disassembled
Well-known member
So this thread inspired me to try a Bad Monkey with my TA and 20/20 rig. The result? I now own a bad monkey OD. I was shocked that i could apply a pedal to the TA and it just gave me another flavor to use instead of what I guess I've been used to with DS boxes (excessive noise, bad tone, etc). For $40 I don't think one can go wrong and besides if your rig blows up you can go direct to the board with the monkey to limp through a gig. Thanks to all who suggested and put in the time to try one for me 
As far as the tube discussion:
I think the problem JJ's is the reliability factor in the pre tubes and the EL based tubes. Most people tend to say that "JJ" tubes sound bad when it may just be a malfunctioning tube. I am not trying to defend JJ but I noticed that when my amps sound different than normal with a full compliment of JJ's if I change to stock the sound improves over the "bad" tone(this usually comes from a bad tube or two in the amp causing a global tone change). In general I think the JJ's sound decent compared to stock Sov's and I like the JJ EL84 over the Sov EL84's. I have quite a few bad sounding JJ preamp tubes(ie defective) as opposed to none from other manufacturers (Sov, EH, Chinese, Mesa labeled chinese). The JJ's are not as rugged or sturdy as other tube makes. I am going to retube in the summertime and I will try a retube from Doug to see if he can get me set up with some nice tubes (thinking a couple Tung sols, Ei EL84s, 9th gen Shuguang pre tubes, and maybe so NOS to round out the collection). I heard Bob's customer service has gone down the tubes, no pun intended, in the past couple of years too. I remember the days when he was just starting and it was such a small operation but I guess now that he has kind of made a name for himself (whether it be good or bad it's still known by many internet guitarists) the customer service aspect has diminished into what it is today (basically a hit or miss).
Greg
As far as the tube discussion:
I think the problem JJ's is the reliability factor in the pre tubes and the EL based tubes. Most people tend to say that "JJ" tubes sound bad when it may just be a malfunctioning tube. I am not trying to defend JJ but I noticed that when my amps sound different than normal with a full compliment of JJ's if I change to stock the sound improves over the "bad" tone(this usually comes from a bad tube or two in the amp causing a global tone change). In general I think the JJ's sound decent compared to stock Sov's and I like the JJ EL84 over the Sov EL84's. I have quite a few bad sounding JJ preamp tubes(ie defective) as opposed to none from other manufacturers (Sov, EH, Chinese, Mesa labeled chinese). The JJ's are not as rugged or sturdy as other tube makes. I am going to retube in the summertime and I will try a retube from Doug to see if he can get me set up with some nice tubes (thinking a couple Tung sols, Ei EL84s, 9th gen Shuguang pre tubes, and maybe so NOS to round out the collection). I heard Bob's customer service has gone down the tubes, no pun intended, in the past couple of years too. I remember the days when he was just starting and it was such a small operation but I guess now that he has kind of made a name for himself (whether it be good or bad it's still known by many internet guitarists) the customer service aspect has diminished into what it is today (basically a hit or miss).
Greg
