A great budget overdrive (Digitech Bad Monkey)

Member Name: amnesiac

Product:	Digitech Bad Monkey
Date:	23/07/09 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great clean/volume boost, plenty of knobs for control.

Disadvantages: Doesn't sound that great when the gain is turned up

The Bad Monkey is a surprisingly cheap overdrive pedal, designed to replicate the sound of an overdriven tube amp. It can also be used as a clean boost.

The Bad Monkey has 4 controls/knobs. A level knob to control the pedal output or volume, a gain knob to control the amount of distortion/clipping, a low knob to control the amount of bass and a high knob for the amount of treble. These provide plenty of control over the sound from the pedal.

The pedal is built into a metal case, I really can't see this breaking on me. The pedal can be powered by a 9V power supply or by a 9V battery. It has 1 input and 2 outputs, one for amps or for plugging straight into a mixer.

With the gain knob turned right down the bad monkey can be used as a clean/volume boost. Used with a tube amp this will drive the tubes harder pushing it towards natural overdrive. If you want a straight up volume boost just keep the two tone knobs at halfway or you can use them to tweak the sound a bit, adding bass or treble. With the gain knob low you can get great breakup sounds. At high gain levels the pedal can get up to classic rock levels of overdrive, not really as suitable for modern music.

The pedal works best as a boost and with low gain stuff. It doesn't sound as good when the gain gets turned up but for the price this is an amazing pedal. If you're looking for an overdrive pedal without wanting to spend too much this should be it.

Summary: On a budget this is a great affordable overdrive pedal