DigiTech Bad Monkey

Easy to use but not easy to get a good sound out of it. Not modded. Manual is ok.

This is one overrated pedal. The overdrive just didn't appeal to my taste. I agree that it did sound kind of cheap and tinny. I used my telecaster and pro junior. I just couldn't like it.

This pedal really sucks. I wasted $40. I totally recommend saving for a decent overdrive unless you really can't afford to save anymore money. This overdrive is totally overrated. I wish it would sound more "real" instead of fake cheesy overdrive.

It doesn't sound like a modeler which is nice because it reminds me more of an analog pedal. Doesn't mess with the guitar's natural tone. I have a feeling it works better with tube amps than with solid state which has been my experience with other pedals in a similar genre. I don't know if it sounds better than the 808 since I've never owned one but it seems to at least impersonate the feel of tube amp overdrive.
Its a pretty clean over drive too. The bass can be a little too much so I've been dialing it back a bit. Treble tends to need cranking to about 3 o'clock for any sort of clarity. So far I've only used it with a little solid state Ibanez practice amp and I'm not all that impressed. But then again I'm sure it will sound better on my tube amp.
I compared it side by side with a Line6 Crunchtone which I also own. The Bad Monkey is approximately the same tone as the "pop" setting on the Line6 pedal although the latter is slightly brighter and WAY louder. This is my main problem with this pedal because I read somewhere that this one is more powerful than the Tone Driver which I also have but it really isn't. The Tone Driver is much more versatile as well with much more available gain.

Overall I'd say this pedal is decent for some applications. It's probably best for boosting a lead channel or adding a little bit of warm drive to a clean channel. By itself it is not for heavy playing styles...you'd need to add another OD or Dist. in there somewhere.
I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt since I haven't used it with my tube amp yet but I don't think I'd get rid of it either way because you never know when your song writing will call for just such a sound as this. And at $40 I don't feel like I'm taking a loss if it sits around for a while.

Easy simple pedal. 4 knobs.

My friend recommended this pedal to me but I somehow I could not get a good sound out of this. The overdrive sounds too weak, "woody" and cheap. Not enough gain for much playing around with. I plugged straight into it then into a Fender Twin. Not my kind of sound apparently.

Looks cheaply made with it's plastic but we'll see.

Been playing blues for over 20 years, and still searching for the "right" overdrive for myself. However, this pedal is way overrated in my book. But it's alright for it's cheap price though I guess. But I recommend saving up for the better overdrives out there like the Voodoo Lab sparkle drive. Sound quality is worth paying for. This pedal is what you pay for. Cheap price for a overdrive.

This is a very simple device: level knob, low/high control knobs, and gain knob. There is one instrument input and two output jacks: one for the amp and the other for straight to mixing board (simulates a cabinet). I didn't bother with the manual. Anybody that's every tried an overdrive pedal should know what they are getting into. Once you've got it tweaked, just stomp it on and off when effect is desired. Simple.

I didn't buy this to sound like any famous artist, I just wanted to get a creamier lead sound from my tube amp. When I got the Bad Monkey, I already had its role cut out for it. Basically, this pedal acts as my replacement "Lead" channel. I'm not particularly fond of Channel 2 of my Mesa DC-3, the EL84's tend to get too hairy when overdriven at low volumes. I just plugged this into my amp, had it set on Channel 1, gain about noonish-to-1, low's at 2:30, highs are 1:00 and I got the tone I wanted. There is already some mild breakup in channel 1 so when I put the Bad Monkey there, it gave me the buttery tone I wanted. No complaints! Like any other overdrive, you need to match it up with what guitar/amp you will be using it and the Bad Monkey is a good match for ch. 1 of my amp, as I intended it to be.

You can back off or turn up low/high knobs to define their freq. levels, which is a Godsend for anybody that's ever owned a Tubescreamer. Backing up the gain knob will, of course, give you more headroom while turning up the gain will drive it harder giving you an increasingly OD sound. I don't bother turning it past 3 o clock ever, since for my amp that'll just become a mess; perhaps it'd suit your amp? You could probably clean it up with other effects if needed, but I never saw the need to put the gain that far up. You can always control your tone from your guitar, which the BM responds to very well. Yields much nicer-sounding results. This thing is an excellent value.

I always avoided DigiTechs because the graphics made them look kind of cheap, kind of toy-like. This is the first time I've actually owned one. When it arrived, I was surprised how hefty and tough looking it was. The knobs are the cheap rubbery kind of things, but otherwise this thing is "built like a tank", as they say...

I don't know how the battery life was (it came with one, which was unexpected), but I had a spare 9V adapter that I use with it instead (I don't like or trust batteries).

Never dealt with DigiTech before, this is my first time purchasing one of their products.

I'm one of those guys that have no real musical focus, I just play what's sounds good and looks fun to me. I've played rock, metal, blues, jazz, swing, and lots of other random stuff. If you need a good OD sound, I would definitely give this a shot, since its half the price of a reissue Tubescreamer and far superior for its tweakability.

I've been playing for 7-8 years and I've owned many guitars and amps, but I've settled on an Epiphone LP Standard and an Ibanez SZ320EX, both upgraded with Seymour Duncans (interestingly, these sub-$500 guitars were what felt and sounded best to me!) I currently run a simple rig of a Mesa/Boogie DC-3 and TC Electronic G Major. The Bad Monkey is the only stomp I have other than a Boss Loop Station.

I'd definitely repurchase this if it were stolen, but not before I got incredibly pissed.

I love the high/low controls. Great feature. I wish the mix-control was balanced so I could use it with my headphones. It'd be nice just bringing my guitar, the Bad Monkey, some cables, and a pair of cans for when I'm away from home. But it's unbalanced, mono signal, so if you stick in headphones you'll get sound in only the left side.

This isn't for everyone. If you can, I'd recommend trying it at a store with your amp (or an amp like it) to see if it will work for you.

Very easy to use. Alot of fun to play around with for different sounds.

I was just about ready to buy an Ibanez TS9, but for the price I hesitated. Good thing I did! I don't let go of my money easily. I did some research on the internet and read some very good reviews of the Bad Monkey. I checked around locally and found a store that carries DigiTech, so I went to check out the BM. I must say that this pedal is at least the equal of the TS9, and perhaps a bit better! I ended up saving about $50, and got a better overdrive pedal! The BM has exactly the sound I was looking for: that creamy, soft, overdriven tube amp sound - not distortion - I have a Boss pedal for that, and they are two totally different sounds. The BM is superb at what it does, and is exactly the sound I was looking for...and it's dead quiet, whether on or off. I have three amps: a Peavey, a Vox and a Behringer (my "just for fun" amp). It sounds great thru all three, as well as with any of my seven electric guitars - Peavey HP Signature, lite ash Strat, Les Paul Standard, Tele, Epi Casino...you get the idea. But, obviously, each guitar sounds different thru the BM - single coil vs humbucker, solid body vs semi-hollow, etc...I can get just about any sound I want, from Clapton to Buddy Guy to Santana (man, that Peavey HP Signature is SO close to a PRS! Check it out!) I've been playing for some 40 years now, off and on, and within the last year I decided to get serious about playing again - an old dog learning new tricks. I know sound, and this Bad Monkey does the trick for me. At $50, it's SUCH a steal! And, this is really cool - if you buy one and go to DigiTech's site and register the pedal w them, the warranty goes from standard 1 year to 6 YEARS!

Very reliable. Have had no problems at all, and I've been using it constantly, day in and night out. I always play any piece of new gear incessantly for the first week or so. That will usually let you know real quick if it's gonna last. The Bad Monkey will probably outlast me! (And don't forget - if you register your purchase w Digitech, you get a 6 year warranty! Can't beat that!)

No need, so no opinion. Although I did call them before I bought the pedal, and they seem very friendly and knowledgable. DigiTech is now a part of the Harmon International family, which also owns numerous home audio companies. Their reputation is pretty good, as I've also been into home audio and home theater for some time now.

Gotta give it a 10! Heck, for the price it should get an 11! I play pretty much anything but rap/hip-hop, and the Bad Monkey really shines on blues and jazz especially (which is mainly what I wanted it for), although you can dial in some nice sounds for rock, indie and country as well. It is NOT a distortion pedal! If you want a pedal that can give you a slight nuance to your sound, a creamy, smooth overdrive, look no further. Although it can be driven much harder if you want a more aggressive sound.

If you've ever used an overdrive pedal, this is straight forward.

gain/vol/treb/bass controls and bypass stomp switch.

Also of note is the cab sim out.

Wow, like many others, I thumbed my nose at this pedal.
"It's digitech... it can NOT sound good."
Well a friend urged me to check one out. I did.

I've had this pedal for over a year now, and use this into my fender 85 and vox AC30 combo amps, with my Gretsch guitars.

It gives a good, versatile tone. Good breakup, and the meaty lower mids fill out the somewhat scooped or 'refined' tone of a cleanish AC30. I run the gain around 11 o'clock, the vol around 9 o'clock, the bass around 3 o'clock, and the treble around just over 3 o'clock. It gives a nice, almost transparent creamy n crunchy addition to my tone, that allows good additional harmonics, bite and smoothness to be my main tone when playing in a three piece outfit. With just a much needed addition in the lower mids, enough to give rhythm work and palm muting technique good body, and gives a bit of nice hair and sustain to lead work.

This pedal requires no mods, mainly because of that little bass control, which is conspicuously absent on many other designs.

The only addition to make it better is to add a clean boost pedal with about 3dB boost (usually the lowest setting on most clean boosters) to open it up and make it a bit more touch sensitive, and help with picking dynamics. I can totally change the tone by just lightly stroking the strings, picking with my fingers, or really churning aggressively with the flat pick.

What completely surprised me (yes, I got even more surprised by this green box) was how it made my backup amp, a solid state fender 85 come to life. Again, that amp has beautiful clean, but not much in good tubey type gain. For years I tried to find a pedal to make this amp work, and they always sounded thin and brittle. Not the bad monkey... it makes this amp a joy to play through!

Good work Digitech! I'm impressed. Now those modified blues drivers, tube screamers and all of their ilk are relegated to being bench warmers. The Bad Monkey is now permanently bolted to my pedal board.

One last note is to try the cam sim out instead of the normal out into your amp (or the next item in the chain). It adds a level of refinement to the tone.

Yep. Dependable and robust bugger.

I opened it up and changed out the red LED to a booteek blue LED. All surface mount electronic components, and unusual pots mounted directly to the board. Yet on inspecting the was they are secured to the housing, I have little worry that anything bad will happen to it.

The FET switching stomp switch feels a little mushy compared to a boss pedal, but hey, I don't think it's going to fail any time soon.

Don't need it. The pedal works well.

If there was one word to describe this thing, it would be "surprising."

For the price, this is absolutely, downright astounding.

Considering all the shades of kakk from other pedals, which then need to sent off to some boutique modifier to be usable, only to be put to shame by this humble green box, is a rare thing indeed.

Tubescreamer killer is what man people call this thing. Yep, easily.

But...

I also say it competes with other pedals over 5 times the cost of this bugger.

This is just an addition to my last review: I picked up a TS-808 reissue for a hundred bucks, with the intention of replacing my Bad Monkey with the Godfather of Tubescreamers. I played with it through my practice amp for a bit, all jazzed at what it might sound on New Year's through my live rig. I immediately remembered what my original 808 sounded like when I bought it at 17 (many, many years ago). Then I decided to A/B the 808 and the Monkey. Set them up flat first. Hmmmm. Very, very close. The Monkey had a tiny bit less hair and a bit more low mids. Then I set them both up to my regular gig settings. Whoa! The Bad Monkey was actually fuller, beefier and a bit smoother. The Bass knob is a godsend, of course. I was absolutely heartsick and flabbergasted at the same time. The 40 dollar Bad Monkey, in my humble opinion (about 25 years of playing, most of that live), sounds better than the Ibanez TS-808 reissue. I play in a 3-piece band, and I need to have that extra bit of thick, full sound to fill things up a bit, and the Bad Monkey sounds great through my rig. I am, however, planning on bringing out the 808 and using it New Year's for at least two sets to give it a chance through my live rig. Man, I can only expound on my last post: the DigiTech Bad Monkey is a classic in the making.

Has anyone else come to the same conclusions as me regarding the Bad Monkey vs. the 808 reissue? How about a Bad Monkey vs. the TS-9? I was floored, absolutely astounded to find that this little 40 dollar pedal sounded better to my ears than a $169 dollar Ibanez 808 reissue. Wow. Wow....

We all know the drill: it's basically a Tube Screamer with the lovely addition of a bass knob that gives it more versatility tone-wise than your average Tube Screamer.

I've had this pedal almost a year, I picked one up when I realized that I'd better get one in case DigiTech decided to jack up the price. Hey, for 40 bucks, this is a mother of a deal. This is a great pedal. It sounds soooooo damn good, better than my TS-5 that it replaced. It gives me the type of classic rock overdrive that I end up using 85% of the time. Love it. This pedal is definately now a classic in it's own right.

Built as well or better than many pedals out there. You could certainly knock out a few teeth if need be with this thing.

Haven't had to deal with them, and I've been weekend-warrioring with this thing for almost a year.

Can you find any other pedal at this price that sounds this damn good? Take a bow, DigiTech, this is a winner. I've been playing for almost 25 yrs, have owned tons of gear, sold way too much that would be worth bucks now, including an original TS-808 (hey, we had no idea that they would be worth so much!). My live rig consists of strats into a '65 Bandmaster through a tweed Peavey 4-10 cabinet with reissue Jensens, and the Monkey gives me that sound I loved when I was 17, playing my Super Reverb with a TS-808 in front of it. The Monkey may not be some 500 dollar boutique darling, but it will always be the workhorse of many musicians out there in the trenches. An excellent overdrive destined to be a classic.

Digitech's Bad Monkey Overdrive is beyond easy to use; no manuel
needed.

The sound quality of the Bad Monkey Overdrive is what you always seek
but are often dissapointed with other overdrives. This one is buttery
smooth but with the 2 knob EQs you can give it a little kick if you
are worried about the silky sound not cutting through a mix when playing with other musicians. The decay or tail off is not clippy!!
It will be the last OD I'll ever need! The BM with some careful EQ tweeking keeps my amp sound in tact.All of these things are important
and this stomp box is made right.

I would gig with the Digitech overdrive without any backup. Maybe a spare battery. I might switch to an adapter.

I play everything from 50's doowop to metal to classic to country.
I have many effects processors (some are a dissapointment) I've had a fuzz/dist/od fetish since the Maestro Fuzztone of the 60's. This a rare find in which the price is 1/4 of it's value (to me)
Someone said the Digitech Screaming Blues takes up where the Monkey ends; that is not true. I bought the Screamin' Blues for the
OD/Dist combination. It sucks. The Monkey is not like the Screamin' Blues at all!! 2 BMs on a pedal board would be neat. It compresses and adds sustain. I would replace it if lost or stolen. Nearly 40 yrs of trial and error and chasing tone and (my) ideal sounds.
Now if I could find the (almost) perfect distortion unit.

It's very easy to use - a simple layout of the four knobs - gain and level, plus low and high frequency tone knobs. Of course, you have to understand how gain andlevel interact, but even the novice will get the hang of that by quick trial and error.

Great sound, but make sure you use a valve amp. NB It does not do high gain stuff - use it like a tubescreamer.

Well built and feels robust. I don't use anything without a backup, so I always take other distortion boxes with me to gigs.

No dealings with customer support.

I like it because the sound is there immediately, as long as I have a good amp for it to feed.