Bad Monkey - why the f#ck I discovered it so late?

KrisGee

My latest discovery - believe it or not never played one before. Until tonight when I used it with my mesa express and it put a huge smile on my face. This little, green fella rocks!

Dave_Mc

Hard to go wrong for the ~£20 it costs these days

KrisGee

I had it under £20 used and like new and it's a great pedal compared to cheap joyo stuff. Bass control on overdrive / ts pedal? Winner!

joeyowen

Ok i'll be the first

did you not find that is kinda dulls your amp a bit?  I used it through an ac30 and we just didn't get along, couldn't help feel it was a blanket

ThePrettyDamned

joeyowen;402233" said:

Ok i'll be the first

did you not find that is kinda dulls your amp a bit?  I used it through an ac30 and we just didn't get along, couldn't help feel it was a blanket

Ac30s are super picky with drive pedals.

It is a middy sounding drive, though - most middy ts sounding ones do have a blanket over amp effect, which is why they work best when the amp is a bit driven too.

More open, balanced sounding drives like the od-3, timmy, blues driver etc might suit you better.

JDE

It's quite dark for a TS-alike. With a bright amp and a Strat it's great though - I used two of them for years, prior to the lure of the cork.

xSkarloey

joeyowen;402233" said:

Ok i'll be the first

did you not find that is kinda dulls your amp a bit?  I used it through an ac30 and we just didn't get along, couldn't help feel it was a blanket

Can't comment on how it goes with a Vox, but any wooliness in the tone is great for me since I use one with bright guitars into a boxy small valve amp. The BM thickens things generally and helps tame the top end nicely.

mike_l

I likes a BM into a dirty Marshall.

I find the "blanket over the amp" type thing, when the pedal is being used as a stand-alone, or if it's boosting a pedal.

I can't comment on an AC-30 as i've not tried a BM into one.

KrisGee

I'm mainly playing axis with maple fretboard and their custom wound dimarzios are a bit on a brighter side hence maybe why I'm liking BM so much?
Combined with CH1 crunch mode it gives me great smooth lead tone and with burn mode on CH2 it still retains clarity and is very quiet too considering the amount of gain applied. And that's still with the same settings on the pedal meaning it actually added another two useful channels to my amp.
Every other mid-priced drive pedal I've tried with the express couldn't do that hence why I'm a one happy fella

jonnyburgo

I always found them to be great with single coils but a bit processed sounding with buckers, if that makes any sense. Could have been the amp I was using though

hugbot

Try a hardwire CM2. It's essentially a suped up Bad Monkey, it specifically addresses the "blanket over the amp" thing.

mike_l

I like the CM-2, but as a stand-alone aternative to a dirty amp, and the BM as a boost for a dirty amp.

FX_Munkee

mike_l said:

I like the CM-2, but as a stand-alone aternative to a dirty amp, and the BM as a boost for a dirty amp.

Yup, same here on the BM, definitely best for me as a boost with just a touch of hair into a dirty(ish) valve amp.

joeyowen

Fair call on AC30s being fussy, I found this with a few pedals, Hence why I use a Deville now I spose.

I did like it as a pedal, for the price it is a steeaallll!

I'd like to try a CM2 as it is generally seen it is a more open BM, but you do pay for it

meltedbuzzbox

ThePrettyDamned said:

joeyowen;402233" said:

Ok i'll be the first

did you not find that is kinda dulls your amp a bit?  I used it through an ac30 and we just didn't get along, couldn't help feel it was a blanket

Ac30s are super picky with drive pedals.

It is a middy sounding drive, though - most middy ts sounding ones do have a blanket over amp effect, which is why they work best when the amp is a bit driven too.

More open, balanced sounding drives like the od-3, timmy, blues driver etc might suit you better.

hotcake!

TheCount

Fair call on AC30s being fussy, I found this with a few pedals, Hence why I use a Deville now I spose.

There's nothing better than owning an AC30 to stop you spending money on drive pedals. I gave up with mine. Treble booster into top boost channel, I'm done with it now, gas free.

joeyowen

TheCount said:

Fair call on AC30s being fussy, I found this with a few pedals, Hence why I use a Deville now I spose.

There's nothing better than owning an AC30 to stop you spending money on drive pedals. I gave up with mine. Treble booster into top boost channel, I'm done with it now, gas free.

I also have a young baby, so there was not really chance to crank it haha

TheCount

I have 3 kids and they've never complained about the noise. My wife though.......

joeyowen

TheCount said:

I have 3 kids and they've never complained about the noise. My wife though.......

My other half is great to be fair (I have the master bedroom as a music room ) but I think when the baby sleeps she would like some us time instead of me booting the amp!  I don't think the baby would mind, he seems to give massive smiles to loud noises.

I'll try one day and post the results over in the Fatherhood thread

Dave_Mc

KrisGee said:

I had it under £20 used and like new and it's a great pedal compared to cheap joyo stuff. Bass control on overdrive / ts pedal? Winner!

Funnily enough I have a joyo too and I think (for the straight-ahead TS thing) it actually sounds marginally better than the Bad Monkey (as joeyowen says, it has a little bit of a blanket thing over the speakers going on). However, I'd trust the reliability of the BM far more than the Joyo, and the added bass control is very handy as you said.

hugbot said:

Try a hardwire CM2. It's essentially a suped up Bad Monkey, it specifically addresses the "blanket over the amp" thing.

Agreed though (as I just said in another thread) if you actually want the TS thing, the CM2 actually goes a little too far into "transparent/clear" territory (at least mine does). )

hugbot

Thats always the thing about tone though innit. One persons "warmth" is another mans "mud". As soon as you make it less honky it stops being a tubescreamer.