DigiTech Bad Monkey

very easy to use. just like any other pedal

wow, this thing is great. at first i didnt like it at all because i was running it through a behringer v-ampire head. now that i have upgraded to a b-52 at-100 all tube head, it is great. when i got my new amp i noticed it doesnt have as good as sustain as a solid state, so i was going to get a compressor, but then i pluged this thing up and no need. i dont use it as a pedal itself, i use it more as a booster. i keep it on all the time (even when clean, because i like tool and they just roll down the volume on guitar instead of switching channels so it gives me that kind of sound) and it sounds great. it adds clearity to my sound and gives me more sustain, and it sounds like my amp, not a pedal... o yah did i mention i got it for 30 bucks. i use my like this level-5 high-6 low-6 gain-0. it helps alot

made out of medal, seems very sturdy to me.

?

great pedal. i play tool to seether and it just add sustain and clearity. once you turn it off everything just sounds dull. i love it.

This pedal is realy easy to use. You don't need the manual. It's realy simple to get a nice sound out of it

The sound of the bad monkey is realy awesome. It's my main pedal. I use it alot.

I use a Fender Telecaster into a Digi Delay --> Bad Monkey --> Hot Head --> Grunge --> Cry baby --> Hughes & Kettner Tube amp.

It's the best. You can get the sound of Stevie Ray Vaughan out of it. It's fantastic for blues and rock.

What can i say. Build like a tank!

Never dealt with Digitech. I don't ever have to deal with digitech. I'm a big Digitech fan.

I play 2 years now and i play mostly Rock and blues. It's fantastic. It's the best you'll get.

Didn't take me long to get a good sound. I use it as a clean boost, basically giving me a third channel on my JCM 800.Manual was well laid out, easy to follow the instructions

I'm using this with a Les Paul standard into GCB-95 wah, monkey straight into front of amp with a Boss GT-6 in the loop of my split channel JCM 800. I was previously using a TS-9 which I had modded by aramat. Great pedal, great mod but I was never happy with the bottom end loss and the excessive mid boost it used to give. Same from the TS-808 re-issue I then bought, bottom end would disappear when I stomped on it. So I bought the Bad Monkey after reading all the rave reviews and figuring that ??34-00 was not a lot of money to waste if I didn't like it. I think it's a truly fabulous pedal, does everything I want as regards transparently pushing the front of my amp into higher gain territory for solos. No complaints at all.

Would rely on it 100%. I am gonna buy another one, well, at that price why not?

Never had to deal with Digitech so I can't comment. Is this a testament to their product reliability?

I play rock covers, for this genre of music the bad monkey fits the bill a treat! I've been playing for 25 years and have owned a lot of gear over the years but I will be keeping this bad boy!!! It has made me put my tube screamers into retirement, the monkey is king. I love the fact that I can dial back in my bottom end with the low control, and tailor the high end too, as opposed to one universal tone control a la TS-9/TS-808. I know it's 'horses for courses' in the world of overdrives, but this serves me good and proper. Give one a try, you won't regret it!!!

Very easy and very versatile.

Sounds great as long as you understand what it does and does not do. It is not a distortion box. Not noisy at all, the eq knobs really help a lot. I am using it with my Peavey Prowler tube amp. Sounds great. Sounds better than a lot of actual output tube distortion that I've heard.

Looks and feels very very solid. Very surprised at the quality of htis being a DigiTech. This will now make me look at other Digitech stuff for sure.

Never dealt with them

I play rock, mostly old school 70's. Been playing almost 40 years..was actually there in NYC when punk was real. (Unfortunately I was also there when disco was real too!)I think the good reviews are right on for this pedal..sounds great and is built like a tank. I bought it with an Epiphone Valve Junior Combo which I am returning, but this is a keeper for sure.

It is quite easy to use.
4 controls (gain, level, treble,bass). As easy to use as a 4 controls stompbox can be.
The manual is good enough.
Minus: changing the battery could be easier. It is not really difficult, but i have seen pedals where it is easier.
Therefor only 9.

The best overdrive i have heard so far. Better than many botique stomp boxes i have tested.
Asthe name "tube overdrive" sais it is no black-death-thrash-metal-distortion, no vintage fuzz or anything else. It is a tube overdrive, and a really amazing good one!
Maximum gain sounds good and adds a little compression, but that is what i expect from a tube amp or a tube overdrive pedal. At low gain settings it gives a clean amp a slight crunch, like a tube amp that starts to crunch a little. If you turn up gain, it behaves like a tube amp at which you turn up the gain control: more drive and at some point also a little compression (what gives nice sustain without losing dynamics).
If you put the bad monkeyinfront ofa tube amp that already delivers crunch, you have a nice extra lead sound with more gain and sustain.
Like infriont of clean amp it always sounds like tube, it never sounds like a transistor device.
Just great. As i wrote above: the tube overdrive pedal i know.
All in all it sounds neutral: it dows not make youramp sound likeadifferent amp, it just adds more gain to your, it is like a foot switch for an extra gainstage of your (tube) amp.
10 points clearly.

I have not long enough experience to judge about reliabity, but it looks and feels rock solid.

No idea, i did need support so far and assume i will never need.

Clearly a ten! Buy one!
It is quite cheap and it sounds amazing!
It you are looking for a tube overdrive pedal, test the bad monkey, and i am quite sure you won't look for another tube drive pedal anymore!
I paid 40 euros for it (new, NOT second hand), what is about 48 US$. Cheaper than any other pedal i own or owned, and better sounding than any otherpedal (marshall, ibanez, boss, boutique-stuff) i own or owned!

VERY easy to use. You can't get a bad sound out of it. VERY smooooth.
Good harmonics and very transparent.

Very quiet, quality built pedal. My signal chain is a 58 plaintop to the bad monkey, DOD compressor/sustainer, Traynor YCV80 2x12. Simple setup. This pedal does not have a lot of gain. Some players may not like that. Very dynamic EQ controls. I think this is one of the most natural sounding overdrives I've ever used. I've been looking for this sound for a long time. I love it.

Seems dependable. It's built very solid.

No dealing with CS.

For the price, you will not find a more musically natural sounding overdrive. This little box is so transparent. Absolutely no coloring of the guitar's natural sound. It really left me gobsmacked. I also use this box to drive a non-master volume 75 Marshall 50 watt lead head. It sends that old amp into overdriven glory. Very rich sounding. It nails the Jimmy Page, Allman Bros, Peter Green sound when using it in front of a Les Paul. Since it has very dynamic eq controls, you can really fatten up a thin Strat or Tele without adding too much dirt. In fact, I found that this pedal gave you that wide open SRV sound at modest volumes. It also let's dial out the "icepick" if your Strat is so afflicted. For 35 bucks you just can't go wrong with this.

This thing is awesome! There is no hassle or problem with getting the tone you want out of it, it's just like any other pedal (except sounds better). Don't bother with the manual, you gotta just dive in.

I am using this pedal to add a little more girth and some more distortion to my amp. I play a Tele Deluxe/Floyd Rose DST through the Bad Monkey then a Dunlop Crybaby and into a Carvin X100B overdriven on the clean channel. This pedal is transparent in the best way! It adds that extra push you want for a tube amp overdrive but doesn't color your tone. To make it even better it's noiseless! Seriously, no noises or hisses or anything, I can just step on it and leave it on. The only reason I had to dock its score was that to clean up my sound when I roll back my guitar's volume, I have to turn the Bad Monkey off. Still, small price to pay and even then my cleans are always 100% tube so I don't really care.

I haven't played a show with it yet, but it seems durable enough. The tone is consistent as is the volume and the thing's built like a f***ing tank!

Never dealt with DigiTech.

I play a blues-metal-punk fusion style and this works great. It give enough gain to get pinch harmonics like Zakk Wyle, but it isn't super gainy; it gives enough grind to really rip into a punk riff, yet it's also light and smooth enough to play a really soulful blues solo. I've been playing about 6 and a half years now and I've played a lot of Boss pedals up to this point, namely the Mega Distortion and Super Overdrive. The Mega Distortion sucked for what I wanted to do, and the Super Overdrive is pretty good by itself, but once again was horrible at combining with my amp's distortion. If this thing were stolen I would definitely buy it again and that wouldn't be asking much with its pricetag! The tone of this thing makes it seem like such a steal! Sounds more like a $130 pedal than a $30 pedal. It's just perfect for giving a little more dirt without any hissing or fake, SS sounds. Absolutely perfect!

The unit is easy to use, assuming you are human. It has 4 controls, level, low, high amd gain (pretty obvious). Easy to get a good tube overdrive sound. If you want screech metal or some other garbage, DON'T buy this pedal. It is for smooth overdriven tube sound.
The manual is useless, unless you are rain dead.

The overdriven sound is perfect for my Alternative Country Rock. I just love the sound. It is not noisy unless you crank it to the max. The battery compartment is under the on/off pedal. Just depress the two hinge pins and there is the battery (which it comes with). I use it for some lead work but especially for my slide work. Oh, yeah, it shines there. I use a Fender custom Shop FMT Telecaster with hums (a DiMarxio X2N in the front) through a Crate VFX5212. I hear there are some guys doing mods on this pedal. If they are, they are just ripping you off as there is little to change other than the LED. The adition of Tantalum caps, will just add noise. For my money, they are rip off artisits where the Bad Monkey is concerend.

Beats me. The other Digitech equipment I have, have never failed. It is metal and all the components are surface mount mil-spec, so I would assume it would last a long time. Yeah, I would gig without a backup. (but I always gig with a backup amp!!!!!)

Never used them, don't intend to. They were really good with my RP-7.

Overall, I rate it a 10 as it has taken the forefront in my medium overdrive arsenal. I just love the sound. Only thing I wish it had was a true bypass rather than active j-fet bypass. Even with the J-fet bypass, there is little if any signal degradation. If it were stolen or lost, I would get another (after I put the thief in the hospital). I play Alternative Country Rock, and this pedal is the item. I have been playing a full 40 years. I own 5 tube amps, one SS amp and several Strats. I have compared it to my Nady TO-2 and the Behringer Tube Overdrive and the Bad Monkey blows them both away. Way better sound, way less noise. It definitely adds to my creativity and my overall sound. I can't recommend it enough.

4 knobs - every setting I tried sounds good

I'm using this through a halfways decent rig - '83 American Strat/Frankencaster/335 Knockoff into the Bad Monkey then a BOSS SD-1, BOSS ME-30 and into the amp.

It blows the doors off of the SD-1 - it can get the same sound, but it can also do so much more!! Grunting, panting, screaming - it does it all thanks to the very active EQ controls. I don't have that much stompbox experience, but have a reasonable understanding of tone (I've owned lots of cheapy pedals, one of the original Marshall Guv'nors, SS amps, tube amps and the SD-1). This pedal pushed into a tube amp is killer. It's well worth the $$.

So far so good.

????

I play bluesy rock and have been doing so for about 15 years and have accumulated some pretty decent gear. This is easily on par with that, and deserves it's spot in the lineup.

I love BOSS stuff, but this is definitely better - get one for yourself.

Pretty simple to use, all the knobs are self explanitory. I bought it used, so I don't have a manual or anything for this, but, like I said, it's pretty simple...

I love the sound of this pedal. I have played with tons of pedals and this is one of my favorites. The gain really colors the amount of distortion in differnt ways. Put it at 7:00 and just warm up your sound, send it to 4:00 and you have some really nice rocking overdrive. It's al very warm and very clear, even when it gets crunchy.

I get no hum at all when this is on.

I've played it next to my Visual Sound Jeckyll and Hyde and it's very comparable.

Seems reliable.

I play rock, kind of like U2 mixed with Pearl Jam. Works well with what I do.

I've been playing for over ten years. I play a Rickenbacker 330, a Tele HH, a Danelectro Pro 56, a Taylor 414, and a cheap lap steel guitar.
I play through a Fender Blues Jr. amp.

If it were lost or stolen, no problem, I'll pay $35 for this pedal any day.

Easy to use. The manual was quite brief. Completelyt analog I belive, except the switching.

This pedal I absolutely brilliant. Good for pretty much any classic rock sound as all the old artists used tube amps.
Although this doesn't use a tube , it sounds pretty similar. More realistic than a bloody valvestate marshall that we have at school. Sounds like a rat running around in a pile of celery ??_??.
you can get a zeppelin sound outta this pedal, which is mainly what I want
But this only produces a low gain so it works best with a high output guitar such as a gibson SG special, which is what I have ^_^.

I can depend on this pedal as it is built really well. Similar to boss quality

nah, haven't dealt with them

I think this is a good pedal for all you budding classic rock fans. So go buy it. you can get it for like ??25 off the internet.
Looks funky too. GREEEEEEEEN

Easy to use. Dial in tone, level, gain and you are good.

I use this in front of my AC30. I'd have walked right past it in the store if I hadn't been given advise to try it with my amp. I swear, this is the best pedal you will ever get for ~$50. It is a transparent, evenly voiced overdrive that just sounds great.

It can be used as a boost, or to add a little sizzle, or it can get quite heavy. It all sounds good.

I personally keep all knobs at 12:00.

Looks solid. All these big companies make long lasting pedals.

I've been playing for 6 years. I own a Gibson SG ('61 RI) and a Fender Telecaster (Highway 1 Texas)

I'd recommend that anyone give this pedal a try. I was having trouble getting my tubescreamer to sound good through my amp. I found the TS to be too middy (expecially with my middy amp), while this pedal gives an evenly voiced overdrive. Great effect for cheap!

10 here, because you cannot beat this value.

No Brainer - bass and treble knobs added plus

***ibanez AH-10 guitar> Digitech RP-1> Crate G80 (solid state)***

I have a digitech RP-1 but was unable to get the kind of lead sound (holdsworhian, hendersonian, halenesque) I like from it. the distortion is either grainy on the bottom end, or 'swicky' on the high end. after reading reviews at harmony-cental I bought the bad monkey without auditioning one, a first for me in my 20 year playing career. good choice! the bad monkey gives me the transparent, flat tube-like sound I've been looking for - works great in tandem with the rp-1's distortion. i tried most of the overdrive pedals and was dissatisfied with the tone of most of them. works great for single note and chordal work.

I just bought it

never needed support for digitech devices

for the price can't be beat, a godsend!! versatile tone without coloration

Man this is very easy to use. No brainer kinda thing

I can sound like anybody. Name them P.O.D, creed, chevelle etc.

I use this on top of distortion channel, i can get very chunky, bassy, and yet very gainy tone.

At first i didnt try this, i was going to get ts9, but there was a slight delay on the shipment i decided to cancel that and took this. and i have never been happier than this.

I use peavey valveking 212 combo thru this baby. and it rocks!!

yeah, its digitech!!!

I play pop, metal, rock, alternative. With this thing i can play almost anything.

AND ITS cheap!! i bought new, mannnnnn so awesomee!!!

So easy to use even a monkey could tweak it. *cough*

4 knobs (Level, Low, High, Gain)
Input
Output (Amp)
Output (Mixer)
AC in
Big red "On" LED
Cool metallic green color

Use this OD if you wanna do the Classic Rock/That 70's Tone thang.

Using my Les Paul Custom w/Seth Lovers into my JTM45RI (which I modded to 60's specs) into a 1X12 w/Weber Alnico Blue Dog, it adds a sweet midrange and shiny presence to the tone with nice soft clipping.

Smooth and buttery with no harshness - retains the 'feel' and dynamics of your amp.

Turn the gain up near the top and you've got enough boost to do early 80's hard rock.

Yes, it's true: the Bad Monkey really does deliver the goods.

The only drawback is it could clean up a little more when turning down the volume on your guitar (it's good, but not great at this).

It's a brick; even the knobs are solid.

Never dealt with DigiTech.

I play all sorts of stuff, but my main squeeze is Classic Rock; been playing for 23 years.

This is a fantastic value (tone compared to cost); hence the "10" Overall Rating.

From *my* experience, works awesome with a vintage-style tube amp and vintage-output humbuckers (haven't tried the Strat yet).

I was looking for a Classic Rock boost which would work great with humbuckers (I use a Fulldrive 2 for my Strat), and this Bad Monkey takes the banana and eats it.

Simple as Lipstick Pickup!

DANELECTRO PLAYERS: This is your Review...
(First off can more of you guys please write reviews...we're
ALL Tone Freaks & we should be helping each other out-Nuff Said.)

My 2 hours spent so far with the Monkey-were with a DC-59 Reissue> Bad Monkey>Dano Tape Echo>Dano Spring Reverb> 5 Watt Type A Tube Amp.
This is a very pure chain & purposely so...I was impressed by what I read here & picked one up @ GC for 33 bucks drove home & plugged it in...

Other than slight compression, the BM does not color the unique (love it or hate it)tone of the Danelectro...with the nob on my amp at 10 oclock-I was able to dial in almost identical clean tone with the Monkey ON vs. Off...I was happy with that already & I will add that the slight compression warmed up the Lipstick PU's in a good way aka my tone was not bastardized by some digital beast...I am not fantical about "true analog" because I cant afford it BUT I try to adhere to "Analog tone" at least...anyhoo with the Level:6,Low:7,High:6 I started to turn up the Gain at about 7 you get a slight smooth overdrive, at 8 it starts breaking up, at 9 it was Perfect for that early Keith Richards sound with some Spring Verb added...at 10 I turned on my Tape Echo & got a great Syd Barrett vibe going...which is always a pleasure...the strings resonance kept there natural Dano twang nicely thru the Monkey & there was no clash between the natural "disortion" sounds created by saturating my Spring King or tweeking the roll off switch on my Tape Echo...I can say the Monkey blended very well with my other effects but in a very subtle way...I could turn it on or off & it was "close enough" to what I would have acheived overdriving my amp the with Volume knob...

So far I am very impressed...I am not a pedal fan...especially in that DOD, Digitech manner...I also thru a Boss DS-1 in & out of the same chain (my Girlfriends son had one sitting there) & it sounded like complete crap (sorry Boss lovers)...it completely colored the Danelectro tone no mater how I tweaked it...

Highly recommened for Danelectro users using a tube amp!

PS I also got some WONDERFUL WARM SURF TONE with the Monkey & the Spring King (does one thing very well if you take the time to figure it out) using just the Dano Bridge Pick up...nice overdriven "Boinginess"...Sweet!

Just Bought it...

I play bluesy jazzy experimental stuff...I like droney acid soaked sounds that were created in the 60's using enhanced 50's gear...I like to keep it simple...I dont own a distortion or Fuzz pedal...I have been playing for 23 years...I have several Dano's Vintage & re-issue & a Gretch (LP jr style) Electromatic w/ P90...also an Ephipone Dot (Gibson made). I dont purchase a pedal if it colors my tone...the Bad Monkey passes with a B+...

Pretty straight forward as described below many times. Easy to dial in a good sound. I added a little more treble - bass on 12 oclock, treble at say 2 o'clock.

I use a mix of everything. Gibson, Gretsch, Fender, my own brews etc...fav pickup is P-90. Amps are usually EL84 based things, although 6V6 has stolen my heart recently. But mainly I play through a Laney VC30, Vox AC15CC, Velocette 12R, 5E3 clone, Sovtek Mig 50.

Well, I bought this on a recommendation from someone I trust. I played it only for 10 minutes, which I would not normally do - more like ask for it overnight and try it out properly. So 10 minutes into playing I said YES! Great sounding drive unit. Doesn't screw you tone in any way, simply adds to it. With no gain and level up a bit I can get a nice boost with little breakup - that's nice! Further up I can get totally broken up tubey sounding over drive. It is quite true to its name (not Bad Monkey - DT, what are you thinking?) - Tube Overdrive...This pedal is quiet, no noise, and a nice buffered bypass that doesn't suck your tone. The drive tone is smooth, with only a slight touch of sterility...but barely noticeable. With a Strat say, the quack setting isn't mudded out by the pedal - instead it keeps the tone and adds the level of drive you've dialled in. That's great.

I totally recommend this pedal if you're looking for a lower gain tube type sounding drive pedal. Versatile enough for cleaner boost, right through to dirty grit. Forget about the price - at twice it is still a great pedal.

Too new for me to comment

Again, too new.

I play rock covers, original slightly physcadelic stuff. I need a versatile pedal that sounds good and doesn't change the tone of my carefully selected amps and guitars...this does that. And adds

There's 5 million reviews already so I'll just share my unique experience. But simply put -- this thing is a piece of cake to use.

Very organic, beautiful tube sound. Not a lot of distortion, it's more mellow. Check out what I did yesterday: Took my Richter guitar -- an EX335 clone with P-90s. Put on the neck pickup and turned the volume full up and tone all the way down (think Clapton's "woman tone"). Plugged into the Bad Monkey, with treble at 0, bass at Max, Level at 3 o'clock, and Gain at Max. Plugged that into a "Blue Moaner" (that's a Dallas Rangemaster clone, made by Blue Bayou F/X, great handmade pedal, check Ebay) on Max. Plugged that into my friend's Fender Twin. I'm not even sure what channel the amp was on -- clean / distortion / both. Those amps are fucking confusing. Anyway, moral of the story --- the most monstrous, godlike rocking tone I have ever played through! I can't wait to plug it into my Peavey Delta Blues and see how that sounds.

A tank.

N/A

More people should know about this pedal. At $40, it's the deal of the century.

Well marked and easy to figure out. It has knobs for Level, Lows, Highs, and Gain. All knobs have usable settings (gain is fuzzy at high levels). Only consulted the manual to change the battery, which is not obvious at all, but really simple ones you figure it out.

Sound quality is FANTASTIC! NOT expecting this out of a $40 pedal.

I'm using a few different guitars, mainly a Cort Katana rewired with Seymour Duncan pickups (a JB/C5 hybrid in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck). This guitar is basically a 25.5" scale PRS knockoff with a Tonepros bridge and 500k pots. The pickups are higher-gain Seymour Duncans with Alnico 5 magnets. Amplifiers used were a Marshall DSL50 through a Celestion V30 4x12", Roland Microcube, and various small and large tube amplifiers.

This pedal is an improvement on the Ibanez Tubescreamer. It compresses the sound slightly (not as much as the TS808), provides a very mild to moderate amount of soft clipping, and has the ability to boost volume levels to saturate a tube amp. Like the Tubescreamer, it works wonders for kicking a dirty channel of a tube amp into overdrive or giving a little bit of kick and power to the clean channel of an amplifier. Unlike the Tubescreamer, it has better control over the highs and lows with two separate EQ knobs versus one tone knob. It also has less of a pronounced mid-boost and more low-end than the TS808.

I find that it works better with tube amps than solid state. It preserves the feel and response of the amp better than many other pedals (like the Boss SD-1). It can easily be an "always on" gain boost if need be. It also stacks really well with other pedals. For ultra-low volume practice, I run this into a Zakk Wylde overdrive pedal and a Microcube. The ZW-44 is a very clear pedal with a bit sucked out of the mids. Running the Bad Monkey into the ZW-44 gives a huge "Marshall on 11" kind of sound, even out of a tiny amp.

There is very little noise to this pedal and the pots are not scratchy at all. Furthermore, the buffer seems well designed and even the mixer out can be useful to get a bit more presence out of dull, solid state amps.

The pedal seems pretty rugged and reliable. I haven't experienced any issues but haven't had it a long time.

Never dealt with the company, but the website has the manual, which is a big plus.

I play a lot of music, from blues to indie rock to some heavier stuff. It works very well for all styles of music and at this price is a must-have. I've been playing for 12 years and would definitely buy this again and recommend it to friends.

With this sound quality and price, it's definitely a "10"!

Very, very easy to use. Took no time at all to get a good sound out of this pedal.

For guitar I'm using a PRS SE Soapbar II with Jason Lollar P90's. That's plugged into the Bad Monkey and then right into the amp. Got a Boss DD-3 Delay going into the effects loop. Weber Beam Blocker across the stock Peavey speaker and an Eminance Cannibus Rex used as an extension. All gets LOUD as hell, too.

As I mentioned it took no time at all to get a good sound going with the Bad Monkey. Finally, an OD pedal with a bass knob!! I've tried a number of OD's throughout the years and my first thought upon trying those pedals was always the same: not enough bass. The added bass knob alone is one of the things that makes this such a good pedal. It's very hard to describe a sound and what works for one guy may not work for another. There's enough mids in the pedal to push it out without being obnoxious. Thru my amp the mids come across as
"darker" but without being muffled or nasal sounding. The treble is nice, clear and crisp and can really cut thru if you turn it up all the way. The bass control fills it all out. Nothing lacking there at all. The drive itself isn't spikey or buzzy at all. It just seems to have a nice "earthiness" to it that doesn't cover up you playing when playing chords. It seems to respond very well to changes with your guitars volume knob. Much better so than with all the other OD's I've tried.

I know this is very subjective, but this pedal thru my setup works very well for Allman Brothers, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen II.....things of that nature. When I play I don't try to nail someones tone "exact." I know some people are obsessed with trying to do so but I don't have the time for that. Just give me something that will be a close 2nd, somewhere in the ballpark that sounds good and I'm a happy camper. For what I like to hear this pedal has finally gotten me there.

Seems very well built but I guess time will tell.

Never dealt with then so I can't comment.

Overall I really don't see how one could go wrong with the Bad Monkey. I have'nt tried everything out there and I'm sure there are other pedals out there that have more of a detailed complexity that so many tone mongers are searching for. And while nothing is perfect some things are better than others and so far the Bad Monkey is the best sounding OD pedal that I have found to date. It works very well with my setup for those "Marshall moments" better than any other pedal I've tried. And for only $40.00 how can you go wrong?

This has four knobs. Each one is easy to use, heavy duty, and very smooth. The manual is good and the ad even gives you four presets to try. Very easy.

This is an amazing pedal, not just for the money. It is my favorite overdrive that I have used. It is very warm and completely transparent. You can use it from a clean booster that sounds just like your amp, or turn up the gain to drive the amp harder. I have found with my Strat that I can get perfect Jimi Hendrix, Joe Walsh, Stevie and other sounds quickly and easily. I really love this pedal. Just don't expect metal distortion out of it.

This is an extremely heavy duty pedal. I would play without a backup as long as I had a power supply(because of the battery). It is like a Boss pedal, but heavier. I like the way the top comes off with just a cord. On Boss pedals you don't need anything, but the screw can scrape things easily, so they are about equal there.

Never dealt with them.

I cannot recommend any overdrive pedal more than this. It is cheap, makes Tubescreamers sound like crap, and is very tough. You cannot go wrong with this pedal. I like it so much that I plan to try the Hot Head distortion now.

5 minutes to dial it in!

Les Paul & LP Jr thru a Bandmaster & Traynor YBA-1.
I can't believe this pedal. It sounds like a Tubescreamer should.
I'm using this to run with my Barber LTD pedal with my Bandmaster's
(66 & 68).
It's has amazing tone. I've never tried anything form Digitech because of their name "DIGITECH" not very Rockin or organic sounding.
Bad Monkey isn't much better. It could be called Butt Monkey for all I care. This pedal Rules. Thin Lizzy - AC/DC....yeah!

It weighs about 3 lbs.

I know Digitech & DOD are the same these days.
They seem to care about their customers.

I play Hard Rock/Punk Rock. Non-Master volume amps for me from here on out. I've been on a pedal hunt for the past 2 months. If it's an Overdrive pedal I've tried it (belive me)!
I didn't expect this pedal to sound this good. It sounds like a Reverend DriveTrain with less gain. I think these sell for $40 new.
Why can't Boss make a pedal that sounds this good, without he shitty high-end shrill & suck out the low-end.
I'll keep this pedal forever. For $29 off Ebay I can't believe it.
Smooth Tube like Overdrive from a company named Digitech, I never knew!

Dead easy.Very responsive tone controls.

Stratocaster into Boss cs2 into Marshall guvnor,Bad monkey,Line 6 Echo park,into Epiphone Valve Junior.This is the best overdrive pedal I have ever owned and also one of the cheapest.It gives you instant Kieth Richards rhythm tones and Instant srv lead tones.No joking if you dont buy one then you are missing out on a great pedal.Future classic for sure.It hasnt got bags of gain but if you are looking for that overdriven valve vibe then look no further.

Hasnt let me down so far.Solid build quality.

If your into blues and play a Fender then you need one of these.

No problems getting a good sound here - having bass & treble pots is a real bonus as opposed to having a single tone control. Not a huge amount of gain, but it's an o/drive pedal after all. Sufficient to get a great rhythm crunch & less aggressive leads.

Manual is fine, but use your ears - there's nothing technical going on here

I'm using it with a valve Fender Blues Jnr & a solid state Hughes/Kettner edition blue 30watt combo. Guitars are classic 60s Strat, modded Squire strat with Seymour Duncan P/Ups (lil 59 humbucker at bridge), Fender Toronado with SD P/Ups and a few others.

This thing always sounds absolutely superb - smooth with a capital SMOO but gritty enough at extreme settings if thats what you're after. It's solid state quiet, hiss is negligible.

If you're thinking about a TS9/808, try this first. It's a quarter of the price and you certainly won't be wasting your time.

This thing is a brick - heavier than equivalent Boss - over 2lbs - and a quality build. I'm confident it will last for years. I use 2 O/Ds in my live rig (the other is a TC Electronics Vintage O/Drive)so I do have a back up. I'd be happy if I had to just take the Bad Monkey though.

Battery change is the new Digitech style with spring loaded pins. Must be the easiest yet.

Never dealt with the Company - don't expect to have to.

This pedal has to be the bargain of the decade. You can pick it up on-line for less than #25.00 and for that you're getting a noticeably fine product. My TC Electronics Vintage overdrive pedal cost me 4 times as much, and as good as it is, it ain't 4 times better. Infact, it's hardly better at all - maybe a little more transparent but actually less warm.

As long as you like the sound of your rig, you'll love the sound of the Bad Monkey. It retains your guitar/amp sound, but makes it warmer & wider. It feels like an exotic Fulltone OCD pedal, in that the extra drive seems to come from the amp rather than being an obviously imposed sound altering device stuck in the middle of the floor. This is especially true of my valve amp, though the solid state H/K isn't far behind..

It's not a pedal for metal, but blues/classic rock and maybe even country sounds are brilliantly served.

I'd replace it in a heartbeat if it went walkabout. If I hadn't already got another 2 o/drives, I'd run two for different drive levels.

Very easy to use. I took one of the presets from the manual and went from there.

Great sound. Amazing bang for the buck. This is the first pedal I've owned that I just can't not stop playing. I've used a SD-1 and Keeley Rat Mod for boost in the past but the Monkey is by far my favorite. I keep the gain at zero when I can play loud to get my valve amp breaking up on its own, or throw the gain up to 12:00 when I am playing at bedroom volume. It has such a realistic tube sound that I can't much tell the difference between my amp's OD sound or the pedal (other than the amp has to be real LOUD to get into "the zone").

Seems solid. If it broke I would just buy a new one.

Great pedal over all. I opted not to buy an attenuator to play my amp at bedroom volumes after playing with the Monkey for a while. I bought it because everyone seemed to rave about it and they are right. If it were priced over the $99 mark I wouldn't rate it as high, but that monkey has some serious bang for the buck! I bet if I swapped the guts into a boutique case even tone snobs would give it thumbs when they heard it :)