DigiTech Bad Monkey

Very simple pedal, but has a lot of flexibility. The tone controls are a really welcome addition, especially the "low" control. The cab simulator output is actually very functional. It was a wise decision to add a separate jack for this function. It works well for silent practicing when plugged directly into the board. Not sure that it would cut it for recording, but definitely adds to the value of the pedal.

I play a strat style guitar with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage p'ups into a Roland Cube 60 (set to the black panel model.) I've tried it with other amps as well and have gotten consistently good results. The Monkey is very quiet until you get to the most extreme settings. The real reason for this pedal is to give a warm boost to the sound, so trying to get extreme distortion settings isn't what this pedal is about. Not worried about copying someone else's sound. Just looking for a full, warm tone that will clean up well. The Bad Monkey certainly does that, and more. It will also serve as a versatile clean boost if you reduce the gain. Very cool.

Seems to be really solid. I gig regularly and don't think twice about reliability. I've had nothing but good experiences with Digitech equipment. In fact, I think of the Monkey as the "back up plan" if anything else fails.

I've owned a lot of Digitech pieces over the years. I am still using a GSP-21, a DSP 256, and an MEQ 215 that are all nearly 20 years old. I've actually had to replace the memory back-up batteries and they still work as new. The techs were very helpful when I called with questions regarding the more complex pieces. Excellent service department.

I play a wide variety of music. I play professionally in a sequenced duo, and also play with a band at my church. At one point, I made my living playing full time. I've been playing for 35 years and have owned a ton of gear. The Bad Monkey is really a versatile piece of equipment. As a pro, I always looked for reliability and flexibility. The Bad Monkey really covers a lot of ground. IT IS NOT meant to be a heavy distortion pedal. It is really at the gentle end of overdrives, but it does it really well.

easy

very-much like an Ibanez Tube Screamer, however, it has more tone controls that allow you to shape bass and treble frequencies. This is a very nice overdrive that I am now happliy taking to gigs...very verstaile. Pushes the amp gently, or aggresively, depending on your taste. I really, really like this pedal through tube amps!!!!

very sturdy!

a great pedal that does what a lot of boutique pedals do at a fraction of the cost. awesome!

very easy to use controls. you just have to know how to mix it with your other gear.

low and high are very responsive.

level finds unity around 9-10 o'clock

battery a bit difficult to access but that's no big issue.

I'm using this with my solid-state practice amp and a Les Paul copy. On a solid-state it isn't as impressive as what it may sound like in a tube amp but it does its job.

The Bad Monkey does shine however when I use it as a booster for my other OD. I have a zendrive that I like pushing with the BM. It sounds great. The two of them have similar voicing (similar not the same) and the extra mid boost from the BM helps me get that push. A little tweaking of the knobs will help me get the perfect boosting sound.

And, the nice thing about the BM is that when you turn the gain knob all the way down, the bad monkey becomes a mid-humped, bass and treble adjustable clean boost. No overdrive whatsoever. It's good for those clean solos.

for rhythm, you can get a pretty good sound. lead is where it can get nice when paired with another OD/Distortion/Fuzz. But when compared to the zenrive, it isn't as crunchy. and i like crunch but the bad monkey isn't supposed to do that. i use it similar to how a TS would be used, as a booster of an already good sound.

built similar to a boss. a bit heavier and wider.

i can expect the same quality.

never dealt with DigiTech.

I do a lot of research on the net before I buy anything. But overall, it's a rule of thumb to try things out before you buy them.

my set-up is basically Les Paul copy -> modded wah-> BAD MONKEY -> modded DS-1 -> zendrive -> Fab Chorus -> DD6 -> various amps

i play blues and rock. it's a good investment especially for beginners who want a good piece of equipment to start with.

This is really easy to use--four knobs--level, low, high and gain. Of course, there's the additional bass knob that most tube overdrives don't have, but that shouldn't be too difficult for people to figure out.

I have to say that--regardless of the cheap price, this should already be a legendary pedal. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it. First of all, it's dead quiet--next to no hum or noise. I use this with a Fender 140 tube head and a Garnet Gnome tube amp, and it sounds amazing with both of them. I play an Epiphone '63 Firebird reissue, an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Flametop (Seymour Duncan Phat Cat bridge, Gibson Classic '57 neck) and an Epiphone SG (Seymour Duncan SH-6 neck, Gibson 490T bridge). In my opinion, the Bad Monkey really shines with the parallel switch setting on my personally modified SG in the bridge position. As well, it sounds great on the coil cut.

When comparing it to the full humbucker on the same guitar with the humbuckers set to the series switch, the Bad Monkey didn't sound as good--but then again, none of my pedals sound great with that configuration (usually all of them sound grainy or woody), as the humbuckers add so much volume and bass before you hit the pedal. When you're not using humbuckers, this thing really, really opens up.

Like most tube overdrives, it doesn't sound the greatest after about the halfway mark on the gain knob, getting a little grainy sounding. Although it does have more of a smoother full gain sound than alot of what I use (modified Blues Driver, modified Vox V810, 80's Ibanez TS10 modded to TS808 specs).

Truth be told, this is not a Tubescreamer. And that's a good thing. Tubescreamers, though I like them, have a traditionally gritty midrange hump (to my ears in the 700-900 Hz range), whereas the Bad Monkey has a smoother mid response, not to mention the low knob for bass, which really comes in handy to fill the sound out. Most Tubescreamers and variants lack the bass knob, and their tone knob covers too much of the mid sweep territory--the Bad Monkey has a "high" knob and it must be pointed out that they got that right. It's a "high", not a tone knob, which is what i've been griping about for years from other pedals where they control the mids. And the high knob here seems to have it's fundamental frequency in the 1-3 kHz range--or possibly even a bit higher than that--which is where you get your clarity in guitars in the mix (i'm an engineer/ producer and i've spent lots of time in the mix dialing out 700-900 Hz and emphasizing the 3 kHz range, which is magic for making guitars shimmer and come to life).

Make no mistake, the ratings of 1 from people here are probably people who don't tend to have alot of experience, running it through a solid state amp. This-is-not-made-for-a-solid-state-amp. Say it again. If you are buying this so that you can turn your solid state into a tube amp, this will not give you tubes that you do not have. This is made so that you can turn the volume knob up and turn the gain down, so that you overdrive your preamp and tube section.

I did a couple of mods to it (despite the surface mounts, there are quite a few actual caps) that reduced a bit of the mids, making it more pick responsive. Stock, I would have gave it a 9, after the mods i'm giving it a ten. Plus, there is one capacitor that if you lower the value, it turns the bass knob into a lower mid control (i'd say more along the lines of 500-800 Hz in the tone sweep)--I used that for awhile, but I found that it turned it too much into a grittier Tubescreamer type. Anyone that's interested, I can do this modification for them, contact me at the email address below.

9. Hasn't broke down, and it weighs a ton--you could probably throw this around all day and it wouldn't break. The switch is a PCB mount thing that possibly could yield problems (hence the 9 instead of a 10), but as long as you don't jump on the pedal switch with both feet, it should be fine.

Haven't needed to contact them.

I could rate this a 9, but why? Even in stock with no mods, it's a beautiful sounding pedal that is great as a clean volume boost, or a mild overdrive pedal. I play a wider variety of things--and tend to use fuzz pedals alot for the more aggressive stuff--i've tried to take the Bad Monkey off of my board due to the "pedal snob" theory--"oh this is cheap, people will think i'm an amateur or lesser player". Guess what? They said the same thing about the Gibson Junior in 1955--the "pros" didn't want anything to do with it, but now the Gibson Junior with P90's is commanding insane prices on the collector's market. If you have your own style, the rest is just icing to try to make you an even better player.

I've been playing for 14 years, and with experience comes the fact that you know a great tone and sound when you hear it, regardless of what you've paid. Like I say, I have my own personally modified Blues Driver, Vox V810 Valvetone, Ibanez TS10 modded to TS808 specs....and though the V810 is raunchier (Pete Townshend "Who's Next" type crunch); the Blues Driver cleans up the best, distorts more and is brighter/ chimier; the Ibanez TS10 modded to TS808 specs has a little more low end available for a Tubescreamer circuit without a bass knob--the Bad Monkey is the best overall.

The only thing that I wish it had was maybe a mid knob, then it would make it insanely great. But that's not that necessary. The bass knob, when fully up, gets VERY bass-y, you shouldn't need that much bass (but it's there if you need it for some reason). I can see people playing this for five minutes with all the knobs (including bass) up full crank, and it would get very muddy. Be very careful when dialing in the bass (most overdrive pedals don't have a bass knob, so this could be foreign to alot of players). Plus, I wish that it was true bypass (ie: unplug the power and your signal cuts out). Other than that--which is nitpicking--it's perfect.

Don't go looking for others' sound with this--it makes it sound like YOU. It's like a mirror--if your playing is not so great, you will not sound good through this. If you're an excellent player, this will only make you that much better. And if you're looking for Big Muff type fuzz or highly distorted sounds, look elsewhere--this is not a high gain pedal, it just responds to your playing and what you put into it and gives you nothing but that, regardless of the distortion setting.

This pedal is very easy to use. with it's tone, level and gain controls - it is very flexible. I use it in combination with a Nobels ODR-1 in a chain where I can use either or both. I use the Bad Monkey for the beefier kick and it works well as a lone effect or as a layered effect.

Fairly transparent - the tone controls allow me to add additional color - I like it!

Excellent - no problems.

Never serviced - maybe the best response...?

Excellent performer!

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.

It took me about 10 minutes tops to get the perfect tone out of this pedal. I don't think there's a BAD tone in this pedal, it depends on the user's point of view. I give it a 9 just because there's no suggested settings in the manual. But it's too easy.

To those of you wondering, I have the Made In China version of this pedal and it is completely faithful to the USA version! Without a doubt....the Tube Screamer has been replaced. This pedal is better than my Analogman modded TS9. All for $35.........you've got to be joking!!! And it's built like a freaking tank! Here's my recommended pedal settings for a Strat going through the Bad Monkey into any Fender style amp for that "SRV style solo boost". Level: 10 o'clock, Low: 3 o'clock, High: 4 o'clock, Gain: 8 o'clock (almost off). This gives a WICKED boost for solo's with just a bit of added hair, and nearly transparent tone...not the mid-hump that's associated with Tube Screamers. I'm ordering another one as we speak so I can have one set for chunky rhythm and one set for high-gain lead. I've been waiting for a production pedal like this my whole life!!! I never thought it would come from Digitech.....and from China.....go figure!!!!!!

I haven't had this long......however......I've gone through a LOT of pedals over the past 15 years, and I can tell you that this is the strongest looking box I've ever picked up. It's HEAVY. I'm a bit skeptical of the pc board mounted switch, but it seems to work well out of the gate. The jacks and knobs look and feel solid. Turning the knobs is a pleasure, they offer stiff resistance...they won't easily get knocked out of place.

Haven't tried yet.

I play blues and classic rock. Johnny Lang, SRV, Clapton, KWS, BB King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Doyle Bramhall, that kind of stuff. I've been playing for 15 years. Played professionally for about 10 years. Not only would I buy another if lost or stolen, I'm buying another to put on my pedal board! This just goes to show you that you can make a quality effect pedal despite dollar value, or boutique status, or vintage status, or some magic op-amp crap, or toggle switches, or bright blue LED's, or MOJO......you just need SMART DESIGN...that's it.

easy to use level ,drive,hi/low, the 2 outputs (1 to amp and 1 to mixer) can throw you off but if you take your time...i use it with headphones it comes with amp sim.

its o.k. with solid state it's so/so, in front of a tube amp it's great
i have bare bones valve jnr and it gives that broken up tube sound with out being to loud. it can get "hissy" on settings but otherwise quiet

solid, an elephant can use it, don't need a back up but you'll have more than 1 distortion with you anyways

don't know

classic rock, roots music, muck around with everything for longer i care to remember
you'll always need some tube screamer type pedal in your bag
they put a lot of effort into this i wish it did'nt weigh twice as much as 1 boss pedal but for the price great deal essential for those on a budget and solid built to last
visual sound got it right by putting a comp pedal in front of their route 66 tube screamer clone because this is what it needs to shine/sing
without it, its o.k.

Gain, level, bass and treble EQ.
All work like they should, bass and treble are very effective, so you have to take care that you do not turn them up too high, but all in all you rapidly find very decent sounds.
The character of the EQ (the way it works) is very usable, i have seen worth on more expensive pedals.

Its hard to it a pedal with 2-way EQ easier to use, so 9 of ten.

Has enough level to be used as almost clean boost (but no insane boost, more a slight boost).

It is an overdrive, no high gain distortion, no death metal pedal.

What it should do (offer tube like overdrive like a Tube Screamer) it does very fine.
Higher gain levels lose a little bit of definition, but lower to middle gain settings sound really good. It is a warm overdrive, not too dynamic, but not too compressed. Like a Tube Screamer with enough bass (thanks to the bass control) and with enough, but not too much trebles.

I like the overdrive character in front of a clean tube amp, and it sounds good if you want to drive an overdriven tube amp a little harder.
I use humbucker guitars with gibson scale, maily made of mahagoni wit hrosewood fret boards.

There are pedals that are more dynamic, that have better overtones, but they usually cost at least 2 or even 4 times more.

All in all a good sounding, TS-like pedal that gets the job done, and this quite good.

Built like a tank. Heavy and very stable metal chassis, reliable foot switch, precise controlls that are not too unstable.
10 of 10 because it hardly can be better.

No idea.

It sounds good, has (thanks to the 2.band-EQ) lots of different sounds on board and is built like a tank.
And it is really cheap. 9 of 10.
If you look for a TS-like overdrive, you hardly can do wrong buying this cheapo pedal.

Very easy. I like the independent bass and treble knobs -- much better than pre-ratioed, single tone knob you find on other distortion boxes.

Only problem in this category is that the battery is a bitch to get to. It's located under the hood of the pedal, like a boss, BUT. . . This pedal does not have the Boss-style screw; It has a pin, at the top of the hood, which one must push in from both sides -- this requires two hands, but you need a third to actually pull the hood off. So grow another arm, or ask a friend to help.

Here's my rig: Mid 90's Fender Bassman RI with a tube in the rectifier slot -- Line 6 DL4 Delay modeler -- Bad monkey -- Lovetone Big Cheese --Ibanez Talman TC 620 (fender jazzmaster style) with p-90s. Also have a Epiphone valve jr. head, but have not played it through this yet.

The monkey sounds great. Although I'm not experienced with too many "overdrive" pedals, I know distortion and fuzz (I've used a DS-1, OD-2, Rat, Lovetone Big Cheese, Big Muff and I know what my Bassman sounds like on 11). I can't make comparisons with a TS-9 or 808 -- other people have done that plenty. But the Monkey ranks high in terms of distortion, much better than DS-1 and Rat (though not quite as gainy).

With that pronounced midrange bump, it does 70's classic rock very well. If, for some sick reason, you wanted to play ZZ Top, the Monkey would nail it. And for all you SRV people, like 3/4 of you, you can do that too.

The Monkey has good range, in terms of gain. If you have a tube amp, you get pushed tubes compounded by the Monkey's own gain, and therefore you get more gain than with a solid state amp. At the lowest setting, I believe its just overdriving my amp (could be wrong about this) and I get a slight, very transparent and sweet grain -- like Stephen Malkmus' tones from the Silver Jews classic "American Water."


With the gain cranked, I get a good Neil Young "Zuma" sound. Think Cortez the Killer, and Barstool Blues. Very sharp, definined, powerful tone, with just enough rasp. Great rhythm sound.

I just got the monkey, so I'm still figuring out how I will use it exactly, but it demands certain uses. It smooths out the nasty, squishy, spitting fuzz of my Big Cheese, so chords sound better. It adds sustain, also, when in combo with the Cheese, and the solos soar in a really nasty way.

This pedal stars in a number of capacities. Boosts, rhythm, lead, blues jams. +++++++++++++++

Good so far. Built like a healthy turtle.

NA

I like Built to Spill style power-guitar pop, Pavement, Neil Young, blues, Velvet Underground, the raging psych blues of Comets on Fire, CCR, Strokes, electric Dylan, Georgie James, Fairport Convention, Sonic Youth, you know. . . guitar music. Been playing for about 10 years. Would buy one if I lost it.

Very easy to get a good sound out of entire range of gain. Has separate Low and High controls instead of just tone which helps tremendously.

If you want the chunky, hearty, firm push that only a tubescreamer circuit can give, then this pedal is for you. With a Strat, it's really easy to get the SRV tone through my 1967 Super Reverb. This pedal, unlike the ts808 Stevie used, keeps the bass intact and firm. Very alive sounding. With my PRS or Gibson ES335 through the same amp, a Warren Haynes or Gary Moore tone are both attainable.

My pedal board is as follows:Crybaby,Bad Monkey 1(gain dimed),Bad Monkey 2(gain zeroed),Nobels ODR-1(modded),Boss PS29(delay),Boss GE-7(Monte Allums Mod),Boss RV5--amp

These stock Bad Monkeys have defeated a string of overdrives to win their place on my heavily gigged board; including: Marshall Black Box Blues Breaker stock, and another one modded, a Jekyll and Hyde with Indyguitarist mods, Boss Super Overdrive with Monte Allums GT mods, Fulltone Fulldrive, Exotic BB preamp, and some other cheap junky ones I am ashamed to have owned! I don't know what to say, it doesn't seem to matter what kind of cool, boutique-modded play-pretty may be on my pedal board on a given night, I always go back to the Bad Monkey before the gig is over. I use one with the gain down low for bluesy, chunky guitar, and another with the gain dimed for hearty, amp-like overdrive that is both creamy and crunchy. I then kick in the modded Nobels ODR-1 as a singing, loud afterboost for Gary Moore sounding leads.
These pedals only cost $39; which kinda makes me sick when I think of all the money I've spend on some other ones that are basically paperweights now. But, you know, I remember buying an Ibanez SD9 in 1985 in a local retail music store here in Birmingham, Alabama. That day I had a choice between that, a TS9 or a TS808. All of them were $25 on sale but brand new. So, my point is, when SRV was using his TS808, it wasn't some high-priced boutique jem; it was a sensibly priced, mass-produced item that anybody could pick up. Not unlike the Bad Monkey.

These pedals are tanks, nothing cheap about them (except the very nice price).

Never Contacted them.

I play in 2 cover bands, one blues based, the other modern pop/rock/country. With my PRS with Duncan '59 in the neck and GFS Vintage '59 in bridge, these pedals can cover it all; I mean we literally go from covering Pink, to Pat Benatar, to Gretchen Wilson, to the Pointer Sisters to Jet, to Rod Stewart in a single set (Did I mention we have 2 female lead singers?). These pedals never sound thin or lost in the mix, they're always grinding smoothly and comfortably in the midst of it all. I've been playing right at 25 years. If lost or stolen, there is no doubt I'd grab two more just like 'em. I love that it is true to the tubescreamer feel and heartiness, but with added active Low and High controls. I hate that it is called a Bad Monkey; I mean, come on, it makes it sound like a kid's toy-which it isn't. It should be called something cool like Tube Cooker or whatever. Name aside, though, this pedal is truly a musical instrument unto itself. I don't even want to gig without it.

Rather easy to use. 4 controlls, the usual gain and level, and an EQ with bass and trebles.
EQ works as should work, all controlls work continously, no jumps or so.
EQ is very effective, so slight turns on the knobs can change the sound a lot.
9 points.

It sounds quite good, especially at lower drive settings.

I play it in front of tube amps, with gibson-like humbucker guitars.

Sound reminds me a little of a Ibanez Tube Screamer, but it has more bass and less over-emphazise of the mids.
All in all it is an ok sounding overdrive, no distortion, so the character is more soft than harsh, more vintage than n?? metal, more low or medium gain than ultra high gain.
It doesn't sound like tube overdrive, but it doesn't sound like a harsh transistor chain saw.

It is not too compressed or muffled, but not really a dynamic idol.

It sounds o.k. to push an overdriven tube amp a little harder, and it is usable in front of aclean amp, but it sounds better to kick a slightly overdriven tube amp.

As said, sound is o.k., but it is not great, so 7 points.

Low level of noise, no high gain distortion available (it is an overdrive, no distortion).

All in all it sounds ok, but not really spectacular.

Built like a tank, very heavy and relaible.
10 of 10!

No idea

It sounds decent, it is rather cheap (about 50 US$ in germany), it is very relaible, has a 2-band-EQ, so 8 of 10.
With a little better sound it could be the 11-points-hammer.

It's a doddle

Top Notch Pro Pedal - lovely juicy crunchy overdrive sounds.

Totally solidly built.

Never met Digitech so no idea.

Short review cos a more comprehensive one I submitted has'nt appeared to make it. A superb budget priced overdrive pedal & I've been playing since I spotted Mr Donegan playing Skiffle on a guitar on black & white valve tv sometime in the late 1950s.

Very straightforward to use... it's like other stomp boxes... with level, low, high and gain control. These controls are very responsive so you can tweak your sound relative to your guitar and amp. Really intelligently voiced pedal and easy to get some great sounds from it.

It's all been said about this pedal... it's a great overdrive pedal with some lovely juicy, scrunchy, creamy and crunchy overdrive sounds!

I think it's important in reviews to say exactly what set up you base your views on sound wise... so my set up for this pedal is: Kustom 10 watt amp [solid state] and a Washburn HB30 [a 335 type guitar]and a Strat [USA '72] With this set up I really love the sounds I can get... it's great for practise and recording.

Just do the usual... adjust your guitar volume and tone controls along with the controls on the Bad Monkey and you'll find some great sounds. The other amp I use is also a practise amp... the Marshall MG10 that gives you equally great sounds with this pedal. I also have the Digitech Screamin' Blues another great pedal. My simple set up is guitar to Bad Monkey to Screamin' Blues to Boss DD3... result = wonderful!

These pedals are very well built... better than any other I've used... sort of similar to a tank and as heavy. Excellent!

They feel solid and dependable

I have never had to deal with this company so no comments.

I've tried lots of overdrive/distortion pedals over the years and this one is by far the best I have ever used. It has the bonus of the output to mixer too... very useful for home recording. It's a class pedal at a budget price and sounds and looks superb. Totally recommended.

I find this pedal easy to use. Just sync the level control with the amp clean, & I tend to keep the settings close to the warm rhythm setting in the manual, + or - the gain setting depending on my mood. But it's also good to tweek for other sounds. Separate low & high controls gives slightly more variety of tones, & that's always good.

This pedal isn't very noisey at all on My MG15, but on my Cube 30x it's a little noisey but not problematically so. The sound of this pedal can depend on the amp. I first heard it in the shop on a Marshall MG50 and it wasn't special to say the least. Then I heard it on a Fender Hotrod Deluxe. And it really sounded like the soundbites on their website. Possibly better. This box shines w/tubes. I used it first on a Marshall MG15, and I liked it as long as the gain wasn't up too far, or as long as the high eq. wasn't too high. And I found that it helps especially to cut down the mids on the amp. It gives a kind of chunky sound to the amp. For anybody reading this it's also better to play solos or power chords with these pedals, and not triads. Now I have a Roland cube 30x & it sounds a bit grainy with this amp but still not bad. It seems to have slightly cleaner harmonics w/ this amp. I need to experiment more. I also have a Digitech Hothead and that sounds pretty decent on the Roland at various settings. For tubes this thing deserves a 10, but for SSs an 8. so 9 I guess.

I'm assuming I'll not have any problems.

This is probably worth mentioning. I live overseas, and I was recently in the States, so I emailed Digitech about ordering a power supply for my boxes in order to save some money. But I couldn't order directly from their e-catalog because I needed a 230 volt transformer. The answer I got was short and standard, as though it was taken out of a list. And I suspected that I wouldn't have gotten the 230 volt transformer if I ordered it the standard way. Anyway I didn't get the answer I needed. I could have called them and sorted it out probably, but I just gave up and bought some standard power supplies here for half the price & they work fine.

I'm an old timer, I play vintage rock, and blues. I jammed a bit when I was younger, & recently started playing again. Along w/the stuff already mentioned, I also have a compressor, & my axe is a Gibson LP studio, the jewel in my crown. The only thing I hate about this pedal is its name. I love the way it sounds w/a Fender Hotrod Deluxe. I also like the separate low & high controls. I did extensive research on the net. I found this Harmony Central site very usefull. That's one of the reasons I'm writing this review. I listened to alot of soundbites, Marshall, Boss, etc. And I also checked this alongside various other pedals at the shop. Boss, Ibanez, other Digitechs etc. I just found this pedal with a good sound & a good price. I thought it sounded fairly close to the tubescreemer for less than half the price. If it were lost, I wouldn't buy this again as long as I use Cube 30x, but if I had a tube amp, I would. The cube just dosen't need overdrives or distortions. I would also like to put a plug in here for the Digitech Hothead. The ratings given by others IMO, are too low. I would give it similar ratings as the Bad Monkey. Both these pedals BTW are analog.

good sound with all knobs centered. i usually turn up high a little extra

used anywhere you would use a tube screamer, plus it sounds and feels right used direct to console (live - never tried to record it direct). it is smooth, trails off perfectly (VERY few pedals do this) and has better tone controls that a tube screamer

i've gigged mine for a few years now and shows no sign of slowing down. but i think the main factor for pedals' longevity is how feasible it is to service. bad monkey uses a cheap onboard switch and the boards are SMD, so i'm thinking this pedal is the kind you buy two of for when the first one eventually has problems.

only ever had one experience with digitech support and the woman was a total B.

playing 25 years - pro player, arranger, teacher. it is a great pedal - sure to be an all-time classic. buy a crate of them so you can ebay them for big money in 30 years. like: smooth clipping, beautiful trail-off, good feel, tracks well, amp sim output is good for live, battery access is good. dislike: doesn't have sweet spot like a tubescreamer where you can have very little clipping but still fat. people keep saying the pedal is cheap for what it is, but IMO the price is about right. they could make money selling these for less. most assembly of electronics like this pedal is automated - e.g. a robot drops components on the PCB, components are all wave soldered at once, etc. The circuit itself costs next to nothing to make if you make enough of them. Dunlop pedals are made this way, too and are WAAAAAY overpriced. Many think that a pedal that sells for under a hundred dollars can't be top quality, but that thinking is behind the times.