The Aria Lil' RAT Distortion is an Aria distortion pedal. Close alternatives include the Wampler Ratsbane Mini Distortion and the Donner Dark Mouse. It pairs well with the Mesa Boogie Mark I and the Laney RB3 Richter Bass Amp.

Aria Lil' RAT Distortion

Aria · pedal

The Aria Lil RAT Distortion is the ProCo Lil RAT mini distortion pedal distributed through Aria in the UK. The ProCo Lil RAT packs the full 100-percent analog circuit of the classic ProCo RAT2 into a mini enclosure just over 2 inches wide. Controls include Distortion (gain), Filter (high-frequency rolloff), and Volume, mirroring the full-size RAT circuit and LM308-based clipping character. True bypass, rear-mounted jacks. 9V battery or standard center-negative power. The RAT circuit covers heavy crunch and saturated distortion used across rock, metal, and alternative guitar for decades.

What stands out

  • “Tone: aggressive analog distortion with LM308-based clipping; Filter control”

    — from the community notes

  • “Controls include Distortion (gain), Filter (high-frequency rolloff), and Volume, mirroring the full-size RAT circuit and LM308-based clipping character”

    — from the listing

  • “the rat circuit covers heavy crunch and saturated distortion used across rock”

    — from the listing

  • “The ProCo Lil RAT packs the full 100-percent analog circuit of the classic ProCo RAT2 into a mini enclosure just over 2 inches wide”

    — from the listing

  • “Second limitation: the Filter control is counterintuitive to some users as it rolls treble out , which can cause confusion when initially dialing in tone”

    — from the reviews

Trade-offs

  • “Signal-chain interaction: the Filter control interacts strongly with amp EQ and benefits from a brighter amp voice; stackable with a light overdrive before it for additional harmonic complexity”

    — from the community notes

  • distortion
  • clipping
  • filter
  • rock
  • bypass
  • full
  • authentic proco rat tone
  • compression

Good for

  • Busking
  • Live

Genres the Aria Lil' RAT Distortion is commonly used in

  • Alternative Rock
  • Rock
  • Metal
  • Punk
    citedInferred from shared tonal signals, not a stated genre tag.
  • Electronic
    citedInferred from shared tonal signals, not a stated genre tag.
  • Hard Rock
    citedInferred from shared tonal signals, not a stated genre tag.

Amps that pair well with the Aria Lil' RAT Distortion

Mesa Boogie Mark I

Mesa Boogie

27% match
$1466.92via Reverb

pushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → mid-forward)

Mesa Boogie Mark I takes that crunchy character and pushes it toward mid-forward

Comes later in the signal chain

Laney RB3 Richter Bass Amp

Laney

26% match
$407.89via Reverb

pushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → mid-forward)

Stack Laney RB3 Richter Bass Amp on top and a crunchy tone tightens toward mid-forward

Comes later in the signal chain

Ampeg V-4

Ampeg

tonal match
$559via Reverb

Comes later in the signal chain

Ampeg V-4 pushes a crunchy tone toward mid-forward

Ampeg BA 108

Ampeg

tonal match

Comes later in the signal chain

Stack Ampeg BA 108 on top and a crunchy tone tightens toward mid-forward

Ceriatone HRM 50

Ceriatone

tonal match

Comes later in the signal chain

Stack Ceriatone HRM 50 on top and a crunchy tone tightens toward mid-forward

Ceriatone Overtone Special HRM Bluesmaster 50

Ceriatone

tonal match

Comes later in the signal chain

Feed a crunchy signal into Ceriatone Overtone Special HRM Bluesmaster 50 and it comes out closer to mid-forward

Park P45H

Park

tonal match

Comes later in the signal chain

Put Park P45H after Aria Lil' RAT Distortion

Roland Cube Street EX

Roland

tonal match
$522.09via Reverb

Comes later in the signal chain

Stack Roland Cube Street EX on top and a crunchy tone tightens toward mid-forward

Pedals that stack with the Aria Lil' RAT Distortion

Cusack Music Screamer

Cusack Music

26% match

pushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → mid-forward)

Cusack Music Screamer pushes a crunchy tone toward mid-forward

Comes earlier in the signal chain

Ibanez TS10 Tube Screamer Classic

pedal

25% match
$351.03via Reverb

pushes an already-dirty tonePushes an already-dirty tone harder and tightens it up. (crunchy → mid-forward)

Ibanez TS10 Tube Screamer Classic pushes a crunchy tone toward mid-forward

Comes earlier in the signal chain

Spaceman Explorer 6-Stage Phaser

Spaceman

22% match
$179via Reverb

sits in the right chain slotPlaced for where it does its job cleanly in the chain, not for a tonal interaction with the anchor.

Keep Aria Lil' RAT Distortion's full voice out front: Spaceman Explorer 6-Stage Phaser goes after Aria Lil' RAT Distortion in the signal chain so its lush voice doesn't muddy it

Comes later in the signal chain

Wampler Cory Wong

Wampler

18% match
$265.93via Reverb

shapes the dynamic responseShapes how the tone responds to picking dynamics rather than its frequency or gain.

Aria Lil' RAT Distortion leans toward full, and that's a real, usable character to pair with

Comes earlier in the signal chain

Walrus Audio Fable

Walrus Audio

16% match
$239.99via Reverb

sits in the right chain slotPlaced for where it does its job cleanly in the chain, not for a tonal interaction with the anchor.

Run Walrus Audio Fable after Aria Lil' RAT Distortion in the signal chain, clear of Aria Lil' RAT Distortion's own gain stage — goes in the amp's FX loop (or last, into a clean amp)

Comes later in the signal chain

JAM Pedals Delay-Llama

Jam Pedals

13% match
$359via Reverb

sits in the right chain slotPlaced for where it does its job cleanly in the chain, not for a tonal interaction with the anchor.

Put JAM Pedals Delay-Llama after Aria Lil' RAT Distortion in the signal chain, clear of Aria Lil' RAT Distortion's own gain stage — goes in the amp's FX loop (or last, into a clean amp)

Comes later in the signal chain

MXR CAE Wah

MXR

tonal match
$120.88via Reverb

Comes earlier in the signal chain

MXR CAE Wah belongs in front of Aria Lil' RAT Distortion, since a wah tracks picking dynamics best on the raw signal

Matthews Effects The Pocket Drive Overdrive Boost

Matthews Effects

tonal match
$105via Reverb

Comes earlier in the signal chain

Matthews Effects The Pocket Drive Overdrive Boost pushes a crunchy tone toward clean boost

Alternativessee all similar tone character →

Wampler Ratsbane Mini Distortion

Wampler

66% similarity

Shared character: filter, volume, true bypass

Donner Dark Mouse

Donner

64% similarity
$39.99via Reverb

Shared character: filter, distortion, aggressive playing

Dunlop MXR Randy Rhoads Concorde Distortion, model RR104C

Dunlop

59% similarity
$129.97via Reverb

Shared character: compression, alternative, gain

Old Blood Noise Endeavors Excess V2

Old Blood Noise Endeavors

59% similarity
$199via Reverb

Shared character: filter, distortion

MXR Prime Distortion

MXR

57% similarity
$73.09via Reverb

Shared character: distortion, aggressive playing

Keeley Super Rodent

Keeley

57% similarity
$139.99via Reverb

Shared character: distortion, aggressive playing

MXR Super Badass Distortion

MXR

57% similarity
$99via Reverb

Shared character: analog, treble, crunch

Electronic Audio Experiments Surveyor V2.5

Electronic Audio Experiments

57% similarity

Shared character: true bypass, treble, gain

MXR M69P Prime Distortion

MXR

57% similarity
$82.04via Reverb

Shared character: distortion, aggressive playing

Old Blood Noise Endeavors Excess

Old Blood Noise Endeavors

56% similarity
$219via Reverb

Shared character: filter, distortion

PastFx Preamp Crunch Plus

Pastfx

56% similarity
$138.82via Reverb

Shared character: crunch

Orange Acoustic-Pedal Preamp/EQ

Orange

56% similarity
$146.85via Reverb

Shared character: filter

See all alternatives to the Aria Lil' RAT Distortion (cheaper + boutique) →

Questions people ask

What are good alternatives to the Aria Lil' RAT Distortion?+

The closest matches in character are the Wampler Ratsbane Mini Distortion, the Donner Dark Mouse, the Dunlop MXR Randy Rhoads Concorde Distortion, model RR104C.

What pairs well with the Aria Lil' RAT Distortion?+

Strong matches from rig and tone-complementarity evidence: Mesa Boogie Mark I, Laney RB3 Richter Bass Amp, Ampeg V-4 — Mesa Boogie Mark I takes that crunchy character and pushes it toward mid-forward.

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