TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

[hacker]

I just got an original MIJ TS9 with the JRC4558D chip. Compared to my Keeley modded TS9 RI with the TI chip, the original sounds smoother and has more of a singing quality, a little "darker" perhaps also. The Keeley mod has a little more bass and a little more drive, but the overall tone is not as sweet.

My question to you is: How do these original TS9s compare to either the original 808s which used the same chip, the RI 808s, and your 808 mod?

and

Can you mod Keely's pedal to sound sweeter while keeping the bass and drive?

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

I just got an original MIJ TS9 with the JRC4558D chip. Compared to my Keeley modded TS9 RI with the TI chip, the original sounds smoother and has more of a singing quality, a little "darker" perhaps also. The Keeley mod has a little more bass and a little more drive, but the overall tone is not as sweet.

My question to you is: How do these original TS9s compare to either the original 808s which used the same chip, the RI 808s, and your 808 mod?

and

Can you mod Keely's pedal to sound sweeter while keeping the bass and drive?

Since I am going to be biased so much towards my own mods,maybe you could post a question asking other forum members to explain how their TS9s sound? Ask Lew,Butnut,59Paul,Norman T and there are several others..

 

[Norman_T]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

John is very modest but I'll try and help and give you unbiased view of his mod.

I can do this because last week I had a new moddded TS9 pedal done by John (aka Stratdeluxer97) a newer Maxon OD-9 pedal (essentially it is an Ibanez tubescreamer) and an old TS-9 tube screamer which a friend of mine brought to a workshop last week and did a very quick comparison and also gigged with it last week.

The old tube screamer and John's modded pedal are very close in terms of getting that beautiful fat creamy sound, whereas the old tube pedal perhaps had a slightly bit more warmth. John's modded pedal is very easy to drive and you can really crank it up or even bring the gain right down. John's pedal has plenty of balls and I mean plenty of balls and it is very sensitive to you playing It just might lose out in some definition but it is very close, very close to the old pedal. The Maxon OD-9 was very thin and anemic in comparison and in fact I have actually given it away to one of my friends who was wanting one.

It was also used very extensively on two gigs by a very good guitar player friend of mine (Steve Fairclough) and he was very very impressed, particularly sounded sweet one his strat and Parker fly guitars. I was on bass duties backing him and another guy and they were both amazed at the tones that were coming out of John's pedal and Steve had both pedals rigged in his set up and used mostly the old one for his Parker and Johns modded pedal for his strat.

In short John pedal will do the business and will sound sweet and have plenty of sustain and plenty of balls.

 

[hacker]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

OK then, the question is open to any/all tube screamer owners. All comments welcome.

I have two original Boss OD-1s also, which also have a warmth to them that newer pedals are lacking. Mods are definitely worth the price of admission as improvements in the stock TS-9 RIs, but what gives the older ones that warmth?

I have tried the analog man TS-9 pedal also, which I did like a little better than my Keeley, but I still dont think that had the same warmth as the original TS-9.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

The components for the most part are identical..The only answers then is parts drift from spec plus or minus 20% for capacitors and pot tolerences of plus or minus 20%..Even though this might be very minute,it could cause a difference alot of us can hear between a newer TS9 and an older one...But this of course would have to be apples and apples,meaning both would have the early JRC4558D opamp etc..The difference between the TS9s and the 2 opamps is very noticable to my ears..Newer reissue TS9s use a Toshiba chip TA57778 and the early TS9s had the JRC4558D and I've even seen some with the Malaysia RC4558P chip that the 808 had..

John

John

 

[Curly]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

I think the simple answer to your question is that pedals are the sum of their components.

you can visit ts808.com and find plenty of good info on ts808s and ts9s (see the vintage collection section)

I have an original ts9, and I agree that they're really smooth - that may be my favorite OD, both for the tone and the coolnes factor

but, I have several newer pedals, including four of John's mods, and I can get my tone from them, too .. just different flavors

the main thing I look for is harmonic content, and a good responsive, organic feel

 

[Falstaff]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

OK then, the question is open to any/all tube screamer owners. All comments welcome.

I have two original Boss OD-1s also, which also have a warmth to them that newer pedals are lacking. Mods are definitely worth the price of admission as improvements in the stock TS-9 RIs, but what gives the older ones that warmth?

I have tried the analog man TS-9 pedal also, which I did like a little better than my Keeley, but I still dont think that had the same warmth as the original TS-9.

Hacker, which Analogman mod did you try? I just picked up a Silver Mod used but it is not really supposed to sound like a typical TS9. Did you have the other one?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

In short John pedal will do the business and will sound sweet and have plenty of sustain and plenty of balls.

That about sums it up. I have two TS-9's John modded for me and both outperform the brand new TS-808 reissue I spent about $150 on. The modded TS-9 sound more "natural" to me...more "open" and less stuffy...as in less like a stuffed up nose. Lew

 

[Bluesman]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

The best tubescreamer I found and that gives me full satisfaction is the Route 66
pedal from Visual Sounds. That 808 gives me full results.

 

[hacker]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

Falstaf, it was the silver mod. It sounded very good. The difference between all these pedals is subtle and some guitars react better with different pedals. They all sound great-I love tubescreamers, but they have different qualities to them.

My vintage TS-9 has the warmth-sounds better with my strat and my #1 warmoth tele. The Keeley mod has more open mids and balls-sounds better with my LP Studio DC, which is a "darker" guitar than the others. The silver mod, which I don't have in front of me, would probably perform closely to the Keeley mod.

 

[Falstaff]

Re: TS9 Question for Stratdeluxer

Falstaf, it was the silver mod. It sounded very good. The difference between all these pedals is subtle and some guitars react better with different pedals. They all sound great-I love tubescreamers, but they have different qualities to them.

.

Thanks for responding. I traded a Barber LTD for the Silver and I'm liking it a lot. The LTD is a nice pedal but with my particular stuff I found that a bit more mids/fatness sounds better. If the LTD had the mid boost thing that the Direct Drive has I would have kept it. Maybe Barber will do that in the future.

I have another TS9 that I will probably get a different mod on at some point, more of a classic thing than the slightly different thing of the Silver. Thanks!