The controls on the Rat are:
1. Distortion
2. Filter
3. Volume
The Rat was the harbinger of things to come. It was after all, the 80's time for something new. Proco went with a great big distortion sound; nothing new there, but there was more. Someone decided that it was pretty cool to have a lot of harmonic overtones in your sound, and Proco went with a circuit that reduced overall frequency response, yet it allowed anyone to gush distorted high harmonics at will.
Sure, some famous guys had beefed up Amps that could get lots of harmonics without a pedal; but now you could buy a pretty decent emulation in a little box, at a fraction of the cost of the botique Amps, and Mods. You could get them at most Rock oriented music stores. No barrier to entry.
In parallel evolution the Floyd Rose locking tremolo was on its way. Here was a match made in Heaven. These elements combined for the next few years, and whistling harmonics whizzed, and whistled; divebombing, some called it.
It was an interesting new sound to work with. By the 90's however; any but the inventors of this technique were seen increasingly, as intentionally trying to inflict pain on the audience, with it. Like someone telling an old joke repeatedly, to punish the listener. J
When Ibanez saw the success of the Rat they didn't waste much time in cooking up, and marketing the "Fat Cat", FC-10 pedal. Without splitting hairs: Most guys would be hard pressed to find pedals built by two totally different companies, that sounded more alike.
You can easily interchange them. The difference: the Fat Cat is more focused, and slightly less harmonically active. It would probably sound a bit more musical when used for recording. The Rat is a little more distorted, and whistles like an industrial bird call, creating effortless effects in live performance. Check it out!
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