I know I've mentioned that one of the reasons why I started building pedals was to have pedals that help me sound like the guitarists I greatly enjoy. Such as my DOD 250 clone for Yngwie, Distortion Plus clone for Randy Rhoads, my Guv'nor clone for Gary Moore, and also a Bad Monkey clone for -- Gary Moore again. It's been widely known for a long time Gary used a Guv'nor for dirt through a Marshall Bluesbreaker, but that's only one aspect of his catalog of tone. For years I searched for photos of his pedalboard and only found tiny, 3 pixel images of someone's pedalboard, whether it was really his or not could never be verified. But that all changed recently.
Sadly, as most of you already know, Gary Moore passed away in February of 2011, and recently his estate started listing some of his gear for sale. Now, I couldn't even dream of being able to compete in those auctions, so I decided to collect the information and build clones of the pedals he used. One of the main things I noticed was Gary used a Digitech Bad Monkey overdrive. Thanks to the JHS Bad Monkey debacle earlier this year layouts for Bad Monkey circuits popped up everywhere. And so, it was simply a matter of putting the parts together, cutting the stripboard to shape, cutting the strips where needed and soldering everything up. Once all was said and done I now have a Bad Monkey clone, I've dubbed Mono Malo. To me it sounds like your run of the mill tube screamer derivative, but that's not a bad thing. It may not ever become my favorite overdrive, but it has its place in my collection.
With the Mono Malo out of the way I turned to my to do list and realized I'm almost out of projects to build this year, and it's only August! Admittedly I've been pushing back the projects I think will be the most problematic, or ruin my faith in building circuits, but that's the majority of what's left to build. I also noticed that the Bad Monkey clone was build number 59, meaning the next build would be my 60th, and it better be something special. With six project kits left to build, and a handful of ideas I want to put together but still haven't decided which I feel best suits me, I did some deep thinking. What project did I want to put together for the big 60? What project would I benefit most from putting together? Well, the answer to that is a modified Noisy Cricket circuit. I know, pretty bland for the 60th build, but it had to be built.
After building Buddy, my first Noisy Cricket MKII, I hatched a plan to build either a Ruby Tuby or some form of a Ruby amp to combine with an amp simulating preamp. The preamp really wouldn't do me much good if I built it first, although it wouldn't be useless, so I did a lot of research into what would be the best option as the power amp for my project. I've read through so many forums and Reddit posts that I became jaded by the whole idea. Nothing seemed to be what I needed, until my brain took control and decided to modify the Noisy Cricket MKII circuit. I eliminated the grit switch, gain control and chose which capacitor I wanted to add to the circuit, thus eliminating the bass switch. The only control I left was the volume, and that's where the problem seems to be. I fully understand the Noisy Cricket isn't going to be a Marshall Plexi full stack cranked to 11, not even close, but for some reason this new build is lacking volume compared to Buddy. It functions as I wanted, it's pure clean power all the way to 100% on the volume, it's just not putting out as much volume as I wish it would.
All that being said, I'm twenty-six builds in for this year, with five kits still left to built (two of which still need some parts but otherwise ready) and two projects that might end up blending into the same one, I'm not sure yet. I've always wanted a Boss HM-2 clone but I'm having a hard time deciding which layout gets me where I want to be. So, much like the power amp I could never find a satisfactory solution for, I might just have to throw things together and see how it does or doesn't work out. The Bad Monkey is a good overdrive and I'm glad I built it. The modified Noisy Cricket works, it's just not as loud as I wish it was. Now I have no more excuses to put off building the preamp and putting them together to troubleshoot any issues that may arise from there.
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