Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Hey guys, I need your help in pricing out a vintage ProCo RAT pedal from around 1983 or so. I've met someone at work who has an old ProCo RAT that he bought back when he was in high school. He hasn't used it years, but I'm going through a grunge phase right now and this old RAT would be perfect both for me and my boys, so he's offered to sell it. The trouble is: we're having a hard time figuring out what it's worth. Auctions on eBay are all over the map, and the market for vintage guitars, amps, and pedals is so fickle that I've pretty much avoided it altogether. I told the seller today that I'd post a message on Harmony Central to get some impartial feedback so we can determine a "fair price". I'll leave it up to you to decide exactly what that means -- but esentially a price that would be "fair" for both of us. I'll send the seller a link to this thread in a day or two. Here's what I know about the pedal: So, based on this information what do you think is a fair price for this pedal? This isn't his pedal, but it looks a lot like the one below: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lonely Tourist Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 There was one in the spam thred for $150, but i'm not sure if that's the going price. So this post was completely useless. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 There was one in the spam thred for $150, but i'm not sure if that's the going price. So this post was completely useless. Sorry. Hey, every bit of feedback helps. There was a Buy-It-Now auction on eBay recently for one where the guy wanted $300 or $350 or some ridiculous amount. I'm just trying to "keep it real". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bennintexas Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 150-200 id say? for a fair price anyway? the 90s reissue big box range from 75-120 but the 80s ones seem to fetch a bit more. more than 200 even. shit man you'd think he wouldnt be looking to profit if its something he hasn't used in forever. my buddy tried to give me an ebow he never used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 150-200 id say? for a fair price anyway? the 90s reissue big box range from 75-120 but the 80s ones seem to fetch a bit more. more than 200 even. shit man you'd think he wouldnt be looking to profit if its something he hasn't used in forever. my buddy tried to give me an ebow he never used. I don't think that's the case. But I think both he and I want to do "due diligence" to get in the ballpark. You don't want to trade away that Honus Wagner baseball card for a pack of gum just because you don't know who Honus Wagner is. (By the way: the card above was sold for $1.62 million!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members recovery Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Unless you are a vintage pedal collector, there is no need to pay more than 70.00-90.00 for a RAT. You can get a Made in USA, early 90's, LM308 RAT2 in this price range and it will sound awesome. Paying an extra 100.00 so you can play "grunge" is simply not worth the price. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bennintexas Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 truth! (to what you said Armchair Bronco) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Unless you are a vintage pedal collector, there is no need to pay more than 70.00-90.00 for a RAT. You can get a Made in USA, early 90's, LM308 RAT2 in this price range and it will sound awesome. Paying an extra 100.00 so you can play "grunge" is simply not worth the price.Good luck. I agree. I wasn't actually looking for a vintage ProCo RAT initially. I posted a message at work looking for *any* used ProCo RAT, and I happened to meet the seller. The attraction to me is that I've just ordered a GGG "Rodent" clone of the RAT which is based on this model, and I thought it would be cool to build my own RAT but also have a vintage one to compare it to. If the clone sounds like the original, then I'll be happy. I just thought it might be fun to have one vintage pedal on my pedalboard, but I'm not interested in paying some huge premium to do so. Also, I've already told the seller that if a "fair price" is too high for me, then I'll pass. But at least he'll have a better idea of the pedal's real value if he decides to sell it down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BP90 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Ya... thats mine in the SPAM thread for 150... I think 150 is pretty cheap IMO... Most people are asking 200 or more... I dunno... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Ya... thats mine in the SPAM thread for 150... I think 150 is pretty cheap IMO... Most people are asking 200 or more... I dunno... Yours is also a early to mid 1980's ProCo RAT (with the SoundInc lettering)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BP90 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Yep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BP90 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Bout the same condish I suppose... It is an AWESOME pedal BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Bout the same condish I suppose... Actually, no. The pedal I've seen looks much closer to the one I posted in the OP in terms of wear-and-team and rusting. The one above looks a lot cleaner. What I like about this pedal was how easily it pushed both of my amps (tube & solid state) into a nicely controlled feedback (like a lot of the songs in Nevermind). And then if I rolled off the highs with the Filter knobs, I got a cool fuzz tone out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BP90 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Well... I'm actually quite amazed that nobody has bought mine yet... Not that I'm complaining... I will miss it a lot if it sells. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members illini Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 That model sells for $200-$250 pretty regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 That model sells for $200-$250 pretty regularly. Really. Wow, that puts it out of my price range, then. Is this just because of its collectibility, or was there something "magical" about its circuit that's missing in newer models? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BP90 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Really. Wow, that puts it out of my price range, then. Is this just because of its collectibility, or was there something "magical" about its circuit that's missing in newer models? I think its more a collectabilittytywlekrnw (Spelling FTL) isuue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members justintee Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Really. Wow, that puts it out of my price range, then. Is this just because of its collectibility, or was there something "magical" about its circuit that's missing in newer models? indeed, it's more of the collector factor, plus a spadeful of hype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 indeed, it's more of the collector factor, plus a spadeful of hype. Damn collectors! I have visions of some wealthy, reclusive Japanese industrialist buying up all these classic pedals and guitars and amps and stashing them away in a warehouse in Yokohama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BP90 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Is 150 out of your price range? :nudge: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Is 150 out of your price range? :nudge: Haha. That's right at the edge. Or, to quote my favorite band, "The Wipers", it's just "Over the Edge" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BP90 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 006 Posted March 18, 2009 Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Unless you are a vintage pedal collector, there is no need to pay more than 70.00-90.00 for a RAT. You can get a Made in USA, early 90's, LM308 RAT2 in this price range and it will sound awesome. Paying an extra 100.00 so you can play "grunge" is simply not worth the price.Good luck. sort of. i have a '79 big box rat, and at one point had a early 90's big box rat both with the LM308 chip... and the early 90's rat sucked ass next to the '79 - it sounded "cheap" and overly creamy. the '79 had a lot more character. sure, if you've not heard an early model, a 90's rat will still probably sound pretty awesome. but if you get the chance to a/b it with an early model, you'll hear what i mean. if, god forbid, i lost my '79, i would hunt to the ends of the earth and pay $2-300 easy to replace it. Sold the 90's rat for $75 a while back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Good one. Isn't he more the master of the daisy-chained Deluxe Memory Mans (at least in the early part of his career)? Call me "Old School", but somehow, I don't see him ripping it up with a ProCo RAT. Anyway, depending on how things work out on my end, I may yet contact you about your RAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Armchair Bronco Posted March 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 18, 2009 Well, thanks for the feeback so far, guys. Looks like there's a range of prices, but I'm starting to get a better picture. I'll bump this again for the morning crowd, then forward a link to this thread to the seller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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