Black Secret

Caging The Beast

There’s only one word to describe the sound of the ProCo RAT distortion pedal: dirty. With its iconic compressed distortion sound, the RAT brings a level of aggression you won’t find in many other distortion pedals. This is a pedal that feels like it’s jumping out of its case, compelling you to shred like you’ve never shredded before.
But, awesome as it is, we’re not here to talk about the RAT.
It’s time to talk about the pedal that set out to cage this beast. We’re here to talk about the Mooer Black Secret.

The Black Secret is Half the Size with All the Sound

Mooer pedals are small and wonderful things. As a company, they’ve pretty much perfected cramming the juiciest effects into nice, compact cases. That being said, can they really deliver on the pure intensity of the ProCo RAT?
The answer is a resounding yes!
Somehow, they’ve managed to recreate this iconic circuit in miniature form. To all but the most pedantic pedal-heads, the sound is almost identical. Furthermore, it comes with two modes, offering the sound of both the Vintage and the Turbo RAT.
Let’s just hope for ProCo’s sake that this secret doesn’t get out!

An Excellent Price

If all that wasn’t good enough, the Black Secret is one of the most affordable pedals of its quality on the market today. Retailing from around $35-50 dollars it simply knocks it out of the park for price.
For comparison, a modern RAT 2 will set you back somewhere in the region of $100. Outside of the brand name, there’s just no competition!

Should You Buy a Black Secret?

There’s no doubt that this pedal is an excellent recreation of the RAT, but the RAT is not for everyone. It’s a very particular kind of distortion sound and doesn’t offer a lot of range. It’s great for thick, meaty guitar solos but that’s about it.

Of course, if you really want to know whether or not this sound is right for you, then you can check it out right here on Tonepedia!