Great narrative. I, too, was ignorant about a lot of music equipment and really had no clue about getting a good sound. Ah, life before the Internet...
Ah the gullibility of guitar players! I have a mint condition Bad Monkey which was a free gift for taking out a subscription to a certain guitar magazine several years ago. Boxed and barely used. Think I should cash in before the hype subsides? Now can somebody with influence say how indispensable the Danelectro FAB overdrive is? I've got one I'd like to offload for a stupid price.
I remember when I was a kid, these pedals were basically jokes. Now that JHS put that video out I think my biggest takeaway is that MOST drive pedals can be similar sounding with the right settings.
I had one of these, sold it, and regretted it. Same with the Boss SD-1. So I now have both on my board again. I actually dropped the coin for a new SD1, but as these were out of production, I found another used Bad Monkey. I use the SD1 for a clean boost (I don’t care for that mid-hump sound either, and have never owned a proper Tube Screamer). I set the Monkey for higher gain with more low end oomph. I have a Plumes, and a Mooer Juicer to replace the now quite expensive DOD Juice Box - I disposed of a Juice Box that no longer output sound at a time before I realized pedals could be “fixed.” I know, I felt like a moron, especially as expensive as these have gotten. And while I read reviews like everyone else, I had long ago come to the conclusion that the only metric of could trust was my ears, and how the pedal “felt” - you know that give and take kind of relationship you can feel with a responsive piece of gear? And how some pedals, guitars, or amps just “fit” into your rig and with your style of play? And sometimes you have to get past that honeymoon period to really understand and work with them. Either way, it’s a process of experience and growth. I’ve passed a lot of pedals onto my daughter to try out on her board, because I found something that fit my sound better. I’ve also realized that used pedals are often the best way to try out new sounds, since you may never get your money back out of a brand new pedal if it just doesn’t fit. It just makes a little more sense. And cheaper offerings from the likes of Mooer, Joyo, and Behringer make it easy to try a basic sound (with a faithfully comparable sound) before buying a unit that will last, and of high quality. You’ve made some good points, and there’d be a lot fewer butthurt guitarists out there if we learned to disregard the hype.
Its really funny how everyone gets on the hype train. I worked in a music store for 5 years and the bad monkey was always on the shelf collecting dust while the GT Overdrive from MXR was selling like hot cakes.
Maybe it's.......wait for it..........JUST ANOTHER GOOD SOUNDING OVERDRIVE???????? THAT'S ALL IT IS!!!!!!! IT'S NOT A MAGIC BOX FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION!!!!!! IT'S WORTH ABOUT $50!!!!!!!!!!! GOD, YOU PEOPLE!!!!!!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Great narrative. I, too, was ignorant about a lot of music equipment and really had no clue about getting a good sound. Ah, life before the Internet...
Ah the gullibility of guitar players! I have a mint condition Bad Monkey which was a free gift for taking out a subscription to a certain guitar magazine several years ago. Boxed and barely used. Think I should cash in before the hype subsides? Now can somebody with influence say how indispensable the Danelectro FAB overdrive is? I've got one I'd like to offload for a stupid price.
I remember when I was a kid, these pedals were basically jokes. Now that JHS put that video out I think my biggest takeaway is that MOST drive pedals can be similar sounding with the right settings.
I had one of these, sold it, and regretted it. Same with the Boss SD-1. So I now have both on my board again. I actually dropped the coin for a new SD1, but as these were out of production, I found another used Bad Monkey. I use the SD1 for a clean boost (I don’t care for that mid-hump sound either, and have never owned a proper Tube Screamer). I set the Monkey for higher gain with more low end oomph. I have a Plumes, and a Mooer Juicer to replace the now quite expensive DOD Juice Box - I disposed of a Juice Box that no longer output sound at a time before I realized pedals could be “fixed.” I know, I felt like a moron, especially as expensive as these have gotten. And while I read reviews like everyone else, I had long ago come to the conclusion that the only metric of could trust was my ears, and how the pedal “felt” - you know that give and take kind of relationship you can feel with a responsive piece of gear? And how some pedals, guitars, or amps just “fit” into your rig and with your style of play? And sometimes you have to get past that honeymoon period to really understand and work with them. Either way, it’s a process of experience and growth. I’ve passed a lot of pedals onto my daughter to try out on her board, because I found something that fit my sound better. I’ve also realized that used pedals are often the best way to try out new sounds, since you may never get your money back out of a brand new pedal if it just doesn’t fit. It just makes a little more sense. And cheaper offerings from the likes of Mooer, Joyo, and Behringer make it easy to try a basic sound (with a faithfully comparable sound) before buying a unit that will last, and of high quality. You’ve made some good points, and there’d be a lot fewer butthurt guitarists out there if we learned to disregard the hype.
Its really funny how everyone gets on the hype train. I worked in a music store for 5 years and the bad monkey was always on the shelf collecting dust while the GT Overdrive from MXR was selling like hot cakes.
Maybe it's.......wait for it..........JUST ANOTHER GOOD SOUNDING OVERDRIVE???????? THAT'S ALL IT IS!!!!!!! IT'S NOT A MAGIC BOX FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION!!!!!! IT'S WORTH ABOUT $50!!!!!!!!!!! GOD, YOU PEOPLE!!!!!!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬