Review: DigiTech Bad Monkey
February 10, 2008 by GoofyDawg
I’m at once sad and amazed right now. Sad because I’m retiring my TS-808 Tube Screamer (sort of – I’ll get into that later), but amazed that I actually replaced it with a $50 pedal, the Bad Monkey from DigiTech. This pedal was originally touted as a Tube Screamer-like pedal, but as I’ve found, it’s way, way more than that. I tested this with three different amps: A Roland Keyboard Amp for dry output to establish a baseline, a Fender VibroVerb, and of course, my Fender Hot Rod. For guitars, I used Pearl, my blizzard Strat with ’57 TexMex pickups, and my Epiphone ’58 Korina Explorer Reissue. Here are my impressions:
- The very first thing I noticed was that the distortion that the Bad Monkey produces is very smooth. In fact, it’s A LOT smoother than the Tube Screamer.
- The distortion is also a bit more subtle in the Bad Monkey than the Tube Screamer. With the TS, even at lower gain and drive levels, it has a lot of obvious grit and grind, and I think a lot of that has to do with the huge mid-range hump that the TS is known for. I think what helps balance that in the Bad Monkey is the fact that you can dial in a bit more lows to fill out the bottom end – something you can’t do with the TS.
- Speaking of the lows, where many overdrive pedals have one tone control knob, the Bad Monkey has a low and high EQ; that’s right, EQ. This is the feature that really turns me on about this pedal because I can dial in just the right amount of tonal balance to suit my needs for a particular tune. It makes for a very versatile pedal. Mind you, you won’t get that real fat sound if you crank the lows. That has a lot to do with the amp as well.
- Surprisingly, the Bad Monkey is built like a tank! I’ve had DigiTech pedals in the past, and they just did not measure up to the build quality of Monkey.
But… DigiTech?
I know, that’s EXACTLY what I said! I’ve had DigiTech pedals in the past, and their sounds were mediocre at best and their build quality wasn’t quite there. But the Bad Monkey really blows me away in both areas. Not only does it sound tres excellente, like I said above, it’s built like a tank! Kudos to DigiTech!
Field Test
I actually started writing this blog post a couple of days ago, when I first started playing with the Bad Monkey. But I decided to wait because I knew I was going to be doing three gigs this weekend (it’s now Sunday, 2/10), and I knew I’d get a chance to really work with this pedal. All I can say is that I’m very tickled after playing it this weekend. I used it in all three gigs, and came away smiling from how nice it sounded. What really impresses me the most about this pedal is it’s sensitivity to attack and volume and tone knobs. With my Tube Screamer, there was always growl, no matter how far you turned the drive knob down. That’s useful for a lot of situations, but it’s not quite as versatile. With the Bad Monkey, you can go from clean to raging simply by rolling your volume knob and adjusting your pick attack. To take full advantage of this, I simply set the Gain knob at 12 o’clock. Set my volume knob at about 5 or 6, then adjusted my amp’s volume for the room I was playing. Doing nothing else, all I had to do was play little lighter to get nice ringing clean tones, then dig in to get some growl. If I need more distortion, it was a simple matter of dialing in more gain from my guitar.
Another thing that I noted about the Bad Monkey is that it adds a nice touch of sustain, even at lower gain levels, which was very pleasing to my ears as that helped to thicken up my tone; especially with my single-coil Strat.
Okay, what about the Tube Screamer?
Well, I don’t think I’m quite done with it, so it really hasn’t left my board just yet. For grinding blues, the Tube Screamer/OCD combo just can’t be beat, and the midrange hump is what sold me on the TS-808 in the first place. I just love it, so it’ll always have a place on my board. But I’ll have to admit that I’m going to be relegating a lot more of the general “drive” duties to the Bad Monkey simply because of how versatile it is.
Where can you buy one?
The major online retailers are all selling it for $49.95. But I looked on eBay and found a couple for under $40.00. I got mine at a local gear consignment shop for $30.00! I really lucked out there. In any case, the price point is such that there’s no excuse to NOT check this pedal out. Like me, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Finally, the DigiTech Bad Monkey is yet another example of getting good tone without paying a hefty price. Granted, in the bargain arena, you have to dig pretty deep to find the gems, but if you’re patient and, of course, willing to dig a bit, you’ll find some gems among the waff and chattle.
[…] 12, 2008 by goofydawg After I wrote my last review on the DigiTech Bad Monkey, I realized that I needed to change the format of my reviews, so readers could get an at-a-glance […]
I love my Bad Monkey. Its the first overdrive pedal I have ever tried, and the first pedal I have bought that I like. I use a Fender Blues Jr. And there are a lot of great sounds. The problem is, I just can’t figure out how to dial in a tone that doesn’t break up when you play chords. Any ideas on set up for a total newbie? I’d like a ZZ Top or George Thuroughgood type of tone.
I started playing guitar to play surf, but all I need to do for that is cut the pedal and crank reverb up. That tone was easy. Blues/rock is a little harder to find a sweet spot…for me anyway.
I play a Strat>bad monkey>blues jr. (I have a selection of cheap Dallectro pedals that were fun for 10 min but do not use in tandem). Maybe I need another piece of equipment to get good tone?
A drive pedal is always going to produce a bit of breakup. The amount of breakup you get depends on a variety of factors:
1. The Gain/Drive knob on your amp
2. The volume knob on your guitar – if it’s cranked, you’ll go into breakup a lot easier
3. The drive level on your Bad Monkey
4. The pickup selector setting you have on your guitar.
5. Last, but not least is how hard you dig into your strings.
Given those 5 things, you have to find the right balance between them. Personally, I’d set my volume knob on my guitar about halfway (set the volume of your amp to the appropriate level for where you’re at), making sure that everything’s clean. Then, activate the Monkey with no drive at first. Set the volume level at unity (that is, there’s no difference in volume when the Monkey is off or on – that will ensure that when you introduce drive, you’ll get a bit of a volume boost, which is what you want), then dial in increasing amounts of drive until you can strum a chord normally, and have it just break up.
Then while you’re playing, you can use the volume knob on your guitar to create more or less breakup. You can also play lighter or strum harder to get less or more breakup. This should get you started…
On another note, most people think that in order to do screaming, sustained leads that you dial in a lot of drive. If you listen to some of the best rock guitarists, you’ll notice that they’re normally just at the edge of breakup so that they maintain the tonal clarity and definition between their notes. In other words, they play A LOT cleaner than you’d expect.
Bought it , great pedal. For those of you who aren’t satisfied. It’s only $50 🙂
Smooth, dynamic overdrive to boost your sound.
The Digitech Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive effects pedal produces the smooth, natural character of an overdriven tube amp while maintaining your guitar’s distinct tone. Low and High tone plus Level and Gain controls. Dedicated output with cabinet emulation to run direct into a mixer or recorder.
DigiTech Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive Pedal Features:
High, Low, Level, and Gain controls
Amp and recording/mixer outputs
Where can I buy?
http://www.musicthingz.co.nz
Musicthingz just sell parallel imported goods without a genuine NZ manufacturers warranty so I’d go to one of your local shops to buy as it’s safer.
PS Charli just works for Musicthingz so is just doing some blatent self promotion.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! ROFL! Thanks for the tip, Andrew!!! 🙂
whats this aboot lol
I could never quite get into the Bad Monkey. But that was a few years back……maybe it deserves another shot. 🙂
yummmmy:) thanks to your ideas , i’d love to adhere to your weblog as frequently as i can.possess a great day~~
[…] DigiTech Bad Monkey – This pedal reinforced the notion that great tone can come cheap. A Tube Screamer clone for sure, the one thing that this has got over the the TS is adjustable bass and treble knobs. It sounds great to boot! I no longer have this pedal as I gave it to a kid in my church band, but whenever I get the inking to spend big bucks on gear, I look back to the Bad Monkey and tell myself that there is great gear out there that doesn’t have to come at a premium in price. […]
I,ve loved mine from day one.Got it for $50 and it replaced a BBE boosta grande.I also tried a boss 7band eq to boost for solo.Trick is, level full and drive around 8 or 9 clock.You want note definition not a fuzzy chainsaw.Sure it,s harder to play cuse you don,t hide behind to much gain.So after a year,It,s still on my pedalboard.I,m not a fan of digitech but they have a winner here.Some pros are using it and they,re not sayin what boutique pedal it replaced.And the price.Damn. just buy one and give it to a friend if you dont like it,BUT.THE SECRETis to have a high quality tube amp.I play mine in a 60 watts Reeves custom lead,a Fender vibrolux and an old Marshall jubilee.Love my monkey.