Finally love my Bad Monkey

BassistFreak416 · #1 10-05-2010, 01:52 PM

ive had a digitech bad monkey for awhile, but honestly never found it that much fun to use. cool distortion when cranked, but then it never did much else.

somewhere on talkbass i noticed someones settings with the bass and treble knobs on near full. so i did the same, cranked the eq full, and set the gain at minimum and BOOOOOM!!!

i am in tone heaven

. whether its me or anything, this setting is perfect for me. makes it all warmer, fatter, thicker. i find it best with my ATK by setting the pickups to single+hi-cut and i get an amazing sound. i must complain though that there is a lot of treble (obviously), but it makes the highs seem less vintage or cut. none the less, this simple setting gives me a perfect tube sound, at least by my knowledge of a tube sound.

anyone else find the same results like i have? is there a pedal or something to produce a stronger or flexible hi-cut sound (i think hi-cut is the right term, as long as were all on the same page), or even to find a similar sound?

all i can say is with these results, im in complete love with the pedal looking for a clean but warm thick tube sound.

giacomini · #2 10-05-2010, 02:23 PM

I'm still learning things about my BM. Still fiddling with it. I do like the effect it gives.

The thing you might be looking for is another pedal... maybe if you put an EQ after the BM and roll off some highs you get the hi cut you want.

G.Bisson · #3 10-05-2010, 02:29 PM

I've been getting some great tubey sounds from a Hardwire CM2 Tube Overdrive using similar setting as you describe.

Haven't tried a Bad Monkey myself, so I was wondering... did Digitech just repackage the Bad Monkey as the new Hardwire CM2?
...the controls are exactly the same and they are both labeled as 'Tube Overdrive'.

giacomini · #4 10-05-2010, 02:32 PM

Wondering about that too... but the price tag in the Hardwire series tells otherwise (unless they're fooling us all!)

**Staccato** · #5 10-05-2010, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassistFreak416

...settings with the bass and treble knobs on near full. so i did the same, cranked the eq full, and set the gain at minimum and BOOOOOM!!!

i am in tone heaven

Congrats, and thanks for the setting suggestion! It's time for me to use mine for guitar and bass, for double trouble.

BassistFreak416 · #6 10-05-2010, 03:49 PM

no problem. i find that the eq knobs on full makes it sound like it hits the overdrive harder, not like makes it distort earlier, but gives a much stronger sound and feel. plus you can always move the gain setting around to however much drive u want, but i find having it off gives an amazingly clean but warm sound.

i was actually thinking about the hardwire tube overdrive too. there is a valve distortion pedal they have, but i think its more of a distortion specific pedal. the hardwire costs more because its in a different and if i remember a better enclosure, i believe their true bypass, and nicer knobs. plus it has a switch to change the voicing or a similar kind of change.

i think i need to try and roll off the highs, i have only been using the pedal through my little fender practice amp, and through it the pedal still sounds amazing. my better amp would let me better roll off highs, so when i get to use, ill try it out.

sutarappa · #7 10-05-2010, 04:02 PM

Cool. had a similar experience with the Digitech Bass Driver a while back. Had it a long time, in and out of my setup... Seems one has to spend some time experimenting with the Digi distortions to find the sweets. Most folks tend to forfeit that time and move on to fancier effects. Once I found the sugar in the Bass Driver, it stayed on my board over two years, tons of gigs, two recordings... A lot of the Digitech stuff flies under the radar for how cool and versatile it can be.

dannybuoy · #8 10-05-2010, 04:51 PM

Try running it into a VT Bass, they sound great together!

BassistFreak416 · #9 10-05-2010, 06:03 PM

dont have a vt bass, but that does sound awesome

tink9975 · #10 10-05-2010, 06:44 PM

I like to run mine into a Bass Big Muff, gives the fuzz a little more edge

shaolinwhat · #11 10-05-2010, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannybuoy

Try running it into a VT Bass, they sound great together!

I will be trying this out when my VT arrives tomorrow! Can't wait.

Slackerprince · #12 10-05-2010, 08:10 PM

I traded a Boss CS-3 that I couldn't sell or trade for a long time and got a Bad Monkey.
Put it on my board and, wow! I have both EQ at 3 o'clock. Level and gain at 9 o'clock and have it after my VT Bass. Sweet.
FWIW, I have a CM-2 and A/B'd it with the Bad Monkey, and although they were similar, the CM-2 was just a tad more transparent. Both good pedals.
Bad Monkey is sweet on a bass board as a clean boost at modest settings.

s.

BassistFreak416 · #13 10-05-2010, 11:30 PM

how does the CM-2 differ from the Bad Monkey tone wise?
great hearing everyones interests in the Bad Monkey. for those of u with or getting a vt bass, would love to hear your reviews on the combination.

G.Bisson · #14 10-06-2010, 07:48 AM

Been using the CM-2 with a VT Bass this whole time. Truely an awesome combination. They were born for each other. When using the two together I back off the mids on the VT, it lets through more growl and bark with less grind.

I mostly use the CM-2 in the 'classic' setting. I assume that setting more closely resembles the Bad Monkey. The 'modified' setting shifts the mid scoop upward so you hear more lower mids and lows with less presence, but still falls short of the ultra deep 5 string lo lows. That being said, the CM-2 lets through generous amounts of lows. My bass still sounds like a bass.

my favorite setting is:
bass - little past 3 o'clock
treb - little shy of 3 o'clock
gain - 2 o'clock

The enclosure is beefer than the orginial digitech pedals, has true-bypass, and the knobs are better too. The knobs have indents at regular intervals so you can easily remember your setting by counting the clicks.

blastjv · #15 10-06-2010, 08:43 AM

Yeah, the Bad Monkey surprised me as well. Fortunately I started out with the setting you describe, so I had a great impression from the start.

In front of my SVT I set it with the level and gain at about 9:00, the Treble cranked, and the Bass just a touch back from cranked (to control a little boominess I get).

REALLY sounds good, but I just re-bought an Xotic Bass BB which was more what I wanted for my main rig, and I'm keeping the Monkey to 'tube up' my at home practice amp, and as a different flavor now and again...

-John

dannybuoy · #16 10-06-2010, 12:28 PM

The Bad Monkey (I had the Humphrey modded version) and BB sound very similar. I upgraded to the BB since it was smaller and I'm a bit picky about the buffers in Boss and Digitech pedals.

gjbassist · #17 10-06-2010, 12:36 PM

IMO the Bad Monkey is one of the most underrated pedals on the market. I've been using one for a few years and love it. I don't turn the bass and treble EQ all the way up though. I have bass set at 3 o'clock and treble at noon. It gives such a nice full warm sound without being muddy.

blastjv · #18 10-06-2010, 12:41 PM

I actually thought the buffer was great in the Bad Monkey, and I am also VERY picky. I'm learning that often the difference between a 'good' buffer and a 'bad' buffer is whether or not it affects the particular frequencies each individual musician happens to enjoy and listen for. For example, I also have an Aguilar Agro which is a great pedal and people have raved about thier buffers, but I am not totally happy with it (though I AM totally happy with the OD tone when it's on).

Yeah, the BM and BB are similar, but the BB sounds a little more 'modern' and the BM a little more 'vintage' (whatever THOSE highly subjective terms mean). The BB has a lot more treble boost to give.

-John

BassistFreak416 · #19 10-09-2010, 05:23 PM

anyone else tested the bad monkey with the vt bass yet? can anyone else compare the cm-2 to the bad monkey?

Rocks · #20 10-09-2010, 09:50 PM

With OD's and distortion boxes I always like to get them sounding just like my rig without the OD/distortion kicked up. I make sure the volume level is the same with the pedal on or off so there is no boost coloring the sound. Once I get it sounding good like a clean boost thats not really boosting I then adjust the gain to the level I want and adjust my tone if needed from there. I can usually dial in a great tone very quickly this way if there is one in the pedal to be had. Of course I also try pushing the bass and treble to the max and cutting it back, just to see the different variations I can get and this quickly lets me find the levels that I like. In a few minutes you can basically check out the range of the pedal and find settings that you'll like.