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DigiTech Bad Monkey vs DigiTech Bass Driver vs Marshall GV-2 Guv'nor Plus

Spidzior

Spidzior

Guest
Dec 22, 2011
79
21
Poland
#1
I'm aware a lot has been said about these effects and I've read it all, but still many of my questions remain unanswered.

I'm looking for a pedal that will provide as many tones as possible, anyting from tube-like slight warm overdrive, through Lemmy sound (I especially like his sound on tracks like 'Stone Dead Forever' Motorhead - Stone Dead Forever - YouTube or 'Bomber' Motörhead - Bomber - YouTube ) all the way to stronger sludge/doom distortion. One of my favourite tones is that of Zakk Wylde on 'Sonic Brew' album, which I posted about in this thread: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f28/zakk-wylde-yeah-he-plays-bass-guitar-too-852504/

From what I've read my best bet would be DigiTech Bass Driver, but some complain that even though it is very versatile, all the settings sound bad, digital or cheap. I'm confused, have anyone compared it directly with Bad Monkey? Is the latter any better? People praise it's tube-like warmth but from what I understand it tends to cut the low frequencies and emphasize the mids, which can be expected from a guitar effect. Can it be fixed using a graphic equalizer?

Or maybe you would recommend some other cheap pedals?

Thanks in advance
 
#2
I have the Bad Monkey and the Bass Driver on 2 different boards. I like the sound of each. But, to me, what you're looking for would be better addressed by the Bad Monkey with a capacitor mod. I only did the C11 mod. Makes this pedal very bass friendly and really fun to use. Great pedal and a relatively simple mod.

example here: Invalid Link Removed
 
#3
neuman, could you elaborate? Why would Bad Monkey be better for me? Can it replicate the sounds in question and the Bass Driver couldn't? Please, write something more!

Edit: in the link you posted casing of Bad Monkey is made of plastic, I thought they were metal...
 
#6
I've owned a stock bad monkey, then modded it and owned a blues driver. Out of them I liked the modded bad monkey the best, but honestly none of the ones you listed really have many tonal ranges. Your best bet would be to save up for something from Fuzzrocious, a TAFM, or maybe a blueberry overdrive depending on if its passive or active. And the bad monkey is a metal housing, you are just seeing the painted inside of it. I believe all digitech pedals are metal
 
#7
I haven't used a Bad Monkey or the Ashdown, but I think you could get close to Lemmy's tones with the Digitech Bass Driver. The Zakk Wylde tones, maybe not so much. The Bass Driver will do a big range of overdrive tones but does not go into heavier fuzz. It can be a tricky pedal to work with. For me, the key to good sounds was keeping some of the dry signal with the blend control. I usually would have it set from 12 to 3 o'clock. The Bass Driver can often be a cheap, used find in the US, but I'm not sure about that over in your neighborhood...
 

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