Bad Monkey + Single Recto = Unimpressed Cellardweller

[cellardweller]

What am I doing wrong?
I really couldn't get a usable tone using the Bad Monkey.
I only messed with it for half an hour or so....
Finally, the vocalist became impatient and I just unplugged it.

Does anyone have any recommended settings to make this thing somewhat usable?

 

[KDS]

Are you using it with your amp set clean or crunchy? You probably want your recto to be more on the clean side.

I use distortion with my clean channel and a boost on the crunch channel.

The Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal lets you switch between boost and overdrive and it sounds pretty sweet.

 

[recto-robbie]

from what you wrote I cant tell how your using the monkey. I only use my overdrives with channel 2,, looking for some boost and to add some warmth and sustain to my leads. Seldom with the clean channel however they do work well if you just want to use a pedals gain instead of your boogies? I find that with the monkey for what I use it for I need to have the level just about dimed out and the gain knob anywhere from about 8 oclock to 12 oclock. theres no need to add too much gain on top of your boogies gain It just get muddy. adjust your tone knobs to your liking... one nice thing about the monkey I find is you can dial out that mid range hump you find on a lot of other pedals like my ts808. Good luck

 

[cellardweller]

Through the front of my Series 2 Solo 50 head.

Hmm, I didn't try diming out the level, though I did use a minimal amount of gain (as you've said, there's not much reason to add any substantial amount of gain).

I was actually surprised by the relatively small amount of gain the monkey added when dimed to the clean channel.

Three stupid questions;

1. If you're not using an OD pedal for more Ballz, what is the point?
2. What's the point of the "solo" volume boost knob/button on footswitch already present on the amp?
3. What do you mean by midrange-hump?

 

[recto-robbie]

hello again,,, the reason I raise the level so high is to get a boost out of the pedal..Much like the footswitch solo button. Everybody uses these pedals in different ways. Like I mentioned I use it for a boost and to add warmth and sustain to my leads..I try not to use it all the time..I use my amps distortion. I believe people also use them for their main distorsion on channel 1 when they want that effect???? I like my rectoverb distortion on both channels so im looking for something to add some spice for lack of a better word on my lead parts. If you are looking for more distortion you should buy a distortion pedal... these overdrive pedals are meant to overdrive your amp. example?? your amp is cranked,playing rythm part,,then your lead part come up and wham you hit that overdrive pedal and overdrive that mofo. Got it now? Its kind of funny that you said you found the monkey to lack in distortion because I also own a Ibanez ts-808 which has been known for many years to be one of the ultimate overdrive pedals on the market. The monkey seems to have about twice the available gain as the 808. The 808 which is a reissue costs $160. So anyways like I said,,,kick the monkey in on top of your already driven amp. The solo volume boost on your boogie pedal is another option that will work fine but it doesnt add warmth or sustain,just adds volume. And finally the midrange hump I spoke of is what many overdrive pedals seem to aquire. If you have never used an od pedal except the monkey then you wont know what im talking about.. On my ts-808 for example when engaged you would notice that the mid range frequencies would go higher and the low bottom end would also fall a bit. Resulting in a sound you would get if for example you were using an eq pedal and formed a hump in the middle of the frequencies. Like an upside down V. Some people like this and some dont. Although rather slight in my opinion... Sometimes I find I like that because with higher mid frequencies you will find that your sound will break through easier with other guitarists and the bass. With the monkey you can dial that hump in or out because you have the two tone controls.....where as the 808 has just on tone control.... good luck,, now I must go and play and get off this **** computer.

 

[Platypus]

Not sure what controls the BM has.. but for a regular TS, use gain on 9 o clock, volume on noon and tone to taste (typically noon - 1oclock for me).

Turn down your gain on your amp.

 

[cellardweller]

Not sure what controls the BM has.. but for a regular TS, use gain on 9 o clock, volume on noon and tone to taste (typically noon - 1oclock for me).

Turn down your gain on your amp.

How coincidental, because that's exactly where I started.

I backed my gain off to about 10:30 (or is it 10.5? :lol: ) and adjusted from there.

I'll try again tomorrow with a fresh set of ears.

 

[Platypus]

Set your knobs in that fashion and then adjust your amp's EQ. BTW, I would only bother on the vintage mode, the modern won't give you a good lead no matter how much you try.

btw, where in IL are you at?

 

[cellardweller]

Set your knobs in that fashion and then adjust your amp's EQ. BTW, I would only bother on the vintage mode, the modern won't give you a good lead no matter how much you try.

btw, where in IL are you at?

To be honest, I haven't even messed with vintage mode much because of the kind of music we've been playing lately. My amp pretty much stays in our practice area, and I practice through my crappy SS amp most often

So, waddaya think some 5881's would do for the modern mode?
I'm going to be ordering a set of alternate tubes this week....

Happen to know of someplace that gives a kinda generic description of what kind of sound to expect from specific tubes?

Decatur, or Decayed turd as I more appropriately call it.

 

[Platypus]

Set your knobs in that fashion and then adjust your amp's EQ. BTW, I would only bother on the vintage mode, the modern won't give you a good lead no matter how much you try.

btw, where in IL are you at?

To be honest, I haven't even messed with vintage mode much because of the kind of music we've been playing lately. My amp pretty much stays in our practice area, and I practice through my crappy SS amp most often

So, waddaya think some 5881's would do for the modern mode?
I'm going to be ordering a set of alternate tubes this week....

Happen to know of someplace that gives a kinda generic description of what kind of sound to expect from specific tubes?

Decatur, or Decayed turd as I more appropriately call it.

(the below is my opinion on the subject and it might be unpopular, don't let it influence yours):

This is the problem with Mesa's nomeclature for the Rectifier series. Vintage mode is NOT vintage, in fact I only use the vintage mode for metal. The modern mode is just too harsh, lacks tone, has no lead voice at all.. it's good for CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG mindless rhythm riffing only to my ears. The vintage mode has *something* of a lead tone in it and has a great tone to it otherwise. It's the only setting I really use on my DR (maybe why I'm selling it?).

Tube voicing is very subjective.. before you go replacing stuff, spend some quality time with the amp. You have a 2CH DR from your avatar it looks like so you should experience less of what I mentioned above and you should be able to get the tones you want easily with it. There are lots of factors at play here.. what sort of pickups are you using?

I've owned my DR for about 3 years at this point and I tried pretty much everything.. 6L6's, EL34's, EL34L's, EL84's, from all sorts of makers (GT, svetlana, JJ, sovtek) and I've come to the conclusion that you can switch anything you want on a DR but it will never have tight/fast tracking or a lead tone that I'd call usable without the use of an OD pedal like you're using right now. It is very much a low-midrange rhythm amplifier.

Keep in mind that in the modern mode, slamming the preamp with an OD is extremely overkill and it's sqashing the **** out of your tone. You have to work with your gain settings on your amp to avoid this problem.

Try the vintage setting, keep your gain at about 1:30 MAXIMUM, if you want more sizzle, ride the treble control to about 2 o clock but you sacrafice some tone by doing this as it makes your mid/bass weaker.

If you're in the city sometime, hit me up

edit: whoops, you have a single rec, disregard my comment about the 2ch dr

 

[cellardweller]

Greaty post Platypus!

I'll definitely be trying the Vintage mode.

So, the EL34's don't/wouldn't make a substantial enough of a difference to warrant their purchase? Keep in mind, I only have to buy two with my Single recto, so it's probably <50$. (Having read up a little on 5881's, I don't think they're for me)

Also mention-worthy is the fact that I have JJ tubes (6L6's).
Having heard almost as much negative as postive about JJ's, I'm beginning to feel a little suspect about them....

Seems many prefer the Mesa ordered tubes....



I've been told I need to get out more often, so if I'm in your neighborhood I might just do that!

 

[disassembled]

I just bought a bad monkey OD to use with my epi valve junior amp and my TA and 20/20 setup. I know my rigs and tones are going to be completely different than yours but this is how I tried it out.

First of all, I don't use much gain and that plays a big part in hearing changes in your dynamics, pickup selection, etc so that is probably the first dial that needs to be addressed. Secondly, at low volumes I wasn't getting any usable tone out of the bad monkey so i had to have my power section working a bit. Now moving on to actually setting the pedal....i put my level at max and gain at 0, then dialed in my bass until a nice low end (a bit over halfway) appeared, lastly i dialed in the amount of treble( a bit below the halfway mark) i wanted. I love how i can use the bad monkey to fatten up my original tone and give it bite that would probably take too long to dial in with the controls. I have not tried the pedal at gig or band levels so my settings are subject to change. If you set everything up right the bad monkey will be your 3rd and 4th channel.

Don't worry about the negative talk about JJ. If it sounds good to you then it is good. I think people complain about certain vendors rather than the tubes themselves.


Greg

 

[Vigo1999]

just a lil more info for the good talking . . .

the "Vintage" modes on rectos, according to Mesa, isnt really vintage as we know it, when they named it "Vintage" they're refering to be the "Vintage Recto sound" released in 1991 and modern will be the update version of this one. :wink:

 

[Melodyman]

hello again,,, the reason I raise the level so high is to get a boost out of the pedal..Much like the footswitch solo button.

Clean boosts in front of an already overdriven amp typically don't add alot of volume, so they won't behave that way IMO.

What they do is change the feel, add saturation and sustain for more liquidy solos usually.

If you want to mimic the footswitch solo button, you might have greater success putting an EQ pedal in the loop and boosting the level slider.