Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

mrfunnyman

mrfunnyman

Member
Have any of you guys tried out the new TS-808 HW? I was up at Sweetwater music today and I was A/B ing a TS-808 RI w/ my TS-9 to see if I could hear any tone diff's when the guy who was working with me told me that if I liked the tone of the TS-808 RI then I should try out the TS-808HW. Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock so I told him to just give me a call when they get there next batch and I'll come in and try it out. What is the big deal with this Tube screamer? I saw a video on youtube about it but I really can't tell that big of a diff between the TS-808 RI and the TS-808HW.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Yeah, the TS series has been cloned so much, I doubt it's worth that much more for the TS-808HW
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Biggest scam going in pedals right now. "Hand wired" ... please. Like that matters in the slightest. The original 808 wasn't hand wired!

There are plenty of pedals that do the 808 thing really well. Most cost under $100.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

I think the general consensus is that PTP doesn't matter nearly as much on pedals as it does on amps.

you could probably get an identical tone with a few choice components on your ts9, which IMO isn't that far away anyways
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Better or worse isn't really the issue with these...they are a limited production piece and because of that will hold their value...

Good or bad doesn't really matter these days...that said, it is a good pedal.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Yeah yeah...there is a difference between a pcb and hardwiring...always has been...(but pcb works just fine thank you)
But it is mostly down to the limited nature of the pedal.....
Just did because they could......like hotrods and other excessive things.
^ hehe
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

there is a subtle but negligible difference between the handwired and the reissue.

I spent a good amount of time at the shop comparing the -9, -808ri and -808hw and concluded that as you move up in price you get slightly less gain and more of an 'open' warm sound. the HW was the warmest and most touch-responsive but not drastically so.

Basically the way i see it is...if you've got a $7500 Les Paul and a $2500 Marshall you might as well have a $350 tube screamer.

My Les Paul was about $1800 and my amp was about $600 so my tubescreamer was only $75 :smokin:
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Ibanez TS-7 (which IS a TS-9 anyway, just with a different exterior)
Mod to TS-808 specs.
Do not worry about this "vintage" garbage.
You'd be an idiot to pay for the 808, let alone the 808-HW version.
It amazes me people spend a few hundred dollars more for something that will amount to virtually no improvement in the sound, but they'll scoff at the idea of putting in acoustic treatment in their rehearsal space or in the room where they play, as just an example of something that would actually make a significant difference to the sound.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Yeah I'm not gonna spend $350 on that pedal ecspecially after I surfed the web last night for " Tube screamer mods" and came across 2 sites that broke it down and told what caps/ resistors, need to be swapped out on the TS-9 PCB board to make it sound closer to an original TS-808 than the actual TS-808RI does. The stinkfoot page is pretty reliable, when I called Dunlop back in nov asking if they could help me true bypass my wah, they emailed me his link on how to mod a wah to true bypass specs and it worked out pretty well. I'm gonna try this mod on my TS-9 later today I'll post how it turns out this evening.

http://www.stinkfoot.se/andreas/diy/mods/ts9.htm
http://www.planeteleven.net/tubescrmr/
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Petrovsk Mizinski said:
Ibanez TS-7 (which IS a TS-9 anyway, just with a different exterior)
Mod to TS-808 specs.
Do not worry about this "vintage" garbage.
You'd be an idiot to pay for the 808, let alone the 808-HW version.
It amazes me people spend a few hundred dollars more for something that will amount to virtually no improvement in the sound, but they'll scoff at the idea of putting in acoustic treatment in their rehearsal space or in the room where they play, as just an example of something that would actually make a significant difference to the sound.
Click to expand...

There's not a lot of marketing / "cool factor" in putting squares of sound-proof foam up all over your man cave...

Now the marketing / cool factor of the FIRST EVER ACTUALLY CORRECT REISSUE OF A PEDAL WE NEVER MADE BEFORE is through the roof..!
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

I've got a tone-freak friend who's the the handwired 808. He LOVES it. He's also got Keeley mod TS9 and a few others. He runs them into his Bogner Shiva and XTC. She says the handwired 808 is pretty awesome.

Having said that, I was recently searching for a new OD pedal and ended-up getting an OCD instead of another TS clone. I'm no disappointed so far...
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Alright, I swung by the local repair shop earlier and picked up an IC socket, 1 JRC 4558D, and 1 TI RC4558P chip, 1 100 ohm resistor and 1 10K ohm resistor and here are the results. Both chips were pulled from 2 diff amps from the 80's which means they have been played on. I tried the pedal out before I modded it and right after I swapped out the stock resistors and WOW!!! That really made a huge difference in tone it really made the pedal sound alot better than what it was. Then I removed the stock TA 75558 chip, put the IC socket in and went back and forth between the JRC 4558D and the TI RC 4558P chip. They both were a huge improvement in tone than the stock TA 75558 chip but in the end I settled with the JRC 4558D. The TI RC 4558 P was the chip that originally came in the 1st wave of TS-808's before the started putting in the JRC 4558 D chips. It cost me for the parts $6 and to think Ibanez charges $79 more for you to get a TS-808 RI with those extact spec changes.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

I wonder if a properly conducted double-blind test would reveal how much of the mojo difference between the 808 and the 808HW is real and how much is just hype
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

I have a $36 TS7 that Matt (ratherdashing) modded for me to 808 specs. It's a far better pedal now than it was.

No need to spend hundreds for me!
 
Re: Ibanez TS-808 Hand wired???

Years ago I had one of the TS-9 reissues that I found at a pawn shop for $40. I went on ebay and found a TS-808 mod kit for $25. I bought it, it consisted of 2 resistors and a 4558 chip, instructions and a desoldering braid.

I did the mod, and it was a huge improvement over the stock TS-9 reissue. Eventually I gave it away when I got a modded TS-9 DX from someone on this board, which was even better.

If I was going to spend over $170 for a tube screamer, I'd look at the Keeley modded ones
 
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