Boutique Tone on a Budget: Digitech Bad Monkey Review

For those guitarists who are looking for a boutique overdrive tone on a budget, Digitech Bad Monkey could be the answer. There are many things to love this tube overdrive pedal. Aside from its tons of features and rugged built, it is also inexpensive. Several musicians compare its sound to the popular Ibanez Tube Screamer series. However, there is a big difference in the price. You can have it for $49 which is $50 cheaper than the highly touted Ibanez TS-9 and $139 cheaper than the TS-808. The Digitech Bad Monkey is very easy to operate and the sound possibilities are endless.

Features

The Bad Monkey has 4-controls such as the Level, Low & High Tone controls and Gain. The 2-tone control knobs in conjunction with the gain knob can give you an enhanced tonal palette for shaping your desired sound. While it’s not true bypass, the tone suck is so subtle that you can’t even notice it. An extra feature of it which can be very useful are the 2-output jacks. Output-1 goes directly to the amp but Output-2 is designed to go to a mixer and includes a “Cabinet Emulation.” With that, you can add more tone shaping possibilities to your sound. With output-2 also, it will work with a pair of headphones.

Tonal Possibilities

The Bad Monkey Overdrive will sound great with both single coil pickups and humbuckers. With single coils, it can give you a chunk ala Clapton/Hendrix/SRV type of sound while humbuckers on the other hand, offer anything from AC/DC to Skynyrd. This pedal is more of a mid-boost and is more suited to classic rock and blues. The trick here is to get it to the point just before break up where it gets creamy. Just explore the knobs to achieve your desired sound.

Conclusion

The Digitech Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive pedal is one of the most affordable and great-sounding effect pedals in the market. For beginners looking for a signature tone as well as seasoned professionals, the Digitech Bad Monkey Tube Overdrive pedal can be a ticket to tonal bliss.

Shaping Your Tone with Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal: A Product Review

The Boss DS-1 is a distortion pedal for guitar. It is manufactured by the Roland Corp. under the brand name Boss since 1978. It is the first distortion pedal made by Boss and ever since, it has become a classic effect which is used by many notable guitar players such as Joe Satriani, Mike Stern, Steve Vai, Dave Grohl, and Kurt Cobain. It can provide a harder distortion effect for guitar instead of a toneless, fuzzy distortion. It can also faithfully reproduce all the subtle nuances of playing dynamics at any volume.

Boss DS-1 is the first analog pedal I bought, at 4.5K in Yamaha Music Store. It is very simple to use and it comes with a manual as well as some sample settings to help the user. You can get a nice smooth distortion, mild and soft sounds, or super grungy tones with this pedal. Basically, it has 3 knobs: tone, level, distortion. Tweak these knobs, and you’ll get your perfect distortion. Whatever amp you are using, this pedal sounds great. One of the best characteristics of DS-1 is it doesn't give you a lot of noise. It is rather quite. However, if you maxed out the level knob, you will get some feedback and noise. The effects of this pedal are endless and it's up to you how much distortion or how much tone you want. It is very versatile that you can get almost any sound you want from this pedal. It is designed for longer use since it is built well, very firm and won't break easy. Its compact design makes it very portable as well. So, overall, it is a great buy especially for those players on a limited budget.