History and Timeline of the Proco Rat Pedal (2021)
web.archive.org>Kalamazoo already had a thriving musical scene in 1974 and was the ideal location for a musical gear company to launch.
It was also the original home of Gibson guitars since their founding at the turn of the century, where Gibson remained until the 1980's when they moved to Nashville.
IOW the famous Les Pauls of the classic rock '70's were being manufactured concurrently across town.
Man, I had one of those in the late 80's. I thought it sounded bad. Turns out you are supposed to use it as a boost for your amp's distortion.
Related podcast https://youtu.be/QfwpClT_26E?si=9z1cHjSvvNM4Bgnp
It makes sense that something is obsessive was written by JHS.