Bad Monkey as cabinet emulator

gtrdave · 06-09-2009, 12:02 PM

Background story...

At church I use (or used to use) an Epiphone Valve Standard guitar amp. It's off-stage in an iso-cabinet and mic'ed by a Sennheiser e609 mic and finally run into an Allen and Heath GL3800 mixing console.
This has been my set-up for at least a year. While the amp is a little muddy, it gets the job done.
A few weeks ago I noticed that the amp was getting more and more distorted. I run it fairly clean, so I suspected the tubes were going south.
I visited my local store, bought a new set of pre and power tubes (GT Gold Series), installed them and all was well for a couple weeks.

Last Thursday eve at rehearsal I noticed a loud hum coming through the amp. It never hummed before and, so, I got this sinking feeling that at least one of my new tubes was failing.
This is the second time I have purchased brand new tubes and had them fail within days of installation. fyi: I've been using tube amps for 30 years and have been through a LOT of tubes...
Sure enough, I came in Sunday morning and my amp was all but dead. It powered up, but the tone was awful, the high frequencies were gone and the overall volume was down a bit.
In an act of haste, I grabbed a direct box, unplugged the mic and the guitar input cable, attached the DI and...well, it worked, but the sound was as expected; thin, harsh, shrill, buzzy ALTHOUGH it was better than what I was getting out of the amp.
Got through both services, shut it off and here we are today.

On a whim, I remembered that I have a Digitech Bad Monkey pedal that collects dust on a cabinet in my studio, so I decided to bring it in today and try it as a DI of sorts, knowing that it's got a 'mixer' output jack. The 'mixer' out "features DigiTech's speaker cabinet emulation, that lets you run the pedal directly into a mixer" (DigiTech Bad Monkey Owner's Manual).
I just finished hooking it up and, I have to admit, I'm rather impressed with the sound out of my monitor and out of the house mains.
It's as good as my Epiphone (I know, crazy, yes?) and MUCH improved over the DI only.
The cabinet emulation works with the pedal on or off, so I don't even have to step on the thing. This is good since I already have 2 other od/dist pedals on my board. Hey, if I wanted a third variety of overdrive, I have that option at my disposal now...

So, in short: Bad Monkey as a cabinet emulator =

I think I'll stick the old tubes back in the Epi and sell it.

cheyguy426 · 06-09-2009, 12:24 PM

Huh.. interesting. That is GAS helping you out, old pedals sitting around turn incredibly useful!

gtrdave · 06-09-2009, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheyguy426

Huh.. interesting. That is GAS helping you out, old pedals sitting around turn incredibly useful!

Yeah, now I gotta find a use for the other half-dozen dust collectors...

Almost Enough · 06-09-2009, 01:07 PM

You could start mail spamming forumites...

**bravesfan007** · 06-09-2009, 01:11 PM

I've always wondered how the emulator sounded. I have to admit, I'm still curious. I mean, I know it's not going to be great, but if it's not terrible, I could live with it. I guess I'll just have to break down and buy one evenutally just to test it out.

Major Tom · 06-09-2009, 01:15 PM

IMO the Bad Monkey is an incredible bargain - it sounds great as an OD (if you turn the bass and treble all or most of the way up) + it has that cab emulated out for emergencies. I quickly auditioned that feature when I first got it, and thought it was pretty decent sounding for what it is. Note to self: put Bad Monkey in gig bag.

gtrdave · 06-09-2009, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bravesfan007

I've always wondered how the emulator sounded. I have to admit, I'm still curious. I mean, I know it's not going to be great, but if it's not terrible, I could live with it. I guess I'll just have to break down and buy one evenutally just to test it out.

I originally bought the BM pedal for a kid at church to use. At the time he was running his Boss SD1 directly into the board.
omg, the sound...

So, I got the Monkey and we tried it out instead with EXCELLENT results.
Soon after, he had to leave the team and I've had this pedal sitting around, doing nothing...

And get this: I've got my amp out on the stage and I'm trying to find the bum tube...THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH IT!!!???

I'm going to let it cook for a while...

cheyguy426 · 06-09-2009, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtrdave

I originally bought the BM pedal for a kid at church to use. At the time he was running his Boss SD1 directly into the board.

ouch.. I aqcuired that pedal for free and the only time I use it is when I do something really weird with it like pump the drive all the way up for sound effect stuff (hitting body of the guitar for thunder and feedback stuff). Definitely only a decent sound as a legitamate overdrive, and definitely NOT good for going straight into the board!!!

gtrdave · 06-12-2009, 11:26 AM

UPDATE:
Had rehearsal last night and while the new arrangement with the BM works well enough and MUCH BETTER than a direct box (as I figured it would), I can see me returning to a traditional amp/mic arrangement soon.
In 30 years of playing I've realized over and over again that I prefer tubes and speakers.