DigiTech Bad Monkey

Standard model, 4 knobs Level,Low, High Gain, piece of piss to use, easy to get a good sound out of it high and low knobs very useful for cutting or boosting frequencies.

Awesome

This is my setup

Epiphone SG Vintage (not the standard model real nice, inexpensive guitar) into Korg DT10 tuner -> Crybaby 535Q -> DOD FX40B Eq pedal -> Bad Monkey into a Marshall DSL50 thru a Hotplate attenuator into a 1960AV cab with vintage 30s

I really like this pedal, its got a great sound which is not heavily saturated so you can still hear the individual notes of chords coming thru. I generally run the amp on clean and the Bad Monkey with the gain at full and level at half with the bass and treble slightly boosted. I can get a lovely, buttery ACDC shook me all night long esque tone or run the level up into the amp with both pickups and get an eric clapton blues breakers sound or even a SRV sound. The pedal is versatile to a point, it wont do heavy metal however I found that by running it through the classic gain channel of the DSL with the the gain full and level halfway its really meaty.

If you've got a good setup to begin with its difficult to not get a good sound out of it, its never buzzy or harsh and i rarely turn it off now, nothing gets a 10 however its really a 9.5

Nice solid metal body, switch seems tough im pretty gentle with my gear I would depend on it

Never dealt with them

This pedal is a fantastic bit of gear and for the price I dont think you can match it, the tone is great its easy to use and I get laughs out of my mates when i tell them its called 'Bad Monkey', I'm tempted to but another before digitech cons on to wat great pedal it is and pushes the price up. Dont be ignorant and elitist, go try one out with a good setup and you'll be very happy

Pretty easy ( as most pedals are ) but your need to take a bit of time to fiddle with the bass/treble controls as they add quite a bit of versatility to the mix.

OK, here is where the rubber meets to road. Do I give it a 10 based on it's price/performance ratio, or should I judge it on sound quality alone regardless of price?

If you check out some of the gear pages ( other than HC ) out there, the Bad Monkey is getting some great press from seasoned players who have the boutique/vintage/keeley/am modded stuff...so they know their tone imo. I actually bought mine when they first came out before all the hub-bub started. I didn't care for mine to begin with. I tried it out a few times, but found it rather flat and fizzy sounding compared to my other o/d pedals...so I stuck it back in the box and forgot about it till all the posts started flying. From reading the posts, many people stated how the treble and bass controls set this pedal apart from other offerings out there. Pulled the ape back out and started tweaking the b&t knobs and it really opened up the tone. I prefer the low gain tones over the high gain, but I do believe that is what the pedal was designed for. Still, for a $40 pedal, it get's an 11. As a stand alone, I'll give it an 8. I lucked out and got mine for $26, so I feel blessed. Run into another o/d pedal, really sets the sparks a flying.

Its a pedal.

The monkey is a low to medium gain OD pedal suitable for bluesy lead and rhythm tones. It has a noticeable midrange voicing that is similar to the tubescreamer but is less nasal and more useful with a wider variety of guitars and amps. The distortion quality is VERY smooth and does not suffer from any fuzzy, buzzy, gritty, spitty, transistorized weirdness at any point from the initial pick attack to complete decay to silence. The gain knob produces useful tones at both ends from almost no grit to singing blues leads. The eq is very useful and different then most OD pedals. Both the treble and bass knobs CUT their respective frequencies when left of noon and BOOST when turned right. Also the bass knob seems to add a fair amount of gain when boosted. I hear some bass rolloff when its kicked on and boosting the bass doesn't really get it back. As someone else pointed out the "Bass" knob is really more of a "low mid" knob and does fatten up the tone but it gets a little tubby after a certain point. The treble boost is useful even up to max and unlike most Boss OD's you will find yourself adding treble because of the smooth nature of the sound. The volume knob has ALOT of available gain so you can easily use this pedal as a booster with the gain down and the volume up. Lastly the damn thing is quiet even at max gain.

Appears to be "strong, like bull". Similar construction to Boss units. Heavy enough to stop a drunken marine rushing the stage.

Overall I consider the pedal to be very musical. By that I mean it produces a wide range of musically useful and pleasant shades of overdrive with a well voiced mid range emphasis. If it has a drawback it may be that it is TOO smooth and lacks the rough edges that some players prefer. However, for blues and other styles where you want a lower gain thick smooth tone for rhythm or leads this pedal is the real deal. A bargain at any price.

Just a note that may help some of you. Try using the mixer out into your amp. Suprisingly it sounds better into a tube amp than the amp out does. Should sound muddy since it's supposed to be a cab simulator out to send to a mixer/PA. But try it and see. Much much better ! Richer and fatter w/o being muddy, dark or losing articulation.

2 band eq, gain,volume.a 10 simply because most other mass produced OD's only have one tone knob. Also has a cab simulator out so you can go into the PA, which is very nice if it works well, which i don't know since i haven't tried it.

I use it mostly as a clean boost, and to me it sounds a lot like a tube screamer with a bit less of that mid peak and a bass control in this context, which by the way is how i'm reviewing it. The treble control feels and sounds a bit different, but not much. Is there some kind of magic to the tone as some reviews suggest? not to me. I find it to be a good tube screamer alternative, especially if you like them but wish they had more low end. to that end the monkey is the choice. But other than that i doubt you'll find it much differnt. It could very well depend on the amp tho. So this could accont for the glowing reviews. Maybe my amp doesn't bring out the magic in this pedal.
In short i would say that if you have a tube screamer you should probably not bother with this pedal unless you need the extra low end. If you don't have a tube screamer and are looking to get something along those lines, then i'd say check it out. The basic character of the tone of this and the tube screamer all things being equal (as in EQ amd drive/volume set to sounds as similar as possible) is different, but to be honest not enough to call either the better pedal.

if you intend to use it as a distortion pedal instead of a clean boost, there too the difference isn't huge. But the momkey has a little more drive. i don't care for either pedal for this use.

Gotta be good.....all metal with good old metal jacks bolted to it and a strong housing. In a pedal like this the only thing that can go wrong would be the switch. taking the pedal off as you do to access the battery you can see it's a circuit board mounted switch. One of those typical tiny momentarys. These are not perticularly reliable, but then most every mass produced pedal made today has the same switch. So it's as good as any other at least. So as solid as this thing is i'll take off 1 point for the switch since many botique pedals have a real DPDT footswitch that is not only more reliable but is total bypass.

?

As i said, the features make it a slightly better alternative to a tube screamer, which is the category it's definatly in. But the thing is, the features are not enough better to make it the better choice if the tube screamer has a bit better tone to your ears. After all, thats the bottom line. And also consider as noted earlier that if you like screamers but more low end is a big one for you, then the monkey is without a doubt your pick.

But in summation i can't honestly see what the big buzz i read here is about. Good pedal at a price that makes it a great buy if you're in the market for a TS type unit. But if you have a TS or the like then no matter how cheap it is it's not worth buying unless you find the tone to be much better or the bass boost a major concern. personally i'm still using the screamer as much or more.

All pedals are easy to use

I use mainly a Tele or Strat thru a SF Deluxe Reverb and I lean towards blues and classic rock with funk, R&B, and reggae excursions. The Bad Monkey is a Tube Screamer clone with bass and treble controls. Compared to my modded TS-9 it is smoother, and has a wider less nasal midrange peak. It has more gain than the stock TS and it is mostly quiet even with the gain maxed. As with any TS circuit the original bass from your rig is rolled off and cannot be dialed back in. The "bass" knob is really a "low mid" knob and can add some additional fatness to your tone but becomes muddy/tubby by about 3 o'clock on the dial and is uselessly thin left of noon. The treble control never gets raspy and is useful from noon to max depending on what you like. The gain provides useful tones throughout its entire range and maintains some dynamics at most settings

The build quality is on par with the Boss line and the knobs, jacks and switch all feel solid. I don't forsee any issues.

I really like the midrange voicing on this pedal and the tone knobs allow for an extra degree of control that never existed with the original TS design. That said, I have found only one use for TS style pedals and that is to add midrange thickness to single coils for leads. The Bad Monkey sounds very good in this capacity and will be replacing my venerable TS-9 which I always thought was too nasal. Overall I find this pedal to be superior to any offering by Ibanez (including the 808 reissues which are merely marketing hype) and as good as some of the "booteek" TS clones/mods I have heard. If you've always wondered what the fuss was about the TS then give the bad monkey a try.

Couldn't be easier, twiddle the knobs to get what you want. I'm sure you're all familiar with that concept :-)

I just wanted to echo what so many others have said below, this pedal is GREAT, and what a ridiculous price! All I wanted was a bit of a boost for my solos, and this does exactly that, at a fantastic price. I've just come back from a recording session with my band, and I used the Bad Monkey on all the lead parts.

I play an American Strat through a Peavey Classic 30. I also use a Boss Flanger and Super Octave, and put the Monkey at the end of the chain.

We have 2 guitarists, and I just wanted something to help my solos cut through the mix. This pedal gives a really nice kick in the pants to your tone (and BIG sustain!) and holds on to your amp's natural sound very well, if you want it to. With the Level and Gain up high, it did create some hiss through the amp - but not noticable at all while you're actually playing.

I've only used this for one session with the band so far - but it's built like a tank. A very heavy tank. I can't imagine anything short of TNT breaking this thing.

No idea here. If it ever did break, I'd just buy another one. Or two!

Our band is kind of like Queens of the Stoneage/Soundgarden in style, and this pedal is just right for it - not too "fuzzy" or death-metal sounding. (See www.duffry.com for basic demos).

I've been playing for 18 years, and earn my living as a guitar teacher. I usually don't bother with many effects, but recently got into them, and I'm super impressed with the value for money of this thing. Anyone wanting a harsher METAL distortion isn't going to be happy with this, but for boosting up a valave amp, it's the bees knees at this price.

Get DOWN wid yo BAAAAD MONKEY!

A rather simple device consisting of 4 knobs: level, low, high, and gain. Not much tweaking required as the controls respond as you would expect.

I've played it through my quality equipment that I've collected over my 30+ years of playing: new and vintage tube and solid state amps with a real Tele, Strat, Les Paul and others. I play mostly blues, rock and honkey tonk. With this pedal I desired to achieve a mild overdrive to fluidize solos and crunch up rhythm. The Bad Monkey gets close, but no cigar. I thought that the individual high and low eq knobs would set this pedal apart from competitors in the $40 to $60 range..... but I was wrong. For example, I locate a clean and beautiful tone with my guitar and amp. Then, I use the Bad Monkey to layer some bluesy drive while trying to maintain the unique personality of the guitar and amp. Doesn't happen. The janglyness gets lost as the high's get sucked away. It you adjust the pedal's eq knobs to compensate, you compromise the true tone of the guitar and amp. I also have a Boss Blues Driver in which the Monkey is in direct competition with. The Blues Driver is superior in maintaining the sparkle in your tone compared to the Monkey.

It's heavey for it's size and appears solid in construction.

I have no idea.

A good pedal for the price that does the mild to medium overdrive thing well and has good flexibility for tone shaping. Without jumping to far in price there are better pedals though. Wrapped in a green case with yellow lettering, DigiTech has created the ugliest pedal ever........but this only adds to the vibe.

4 knobs Level ,and Gain,but the High ,Low knobs in the middle really help.LED ,and stereo out.

I play a Les Paul Special with P-90s,and two Telecasters ,with various parts, and PUP's (Duncans,all single coils) Dunlop Crybaby,MXR Dyna Comp,DigiTech Bad Monkey threw JMC 800 50 watt combo.This pedal is great,for my Marshall. I had Fender Blues Jr, but Distortion boxes sounded to high and "tinny" threw that amp (sold it) but the Marshall is really my tone of choice for 5 years, I had a fender bandmaster head and cab before that. This effect is great for a tube amp; it gives the right amount of gain, or boost to my single with out changing my tone. I was using the Dyna Comp before to boost my single, but I got the unit second hand 6 years ago so its starting to cut out ,and it hums. Now the Bad Monkey does not hiss, or buzz, there is of course the boost in volume level, but that's what I was looking for. You can boost the level to get it to push the amps gain, or boost the gain knob to make a more distorted tone. The best part of the effect is the High, and Low option, I can get a great tone with the high at 6 o?clock, a heavy warm tone, and together at 3o'clock an overdrive sound. I have had the box for a week and tried most of the knob positions, and haven't found a bad one yet.

The housing is very heavy,built hevier than both Boss ,and MXR pedals.
Easy pop pin setup to get battry in ,better than Boss again on that one.I would gig with out a back ,I don't see any way I could break this baby.

I regestered online ,and didn't hear back from DigiTech,I really don't see having problem .I'll let ya know if I have to contact DigiTech.

This pedal is not for everyone,(Metal nu or old)it's not a heavy sounding tone changer,which is what I have found most OD/Distrotion pedals do. I have had MXR Dis Plus, Boss BD-2 ,they were great ,but they sounded to close to my Marshall?s Muddy gains, so they ruined the tone. I have also had a Boss Overdrive, and Distortion, DOD FX56, and an MXR Blue Box. lot of these OD/Distortion Units colored and changed the signal to much for my taste's ,and the sustain would decay to hiss and microphoinc feed back ( In the case of the Blue Box ,cool Fuzz and Octava,but Zero sustain even with Dyna Comp)I was going to purchases an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9,but saw the review on the Bad Monkey, and at about $57 cheaper ,why not give it a try. Its anolog,it won?t suck the life out batteries ,and it was designed to work with a tube amp, I like allot of the other reviews by tube amp owners agree on this. I have been playing guitar since 83 (Acoustic & Bass) I have played out ,and been in bands cover and original playing bass from 93 to 97,from 98 to 99 went to sound & recording school, so I have heard allot boxes, and when I started to build my electric guitar rig, It has taken many guitars to settle on telecaster's as my guitar of choice ,and Marshall as my amp of choice. I hope that this box will stand the test of time and use.

Blindingly obvious

Ignore the prank reviews, this is one outstanding pedal at an absolute steal of a price - and this comes from one who has always been dubious about Digitech products.

I've also owned a Tubescreamer and a Fulltone Fulldrive. This little green box covers most bases that these do and at a ridiculously low price. Those who've shelled out for one of the above overpriced and over-rated pieces of kit must be as sick as a parrot. Hey! Maybe that's why the prank reviews are turning up!

Anyway, I use a Trace Elliot Speed Twin 50 watt all valve combo Fender US Strat and Tele, Hamer Special, Ibanez AM70 and a
Yamaha AES 620 and it sounds outstanding with all of them.
Lots of adjustments with the improved tone controls - way
better than the Tubescreamer, but not for those looking for screaming distortion. It sounded a little noisy into a transistor amp I tried, but was a quiet as a church mouse into the Trace.

Come the nuclear holocaust, only two things will survive, cockroaches and the Bad Monkey pedal. Solid cast metal. You'd have to try very hard to break it.

Doubt I'll have to use them!

Do yourself a favour and buy one. They are so cheap, even if you decide it's not for you, you can stick it on eBay and still get most of your money back. Must be in the running for Pedal of the Year or possibly a future classic.