RAT vs Blues Driver
A useful comparison because they sit at opposite ends of the same question: how much of the dirt should the pedal supply?
Fret & Fuzz earns a commission when you buy through the links on this page. It costs you nothing and it does not decide what we rank. How we’re funded.
We have not played this gear. Every pick below is chosen from published manufacturer specifications and the arithmetic set out in how we research, which you can re-run yourself.
The Blues Driver roughens your amp and gets out of the way; the RAT replaces your amp's voice with its own. The BD-2 responds to picking dynamics and cleans up on the guitar volume knob, and the RAT does neither. Pick on how much of the tone you want the pedal to be responsible for.
Both are frequently on the same shortlist, which is odd on paper because one is an overdrive and one is a distortion. The reason is that they cover the whole practical range between them: light grit at one end, a full distorted voice at the other, with almost nothing overlapping.
How much dirt do you want from the pedal
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | No photo BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver Discrete gain stages, flat mids, open top end, and it cleans up on the volume knob. | Roughening an amp you already like | |
| 02 | No photo Pro Co RAT 2 Hard clipping to ground with a low-pass Filter — consistent, compressed and unmistakable. | A distortion voice of its own |
Rows link to the full write-up further down this page. Prices come from the live price layer only — where there is no live figure the button reads “Check price” rather than showing a remembered number.
02Where each sits on the gain scale
| BOSS BD-2 | Pro Co RAT 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Clipping | Discrete gain stages | Diodes clipping hard to ground |
| Gain range | Light grit to moderate crunch | Moderate crunch to heavy distortion |
| Response to picking | High | Low — consistent by design |
| Cleans up on guitar volume | Yes, substantially | Gets quieter, not cleaner |
| Frequency response | Flat mids, open top | Shaped by the low-pass Filter |
| Best used | In front of an amp you like | As the source of the dirt |
| Published data | Impedance, draw, dimensions, weight | Very little |
03The Filter control, once more
It removes treble as you turn it up. Everyone misuses it exactly once, concludes the pedal is broken or harsh, and then finds the setting between about nine and eleven o'clock where most of the top end is intact and the hardest edge is gone.
The BD-2's Tone control works the conventional way. If you are switching between the two pedals live, that reversal is worth internalizing before a gig rather than during one.
BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver
Roughening an amp you already like
The number1 M ohm in, 1 k ohm out, 20 mA. Published by BOSS.
The Blues Driver adds grit without replacing the amp's voice. Because the gain comes from discrete stages rather than diodes in a feedback loop, the frequency response stays flat and the dynamic range survives.
It is the more responsive of the two by a wide margin — how hard you pick changes what you hear, and rolling the guitar volume back gets genuinely cleaner rather than just quieter.
It will not produce a heavy distorted tone. If that is what you want, this is the wrong end of the scale.
| Controls | Gain, Tone, Level, pedal switch |
|---|---|
| Input impedance | 1 M ohm |
| Output impedance | 1 k ohm |
| Current draw | 20 mA |
| Power | 9 V battery (6F22 / 6LR61) or PSA-series adaptor |
| Size / weight | 73 x 129 x 59 mm, 360 g |
| What it does not do | No adaptor in the box, no true bypass, and no mid control. The BD-2 is deliberately flat through the mids — if you want a mid hump to push a solo, this is the wrong pedal. |
Specs from BOSS BD-2 specifications. We have not used this unit.
Pro Co RAT 2
A distortion voice of its own
The RAT imposes a character. Hard clipping is consistent regardless of picking strength, which is a liability if you play dynamically and an asset if you want a rhythm sound that does not move.
The Filter control is a low-pass filter: turning it up removes treble. It is the correct control for a circuit generating this much harmonic content, and it is the setting most owners spend the most time on.
There is no low-gain setting where it stops being a distortion. Turning the Distortion knob down makes it quieter and no cleaner.
| Controls | Distortion, Filter, Volume |
|---|---|
| Filter control | Runs backwards from a normal tone knob — turning it up removes treble |
| Power | 9 V battery or a 9 V DC supply (adapter sold separately) |
| Enclosure | Steel, with the battery compartment accessible without tools |
| Electrical data | No current-draw or impedance figure is published for this pedal, so none is stated here. |
| What it does not do | No power supply included. There is no clean-boost side to it — at low Distortion the RAT is still a distortion, and the Filter control confuses everyone exactly once. |
Specs from Pro Co RAT 2 product page. We have not used this unit.
04Running both
BD-2 into RAT works: the Blues Driver adds level and a little grit into the RAT's clipping stage, which pushes it harder without adding a competing tone stack. The reverse is less useful — the BD-2 has very little to contribute to an already hard-clipped signal.
If you want three distinct dirt levels from two pedals, that stack plus each pedal alone gives you exactly that, and it is a more efficient use of two board slots than two similar drives would be.
Frequently asked questions
+ Is the RAT a distortion or an overdrive?
+ Which cleans up better on the guitar volume knob?
+ Which one for blues?
+ Can I stack them?
Sources
Related on Fret & Fuzz
Best distortion pedals
Hard clipping is predictable; the tone control is where these pedals differ. Four distortions compared, plus one that is mislabelled.
Best Distortion pick: Pro Co RAT 2
Tube Screamer vs Blues Driver
Mid hump versus flat response, with both spec sheets side by side and a straight answer about which your amp wants.
Top pick: BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver
Fulltone OCD vs Pro Co RAT
Two pedals that are both further into distortion than their labels admit, and the backwards tone control that confuses everyone once.
Top pick: Fulltone OCD Obsessive Compulsive Drive
Overdrive vs distortion vs fuzz
How hard, how symmetrically, and with what EQ around it. The real distinctions, and why the box labels are unreliable.
Top pick: BOSS BD-2 Blues Driver