Armchair Bronco
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Last week, I purchased an early 1980's vintage ProCo RAT from someone at work. Here it is:
This is a low serial number ProCo "The Rat" and I originally thought it was from 1983 or so:
More than 25 years ago, the original owner disconnected the internal 9-volt input jack, carefully bent it out of the way, and installed in its place a Radio Shack "Battery Eliminator" wall adapter.
He fed the adapter wire through the jack opening, re-soldered it together, and connected it to the 9-volt battery connector. He then used duct tape to seal up all the original parts. Nice work for a 17 or 18 year old to take the time to keep all of the original parts around.
I used small scissors to cut away the crumbly, sticky duct tape to expose the original components. Here the battery clip cover has popped off. I cleaned off the goo with some lighter fluid and re-attached it to the 9-volt connector.
Then it was time to "cut the umbilical cord".
Next, I took the duct tape off the original power jack. Yay! All the original hardware was still there. It was bent up to move it away from the jack opening, so I'd have to bend it back down.
Now I was able to get a good look at the pots. If I'm not mistaken 7-digit number 1378150 on the pots means the following:
137 = CTS
81 = Year
50 = Week
So the pots at least were made during December of 1981. I was a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder then.
I removed the 2 input jacks and then carefully coaxed the power jack back into alignment. When everything was lined up correctly, I re-installed all 3 jacks and tightened up the hex nuts.
Here's the exterior of the "restored" RAT.
And here's the graduation photo, with the RAT back on a pedalboard after sleeping in a box for more than 2 decades. Have I said yet that it sounds killer? No? Well, it sounds killer!
This is a low serial number ProCo "The Rat" and I originally thought it was from 1983 or so:
More than 25 years ago, the original owner disconnected the internal 9-volt input jack, carefully bent it out of the way, and installed in its place a Radio Shack "Battery Eliminator" wall adapter.
He fed the adapter wire through the jack opening, re-soldered it together, and connected it to the 9-volt battery connector. He then used duct tape to seal up all the original parts. Nice work for a 17 or 18 year old to take the time to keep all of the original parts around.
I used small scissors to cut away the crumbly, sticky duct tape to expose the original components. Here the battery clip cover has popped off. I cleaned off the goo with some lighter fluid and re-attached it to the 9-volt connector.
Then it was time to "cut the umbilical cord".
Next, I took the duct tape off the original power jack. Yay! All the original hardware was still there. It was bent up to move it away from the jack opening, so I'd have to bend it back down.
Now I was able to get a good look at the pots. If I'm not mistaken 7-digit number 1378150 on the pots means the following:
137 = CTS
81 = Year
50 = Week
So the pots at least were made during December of 1981. I was a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder then.
I removed the 2 input jacks and then carefully coaxed the power jack back into alignment. When everything was lined up correctly, I re-installed all 3 jacks and tightened up the hex nuts.
Here's the exterior of the "restored" RAT.
And here's the graduation photo, with the RAT back on a pedalboard after sleeping in a box for more than 2 decades. Have I said yet that it sounds killer? No? Well, it sounds killer!
