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Rating And Reviews: DigiTech Bad Monkey Pedal

Dual Outputs-- amp and mixer

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"Great Tone Use with Tube amp slightly dirty." submitted June 6, 2008

By a customer from cox.net
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Musical Background: active musician 24 years
Music Style: Rock, funk, alternative, metal, shred, blues
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Sound: This is a clean boost to your signal. I have had TONS of overdrives/distortions TS from the eighties, TS9, OD-1 Rat, etc. This is one of the best sounding and most responsive to playing I have tried. I use it with my strat and my Peavey valveking on the OD channel just a little dirty (4-6). With this pedal boosting the signal I can get tones from blues overdrive to early Metallica with the volume knob even santana type tones in the neck Pup. Very Musical but with a agressive bite. Really good tone and versitile. Very good with a tube amp. Preserves the tone of the guitar and the amp. I've got "my tone" with this OD and my amp. Feature: standard gain and volume. The two band EQ is a very good feature which adds tons of versalitlity. I set my Low to 1 oclock to get a little more thump out of the amp and highs to 3:00 and it pushes the amp nicely. Knobs seem to lock in place (don't know if this is designed) after set which makes keeping settings easy. Ease of Use: Very easy to get a good tone from slight overdrive to all out mayhem with a tube amp slightly driven. Quality: Seems really solid. Not quite like a rat but solid. More solid than pedals of like design. Value: Really great tone for a reasonable price. I remember when most pedals were 40-50$ This was a nice suprise. The Wow Factor: This pedal (I hope) will be a classic like the TS. I say i hope because it is a really great tone in an un-assuming package. Overall: I may try to put the turbo rat I have in front of it for more singing sustain. I am happy with it. I would instantly replace it if lost.
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"An OD box for the masses" submitted September 13, 2006

By a customer from adelphia.net
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Sound: A nice little OD box. Allows you to add soft-to-strong drive into your mix, and maintain the character of your guitar. The drive is smooth, not blurred or "muddy". My Strat still SOUNDS like a Strat with it. Accommodates differing picking styles. Overall, the tone is great. Feature: Rotaries are basic but get the job done. Two outputs is good to have, which most boxes seem to provide these days. (Hint: experiment with BOTH output jacks to your amp .... you may like the sound going through the "mixer" jack too, which can mellow the sound.) It would be nice to have an additional contouring knob of some kind ... but i guess that'd jack-up the price, so .... forget it. Ease of Use: Nothing need be said here....typical stompbox layout. Quality: Seems well-made. Value: $40 for an OD box is good .... getting the Monkey's quality sound WITH it, puts this baby over the top. (Line6 ... you'd better go back to the drawing board and re-think your TS re-issue !) Manufacturer Support: ?? The Wow Factor: Definitely...i own it. I wanted an OD that would compliment my guitars, not re-configure them. Overall: Easy to own it at $40. Worth every penny considering that you may never want for another smooth OD device again.
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"A welcome addition to my family of stomp boxes." submitted October 19, 2011

By a customer from yahoo.com
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Musical Background: semi-pro musician, recording engineer
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Sound: I like the pedal overall. Not the greatest, but it works fine. I'm not into total destruct distortion so this worked out fine for me. I was able to find that sweet spot easily, right where it's clean until you dig into the strings, then by using the tone controls, a big plus, I can get that tubeish sound I like. I said not the greatest, well, there is some buzz when you crank the level and gain past 8, but this is above and beyond the level of distortion that I use. The buzz isn't as bad as the one built into my marshall amp (the buzz is not a product of my guitars, American Standard Strat and an old G Force Washburn) and not even nearly as bad as the buzz on my practice guitar research amp. And the sound is way better than both of those. I believe this also has a true bypass when switched off. Sounds like it anyway. The distortion channel on the Marshall is no longer of any use now.I bought mine used at a pawn shop for chump change, so I can't complain. And the reviews in here helped me make the decision to buy it. Thank you all, I appreciate your input. Both of my amps are solid state, the Marshall has FDD switch which emulates tubes, and does a fairly good job, coupled with the Bad Monkey, it works really good. Overall I rate this effect as really cool, gives more distortion than I need and goes cleaner than I normally use, so I have lots of area to play around in. Feature: The tone controls are a big plus. The direct out may come in handy, haven't tried it out yet. Ease of Use: This is a no-brainer to operate. Simple and straight forward. Quality: Seems rugged enough. The way you put the battery in is a clever and rugged mechanism. Made of some heavy duty metal. Value: It's well worth what is being asked. I got lucky and got mine dirt cheap at a pawn shop. I needed a distortion pedal and was willing to pay a lot more. I guess I just live right, lol. Manufacturer Support: N/A The Wow Factor: This "Bad Monkey" is way cool on looks alone. The spring under the pedal is heavy duty. The battery is located under the pedal with a clever and sturdy latch mechanism. It's made of metal. This is now my main distortion box. Overall: I hope it doesnt break, I'm happy with it. Basically, I've read good reviews on this, liked the way it looked and sounded, it has some good features, tried it out and said "cool". And it was right there in front of me dirt cheap. Now I'm checking out some flangers/phasors to go with my "starship enterprise" pedal board. I dont' give perfect 10's to anything, but if it wasn't for the minor buzz, this would rate a "10".
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"Great tube tone with a mixer out." submitted November 18, 2005

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Sound: Hard to get a bad sound out of this pedal! Does what it says..Overdrive not distortion. Gives a nice warm tube sound. From almost clean to heavy overdrive but still has good note clarity. I found that I liked the sounds better with my Les Paul than with Strat. I used the mixer out direct to soundcard and was happy with sound. Some will wish for a little more drive for a good lead tone but overall this pedal has great tones. Feature: Mixer out is good for home studio users. Run it straight to your mixer or soundcard and get very usuable sounds. Great for getting ideas down on disk (or tape) without going through the time to set up mic on amp and dial in tone. Quality: Looks solid enough. Value: Definitely worth fourty bucks. Just for the mixer out it is worth the price for easy practice set up or to demo some ideas to tape. Overall: Overall a great pedal that many will overlook.
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"Monkey see, monkey buy." submitted February 22, 2005

By a customer from swm-us.com
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Musical Background: Hobyist
Music Style: Rock, Funk, Pop
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Sound: The sound is really great. Clear, precise tones, even when you start to crank up the gain. Really gives you boost where and when you need it. Feature: 4 control knobs is enough to get you started. Highly adjustable. Quality: These things are solid - really heavy as far as pedals go. The weight and the rubber base make them not so easy to kick around. Value: I'm very happy. $40 for adjustable tube overdrive. Wow! Manufacturer Support: Haven't had a problem, but Digitech gives a six year warranty! :-) The Wow Factor: Th name is a bit quirky, but I'm a quirky guy. It appealed to me. We don't just spank the monkey, we stomp on him! Overall: It's fantastic. Well built. Great value. It does what it says.
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"Stomping The Monkey.." submitted November 4, 2004

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Musical Background: Active Musician
Music Style: Pop/Rock and Show Muisc.
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SPOTLIGHT REVIEW
Sound: Bought this pedal yesterday and a first extended practice session with it gave encouraging results. High points for me - yes it really does preserve most of your guitar's tone, inexpensive, it provides just enough distortion but still allows chord playing with good articulation of the individual notes & it's built like a tank (heavier than the Boss pedal casings it seems to be modelled on)It's not for hard rockers or metal heads, though I'm sure it would make a good boost pedal behind an existing distortion unit to move a crunch tone to a lead. The sound is smooth & it's actually difficult to make it sound bad. I'd particularly recommend it for anyone who has issues about preserving purity of tone. It's good on humbuckers but notably impressive on single coil p/ups - that's actually why I bought it. The electronics (not yet inspected!) provide a very clean sound with little unwanted electro chatter - I think it might even be cleaner than the modern Boss OD units. There is an unusual arrangement design for replacing the standard pp3 battery, that is both quick and tool free. At the price you can't beat it.. Feature: It does what it says on the box - the features are exactly as you would expect on a workhorse OD pedal, no more or no less. Quality: Very solid construction but less than inspired graphics. The heavy spray finish is functional rather than boutique but I wouldn't hesitate to gig with it. Value: Superb value Manufacturer Support: No comment, had no need of Digitech support as yet! The Wow Factor: Solid and practical. As I said, it's no boutique. The green colour is a bit garish and overall it looks to have been designed by a teenager.. Overall: I expect this to last me a while. My needs are not particularly extreme and this unit does the job. If it were stolen I'd replace it with the same for sure.
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"10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10!" submitted February 21, 2006

By a customer from yahoo.com
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Musical Background: Active Musician
Music Style: rock, Zeplin, G.N.R.
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Sound: great tone Feature: just enough EQ Ease of Use: very easy Quality: high Quality Value: yes it is worth the 40 bucks Manufacturer Support: no needed suport yet. The Wow Factor: i would by five of them... but i only need one! Overall: overall very nice
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"you have to Spank the Monkey, at least once" submitted July 30, 2006

Sound: Its very warm, gives u low crunchy sound Overall: People who slag this unit off are just abit deaf? I own several overdrive/distortion pedals including the Turbo Rat and the mighty Tone Bone Classic, I don't use the bad Monkey all the time but for the price, its one of the best around, people who want a heavy sound, you best avoid this, its more of a blues pedal, warmer than the Boss Blues Driver which I also own but mine has a mod, so its in a different league from the standard Boss
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"BAD Monkey, Or GOOD Monkey?" submitted August 3, 2006

By a customer from aol.com
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Musical Background: Active Musician
Music Style: Blues-Rock-Punk-Metal in that order
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Sound: I've Played one at the local music store on a newer amp and then a tube amp. Let's just say play it on a tube amp. It sounds way better and it dosn't sound pushed like on a newer non-tube amp. Over-all it's great. you can get so many sounds like all the greats. at some point I had it sounding like Clapton on sunshine of your love. It's great on either amp but it's still better with an old fender twin amp. Feature: i was playing with a nine volt in it and it didn't drain the battery. I was glad of that because i was screwing around for a while and the sound did not change. I also liked the high and low knobs. It's very easy to get a good sound with those. I just wish it had a deluxe model with a mid knob. Ease of Use: You cannot just pull it out of the box and screw around. you have to read the manuel, then experiment to find your sound. you really have to get your groove on with the tonal knobs. Or Else. Quality: For the price it's great. I just got a Peavy halfstack. It sounds great but somthings missing. It's solid state but i'm still buying the bad mokey for leads. It just sounds that good on tube amps. Value: Best for the value. It's great. This thing kicks. Manufacturer Support: i'll just say ten because i have never dealt with the company but if they make a pedal this good, they can't be hard to deal with. The Wow Factor: This is my next pedal. I need it. Overall: oh, this will be with me till i smash it. Then i'll buy a new one.
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"BAD Monkey? No it's just BAD. Plain BAD. And I don't mean BAD in a good way." submitted March 17, 2006

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Sound: Okay sound. That's it! Value: This pedal is twice as expensive as it should be, and it only delivers half the sound. The Wow Factor: At first, I really wanted it. It got good reviews and it has an interesting name. Looks funky fresh. Overall: I don't know what everyone sees in this thing?! It's just a bland, subtle overdrive pedal. If you actually want a GOOD tube overdrive, get a Behringer one. It's way cheaper and sounds even better.
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