Members kwakatak Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 I play a Strat through a Hot Rod Deluxe which has a great clean tone but secretly I've been wanting to get some distortion from it without getting too loud. I've already come to the conclusion (based on lurking, reading the reviews and listening to MP3s over at MF) that the Bad Monkey may be able to "wake up" the HRDx for good blues tone with the Strat. How does it do with hard rock tone, though? I also play in my church's praise band and I'd like to be able to add a little distortion to the mix when we play music from the likes of Sonicflood, Casting Crowns, etc. Are there any other pedals (ideally under $100) that I should also be considering, either along with or instead of the Bad Monkey? BTW, I'd be probably be using 2 different guitars for each: Strat for blues, Kramer Striker ST-600 for hard rock (rhythm guitar only). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members parrotheada1a Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 I have a BM and it will give you a BIT of distortion, and a bucketload of overdrive. An enormously versatile pedal for 40 bucks. It'll work on fattening up a hard rock tone, but if you want something more distorted, you might need a straight up distortion pedal like a Boss DS1. Since the HRDx is loud anyway, you will probably need to fiddle with the settings a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zen Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 It does overdrive well enough but you need a bit more gain for distortion. Another higher gain pedal should do fine in tango with the Bad Monkey. The BM works really well pushing other dirt pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Edward Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Try something else in the same range as the BM - there's about four pedals in that range that go up a notch each - the BM, the slightly hotter Screamin' Blues, up to some kind of distortion - think it's a red pedal? IMO, the BM is by far the most versatile, but if you want a dedicated metally distortion, I'd be looking elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan Trevisol Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 What you may actually be after IS overdrive. The bad Monkey is the uber-drive pedal. Just as good as the tubescreamers IMO. It pushed my tube amp into overdrive and distortion pretty well, and it pushes my new solid-state very nicely as well. You should definately have one, and the screamin blues pedal does a nice job at being crunchier. I would get both in your situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members book_of_lies777 Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 definitely GET the Bad Monkey - think about combining it with the Digitech Screamin' Blues(it's the blue one) or the BOSS DS-1 or Digitech Hot Head.All of these sound much better than their MF soundclips.Bad Monkey = ODScreamin' Blues = OD/light distortionDS-1/Hot Head = both will do AC/DC to Iron Maiden All these pedals are analog, by the way, NOT digital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Forbidden Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Avoid the BM it's a piece of crap. For a similar price you can get an Ibanez TS-5 and they sound fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zen Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Originally posted by Forbidden Avoid the BM it's a piece of crap. For a similar price you can get an Ibanez TS-5 and they sound fantastic. In YOUR opinion ofcourse. Some of us folk love the Bad Monkey for being a value priced alternative to the Tube Screamer. IMO it sounds better when I A/B'ed it against the TS7 and TS9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members book_of_lies777 Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Originally posted by Zen In YOUR opinion ofcourse. Some of us folk love the Bad Monkey for being a value priced alternative to the Tube Screamer. IMO it sounds better when I A/B'ed it against the TS7 and TS9. exactly! There's 17 pages of posts in the OFFICIAL Bad Monkey Club thread because it's such a 'horrible' pedal, huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 10, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Thanks for the replies. It sounds to me like the Bad Monkey might just be a start. This may be a whole new form of GAS for me; it used to be just about guitars in particular and not gear in general! I originally got the HRDx as a base for an SRV, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana tone but I soon realized that I'm gonna need some pedals to refine the HRDx's sound some. I've listened to a bunch of MP3s over at MF the past couple of days with a budget in mind (Boss DS-1, DigiTech XMM Metal Master Heavy Metal, and the Bad Monkey) and based on what I've heard I definitely don't want a lot of distortion. The "hard rock" distorted tone I'm looking for something closer to classic rock to maybe early 80s metal - not that chugga chugga stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members book_of_lies777 Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Originally posted by kwakatak Thanks for the replies. It sounds to me like the Bad Monkey might just be a start. This may be a whole new form of GAS for me; it used to be just about guitars in particular and not gear in general! I originally got the HRDx as a base for an SRV, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana tone but I soon realized that I'm gonna need some pedals to refine the HRDx's sound some. I've listened to a bunch of MP3s over at MF the past couple of days with a budget in mind (Boss DS-1, DigiTech XMM Metal Master Heavy Metal, and the Bad Monkey) and based on what I've heard I definitely don't want a lot of distortion. The "hard rock" distorted tone I'm looking for something closer to classic rock to maybe early 80s metal - not that chugga chugga stuff. then a Bad Monkey and a DS-1 or Hot Head sounds perfect for you. I like the Monkey so much I own 2 of them! hehehe And I just bought another DS-1 on Friday(sold the other one). Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Forbidden Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Originally posted by Zen In YOUR opinion ofcourse. Some of us folk love the Bad Monkey for being a value priced alternative to the Tube Screamer. IMO it sounds better when I A/B'ed it against the TS7 and TS9. TS5's cost about $10-20 secondhand.Sure IMO of course but I thought the Bad Monkey is just a terrible sounding pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IRG Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Another vote for the BM. I will say though, that I like it better with single coils than my HB guitar, not sure why. I would get another pedal for distortion. The Boss DS-1 isn't bad for $40 either. You can spend a whole lot more too. Seymour Duncan makes a tube pedal that does overdrive and some distortion. It's about $200 but it looks like you could get distinct tones out of it. I have a Behringer vintage distortion (VD-1) that I love, $29, and it gives that vintagy creamy distortion sound. May be more distoriton that you want. The DS-1 is a little more composed. And I am not sure how the VD-1 will sound in a live setting, as I just play at home. But I do love the little bugger (and it isn't so little). Wired bypass too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Kwak,Get the Bad Monkey. It's a great pedal for the money. It works well with tube and solid state amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 I could tell you this.........I own a RT-66, a TS-9 and a Bad Monkey. I like the TONES of the RT-66 best! But its TOO NOISEY! The TS-9 go's a little farther into OD territory. But its just not a much better sounding pedal than the BM. I have been using the BM in my Pedalboard for a time now. Its very quite, doesn't mess with the signal. But I also have a AM4 Line-6 and a MXR EQ on the pedalboard. So there's enough Tone shaping possibilities to do whatever. All my pedals are chosen with TWO gactors in MIND. 1] Are they Noisey 2] Do they disrupt the signal path. NONE of those mentioned do. The MXR is a 6-Band EQ and NOT really as GOOD as the Boss GE7. But thats ANOTHER noisey pedal. The MXR is QUIET and does a decent Job. Plus the slidders are all lite, so they are easy to se in the dark. The AM4 while many don't like it! I DO, Matchless alopne is worth the price of admission. The Fender and Marshall models are decent, the Mesa in conjuction with the EQ and BM will take you into Feedback and serious high-gain. Great Combo's for me. For a WAH I use a OLD 535. Before they came out with the Q! Another great sounding pedal that don't dirty the signal. Beside that.............Fender 100 Tuner, Boss DD-3 and a Chorus Ensemble. Don't use the chorus or Delay much! Also carry a EH Holy Grail for the Crate Power Block is my Fender dies! Thats what my board looks like.......Not Fancy, but it works for me, BTW The Deluxe OD's darn well at high volumes anyway, with loads of midrange honk? I wouldn't think you would need more Pedal than the BM with it? I use one of these SOMETIME's........................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Web Surf Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 I have a DOD Juice Box. I understand that this evolved into a Bad Monkey ( They added speaker emulation) The DOD Juice Box is great for pushing other boxes/amps. On its own, its just a slight overdrive, good tone control, booster type of thang but in case the next box has a sweet spot somewhere, the Juice box helps you to find it !!! Recommend !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mdintx Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 I would get the Digitech Hot Head. I tried it out on your amp at a local GC and was really impressed. It put out this great thick distortion. Of course, it sounded awful with my SF Champ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 I use to have a JUICE BOX. They are right there with the TS-9 BM and RT-66. Only thing is the JB is NOT as transparent as the BM! I sold mine for GOOD dollars on E-Bay! Thet are going UP in price. Well they are NOT made anymore and are older now. BUT anyone who does pedal mods...........will tell you to stay away from the Juice Box. For EXACT reason..........Go to the Fender Forum and ask STEVE DALLMAN! He build Boutique pedals and tweaks the Tubsscreamers, the Bad Monkeys, Wahs by Vox and Dunlop. CLAIMS his BM tweaked will give you the exact tone of a VOX AC-30TB? Anyway as I said..........my JB was cool and sounded pretty darn good. I bought it for $10bucks at a Pawn shop, and it was like NEW! But between what I have and A/Bing it? I knew I would NEVER use it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 10, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Originally posted by book_of_lies777 then a Bad Monkey and a DS-1 or Hot Head sounds perfect for you. I like the Monkey so much I own 2 of them! hehehe And I just bought another DS-1 on Friday(sold the other one). Good luck! Thanks! I see that my local mom & pop store carries both Digitech and Boss effects so I can check them out before pulling the trigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mingo Sanders Posted January 10, 2007 Members Share Posted January 10, 2007 Originally posted by kwakatak Are there any other pedals (ideally under $100) that I should also be considering, either along with or instead of the Bad Monkey? Well, if you're willing to go for more than $100, I'd recommend the Boss OD-20 Drive Zone pedal. The street price is about $180, and you get 22 different overdrive and distortion sounds, some of which are models of Boss's own pedals. The others are models of pedals by others. Finally, it has six sounds developed by Boss for the OD-20. I like the memory function: you can store 4 different settings. If you count the "manual" setting, you can actually have 5 different sounds set up. Try to listen to what you buy before you buy it, or at least be sure that you have time to try it at home and return it if it's not what you need. Good luck! Boss Drive Zone pedal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lump Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 My suggestion would be a little different. It sounds like your looking for two different dirt tones. Consider the Visual Sounds Jekyll and Hyde pedal. It's two different distortions in one. The Jekyll side is basically a tube screamer (which would fill your bad monkey vibe, and then some in my opinion). The Hyde side is an extremely versatile distortion pedal that can run the whole gambit. You can even combine both for crazy sounds. It has a nice line buffer that preservse your signal even when eventually adding other pedals after it (if you play in church I'm betting you'll eventually start using a chorus pedal). It's more money than you mentioned, but it really fills both pedal needs so keep that in mind. They really are great pedals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 11, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 My suggestion would be a little different. It sounds like your looking for two different dirt tones. Consider the Visual Sounds Jekyll and Hyde pedal. It's two different distortions in one. The Jekyll side is basically a tube screamer (which would fill your bad monkey vibe, and then some in my opinion). The Hyde side is an extremely versatile distortion pedal that can run the whole gambit. You can even combine both for crazy sounds. It has a nice line buffer that preservse your signal even when eventually adding other pedals after it (if you play in church I'm betting you'll eventually start using a chorus pedal). It's more money than you mentioned, but it really fills both pedal needs so keep that in mind. They really are great pedals. That certainly is interesting. I don't know if I'm ready to spend that kind of money all at once though it may be something I'd consider upgrading to. I'm just getting back into playing electric after a 10+ year break and have just gotten comfortable with it in a group setting so I still feel as if I need to justify every expense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 Kwak,Over the past 2 years I owned a Keeley modified Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, a Digitech Screamin' Blues and a Digitech Bad Monkey. The Keeley modded TS9 was awesome but it cost me $99 for the pedal and apprx. $60 to get Robert Keeley to mod it. The Bad Monkey comes close and is a steal at $40. I just bought a used one for $25 shipped on Ebay (6 months old in mint condition). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted January 11, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 Yeah but you know my financial situation. It's not really about the money but having "too many toys" (according to my wife) and nowhere to put it. I figure offering up a "cheap" alternative will sweeten the deal and loosen her purse strings! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mister Crowley Posted January 11, 2007 Members Share Posted January 11, 2007 I own both an HRD and a Bad monkey, I primarily use this with my tele and strat setup. The Bad Monkey will be a great addition, for $40 you can't go wrong. I know this may seem obvious but it you're looking for a more dirt the HRD has all tube distortion. All of guys knock on here because it's not a metal tone, but I find it works great of overdriven hard rock/blues stuff. So I'd play with the dirt channel on your HRD first and then if you're not satisifed get the Bad Monkey to push it over the edge. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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