DigiTech Bad Monkey

I run a fender Telecaster and a Stratocaster either direct to my PA or through my fender Performer 1000 solid state hybrid amp . The Bad Monkey is amazing ....quiet , smooth , almost imperceptible with gain at 1 but the warmth is there without a doubt . No noise anywhere anytime , no switching sounds at all . I use this to record direct and it is amazingly quiet and effective ( no pun intended ) .

No problems ever ...the battery seems to last a very long time but live I use the adapter for consistency . I would defintitely use it without a backup ...however at the cost (50 bucks new CDN ) grab 2 .

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no need , no experience , no problems

I play country ...trad and contemporary , I play meat and potatoes rock/blues and I've used about 5 other pedal effects or effects boards to find the tubey warmth and smooth sound I get from the Bad Monkey . The only thing that came close is my prehistoric old Korg effects board ( which will have to be pried from my cold , dead hands ). How's this to sum up ...whatever these other folks have been saying about this pedal ...ditto times 2 . Its a gem ...for 50 bucks just go get one .

Recent unit, stupidly easy, no need for the manual

******* brilliant pedal, better than the ts. You can do all that bluesy, classic breakup thing but I like to push an already seriously pushed od channel with the bd. Man, straight into a early metallica type grind with little to zero noise. Not that thats the only way I use it - I'm grinning pretty much every time I kick it. I've got the byoc version of the ts as well so I'm going to use both and have one on all the time. You really need at least one of these on your board and for 34 uk ??, blimey!

Heavier than a boss, don't think a backup will be needed.

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all flavours of rock, playing for years, own a ******* ton of gear. This thing is cheap as chips, would absolutely buy it again, nothing I hate about it. Seriously, at this price, forget all that boutique bollocks and buy this.

Could not be simpler! Knobs do exactly what they say and are very responsive. See other reviews for any technical details.

Amazing!!! I have long searched for an overdrive pedal that maintains the guitars essential character, is quiet, does not suck tone in bypass and has true analogue warmth and response (rather than that oh so nasty digital edge).

Bingo - the BD is a no-brainer! Easily the equal of the TubeScreamer and just as good as boutique pedals costing oodles more! In fact I was so impressed with these pedals that I bought the Screamin' Blues and Hot Head for their differing characters and levels of distortion (all brilliant btw)!

The controls are very interactive - as they should be - and the pedal rewards experimentation (although it is impossible to get a bad sound out of it).

And if you want the ultimate budget bang for your buck setup, just partner it with the incredible Blackstar HT-5 combo, and a Yamaha RGX A2 (for more hybrid sounds) or Peavey EXP Signature (for modern super hot LP sounds), and you have a match made in heaven!!! I can even share my magic setting if you ask really nicely LOL!

Built like a tank and lots of sensible features including the excellent direct out.

I rang DT UK to ask questions etc before purchase, and they could not have been more helpful. Also, I found the marketing material and DT website to be incredibly well laid out, and I love the sound samples on the site - great to be able to hear the pedals wet and dry!

Well you can tell I am a fan - incredible product and I am going to buy another as a backup in case they stop making these little primates in favour of the ever growing push towards digital gear!

Features? Four knobs, including bass and treble. Gain is pretty tame-just the way you would want it for goosing up the front end of your overdriven tube amp. volume adds drive and power. All controls do something you can hear. Silent switching is reliable. Goofy to open-but easy to work-battery compartment. Rubber bottom. Green paint, red LED.

This is what you want in front of ANY amp. You can keep it on all the time or just stomp on it for a very smooth overdrive. Add it to an overdriven amp and send it into harmonic distortion for solos. Responds very well to single coil or humbucker pickups. It's quiet as hell and there's nary a bad tone in it-period. Compared to my 200 dollar Radial Tonebone Classic....well, I actually prefer it because it's so easy to use. Admittedly the Tonebone is in another class but it is also touchy. This thing cleans up nicely with the volume control on your guitar.
The BM is soooo easy to use and get the perfect sound from. I use it with Fender tube amps, Roland Blues Cubes and Peavey solid state amps. It goes wherever I go. I don't leave home without it.
Buy two of these-they're too, too cheap. One of the best pedals ever made. For a boost or an overdrive-it's the kind, duuuuude!

Built tough. No worries!

Mr. Digitech came to my house and gave me a million dollars, just for buying this pedal. No, really!

If you play electric guitars, you need one of these. What more is there to say? Why pay 200-300 for something that isn't as good as this for under 50 bucks? No brainer...go get one.

Great sound straight out of the box. Set all to 12 o'clock and start from there.

All the guitar players are raving about this thing, but if you are a bass player don't feel left out!
I run a Thunderbird through a David Eden Traveller head into a Hartke 4.5XL and a EV 15" TL box. I have been using a Boss ODB-3 up until now for my overdrive sound. I have also tried out others including the Bass Big Muff PI.
The Bad Monkey leaves them all for dead. This is not the modded version either.I have had no trouble with low end loss, I can just dial it back in with low end control. The purists will say that this is just compensation and not the genuine low end from the bass. I run a good rig and really care about my sound and that doesn't bother me at all.
This is a real transparent overdrive not just a fizzy fuzz. It even allows for great controlled feedback that I just could not get with the others.
Bass players, this is for you!

New and gigged with it already. Looks solid enough. Those tiny switches inside the Digitech pedals worry me to look at, but I have never had one fail me.

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Great pedal at a great price, not just for guitar players.
I play 70's rock & 70's punk with a few great growly driving basslines and the Bad MOnkey just brings them to life, combine with a good chorus and you are in ballsy bass heaven. Don't even consider a ODB-3 with this around.
Bass players, this is for you!

Easy to use.

***EDIT***
Made in USA my Butt!
It is Made in China.

I play mostly single coils.
Stratocaster, Telecaster, Guild Blues P-90 through either a 50 watt Marshall JCM 900 with Mullard EL-34's and 2X12 cab or a restored 1965 Epiphone Pacemaker amp.
I'm an old guy who has been playing forever and I use the Epiphone amp the most because of its light weight.
The amp has a Weber Alnico speaker and EL-84 type power tubes rated ar 12 watts max.
The only problem with the amp is that it only has a volume control and no tone control.
I also use a Weber Mini Mass attenuator on lower volume gigs.
Everyone comments on 'for the money'.
I don't care what it costs so long as it is reasonable.
This pedal has EQ cut and boost rather than a tone control.
Gives me all the tone I want from punch to screaming treble or any combination of both.
I have used an 808 tubescreamer since the 80's and it finally went out on me after many years of use.
I refuse to pay the price for an old 808 and the new reissues are overpriced for what they are.
This pedal is so close to the 808 sound that I can't tell the difference.
It is close enough to perfect to me.
I play everything but hiphop and metal but I do play a few songs in those genres.
I am now playing in a modern country band.
We also play classic rock and pop.
My Epi amp will break up a little when cranked and with the attenuator it gets beautiful harmonics only problem is that the attenuator cuts the volume in half at any setting.
This pedal boosts the front end of the amp and tone giving me more perceved volume.
As for overdrive it sounds like an 808 tubescreamer.
This will probably be my only and last distortion unit.
Through my Marshall it enhances the great Marshall sound.
I don't like complex, botique, fancy pedals with too many knobs on them.
I got to give it a 10.

It will probably outlast me.

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Not much more to say.
If you like tubescreamers and you want bass and treble cut/boost you can't go wrong with this one.
It is almost as ugly as an 808.
I fon't use many effects and only when necessary but tis one is always on.
Boost the treble and it gets super country twang.
Boost the bass and get punchy.
If you ar old school and like good control and a good sound you can't beat this one.
Find your setting and leave it alone.

It can't get much easier than this.
Four knobs who do exactly as what they were meant for.

If you use it for what it is made it is a superb pedal in sound. Ofcourse there are better pedals but you have to pay maybe 4 times the price of this one.
And the price, the name, the sound, ... It's just charming

Never failed

Never had to deal with them: because of reliability.
But very nice they give sound examples with almost every pedal.

I just planned on buying me a second and maybe even a third: second for driving the first just a bit over the edge and a third for spare because I can't miss it in my rigg.

Tough case, gain, volume, bass & treble. EZ battery swap. Rubber base. Easy to use. All settings work well.

I use it with all my amps-solid state and tube. Sounds tubey with the SS amps and gives the tube amps an extra "something" that everyone here has tried to describe in one way or another. Basically it's a tube screamer design so if you know what the TS9 is and what it does then you will LOVE this pedal. It is a refined TS9 / TS 808. I own an original TS 808 (ugliest pedal ever! LOL) and this beats it just because it has the bass AND treble controls, both of which really make a lot of difference. The gain is about the same as a TS 808, maybe a little more. It's juicy and transparent. I have the gain at noon, treble at noon, bass at 3 and the level at 11. It's the only boost overdrive that I use with the solid state amps. I use it with other overdrive pedals for the tube amps. I just set the dials and turn it on. It stays on all the time.

Totally silent with AC adapter or battery. Except for an increase in harmonics and a juiciness factor, the pedal is transparent so my guitar sound is not affected at all with the tone controls at noon. I add some bass to my settings, which adds the kind of vibe you would get from a Fulltone fat boost.

Works perfectly with all my other boost, overdrive and distortion pedals. Warms up digital pedals like BOSS GT 8, Zoom G7, etc. It > IS < the swiss army knife of OD pedals. I would feel naked without this.

Using it with Ibanez and Gibson guitars. Sounds good with singles and humbuckers. It's the ONE pedal I want on my desert Island.

Tough.

In 1971 I played my first gig. So I'm working toward 40 years as a guitar player. I still play weekly and gig about 20 times each year with a jazz-rock-blues combo. Always liked the TS factor so imagine my happy surprise when I added this "enhanced" version to my chain. It does wonders for any combination of guitar and amp. Just go get one.

Easy to get a good sound from this pedal.

Gibson (or other "clone") Les Paul into Screamin Blues pedal, into Bad Monkey, into (either) BC 30 Roland Blues Cube/Fender Blues Junior/Fender Blues Deluxe amp. This is the one pedal in my chain that stays on all the time. I use the Screamin Blues to goose it for piercing solos but the real beauty of this pedal-with all knobs at 12 o'clock-is the way it brings that slightly overdriven tube amp mojo to every rhythm and solo. Yes I agree with the many who look upon this as another TS 9 WITH THE ADDED TONE SECTION.
It works well with other pedals, too. I have used a Tonebone Classic, a Rocktron Nitro, a few wah-wahs and a BOSS ME-5 in the chain with the Bad Monkey. It always sounds good and it always brings that tube driven tone to each of my amps.
Dead quiet using either a battery or a regulated 9V 300 ma PS. (Try the Danelectro PS. One of the quietest around)
Nice smooth overdrive with a touch of harmonics and ever so slight compression. Can't beat it with a stick!

All the positive hype is true. If you already have a nice TS 9 or one of its variants, you won't need this, necessarily. But you could get one for the cheap 40-50 price and add it to your chain anyway, in which case you would not be disappointed. As a standalone tube tone pedal it is one of the best-and certainly one of the cheapest. While my Tonebone classic may produce better overall dynamics, clarity and harmonics...I would never miss it as much as the Bad Monkey. The Monkey is the "take me everywhere" pedal in my rig. It always shines with the overdriven tube tone that all of us want, no matter what style we play (except METAL, of course.) This makes it for blues, clean styles, rock, jazz and country. I am buying another one real soon.

When my Ibanez TS 10 (modded to TS 808) crapped out, I needed a replacement for a gig on the following night. Not good. I went to the music store and all they had was this, used. Took a chance for 30 bucks and took it home. That's how I came into possession of my bad monkey.

Nice range of boost volume and nice range of overdrive. No sucktone or noise at normal useage levels. Bass and treble boost and cut. Direct out for going to a board and amp out, too. No noise on/off switching.

I use this with with a laney LC 30. Pure fking heaven. That's all I got to say. Its my number one OD. Better than the TS 10 and more rugged. Sometimes I use the direct out into the Laney for a change of pace. Its a little smoother. Mostly using the amp out and setting it to sound just like the laney sounds dry. no problem.
Using a Epiphone G400 sg guitar with gibson burstbuckers going into the bad monkey then into the laney. Makes fat greasy butter on everything. I fouled me drawers when i opened up with this. Fkin great drive and sustain with almost 100 percent transparency. I love this thing. Too fkin good for 30 bucks.

compared to the ibanez TS10 this is a lot better built. It's almost 2 pounds of metal and the whole bottom is rubber. tough took me a while to figure out the battery thing.

This costs 40 new. its the biggest no braner in the world. your just stupid if you own a decent tube rig and you aint got one of these yet. WTF are you waiting for?????