2 years on - what does Bad Monkey-gate tell us about guitarists?

CaseOfAce

And are we any wiser?

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

CaseOfAce said:

And are we any wiser?

Don't be silly.

LionAquaLooper

Has it been 2 years already?  FFS.
It tells me that I should've sold my Bad Monkey 2 years ago.

OilCityPickups

Still don't know what all the bullshit was about ... sold mine just before the pandemic for about £35 quid. It was okay ... preferred my hand made TS808 clone - it was okay but not worth more than 30 or 40 quid. 
It doesn't really tell me anything I hadn't worked out in fifteen years of being a pickup winder and hearing the bullshit people swallow from others in my own business ... 'now this here PAF is the really really real deal, honest ... £800 quid to you ... Of course the components cost more than fifty quid ... would I rip you off?'

monquixote

It makes me sad that when guitarists learn that famous music has been made with cheap old pedals like the Bad Monkey, HM-2, or cheap solid state Peaveys or Fenders they don't take the lesson that you can make good music with anything they take the lesson that these specific cheap devices must be made of some kind of unobtanium and pay £1,000 for them.

Habanero

It should also call into question whether signature models are ever worth the premium.

Sporky

All monkeys are bad.

But being bad isn't awful. 

TheMarlin

What did I miss?

i thought it was a noisy cheap tube screamer style pedal. Did the price go nuts or something?

They’re on eBay for £60+, which is about 4 times more than I would value one at ……. Some people asking £250+ which is nuts!………..

Nerine

People listen with their eyes and/or wallets. 

That’s all there is to it, really. 

If anyone bought a Bad Monkey for those stupid prices at that point they are beyond daft. 

mudslide73

A lot of water under the bridge since then.. amazing how a bit of hype can make people do silly things

UnclePsychosis

TheMarlin said:

What did I miss?

i thought it was a noisy cheap tube screamer style pedal. Did the price go nuts or something?

They’re on eBay for £60+, which is about 4 times more than I would value one at ……. Some people asking £250+ which is nuts!………..

Somebody (I think it was JHS) did your classic "hype up an old cheap pedal that nobody really wanted before" video and idiots went mad for it. That's about it.

EricTheWeary

UnclePsychosis said:

TheMarlin said:

What did I miss?

i thought it was a noisy cheap tube screamer style pedal. Did the price go nuts or something?

They’re on eBay for £60+, which is about 4 times more than I would value one at ……. Some people asking £250+ which is nuts!………..

Somebody (I think it was JHS) did your classic "hype up an old cheap pedal that nobody really wanted before" video and idiots went mad for it. That's about it.

IIRC there is a setting on it which sounds exactly like a setting on a Klon. Which is like saying my Seat Mii and a Ferrari both go at the same speed in a traffic jam. 

borntohang

UnclePsychosis said:

TheMarlin said:

What did I miss?

i thought it was a noisy cheap tube screamer style pedal. Did the price go nuts or something?

They’re on eBay for £60+, which is about 4 times more than I would value one at ……. Some people asking £250+ which is nuts!………..

Somebody (I think it was JHS) did your classic "hype up an old cheap pedal that nobody really wanted before" video and idiots went mad for it. That's about it.

He wasn't even really hyping it up. It was a "in a mix your expensive Horsieman box can be made to sound pretty much the same as these cheap overdrive pedals so don't get hooked on the hype" video and the rest of the ecosystem missed the point (or didn't but saw a quick buck on the line).

I deliberately BIN'd mine for whatever the last unit went for on ebay before the prices spiked - think I got about £45 in the end. 

soma1975

Like most here I had been on the merry go round for decades before realising 90% of drive pedals could be made to sound like one another and 'good enough' was good enough. 

I'm a bit pickier about a fuzz face because it has to excel at a couple of things and clean up very well and there is more variance but even then expensive isn't necessarily better. 

There's no bad sound, just maybe a bad context for that sound and it needs the right song. 

soma1975

EricTheWeary said:

UnclePsychosis said:

TheMarlin said:

What did I miss?

i thought it was a noisy cheap tube screamer style pedal. Did the price go nuts or something?

They’re on eBay for £60+, which is about 4 times more than I would value one at ……. Some people asking £250+ which is nuts!………..

Somebody (I think it was JHS) did your classic "hype up an old cheap pedal that nobody really wanted before" video and idiots went mad for it. That's about it.

IIRC there is a setting on it which sounds exactly like a setting on a Klon. Which is like saying my Seat Mii and a Ferrari both go at the same speed in a traffic jam. 

Yes every time I see people say they can make iPhone video look the same as a £100,000 cinema camera I think sure, when the lens cap is on their footage is identical. 

newi123

1) we are basically sheep
2) you cannot trust a man with a sense of humour on the internet
3) trends in pedals has no relation at all to actually making music

mgaw

I know that unless I have a very expensive rig, a max boutique built guitar I am nothing

soma1975

I think there's genuinely places to spend money when building a board of pedals. 

Stuff that helps with signal routing and clean and adequate power for example. Specific pedals with unique characteristics or unique tones that are hard to come by. I have found pricier boutique Univibes tend to sound a lot better to my tastes for example. 

But £400 Bluesbreakers and Tubescreamers? Not a chance. I think the most expensive one I had was a Kingtone Soloist (previously had a duellist) and it sounded great. Then I got a £65 Keeley Red Dirt Mini and it did 95% of the same job. 

I truly wish I'd learned this the easy way. Could have saved enough to have a vintage Strat by now. 

Th4fonz

Good old social media hype that everyone falls for.  

OilCityPickups

soma1975 said:

I think there's genuinely places to spend money when building a board of pedals. 

Stuff that helps with signal routing and clean and adequate power for example. Specific pedals with unique characteristics or unique tones that are hard to come by. I have found pricier boutique Univibes tend to sound a lot better to my tastes for example. 

But £400 Bluesbreakers and Tubescreamers? Not a chance. I think the most expensive one I had was a Kingtone Soloist (previously had a duellist) and it sounded great. Then I got a £65 Keeley Red Dirt Mini and it did 95% of the same job. 

I truly wish I'd learned this the easy way. Could have saved enough to have a vintage Strat by now. 

Nobody in the audience will either notice or give a shit about how cheap or expensive your pedals are - so buy cheap and have more left over for coke and hoes.  

Sassafras

You caan't play a vintage strat through cheap pedals, that's sacrilege!