Bad Monkeys

[CEB]

India. Delta. India. Oscar. Tango. Sierra 
 

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/digitech-bad-monkey-klon-centaur-jhs-pedals-prices

[KuruPrionz]

Idiots?

Me for not buying a bunch of Bad Monkeys last month!!!! 

 

I bet the dude who made the comparison did. Africa. Siam. Senegal. Hawaii. Ontario. Louisiana. Ethiopia. 😜

[Caevan O’Shite]

The way this should work is, the going rate for Klon Centaurs should go down. 😉

[Winston Psmith]

My take on this is kind of backwards . . . that one of the most sought-after and over-hyped boutique OD pedals ever made, in reality, sounds just like one of the least expensive, entry-level, mass-market OD pedals ever made.

 

It's also a great example of how BS drives the "vintage" or collectible market. Those are the same Bad Monkey pedals that were selling for $60+/-, just a while ago. Nobody waved a magic wand, or circuit board, over them and turned them into Legendary Tone Machines overnight: some guy made a video showing that a lot of OD pedals sound pretty much the same, even the cheap ones that everybody overlooked at first. As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

 

(Full disclosure: When I worked in Music retail, we had the Bad Monkey in stock, but hardly anyone took it seriously because of the name. The cartoonish font for the name didn't help. I don't recall ever selling one?)

[CEB]

Josh’s response. 😀

————————————————-

To the people complaining that I raised the price on this pedal and “now you can’t buy one,” I would like to remind you you had 19 years to buy one, but you never cared. This pedal has existed four years longer than JHS as a company, and most guitarists have hated on it since day one. No one kept you from trying it in 2004. Learn to listen with your ears and not trends, and you will be a much happier guitarist.

Next: People will list them for ridiculous prices, and it’s extremely easy to not to buy them at those prices. Just wait. They will return to normal, and people will move on to the next thing. 

One more thing: people listing for $600 and people buying them for $600 are two very different things. Sit back, relax, and enjoy guitar with what you have. The point of the episode was to help you see that what you have is enough.

 

——————————————-

lifted from JHS Facebook page

[Sharkman]

I just looked on Ebay, and right now, there are three listings for Bad Monkey pedals located in the United States that are selling for $107.50 or less.  One lesson in business that I learned many years ago is that you can ask any price you want on anything, but getting that price is another matter.

[CEB]

[Caevan O’Shite]

12 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

My take on this is kind of backwards . . . that one of the most sought-after and over-hyped boutique OD pedals ever made, in reality, sounds just like one of the least expensive, entry-level, mass-market OD pedals ever made.

 

It's also a great example of how BS drives the "vintage" or collectible market. Those are the same Bad Monkey pedals that were selling for $60+/-, just a while ago. Nobody waved a magic wand, or circuit board, over them and turned them into Legendary Tone Machines overnight: some guy made a video showing that a lot of OD pedals sound pretty much the same, even the cheap ones that everybody overlooked at first. As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

 

(Full disclosure: When I worked in Music retail, we had the Bad Monkey in stock, but hardly anyone took it seriously because of the name. The cartoonish font for the name didn't help. I don't recall ever selling one?)

=IF= I really, really wanted a Klon or KTR, I'd go with one of the very best quality DIY Klone-kits or a high quality Klone. Comparing one very popular Klone to a KTR, there was a noticeable difference in how the Klone behaved during what I think of as squidgy double-stop bends and oblique bends, that I found unpleasant- but many or most people either didn't notice or didn't care about or maybe actually liked just fine.

The thing is, I don't feel much need beyond curiosity to have a a Klon, KTR, or Klone.

[KuruPrionz]

I have a Tech 21 Double Drive 3x pedal that cost me around $100, has 3 very easily created presets (you can do it onstage in seconds, it's that easy), and you can blend both even order and odd order harmonics. It sounds good, SansAmp technology. That said, I can't remember the last time I actually used it. 

 

Long ago and far away I had one of the RAT pedals, not the first huge blocky one, the next, smaller but still blocky one. I used that all the time, when I listened to recordings of me playing with that I wonder why I liked it. 

 

As far as I'm concerned, everybody else can have all the extortion pedals, I'm fine with the sounds that are now built into affordable amplifiers. 

Paying beaucoup bucks for a small, battery sucking widget is for other people. 

[timwat]

I actually have a mint Bad Monkey. I gotta cash in before it goes the way of NFTs and Bitcoin...

[Winston Psmith]

On 3/17/2023 at 8:40 PM, timwat said:

I actually have a mint Bad Monkey. I gotta cash in before it goes the way of NFTs and Bitcoin...

 

At least the Bad Monkey is real . . .

[Caevan O’Shite]

7 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

 

At least the Bad Monkey is real . . .

 

TROOF.

[p90jr]

That guy in Australia who did (does) pedal and guitar and amp vids with his daughter did this same video that Josh JHS did 13 years ago with the same conclusion...

I have one of the first batch of KTRs. It's funny that he had to change some part due to unavailability, and though they sound exactly the same the early ones are more sought after now because of the change so the price of those has gone up considerably... It's cool... we'll see what it's worth when my daughter needs books for college in 8 years.

Though I am a bit of a pedal junky... I hate this pedal culture... it's ridiculous. It has nothing to do with music, it's just people coveting objects based on everybody else wanting them and there being a limited supply of them... done for speculative investment. There are tons of other inexpensive pedals that could get the same result as the Bad Monkey in that vid... I saw a guy list about 20 of them and tell people not to worry about getting a Bad Monkey if the price soars, and one guy said "but those are still made so they won't be more valuable if I buy one." And that exposes the entire thing... and it's why the Bad Monkey was a $20 reject until he posted that video.

[KuruPrionz]

7 hours ago, p90jr said:

Though I am a bit of a pedal junky... I hate this pedal culture... it's ridiculous. It has nothing to do with music, it's just people coveting objects based on everybody else wanting them and there being a limited supply of them... done for speculative investment. 

I think it's just stupid too. There's no basis in reality whatsoever. 

I have a Tech 21 Double Drive 3x MOD, the later version with a bit more overall distortion available. Super fast to program, 3 different tones at your toes and everything from subtle chimey grind to all out over-the-top distortion with your choice of even or odd order harmonics and any blend of those two factors. It's the only OD/Dist pedal anybody would ever need, very well made and available on the used market for around $100 because nobody famous admits to using one. 

 

And, I almost never use it. Not because I don't like it but because I don't need it right now and I don't like stuff on the floor. If I have a pedal board, which is mostly never - it's a Peavey Sanpera 1. Plug one cord from the pedal to the amp, plug the guitar into the amp, done. No batteries, no power supplies, no chains of effects, no "I gotta stomp this one and then that one BS", all gone. Ahhh... 

[Winston Psmith]

For me, using effects to shape or even twist my sound is akin to a form of Synthesis, and some effects even do things that my Synths would be hard pressed to emulate.

 

While Guitar is my first love, and my main Instrument, I guess I really consider myself to be an Electronic Musician, if I had to pick a category. I'll try to find a way to use almost anything that gives me a sound that I want, including a lot of Instruments that aren't Guitars, or anything like a Guitar.

 

In that regard, Effects are tools, no less than an Amp, a Mixer, a Synth, a Guitar Tuner, or a bag full of cables. They're what I use to make my sound, or sounds, and I choose them with that in mind.

[KuruPrionz]

On 3/24/2023 at 1:52 PM, Winston Psmith said:

For me, using effects to shape or even twist my sound is akin to a form of Synthesis, and some effects even do things that my Synths would be hard pressed to emulate.

 

While Guitar is my first love, and my main Instrument, I guess I really consider myself to be an Electronic Musician, if I had to pick a category. I'll try to find a way to use almost anything that gives me a sound that I want, including a lot of Instruments that aren't Guitars, or anything like a Guitar.

 

In that regard, Effects are tools, no less than an Amp, a Mixer, a Synth, a Guitar Tuner, or a bag full of cables. They're what I use to make my sound, or sounds, and I choose them with that in mind.

I like different and interesting tones too. I just don't like stuff on the floor or lots of cords. 

Have you ever goofed around with a Peavey Vypyr VIP 3? You can use either Sanpera pedal - 1 or 2. You'd fill the floor and the backline if you had individual items that covered the same ground. 1 cord to hook up the foot switch system with dual rocker pedals. 

Check out this review, he covers the basics pretty well although there are lots of effects that he doesn't play. 

 

[Winston Psmith]

@KuruPrionz- I'm familiar with the Vypyr series Amps, a friend had one of the early models. I recall there were some features you could only access if you had the Sanpera control pedal, as well.

 

 No modeling Amps here, but I have a handful of MFX, which I often use live. Quick-&-easy connections, minimal footprint, and a legion of virtual Amp+FX rigs in one package. I get it, but all too often, I'm looking (listening?) for something that's not on the menu.

[Caevan O’Shite]

I've used digital multi-effects and digital-modeler/multi-effects units before, both rack and floor stylees, and both with tube-amps and going DI to PA and monitors. I even combined dm/mfx, pedals fore and aft, and tube-amp-Left and PA-&-monitors-Right and got some great results.

Honestly, though, the mfx units pushed me to get more and more pedals, both analog and digital varieties, as there were things that were OK at best with the mfx that some pedals were vastly superior at.

Bad Monkey? I don't think that I ever even tried one, as I figured it would be more or less the same as so many other overdrive pedals- which is, essentially, the point that Josh Scott made in his video that started all this monkey chatter, isn't it... ?