DigiTech Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive

The bad monkey was my first od pedal, and remarkably, it's still on my board. Very natural and amplike, it nicely compliments many styles. It has much more versatility in tone shaping then a tube screamer, and much better value. Many claim this $30 box is better then many $300 boutique pedals. However, this isn't just another cheap tube screamer clone. It has a much different vibe. Once you hear it, you'll understand. For the price, it's amazing. A great site for the bad monkey is http://www.guitarforworship.com/?p=729

During a certain period of time in the mid-aughts, the Bad Monkey reigned as the de facto "affordable tube screamer," and as a result ended up being a lot of young guitarists' first overdrive pedal, myself included. While there's some truth to the TS comparison, I also think that it's surprisingly underrated in its own right.

I've almost sold the Monkey probably 5 or 6 times over the years, but I just can't ever bring myself to do it. I've A/B'd it with several other great overdrive pedals over the years and whether or not I'd say it's my "favorite," I'd certainly say that it keeps up with the best. Also, I think that most guitarists could use a spare overdrive pedal on the shelf, because they can end up being useful for a variety of purposes. And this one is better for that than most, because the separated bass and treble EQ means it works great as a solo boost when you want to stack it after your main drive and sculpt the frequencies a bit. I often used it for that purpose back in my college days and it never let me down.

At this point I'm sure I'm just gonna keep it forever. Even if it's not on my board, I think if I sold it I'd just end up pissed at myself later on :p

Plus, I have a theory that one day we're gonna find out that some session guy has been recording hundreds of hit records over the last 10 years using the Monkey and suddenly these original ones are all gonna flip for a mint on Reverb.

Digitech's bad money is literally a tubescreamer variant with treble and bass controls. I acquired one of these for like $20 when I was fiddling with TS9 alternatives many years ago. I quite liked it through a fender amp although the tone controls never worked the way I imagined they would... but I spent much more on pedals by xotic in this style and had a similar experience. In the end I really like the SD1 and MXR Custom Badass... I prefer the clipping and voicing and I definitely find the 100hz knob on the MXR to be the most useful additional tone control ever on a soft-clip overdrive. If I wanted extra knobs on a symmetrical clipping TS type pedal I would get a green rhino mk2. But for the price you may have a love affair with the bad monkey. Its a really fine pedal.

As I understand it, the Bad Monkey is just a Tubescreamer clone, but I've never heard anything this good in terms of OD. The key to using it with bass is turning both EQ knobs to max, using extremely high drive from your pre-amp or using a boost pedal, turning the gain as you'd like, and then turn down the level to unity so as to not get the full on distorted sound it'll give if you push it too hard. The cab sim sounds phenomenal. This is my only always-on OD/dist/fuzz pedal!

The Bad Monkey was SO good that Ibanez had to step in and tell Digitech to back the F off... its a fantastic cheap alternative to a TS pedal and I prefer it to any TS's ive tried (TS808, TS9, Mooer Green Mile, TS Mini) with the exception being the Boss Blues Driver. This is most likely because i never liked the nasally tone i found you get with a TS. I found the likes of the TS mini and the Mooer to be far too dark for my taste. The fact that you can use this straight into a PA means i have 3, one on my board, one in my bag on the off chance my amp decides it doesnt like living anymore and the 3rd boxed up at home as a backup. Get them while they are cheap.. or dont so i can keep buying them as i see them!

This pedal is well designed, simple to change the battery, the controls work and actually do influence the quality and quantity of tube overdrive you get. Sturdy construction, solid sound, good price=good pedal.

Its a cheap pedal that fit extremely well if you want to play blues and even rock. This pedal has a voice that is similar to the tube screamer. I`m currently using it as a level booster to my TS9DX.

I'm using the Bad Monkey as my low drive option. It has a really bassy sound perfect for a low blues driver, but if you push that High knob it will give you all the sharpness you need for the more dynamic sounds.

Having the option to control the low and the high frequencies independently really gives you a whole lot of new options and routes for your sounds and vibes.

The only thing I would change about this pedal is the gain spectrum. The regular overdrive gain level is PERFECT however it really does not behave well on a low gain level (crunchy like sound) it also caps up pretty soon unlike the OCD OD for example.

My most favourite TS-Style Overdrive. Absolute recommendation. Better than the original. The bass and treble knobs makes it sooo versatile. My MXR M77 Custom Badass Modified O.D. has more drive. If you don't need more drive than a TS usally has, get one and get lucky!

The now discontinued Digitech Bad Monkey earned its reputation as a worthy budget pedal that could hold its own beside well established and significantly more expensive 'classic' overdrives. If you can find one cheap on Ebay I'd highly recommend it as a first overdrive pedal (and hang on to it; 'upgraders' often regret letting it go). The tonal flexibility provided by its low and and high frequency controls gives it an edge in versatility over some of its more renowned stablemates. The gain pot is responsive throughout its range and overall this is a smooth, low to mid gain overdrive. An often overlooked additional feature is its mixer output; a passable cabinet simulator which justifies keeping it in one's gig bag as a 'backup amp'. Mixer output is how I connect directly to my living room stereo when I can't be arsed to fetch in an amp from the 'play room'. I use it with Fender Mustang Pawn Shop Special which delivers a diverse tonal spectrum due to its splittable Enforcer Humbuckers. The Bad Monkey handles everything this throws at it with aplomb. Now, don't go splurging silly money for this 'legendary' pedal. I score it 4.5 stars but for >£50 there are exceptional 5 star alternatives ( Hey, Soul Food. I'm looking at you! ) but if a Monkey can be found for around it's original retail price this makes a solid foundation from which to develop your tonal palate. It benchmarks well against a TS9 or Maxon 808. Tonally it's as different from those pedals as they are from each other but in a positive way, neither 'better' or 'worse' which is why some pro's find it a worthy alternative.