Browse Helix Models and Effects

Helix currently supports 111 amplifier models, 276 effects, 56 speaker cab models, and 16 microphones. On top of all that you also have the ability to load Impulse Responses (IRs) that you can grab from free or paid sources. Go have fun.

Based on the ProCo Rat, an angry and aggressive distortion box that put teeth into a new breed of metal in the late 70’s.

The RAT is a guitar effects pedal produced by Pro Co Sound. The original RAT was developed in the basement of Pro Co's Kalamazoo, Michigan facility in 1978. Numerous variations of the original RAT pedal are still being produced today. The basic RAT has changed in appearance over the years, but its tone has remained largely the same. Pro Co has also introduced tonal variations of the RAT, including the Turbo RAT, and You Dirty RAT, among others. The Pro Co RAT became very popular in the early 1980s, thanks in part to fame gained by its use by several artists.

It is a distortion pedal with a quite simple circuit, which can be broken down into four simpler blocks: distortion stage, tone control, output stage and power supply. The design is based around a single opamp, originally the Motorola LM308 (switched to Texas Instruments OP07DP around 2002-2003). The distortion is produced using a variable gain circuit with diodes shorting the output to ground to produce hard clipping of the input waveform. This construction method is similar to the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, although there are major differences between the two circuits. A major difference is the opamp used (the LM308), known for its poor slew rate; it largely accounts for the sonic difference between the two pedals.

View the ProCo Rat product page on Amazon.

Description source: Line 6
Image source: tonereport.com

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