The first 11 Bud Box pedals (10 singles, one double) were made and sold on a custom order basis, but sometime in 1979 ProCo owner Charlie Wicks was convinced to make the RAT a full production unit in the ProCo 1979 catalog. The RAT was met with lots of internal ProCo excitement, thus they put the full-production unit in a more professional enclosure with higher quality graphic design. The graphic designer in this era of ProCo was believed to be a man named Gene Cross, so we can reasonably credit him with the look and aesthetic of the RAT.

Now, let’s examine the many versions of the RAT. Get ready, because it’s a bigger and much more entertaining story than you probably realized.

Let me preface this with a warning: popular belief on much of what you are about to read is dead wrong. The RAT, like many pedals of its age, has been subject to decades of misinformation, bad memories and keyboard vigilantes. To really understand what happened and why, you need to start over. Basically, forget everything you think you know about the RAT and embrace a new beginning. It's for the best. 

My timeline and version list is based on hard factual evidence that has come from examining, cross-referencing and deconstructing hundreds of RAT pedals. If you are a long time RAT collector or fan, be prepared to have some beliefs crushed. 

Due to many variations within a specific number version of the RAT, I will use a numeric/alphabetic identifying system to designate different versions. In most cases, it is impossible to simply use terms like V1 or V2, so I have expanded on that with names like V1-A (Version 1, Revision A) or V2-B (Version 2, Revision B) to more accurately differentiate between important changes in the RAT’s tangled timeline. 

As many of you know, I am a student of history and welcome any and all corrections or information you can offer to this labor of love. If you have any new or additional information to share, please email me at [email protected].