Digitech Bad Monkey – Review

Having recently purchased a Blues Junior Valve amplifier, I’ve had an itch to build a pedal board to go with it. My usual gigging rig for my cover band simply consists of a Line 6 Flextone III Plus and a FBV Shortboard, so this new setup is quite a departure for me.

It will be mainly used at my home studio and for recording; I have however already gigged this setup with great results.

The basic premise of this unit, as with other similar pedals, is to simulate the sound of an overdriven tube amplifier. Ironically many guitarists myself included use this unit in front of a tube amplifier to “break up” the sound without having to crank the volume to extreme levels. This proves useful in recording or low stage volume applications.

The Bad Monkey excels at the above application and breaks up the sound on my Blues Junior nicely with a little gain. Alternatively in front of a solid state amp and with the gain turned up it successfully emulates the sound of an overdriven tube amp.

The sound is rich and organic with nice overtones, the samples below show the results achieved.

MP3 Demo

Build quality is good too with a sturdy metal casing and quiet electronics. The pedal is not however true bypass but this is does not seem to make a noticeable difference as to tone when the pedal is in an effects chain.

An excellent, value for money product.

By Ernest H Slade