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Bad Monkey is a Good Monkey

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Robert

Robert

Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements.
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Have you tried the Bad Monkey? It rocks! Another must-have for the GAS-affected musician on a budget. They are under $40 USD I believe. It may seem just like yet another TS-style OD pedal, but this one is better than most. I have also a BD-2, which is good too, but right now the Monkey is da thang! Very smooth overdriven tones without harsh midrange - Digitech got this one right!

I have a review on my website, and some demo video clips.
 
Robert,

Been using the Monk on the Boutique Overdrive setting on the Vox. I turn the gain down on the model and use the pedal to create my drive. Really nice and smooth and pretty "realistic" sounding. The Monkey's cool. I'd really like to try one of those new Vox pedals with the tube...the Cooltrons. No shop in town has them yet.
 
Interestsing, I'll be using my Tele a bit more now that I have new strings. I'll experiment with some pedals again through the Vox AD50VT.

I haven't heard anything about these Cooltrons - tell us more!
 
I agree, Robert. The Bad Monkey could also be called the "poor man's Tube Screamer", although I, too, think it has a personality all its own. I like using this pedal with my little Epi Valve Jr. tube amp, as it really brings out the warmth and definition of the lower-volume clean tones, and fattens up the signal as the amp starts naturally over-driving at higher volumes. Best of all, it remains almost "transparent" to the inherent characteristics of your guitar / amp combo, unlike a lot of other pedals, which seem to suck the tone right out of a rig. At $40 clams - yeah, it's a must-have.
 
I wanted to revise this post because now that I've had awhile to really see what the Bad Monkey does I can only say that it is one hell of a pedal! The overdrive it creates is UNSURPASSED. I would venture to say that it's juicier than any boutique pedal out there. Period. I've finally found some great settings on it on both my amps and it just smmmmmmokes. So clear. So buttery smooth. So brown. When needed so raunchy...but still brown. It's the ultimate OD pedal ever!
 
i love my bad monkey too! especially through the epi jr.

Haven't tried it much with the ad30vt....gonna trt tones suggestion though on the Boutique Overdrive setting on the Vox

ww
 
I ordered the Bad Monkey yesterday from MF. I have no idea what to do with it, but I think 5 minutes after I hook it up I will have the house to myself. I will try it on the UK70s model on my Vox as T2TB suggested.


T2TB - Can you give me a starting point on where to set the knods?
 
Tim,

Well you can start out at everything set to noon (12:00) on the pedal and tweak each knob till you like whats coming out. Vary the level, low, high and gain on the pedals...12:00 is always a good starting point. On my pedal for this model I think I have the level at 12:00, lows on 12:00, highs at 3:00 and gain set at like 2:00 or something. With the Les Paul it rocks and rocks well. Give it a whirl.
 
Warren - Thanks for the Digitech site. The pedal really sound good. Now if I can do the same !!!

T2TB - Thanks for the starting point. I would have turned them all fully counter clock wise for starters. It would have been a bad start right out of the shute.
 
Man! You guys got me too!
All this monkey talk and I went and got one too. Should be here next week. Like new from a guy on Harmony Central $30 shipped. I justified it by not having lobster for dinner this week. Ya, that's the ticket.
 
Lobster in Idaho? Those must be fresh water Lobsters! LOL!!!

Yea, these guys got to me too. If I keep reading these threads and getting GAS, my wife may put me out in the street. I kind of figured out how to use the Delay/Echo and the Graphic EQ pedals. The Chorus is giving me some difficulty though. Maybe I need a new Chorus pedal. I hope the Bad Monkey is also easy. From what Warren and T2TB stated, it should be mastered in a short learning time. Now all I need to do is learn how to interrogate them all for the different sounds and tones.
 
You guys are killing me. I believe this forum could be hazardous to a married man’s health. I really dig the Space Station, Uni-Vibe, Leslie and A/DA Flanger sounds. I would not mind learning the licks also. That includes the Intro music. After listening to all the sounds, it is obvious the entire Intro was recorded through the pedal.
 
Way cool huh Tim?

I think all the intro was done with it too. And just think, what we are hearing are only a few of the combinations available.

I just plugged in my RP2000 to see if I can get anything that I like out of it. I haven't used it for a while. Around the house I use my secondary analog board instead. Maybe the 2000 can get me interested again. It is just so difficult to program though. Too many options maybe.

Anyone else use the Digitech RP2000?

Oh, if your wife boots you you can come live with me "in my van down by the river."
 
The Monkey has arrived. It is totally untrained at this moment. I will need to spend lots of time with it to get it to obey my commands. The training manual did not have very impressive instructions, so I will need to experiment with it to gain it’s respect. When it’s bad … it’s very bad, but when it’s good ... it is a very good Monkey.
 
That pedal is a cinch to work, Tim. Plus, it sounds GREAT! You should have no problems at all getting the hang of it, or dialing in useable tones. I've also heard that eating a banana before adjusting it also helps you to focus on the task at hand. You might want to try that, too. :D
 
I thought that the banana was meant to be a reward when it had been a good monkey.
Sour Monkey? Have a lemon!

Hmm.. Sour Monkey.. I would have bought that pedal instantly if there existed one ;)
 
Librarian Monkey!? That's a good one. I'm chuckling.
Most of these monkey things would make great mixed drink names. Especially Dizzy Monkey. Yee haw!
 
Yeah I could just sit here and talk about these monkey jokes all night... or not ;)

Transvestite Monkey - Pitch Shifter... Sorry I couldn´t help it, it just slipped out of me... too tired I guess..
 
SS
If a Transvestite Monkey just "slipped" out of you then you might have more problems than monkey jokes. LOL

OK. I've been listening to all the monkey stuff for a while and I had to find out what the big deal was all about. I FOUND OUT!

I pulled out my monkey and I've been playing with it like a fiend. First I play with it one way, then another, then another. My eyesight is starting to go, but I'm not worried. Jeff Healey and Ray Charles seemed to have done alright. I CAN'T QUIT PLAYING WITH MY MONKEY! It's really fun. It's really noisey right now playing with my monkey. It makes me scream and wail. Oh how I love playing with my monkey. I haven't had this much fun since puberty.

Thank you guys for turning me onto playing with my monkey, but what does it have to do with the "pedal" thread? :D
 
Spud, the humor quality assurance section of my brain is underpowered when I am tired.
 
Count me in with the Bad Monkey club. I just bought one from GC last week and it's replaced the TS-10 and Turbo Rat I had on my #2 pedalboard. :)
 
Spudman said:
SS
If a Transvestite Monkey just "slipped" out of you then you might have more problems than monkey jokes. LOL

OK. I've been listening to all the monkey stuff for a while and I had to find out what the big deal was all about. I FOUND OUT!

I pulled out my monkey and I've been playing with it like a fiend. First I play with it one way, then another, then another. My eyesight is starting to go, but I'm not worried. Jeff Healey and Ray Charles seemed to have done alright. I CAN'T QUIT PLAYING WITH MY MONKEY! It's really fun. It's really noisey right now playing with my monkey. It makes me scream and wail. Oh how I love playing with my monkey. I haven't had this much fun since puberty.

Thank you guys for turning me onto playing with my monkey, but what does it have to do with the "pedal" thread? :D
Click to expand...

*dies laughing* The people in the hallway think I'm nuts laughing out loud I think.... :)
 

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