via Reverb
$149.99via Reverb
The ProCo RAT 2 is a classic hard-clipping distortion pedal whose circuit dates to the late 1970s, built around an LM308 op-amp and silicon diode clipping. Its three controls are Distortion, Filter, and Volume, with the distinctive Filter knob acting as a reversed tone control that runs from bright and cutting to dark and warm. Capable of far more than its name suggests, it spans gritty low-gain overdrive, thick midrange distortion, and nearly fuzz-like saturation while keeping notes present and clear even at high gain. It is a staple of punk, grunge, garage, stoner, doom, and alternative rock, and has been used by players from Jeff Beck and Thom Yorke to countless heavy and experimental guitarists. Dynamic and harmonically rich, it cleans up with guitar volume and stays articulate rather than overly compressed.
The Vertex Steel String Clean Drive MkII recreates the tonality and feel of the iconic Dumble Steel String Singer amplifier in a stompbox, designed alongside a real Steel String Singer unit for accuracy. Below noon on the gain knob it works as a highly versatile clean boost, with a Filter control dialing in D-style midrange shaping; past noon it sweetens the signal with warm, compressed, vine-ripened drive character. The MkII revision shrinks the footprint by a third versus the original and adds a Jazz/Rock toggle for extra bass-cut EQ shaping. It excels on grittier tones and thick D-style compression, though some reviewers find it grows growly or bass-heavy in front of an already-clean amp with bright pickups.
cited
Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Alternative Rock
- Experimental
- Punk
- Grunge
- Metal
- Hard Rock
- Jazz
- Blues
- low gain
- fuzzy
- dynamic
- saturated
- transparent
- sustaining