TS9 Mods?

jimzucco

jimzucco

New member
Hi there. I have used a ts9 for some time now and it's one of my favorite pieces of gear. I have always heard about modding them but I know nothing about it. Google searches have shown me how to do it or where to buy them but I'm not sure exactly what the mods actually do? Is it a larger mid boost? More gain? Idk, help me out :?:
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

If it is your favorite piece of gear - LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!

Also - as for modding it, there are a hundred green overdrive pedals that have been factory modded this way or that. Just a matter pif YouTubing to find the one that meets your needs….Fender even makes them; DX9 has 3 modes with more gain, bass etc….and the TS7 is actually a very nice TS9 with a m ore gain switch. Then there are Moneky's, Rhino's and whatnot all day long.

And, TS-9's are cheap, so buy another if you want to operate and don't use your number one.

How can't you find what the mods do? Most say stuff like "For more Gain" or "For less mid push" or "for more transparency", etc….
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

simplest and most easy to hear mod....swap out c3 (stock is .047uf...labelled on the capacitor as 473) and replace it it with a .1uf (labelled as 104) or even a larger value like .22uf (224) to increase low end response. If you go too far, things get loose and flabby so the final choice for the value you end up with is up to you and how it sounds with your rig. Cost is around 50 cents. FWIW, the popular fulltone fulldrive uses a .1uf cap here and the lovepedal eternity uses a .22uf. Both of those pedals use the tubescreamer circuit as their basic layout.
My favourite mod for tubescreamers is to replace both clipping diodes with regular 3mm LED's. This vastly increases the headroom and creates a more smooth natural sounding overdrive. It is particularly useful if you like the low gain sounds on your tubescreamer and prefer to use the pedal to boost the signal to the amplifier. the cost of this should not exceed 50 cents either.
Another good one is to replace the opamp for a higher gain/lower noise variety like the burr brown opamp, but this is a subtle effect at best and i reckon probably not even noticeable at band volumes. The cost of this kind of mod is about 6 dollars.
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

Well they did say what the mods did... But using words like symmetrical and asymmetrical distortion and stuff like that that went over my head. Changing a few diodes I can do.. But really I wanted to know what was out there besides tru bypass. Also, I have an arion tubulator which I'm told is very similar for modding. The LED's sound like something I'd be interested in as I use the pedal less for gain and more for boosting. Thanks everyone. Very helpful
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

if you use it for boosting rather than for its overdrive sound, then modding it for more gain or changing the gain structure is basically useless because you're using it as a clean boost (that applies to the diode clipping section you mentioned). If anything look into mods that affect the tone shaping section so you have more control over the tonal flavour of the clean boost.
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

Don't mod it. If your happy with it leave it alone, but save some cash and buy another OD pedal. You can never have too many drive pedals :)
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

Lately my favorite iteration of the tube screamer has been the Maxon OD9 which is basically a classic TS9 Circuit with a true bypass switch. If you want to try some mods its a great platform to start.
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

jimzucco said:
Well they did say what the mods did... But using words like symmetrical and asymmetrical distortion and stuff like that that went over my head. Changing a few diodes I can do.. But really I wanted to know what was out there besides tru bypass. Also, I have an arion tubulator which I'm told is very similar for modding. The LED's sound like something I'd be interested in as I use the pedal less for gain and more for boosting. Thanks everyone. Very helpful
Click to expand...
This sounds like modding for the sake of modding since you didn't tell us anything about what you don't like about your stock TS9. That makes makes me inclined to tell you not to mod it also, unless you can tell us what you'd like to change about it.

To answer your question though, I believe there is a site called tubescreamermods.com that has some good stuff. I considered sending them my 808 in for a more/less gain mod and to tighten up the bass and get a normal footswitch. I'll come back and edit that if I'm wrong.
 
Re: TS9 Mods?

jimzucco said:
Well they did say what the mods did... But using words like symmetrical and asymmetrical distortion and stuff like that that went over my head. Changing a few diodes I can do.. But really I wanted to know what was out there besides tru bypass. Also, I have an arion tubulator which I'm told is very similar for modding. The LED's sound like something I'd be interested in as I use the pedal less for gain and more for boosting. Thanks everyone. Very helpful
Click to expand...

Symmetrical and asymmetrical have to do with the number of diodes and their arrangement. In a TS i believe two n34 and are opposed by a single n4001. This is asymmetrical. Two to one. People claim it makes a tubelike breakup. Modding just to mod is fine, contrary to what is being said. Use it to learn. Get some good books, be patient and test the pedal after each circuit change to insure your work is correct.
 
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