Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

mrfunnyman

mrfunnyman

Member
I just scored off ebay last week a used TS-9 to go along with my VS Route-808 pedal and I was wondering if any of you guys have any mods that can be done to this pedal to flavor it up? I'm looking for more transparentcy, more bass, less mids and a little more volume and gain. I know about the Keeley, Analogman and Monte Allums mods that are out there, but do any of you guys have some mods that you wouldn't mind sharing on here. Im pretty good with the iron and have done alot of mods on pedals but I just see how spending what some of these place online want for mods is justifiable when I can get the same parts they use from local electronic's store's for nickel's and dimes.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

I don't know the answer to your question, but if I were to mod another SD-1, I'd probably buy another kit from Monte Allums because his product and service were top notch. I have no problem supporting guys like him, because they give us a great product at a great price.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

There are mods on Ebay that can be done. A couple of years ago I purchased one called "the ultimate mod" for like $25. It consisted of a bunch of diodes, etc. and supposedly included the 808 mod, "brown" mod, etc. Also had two difference EPROM chips. I did the soldering myself and was quite happy with the result. But I recently sold it to a friend as I've got onboard OD of my TC Nova System and a Fulltone OCD.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

Red_Label said:
There are mods on Ebay that can be done. A couple of years ago I purchased one called "the ultimate mod" for like $25. It consisted of a bunch of diodes, etc. and supposedly included the 808 mod, "brown" mod, etc. Also had two difference EPROM chips. I did the soldering myself and was quite happy with the result. But I recently sold it to a friend as I've got onboard OD of my TC Nova System and a Fulltone OCD.
Click to expand...

Doubtful they were EEPROM chips. Likely just opamp chips. That is the only type of chip in a Tube Screamer. EEPROMs contain programming.

One mod I did to my TS9DX was change the tone pot from a 25K to a 50K. Actually gives a better range on it. Oddly, I always kept the tone control near bottomed out for most of the time. Now I have some sweep to use.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

changing the bass cap (is it c3 from memory?) from .047 to a higher value like .1 will give you more bottom end. Try .063 or .08. They all work fine, it just comes down to what suits your amp, axe and other pedals best.
ALso for more transparency, harmonics and a heap more volume, you can put leds (just normal 3mm red) in to replace the clipping diodes. They will still clip, but at much higher gain levels so you get a much more powerful, richer, cleaner pedal. Leds distort less, but compress first at higher gain levels and sound more natural. It will no longer sound like a tube screamer (very compressed and dirtier) but way more open, responsive and powerful so it is great as a lead boost. You can run a regular (diode) ts before it which works really well too. Perhaps your vs first and LED drive ts9 second will give you some amazing sounds.
It is really a matter of trying different configurations to find what is best for you. There is no "perfect" tube screamer. It is a very flexible and moddable circuit so great for experimentation and fine tuning to your taste.
While you are at it - you may consider putting in a Burr Brown op amp rather than the 4558D to decrease the noise floor. You hear a lot of talk about the magic chip, but again - let your ears decide.
Enjoy!
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

Try finding a 80's JRC chip, sounds much smoother than the newer TI chip. I got a bunch of them out of an old Marantz equalizer.
One thing I liked was to tone down the drive a little (not shure what parts I changed anymore) so it would become a little easier to dial in the drive knob for tone blending with the amp.
It's always a good thing to replace the resistors and capacitors around the gain stage into metal film for a cleaner sound.

I'm about to mod mine further: a toggle swith so I can switch between symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping. smooth or grit by a flip of the switch!

I'm also looking out to upgrade the buffer, but I need to dig a little deeper before I can say anything usefull about that.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

Talk to John Spina. (Stratdeluxer 97 on this forum). I'm not certain if he is doing Mods anymore but he modded a TS9 for me as well as two Wah pedals & the TS9 will never leave my board. I use it in front of my Bogner Shiva and it does exactly what I need/want it to do. I can't really tell you what he did/does.... it's all greek to me. What I can tell you is I love this TS9!
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

Bludave said:
Talk to John Spina. (Stratdeluxer 97 on this forum). I'm not certain if he is doing Mods anymore but he modded a TS9 for me as well as two Wah pedals & the TS9 will never leave my board. I use it in front of my Bogner Shiva and it does exactly what I need/want it to do. I can't really tell you what he did/does.... it's all greek to me. What I can tell you is I love this TS9!
Click to expand...

Agree, if he's still doing them. He does a great mod and reasonable pricing!!
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

gibson175 said:
ALso for more transparency, harmonics and a heap more volume, you can put leds (just normal 3mm red) in to replace the clipping diodes.
Click to expand...

I did that to a couple DS-1's once, it's pretty cool actually, like you get most of the benefits of a gainy tone without sounding gainy

I wonder if people have done similar things in amps that have diode clipping sections like the later 900's?
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

drew_half_empty said:
I did that to a couple DS-1's once, it's pretty cool actually, like you get most of the benefits of a gainy tone without sounding gainy

I wonder if people have done similar things in amps that have diode clipping sections like the later 900's?
Click to expand...

Yep drew - i like the way leds work so much that i replaced the diodes in the preamps of my musicman. Same result - more harmonics, clarity, headroom etc. also they behave really well when boosted with an overdrive pedal. Much more tube like - its a good sound. I use this amp now for a lot of gigs instead of my handwired all tube fender - and it also gets borrowed a lot by my friend who owns a well known recording studio!
I considered changing the diodes in my JCM900MKIII master volume, but it already sounds epic! And you can turn the diode sensitivity down and increase the preamp gain, so you can blend the sound of the regular preamp tube and the hot rodded dirty sound of the diodes that come after - so its a pretty cool sound already. I dont think you can do this with regular jcm 900 dual reverb models, but i used to gig one for many years. The duallys have only one control for the clipping and preamp tubes and (i could be wrong) the diodes run before the preamp v1. So yeah, the Leds would reduce the clipping and increase the headroom. However - these amps were made in the era when screaming high gain was all the rage - as a result, the amp is eq'd to sound focused at high gain whic hmeans it has less bass. I think turning it into a cleaner, more vintage sounding amp would take away the thing that the amp does best - and what it was designed to do.
 
Re: Ibanez TS-9 RI mods.

I think only one thing....it doesn't matter....all the details... I only think that any TS type circuit through any good amp and any good guitar, added to your high skill level is all that matters.

If you have the skills, any combination of those things will result in great tone!
 
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