DigiTech Bad Monkey

So easy...(ahem)...a monkey could use it. The manual gives all the necessary information to operate the unit, just in case you're a first timer. The real trick is knowing what you're looking for. That takes time/experience as a musician. Just turn the knobs and use your ears.

Alot of people have said many good things about this pedal and I intend to do the same. I have been a long time user of Ibanez Tube screamers. They're great pedals but there is a slight loss of low end frequencies. Still, they were the best fit for me. About a year ago I had to sell some of my equipment for financial reasons but now that the crisis is over (and we are doing well) I am replacing some things and exploring new things. I tried (and purchased and returned) quite a few OD pedals over the last 6 months including Jekyll and Hyde, MXR Wylde Overdrive, TS9, some Danelectro products, a Boss or two, and a few others. I don't remember them all. Now, most of the pedals I tried were great pedals but not getting me quite where I wanted.....Enter the Bad Monkey.

I stopped in at a local guitar shop that was going out of business and while chatting with the owner I noticed some ridiculous prices on his pedals. Most of the usual "good stuff" had been picked clean but I noticed a Bad Monkey sitting there and had heard some positive mentions of them. I have always turned my nose at digitech in the past but I figured "Well...I heard some good things about these and for 20 bucks, how could I go wrong?" So I brought it home. I plugged my '96 G&L Legacy into the monkey and then right into my Blues Junior (retubed with Mesa SPAX7's and Mesa EL-84's and a "well-broken-in" speaker). I listened. "Hmmm....It's warm. Smooth. Transparent. Natural sounding. Impressive. I'll give it some time...". After a month or two, this pedal has earned it's way onto my board. In fact, I bought a second one to daisy chain!

Like most of us, I am constantly on my own personal quest for THE sound. These pedals have gotten me the closest I've been yet. I get transparent, chunky rhythm sounds and creamy, smooth, sustainful lead tones that let the sound of my guitar/amp shine through with just the right amount of bite. All with my low end still fully intact! Used with a humbucking setup the sound gets even warmer and the sustain and overtones become more pronounced. My only other effect is a Carl Martin "Red Repeat" delay and both my monkeys and "Old Red" play well together. I hear no noise until I engage both monkeys and then it is very slight, just the line noise you'd expect when chaining OD pedals. It's not audible while playing, barely noticable when not playing. Very quiet pedal. The seperate bass and treble knobs let me massage my tone to get it right where I want it. No noise when turning it on/off.
My only complaint is that they don't clean up quite how I'd like when I turn the volume down on my guitar. Not bad, just not a perfect "10", but I seldom make those kinds of adjustments. My rig gives me clean, slight OD, heavier OD and a 6db boost on my amp (foot-switchable) so no problems with that.

Oh, as a side note. There is a second output on these that has some sort of cabinet simulation. I tried it straight into the board for some recording and it sounded surprisingly good. Actually, better sound (for my taste) than I was able to get out of my line 6 POD 2.0! Useful for late night recording and I think that if my amp ever broke down at a gig or if volume was an extreme issue I could get through the gig using this feature through the PA. Good job Digitech!

So far...so good. I haven't had them all that long, but the one I bought at first was a demo model from the Digitech display so I'm sure it took some in-store abuse and it's holding up just fine. I plan to by a third one in case one of my two "first-stringers" acts funny but they seem extremely solidly built (they weigh a ton!) so I don't anticipate any problems. Time will tell.

No Contact. No need.

I am 33 years old and have been playing for the last 20 or so years. I have owned quite a bit of gear over that time and am currently "happily down-sized" to:

1996 G&L Legacy
Tacoma DR-28
Some off brand laminate-top acoustic (my "beater" for camping)
Fender Blues Junior

I gig 3-5 times a month and these pedals finally made their debut in my live rig a couple of days ago. I was extremely pleased with my tone and got alot of compliments on it. Mostly from the guitar players from the other act and some from the audience. I play mainly blues, rock and some popish-rock, but also some more progressive stuff. We cover (among many others) The Verve, Jeff Buckley, Cold Play, Goo Goo Dolls, Pearl Jam, Hendrix, Sublime, John Mayer, Bob Seger and a bunch more. We also play some originals.

I originally took this pedal home based on the 20 dollar price tag but I bought the second one because of the sound. I am quite happy with my pet monkeys and expect to see them on my board for a long time to come.

Not that hard to get a tone. But a good tone? forget it. The manual was ok.

Did not give a very pleasant warm tone. Th treble knob added a harsh high end and I didn't like the frequencies it modified. Same with the bass knob. I ab'd this with my Ibanez ts-9 and ts-9DX and there is no comparison. The tube screamers are ALOT Fatter and warmer sounding than this pedal. More "meat" in the tone and not so brittle and fake sounding. Did not boost my amp as well either. In fact it thinned out the tone as opposed to beefing it up like the tube screamers did. This is a wannabee pedal that just doesn't cut it.

Seems very solid and well built

They have always been good

I play all types of rock, blues and metal. Peavey 5150 amps. ADA mp-1, JSX amps and OLD Marshalls. 27 years of playing have given me a superb and keen ear for tone. I didn't like this pedal at all. It's sound quality is second rate to ibanez. The Ts-9 kicks it's ass and the BBE green screamer does too. For $40.00 I guess it's ok but your tone does suffer for it. Stick with the real thing. There is a reason they are the best.

Very easy, it has the typical volume and gain plus a treble and bass tone stack.

I am not one to recommend gear this way but this little box is the best deal going for a tubescreamer OD pedal. It is every bit as good as TS-9s with the bonus of having a knob to shape the bass. It goes from very clean with the gain turned down to good rock/blues crunch with the gain past noon. It is quiet and doesn't seem to suck tone turned off. I use this with my '72 Deluxe Reverb and Les Paul ('57 classics) or PRS HBII. I sprinkle in other effects sometimes but sparingly. I havent heard better but I imagine there are some $300 booteek pedals that are a bit better.

So far so good but then I am easy on gear. Seems like real sturdy construction.

Never tried.

I like to play classic rock, blues and pop. Importantly, I play rhythm often where I need some light OD without loosing string definition or the sound of my guitars or the Deluxe. This little box delivers that. If it were stolen I would cuss and then bust out another big $40 to replace it. Take it from me, get one of these and check the tubescreamer box (for cheap). They dont come much better. Use the money you saved for a better amp, tubes, guitar or(gasp!)lesson.

very easy, small manual

I got rid of a TS-9 for this pedal. Alot more tone shaping available than the tube screamer with the bass a treble controls which are active by the way. Talk about a fat boost of juicy tone. I push the crunch channel of my 5150 head with this thing. I leave the crunch switch off and boost with the bad monkey. Full on van halen brown sound! Sounds almost exactly like his tone on Women and Children First. Incredibly fat yet biting as well. Just working the preamp gain gives you a huge variety of sounds ala EVH. Not overly dirty on the crunch channel, just big and warm. Engage the crunch switch and you have yourself a Soldano! Very cool> It takes the gain to almost uncontrollable on the lead channel. Loads of fun. Don't use that too much.

seems very solid

good people

I traded a Tube screamer for this and had some extra money left over. Sounds practically the same with added tone flexibility. Does Brown sound to a tee. The controls are VERY sensitive to movement and it takes a little dialing in to get your tone. Changed my 5150 from an average sounding amp to a blazing tone machine. I'm not ashamed to use a pedal either. Vai and Satriani both get help from pedals to get their fabulous sounds. Why shouldn't we?

Pretty basic; level for output, eq controls, gain control. Anyone looking for an overdrive box will probably know what these are in the first place. Good call on the battery compartment, its a pretty nifty system. Manual explains everything straightaway.

I've been blown away by this pedal. For 40 bones tone just does not get much better than this. My rig is not superior by any means: Ibanez RG3EX1 through Fender Frontman 212R, usually not any other effects to speak of (occasional Digitech RP). Even with this modest, solid state setup, I have been able to craft amazing tones using the Bad Monkey. Warm, crystal clear chords that ring out beatifully abound with the gain at about 12 o'clock and the highs at 1 (Lows at about 1 as well). Crank the gain and highs to 3/4 o'clock and throw on the neck pickup and you've got a fantastic lead boost that induces some of the most incredible tones you've heard in a while, everything from trey anastasio to hendrix to clapton with some tinkering around. No brittle, dry distortion to be found here. There are limitations to be found with this kind of effect, but that is inherent to its purpose; its an overdrive, not a distortion, so you will not find death metal thrash anywhere in this machine. I can attest, however, that even if you only have a decent solid state amp, this pedal will improve your tone sigificantly if you are looking for a soulful, warm distortion tone.

Well I bought a $10 warranty before I had picked the thing up,"just in case." The second I paid, the guy put it in my hand and I nearly fell to the floor. The thing is heavy. Real heavy. I don't see any need for a backup unless you're really neurotic about these kinds of things. I guess I haven't had it long enough to give it a ten, so it gets a nine with an asterisk.

Never dealt with Digitech

I play alot of rock music, everything from modest mouse to phish to clapton to cake, etc. Seeing as how I was in the market for a true tone box, not just some screaming, hissing, take your sound to eleven thrasher, I have found a phenomenal product (especially for the price). Perhaps a much more expensive OD would provide an even better sound, but I've heard it said that in order to match this box, one would have to go into the high hundreds/low two hundreds. This baby gets the job done in style for much less. Overall a fantastic product. Kudos to Digitech for the aggressive pricing. Now get one before they change their minds.

quite easy to get a good sound out of with the bass/treble... not so much a compromise as the overdrives with only a tone.

I am thrilled with the sound quality of the overdrive. I've spent up to $150 trying to find TONE in a good overdrive pedal and this one has got it. There is no comparison in value for what you are getting. Seemed at first like there was a bit of a mid-hump but you can easily shape your tone to compensate with the bass/treble. Actually after playing a few minutes I began to like the mids in the pedal... squawky!

Can't say yet but I've never had trouble with DigiTech before.

nope

I would recommend this one first to anyone.

Couldn't be easier, level, low, high and gain controls.

So far, so good. I have a few different setups that I like to use depending on the music being played and the size of the venue. So far, the Monkey has sounded really good with my Peavey Classic 50. The big test will be using it with my 50W Marahall half stack.

Only used it at rehearsal, have yet to run it through gig conditions. It appears to be well built, the only thing I don't care for is the switch and how it kinda sits under the foot treadle part, seems too exposed to me....

I've dealt with the crew at Digitech/DOD back when I worked in the repair shop at Sam Ash, good people there in Utah.

I play lots of different stuff, from rock to blues to fusion. I feel comfortable that I can get a good sound out of this device. Sound-wise comprable to a TS-9 with the added tonal flexibility. Still a tiny mid hump but nothing that will stick out like a sore thumb. For $40 you can't go wrong, hell, buy two and keep one as a backup! I'd put this up against anything the corksniffers can come up with, and it'll hold its own!

Couldn't be much easier.

This is absolutely marvellous sounding unit. It is by far the best overdrive I've had. Boss Od-3 was also good, but it sounded way too dark, I just couldn't get enough treble with that one. Not that problem with Bad Monkey. Very good EQ controls and very good sound. There might be better sounding overdrives on the market, but not at this price. The price could easily be twice as much and it would still be a good investment. This goes extremely well with a tube amp. If you have a tube amp and a tube overdrive that's easily too much tube things and it doesn't sound good anymore. I don't use any tube effects anymore, since I've got a tube amp. Bad monkey is also a very quiet unit and what's the most important thing: it's almost impossible to get a bad sound out of this overdrive. Just for the sound I'd give it a 9, but it's so cheap, I must give a 10.

This is heavy metal.

I was suspicious at first, because DigiTech's other products are not very convincing. Their multieffects just sound bad, digital and cheesy. So it took me quite a while before I dared to buy this thing, but I haven't regret the buying at all. I've been playing for way over twenty years and have owned a lot of different gear. I'll keep this one as long as it lasts. It's the best overdrive. Don't waste your money on that boutique stuff. It may be a little better, but it can be worse, too. Bad Monkey is a working man's choice. Buy it!

Within approximatively four seconds, I could produce an awesome tone out of this thing. The fact that there is a bass and high knob make the eq-ing easy and always right.

I bough this on impulse because I had a deal this morning and so far, I'm honestly blown away. I should have got this thing like 10 years ago.

Sounds great... another Bad Monkey rave review I guess.

I used to use a Sansamp GT-2 for distortion, well I still use it, but it produces a heavy, thick distortion rather than a milder overdrive. With the GT-2, I can't get anywhere close this overdrive sound.

So far so good. I never ever use backup for anything, it's just a bad habit I have. From all the gear I own, all my digitech stompboxes have always been very reliable so far, unlike some of my Boss stompboxes (believe it of not).

Never called, never will. As a children of neo-liberalism like most of you, if a problem occurs with this pedal, my reflex will be to trash it and buy another one.

I play jazz professionally but also some rock. I use the same guitar for both: a Gretsch 6120 strung with 11's, usually with flats but sometimes with rounds when I am more in a rock mood and need not to record. I use either a Mesa Boogie Mark IV, or a JC-120 these days, for solid state convenience and because that's what I own right now (if I'd have a Twin around, I'd probably prefer using that). When I use this pedal with a spring reverb it sounds very "rockabilly", which is the sound I am after in rock.

I've heard some people dissing digitech's products. I don't know since I am no gear snob but I own a Digitech Digital Reverb and Digital delay, and this Bad Monkey, and so far I think these 3 pedals are top notch stuff sound-wise! And they were all pretty cheap.

Just one thing I am not sure is why they make this goofy looking design. I don't think it is aimed at teenagers. But nevermind.

Very easy: Level, Low & High eq, Gain. That's it. I've found that virtually all stomp boxes are very easy to operate so this category is a bit pointless for this product.

Here we go. Another glowing review for the Bad Monkey pedal... But it's quite good. I put it in front of my Peavey Classic 100 head with 410 Traynor cab and it sounds great. I use it for a gritty break up of a clean tone. It's transparent if desired and has a lot of character without being harsh. Guitars used are: Les Paul, Nashville Telecaster, Peavey Wolfgang, EBMM EVH and a dual humbucker guitar that I made. Each has their own character through the pedal which is fairly volume sensitive. So the different outputs of my pickups react differently with the drive. Volume pot adjustments react fairly well with the gain.

It is warm and by having the low and high eq it gives me the ability to dial it in to match the response of my clean channel. Activating it sounds like I just threw dirt onto my clean channel and virtually nothing more. If there is any color change to the original signal of the guitar it's just warmer.

I don't use it to boost the front end of my amp to drive it harder. I just use it to dirty up the clean channel. In the past 10 years or so I've tried products from Boss, Ibanez and Marshall without the success that I've found in this box. At twice the price it would still be a 10 rating.

Rugged. I doubt there's anything that could go wrong with it. But if it did, it's only $40 to replace it.

I have no idea. But again, I could replace it for very little so I don't really care.

This is an amazing pedal. Yes, the price helps boost the meaning of -amazing-. But at 2-3 times the price this pedal would still be great. Between the price, the dayglo green paint and the goofy name I figured this pedal was geared only for teenagers. Honestly, they could change the name to something like - Vintage Tube Drive - Make it a vintage color and charge 3 times what they currently charge. It's that good.

I'm not someone who looks at guitar gear like an Audiophile looks at Hi-Fi gear. Coloring my tone is what all my gear is about. I only care what color the tone is as it comes out of my amp. I'm quite pleased with this pedal and can whole heartedly recommend it. Don't let the juvenile packaging scare you off. It's the real deal.

The tone is much rounder, warm and organic my stock or modified Blues Driver. It's much richer and full than any Tubescreamer I've played. Before you look into modding your existing pedals take a look at this pedal. Return it if you don't like it. But there's a good chance you're modding your pedals to make them sound like this one... No kidding.

Great pedal. Strange packaging.