The best cheap Rat pedal clones from $20 up! ProCo Rat 2 vs Mooer vs TC Electronic vs Harley Benton

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Today we’re comparing three of my favorite cheap Rat clones – the Mooer Black Secret, the TC Electronic Magus Pro and the Harley Benton Rodent – against the real thing: the iconic ProCo Rat 2 overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedal!

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Get these pedals at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:
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Rat pedals are simply some of the very best drives out there, and I believe every guitarist needs at least one on their pedalboard at all times. Budget Rat pedals are always a great choice too, and this is probably also why so many FX pedal companies build their own versions of the Rat pedal – and today, you’ll get to hear three of the most affordable in action!

All take their inspiration directly from the ProCo Rat, while adding their own touches. The ProCo Rat 2, which costs around $90/€90 in 2024, is more expensive than all of them, physically the largest, and also the most simple. It has just the three knobs – Distortion, Filter and Volume – with which to make the almightiest of rackets.

The Harley Benton Rodent is the cheapest Rat pedal I’ve ever played, coming in at a frankly ridiculous €19.90. I’ve no idea how they can make them so affordable, but hey, what a time to be a guitar player! The Rodent is a mini pedal and has the standard three Rat knobs, and three modes: Normal, Turbo and Solo. Normal is going to be your classic Rat 2 sound, while Turbo and Solo are different takes on the Rat pedal which are made separately by ProCo.

Next up is the TC Electronic Magus Pro, which is a slightly chunkier take on the mini pedal, and costs around $79/€60. The Magus Pro also has three modes – Fat, Classic and Turbo – alongside its three knobs.

And finally, we have the Mooer Black Secret. Often touted online as being many people’s top choice when it comes to a Rat on a budget, the Black Secret is a mini pedal, and it looks almost identical to the Rodent (it’s quite possible they’re made in the same place). The Black Secret has the three standard knobs, Vintage and Turbo modes, and will set you back around $40-50/€50.

So, they’re all Rats, but all slightly different variations on the theme, and hopefully this video will help you decide which might be the best fit for you! In the video, I play two loops – one on my Epiphone Les Paul’s bridge humbucker, and the other on the bridge single coil pickup of my Fender Telecaster – and this gives me the chance to really tweak the knobs and settings on all four pedals to hear how they compare. Let me know which one you think sounds best in the comments!

Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:

00:00 Intro and what we’re doing today
01:01 ProCo Rat 2 specs and info
01:35 Harley Benton Rodent specs and info
02:17 TC Electronic Magus Pro specs and info
02:51 Mooer Black Secret specs and info
04:18 Today’s rig and plan

05:08 Epiphone Les Paul modern rock loop
13:44 Fender Telecaster indie rock loop

My setup was as follows: I ran the pedals into the front end of my Hughes & Kettner AmpMan Classic pedal amp, then went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That’s it. No post-processing on the sounds was done. Oh, and I used my Boss RC-10R to record and play the loops. Here’s some links to those bits of gear:

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AmpMan Classic at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:

Boss RC-10R:
At Sweetwater:
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Check out the ProCo website to learn more about the different types of Rat pedal they make (and which influence the different modes offered on the three Rat clones here):

Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.

#ProCoRat #RatPedal #OverdrivePedal #DistortionPedal #TCElectronic #Mooer #MooerPedals #HarleyBenton #FuzzPedal #Fuzz

*Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!*


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@tcelectronic
@HarleyBentonOfficial
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@ThomannMusic
@MooerAudioOfficial