Bad Monkey is overdrive pedal in the same vein as Ibanez Tubescreamer or Boss SD-1. It has 4 controls: level, gain, low and high. The possibility to adjust low and high seperately is a nice addition compared to SD-1, I personally like to adjust the high frequencies a bit lower when using this pedal.This pedal is not a typical DigiTech product, as it is just simple overdrive pedal without any digital processing options. Phil X and his guitar videos (check them out on YouTube) are probably original reason these pedals got popular and the price is really cheap (around 35 EUR new) – for the price it is probably one of the best options for overdrive needs.
This pedal has transparent kind of overdrive and works really well in front of already overdriven tube amp. I like to use settings with next-to-none gain and and high level settings. This gives the input section of the tube amp an adrenaline shot and drives the distortion but still the sound is clear, tight and articulate. I have never really used the gain settings on higher levels but I am pretty sure this pedal is not a good choice if you want to get high-gain sounds with a clean amp. I rate this as a booster, and for that it is very good.
It has metal casing and it will take the beating without problems. It is really hard to break these kind of pedals. The design of the battery compartment is not as good as with Boss pedals – but it is good enough. I usually use this with DC – power anyways.
