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DigiTech Bad Monkey
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DigiTech Bad Monkey

Overdrive pedal from DigiTech belonging to the X series

barh2_0 barh2_0

« Indispensable! »

Published on 06/27/12 at 05:42
We are dealing with an overdrive pedal green. At first glance, all is said, even a cheap clone of tube screamer! Well not that much ... While the inspiration for the TS is there, it was still very nice differences: the two bands EQ and cab sim output. For the rest, one in, one out, and gain a level, nothing but very classic.
Boss like a metal box and a small spring loaded pin system that can handle with the tip of the jack to access the battery compartment (very nice!). All air sturdy if not the tiny switch all fragile start-soldered onto the pcb which hardly inspires confidence. But insofar as it comes into contact with a neoprene foam pad attached to the pedal itself, it is not said he lives less than a great big old mechanical switch subject to the same shots Marlboro. Time will tell.
The Bad Monkey is not true-bypass. It is not "Hand Wired" by an old survivor of the 70&#39;s roadie. Good "made in china" made in the factory by Chinese who had certainly no idea that they made themselves. Not an ounce of soul into this pedal? If it were that simple ...

UTILIZATION

Configure an overdrive, it&#39;s not very hard. Nevertheless the presence of two bands of EQ gives the changes a bit.
The setting "High" is roughly equivalent to "tone" on this TS and consort.
The setting of "Low" is more a mid ranks low, work is really on the low mids.
The set of two is quite efficient, both to correct defects classic overdrives, that to bring the versatility and sounds we do not expect to get out of this kind of overdrive.

SOUND QUALITY

Returning to the green overdrive ... Not (too) on the sounds of surprise, you remain in the field of TS in terms of saturation: Although progressive and dynamic, not honeycomb, quite colorful. No metal with this thing, at the same time, this is not for ...
It is not true-bypass, which can be considered a "fault" in this age of triumphant true-bypass. Already, the coloration of the sound is not really prominent, it remains discreet and we need to know. It&#39;s not a cry baby ...
On the other hand, the true-bypass has not only advantages and no longer have an overdrive (often in the early chaining or close) with a buffer, it&#39;s not a bad idea if we have a big pedalboard or long cables.
Directly into the amp (a Laney VC15), it is more than not bad! It would be dishonest to say that this is the best overdrive in the universe that makes turning Stevie Ray Vaughan in his grave but it is still very good. The grain of the guitar is met, the sound is not at all dry or stiff, we keep the good side "tube driver". For example, we easily get the "Texas sound" ;-)
Recall that it is 45 euros new. ODs who hold the road are more easily sold twice and peak difficult to justify (TS808 HW 300 euro!) When we know there are 20 euros for parts to break everything and that the circuit designed by Tamura is amortized for almost forty years ...
The good surprise is the cab sim output. Again, this is not a Cabulator or a software simulation parameters to 140 but as a little bonus pedal already cheap at all, it&#39;s really good. The sound is very honest and is sufficient in itself in a mix or to attack a sound card. We just plug headphones directly into it to play at night without waking the kids and best of all, in bypass (thank you buffer) was a clean sound quite credible even though it lacks some roundness.
I have not tried but if one was to attack with transo amp, I go by the cab sim with a flat EQ and gain ratio / minimum volume on the amp to use as active pregnant.

OVERALL OPINION

This is probably not the best OD (it would hurt those who we pay them 3 or 4 times that price) but it is really very good, typed remaining versatile. Nice bonuses and unrivaled value for money.
It is indispensable at this price point, it must always in a flight case to troubleshoot / repeat / travel light. And then they can work with headphones. Do the math: not a bad OD (60-80 Euros) + a Voxplug (35 euros), it comes to more than double the Bad Monkey. Whatever the use, it is competitive.
Initially I bought it to boost my lead, a little snitch but for the price I did not risk much. In the end, it attacks my clean channel, it is always on and I work with my basic sound. So that&#39;s my drive channel (richer medium) which I use to "boost" with the volume turned up and just need the gain.
I do not know if the other pedals in the range (metal, grunge, ...) are at the height of the Bad Monkey but if this is the case, every guitarist should have one according to their favorite music!