“An incredibly versatile tone shaping tool”: Supercool Pedals puts a new spin on the famed distortion box beloved by James Hetfield, Dave Grohl and Nuno Bettencourt

Supercool Pedals has continued its run of reimagining classic stompboxes by putting its own spin on the famed ProCo Rat distortion pedal.

The firm's ever-expanding arsenal already includes a unique take on the Big Muff fuzz, as well as a Klon Centaur-esque overdrive pedal, dubbed The Thneed, which last year received a Dr Seuss-themed makeover, because… well, why not?

Now, the cartoonishly named Barstow Bat has taken the Rat’s timeless template and added extra wings in a bid to lift it to new heights.

Chiefly, those wings arrive in the form of expanded features. The often-replicated and always-adored OG Rat packs a simple three-dial control system comprising Distortion, Filter, and Volume.

For many players, that’s always proved to be plenty for getting the Rat to bite. But Supercool Pedals evidently wanted to take its capabilities further.

The Barstow Bat offers two familiar dials for Drive and Level, while the Filter control has been ditched in favor of a three-band EQ.

Pointing the Low, Mid, and High controls at noon offers on-the-nose Rat tones. But there’s room for even greater personalization to make your electric guitar, bass, or whatever else you want to distort, growl and gargle to your liking.

“Adjusting the EQ can drastically or subtly change the Barstow Bat’s sound,” says Supercool. As such, a little fiddling can unlock everything from “scooped mids, to filtered or added treble, booming bass, or crunchy color”.

It also delivers switchable clipping, activated by pressing its top-mounted Turbo button.

There are two versions of the Barstow Bat on offer: the stock version, finished in white, sees the Turbo control switch the clipping from silicon to a pair of LEDs, delivering more midrange might and gain. This sticks closely to the Rat template.

Meanwhile, the black version is a limited edition variant. It does all the same distorted shape-shifting but also boasts rare NOS Germanium 1n34a diodes. These can be engaged for Turbo mode shenanigans via an internal dip-switch.

Both versions feature Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-inspired artwork – making its name a Bat Country reference.

Interestingly, Nuno Bettencourt has been using a Rat pedal as a tone sweeter for years, so it will be interesting to see how the Bat matches up. Of course, the list of Rat lovers is near-endless, comprising names such as Dave Grohl, James Hetfield, David Gilmour and many more.

“The Barstow Bat is based on the legendary Proco RAT distortion pedal, but with many modifications and additions that make it an incredibly versatile tone shaping and distortion tool,” says Supercool Pedals.

It's been “carefully designed to add masterfully crafted saturation, distortion, and tone to your guitar,” creating “a wide range of sonic paths and landscapes, with loads of gain and signature style”.

Both editions are priced at $205. The standard version is available to order now, while the limited edition version is available to pre-order.

Head to Supercool Pedals for more info.