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Cheap but good OD

#61
A few things about the Hardwire CM-2:
1. It DOES take a 9v battery. You have to pop off the footpedal. Read the instructions manual.
2. It is capable of a very wide range of gain, thanks to the character switch. I've done everything from subtle fur to Cliff Burton style madness with this one pedal.
3. I could swear this thing blends in just a touch of your clean signal underneath the OD with the switch in classic mode. That may be partly responsible for its impressive low end reproduction.
4. I AB'ed this pedal and the valve distortion before I decided on the CM-2. The Valve Distortion didn't preserve the lows nearly as well as the CM-2, but I can imagine it working well used in conjunction with a clean blend. The tone was a little more in-your-face, upper mid focused whereas the CM-2 is smoother and broader.
 
#62
Just upgraded my bad monkey to a badder monkey today. Had a friend who is an electrical engineer guide me on the soldering. Ended up being a really easy mod. I already liked the bad monkey, but my new badder monkey is a noticeable improvement. Total investment $51 ($26 on the pedal + $25 on soldering iron, desoldering bulb and capacitors).
 
#65
Waldo19 said:
Just upgraded my bad monkey to a badder monkey today. Had a friend who is an electrical engineer guide me on the soldering. Ended up being a really easy mod. I already liked the bad monkey, but my new badder monkey is a noticeable improvement. Total investment $51 ($26 on the pedal + $25 on soldering iron, desoldering bulb and capacitors).
Click to expand...

Could you tell us exactly what you replaced in order to turn it into a Badder Monkey? I'd like to give it a try on my own Bad Monkey.
 
#68
A good bang for the buck is a pedal modeler like the Line 6 M5.
At $200 (new) it can emulate a number of different overdrives, distortions and fuzzes, and also contains a bunch of other effects as well.

People say emulators don't sound as good as the real thing, but give one a listen. You may be surprised.
 
#70
My guitarist has the Joyo Ultimate Drive, and gets some good tone out of it. I'm gonna borrow it next rehearsal and see what it sounds like on bass. My only pedal for bass right now is a Bass Muff, which is awesome, but I need something gritty for when the BBM is too much. The CM2 also sounds very good from the clips I've listened to. I actually played guitar with a guy who used one of those red Danelectro Fab distortions on bass, and it sounded great!
 
#71
TheEmptyCell said:
My guitarist has the Joyo Ultimate Drive, and gets some good tone out of it. I'm gonna borrow it next rehearsal and see what it sounds like on bass. My only pedal for bass right now is a Bass Muff, which is awesome, but I need something gritty for when the BBM is too much. The CM2 also sounds very good from the clips I've listened to. I actually played guitar with a guy who used one of those red Danelectro Fab distortions on bass, and it sounded great!
Click to expand...

I have a BBM and recently got the Joyo. I could not get a subtle enough sound with BBM. They Joyo gives me what I want for just a low gain slight overdrive and now I have the BBM set on bass boost mode with crazy high sustain.

The Joyo can do some more distorted sounds if you need them that stay fairly tight. Thus far I really like the pedal. The main problem I have with the pedal is the controls don't seem as sensitive as other pedals I have used. It just seems like there isn't a whole lot of difference and then boom the tone changes suddenly. Luckily the sounds are almost all usable in the right context.
 
#72
krstko said:
hmm .. be online more often and tell people exactly what you want every second post? ;) (also a lot of good info about OD)
Click to expand...

I only mean to say that there probably isn't a single tool that will provide every level and flavor of overdrive, fuzz, distortion, etc. But there's at least one or two great products for each niche. And anyone who is into it will likely end up with more than one product on the board. $0.02
 
#73
Tractorr said:
The Joyo can do some more distorted sounds if you need them that stay fairly tight. Thus far I really like the pedal. The main problem I have with the pedal is the controls don't seem as sensitive as other pedals I have used. It just seems like there isn't a whole lot of difference and then boom the tone changes suddenly. Luckily the sounds are almost all usable in the right context.
Click to expand...

The BBM is far from subtle, which is great for some parts, but I want an almost-always-on OD sound. The MXR Bass OD looks great but won't be out til next year. I'm gonna try out the Joyo at practice, and then maybe order a CM-2 to A/B and decide which I like better.
 
#76
stratovani said:
Could you tell us exactly what you replaced in order to turn it into a Badder Monkey? I'd like to give it a try on my own Bad Monkey.
Click to expand...


No problem, I replaced the capacitors at C11 and C5.

At C11 I replaced the 0.22 uf with a 1.0 uf Cap. This increased the bass response dramatically and is the easiest cap to replace.

At C5 I replaced the 0.047 with a 0.1 uf Cap. This cut the mid hump and made the pedal a lot more transparent. This was a little harder to remove but not terribly difficult.

Hope this helps.
 
#79
Waldo19 said:
No problem, I replaced the capacitors at C11 and C5.

At C11 I replaced the 0.22 uf with a 1.0 uf Cap. This increased the bass response dramatically and is the easiest cap to replace.

At C5 I replaced the 0.047 with a 0.1 uf Cap. This cut the mid hump and made the pedal a lot more transparent. This was a little harder to remove but not terribly difficult.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Great, thanks! I'll give it a try. :D
 
#80
Hobobob said:
A few things about the Hardwire CM-2:
1. It DOES take a 9v battery. You have to pop off the footpedal. Read the instructions manual.
2. It is capable of a very wide range of gain, thanks to the character switch. I've done everything from subtle fur to Cliff Burton style madness with this one pedal.
3. I could swear this thing blends in just a touch of your clean signal underneath the OD with the switch in classic mode. That may be partly responsible for its impressive low end reproduction.
4. I AB'ed this pedal and the valve distortion before I decided on the CM-2. The Valve Distortion didn't preserve the lows nearly as well as the CM-2, but I can imagine it working well used in conjunction with a clean blend. The tone was a little more in-your-face, upper mid focused whereas the CM-2 is smoother and broader.
Click to expand...

Of course my Hardwire CM-2 is my main overdrive, but I also have the Hardwire Valve Distortion. I don't use it much by itself, but the Valve into the CM-2 is instant Tool tone. It's stellar.
 

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