Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

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Lewguitar

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Had a few minutes (that's about all!) to check out my newly arrived and modded MIJ TS-9's from John (Stratdeluxer97).

Tried them through my old blackface Deluxe Reverb with Celestion G12H30 speaker and my '53 Tele.

Don't know who he thinks he is or what his qualifications are to be doing these mods for next to nothing... :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: ...but he sure knows what he's doing and the price is right! :dance:

I almost wish I hadn't sent John both of my Tubescreamers cuz I now have nothing unmodded to compare them too!

In a nutshell: both sound great. Much more transparant, less compressed and a more open and natural voice. Just what I asked for.

John voiced each of them a little differantly: my #1, which was my slight favorite of the two all along, has the more transparant and less bassy tone. Or it so it seems...I need to crank up my amps and give them a more in depth work out.

I could see using #2 (the one with more bass) with my Fenders and #1 (the one with less bass and a more transparant tone) with my Les Paul.

I asked John to make both sound like the best TS808 in the world.

I've always felt that the Tubescreamer was a little to compressed and that there's a tone like a metallic/chrome umbrella that mutes the upper harmonics when the Tubescreamer is "on"....and that I always want to punch through and get to other side of.

I described it to John as the same feeling I get when I have a stuffy nose and can get it almost blown out...but not quite! :laugh2:

It would seem that both pedals sound "livlier" now and have a little more "sting". Pinch harmonics seem easier to achieve than before.

They also quack or squawk or honk or growl (pick an adjective!) a little more...but in a good way. Sort of like a good DS-1 but differant.

I'll take them over to my buddy AJ's in a few days and compare them to the unmodded MIJ TS-9 of AJ's. He's a real TS-9 lover and I'll let AJ play them all and I'll just listen.

But I'm real happy with the improvements John made in these puppies!

Highly Recommended!

Thanks for the Tones!

Lew
 
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Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

darn ... good report!

just when I thought I had plenty of pedals .... :sad:
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Curly said:
darn ... good report!

just when I thought I had plenty of pedals .... :sad:

...there will always be one missing
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Davey said:
...there will always be one missing
hehe...so true. :smack: I love what John did to my TS9, in a word...balls! :saeek: I need a lead boost and the stock pedal lacked punch and was a bit too thin. Now it screams and has that fat punch I love. Thanks again John.
Now on missing pedals, when I use my Strat, I don't need all that heavy punch, but a more clean boost with just a hint of gain, yeah, I could muck around with the settings...I bought a MXR Micro Amp instead :rolleyes: ...my pedal board I custom made is now too small :blackeye: sigh...
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Wow guys! All these posts this morning praising my pedal mods is killing me! Stop....My head no longer fits through the door...LOL...

Lew and Butnut..Thanks guys...Great posts from you both...Lew spend some more time like you said with your TS9s so I feel you aren't blowing any smoke up my butt! ;o) The pedals have to sound better because of better components and some tweaks for lows and normally gain,but Lew's pedal was sought of modded with cleans and less compression in mind...Normally guys want more gain and more lows,but Lew wanted a more open and less compressed tone...Lew actually made it harder on me while I sat there and thought...How to I get a Tube Screamer to not compress? The pedal is all about sounding like an overdriven tube amp that compresses? lew...If the pedal is even a little bit better than it was stock,than I feel I did you a cool service...Thanks guys...

Hey..Brian..That coffee has put some extra hair on my chest...Great stuff....

John
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Hey..Brian..That coffee has put some extra hair on my chest...Great stuff....

John
And your pedal gave me bigger balls! :burnout:
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Hey John

I Just shipped my TS9 to you UPS. Don't listen to Lew about your pricing :D

I think it's just fine

Lou
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

sweet_lou said:
Hey John

I Just shipped my TS9 to you UPS. Don't listen to Lew about your pricing :D

I think it's just fine

Lou

Just be a buddy Lou...That's all that really matters these days..Someone sent me a TS5,and I'm clueless who's pedal it is? Clueless..... :32:

John
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Just PMed John to congratulate him.

I also just finished wailing with a differant Tele: my '54 with the Fralin Blues Specials.

Whole differant beast than my '53 RI with the Nocaster pickups: the Fralins are much bigger and ballsier...especially great for a more Led Zepplinish rock tone.

With my '54 and the Fralins I can up pick on the low E and get that growly tone like I'm burning rubber in a drag race! Race Car tone! The Nocasters will do that too but only if I boost the drive control on the TS-9's much, much higher.

John removed the metallic sheen that I found annoying, opened up the tone for a more breathy and less congested tone quality and gave me the tone I was looking for.

These Tube screamers will squeel and growl just like I wanted without sounding overly compressed.

But the Nocaster pickups in my '53 are going...at least the lead pickup is. It's just not ballsy and middy enough for my tastes. I like the neck pickup alot tho.

I think I'll put a Jerry Donahue in there next.

Lew
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Lewguitar said:
Just PMed John to congratulate him.

I also just finished wailing with a differant Tele: my '54 with the Fralin Blues Specials.

Whole differant beast than my '53 RI with the Nocaster pickups: the Fralins are much bigger and ballsier...especially great for a more Led Zepplinish rock tone.

With my '54 and the Fralins I can up pick on the low E and get that growly tone like I'm burning rubber in a drag race! Race Car tone! The Nocasters will do that too but only if I boost the drive control on the TS-9's much, much higher.

John removed the metallic sheen that I found annoying, opened up the tone for a more breathy and less congested tone quality and gave me the tone I was looking for.

These Tube screamers will squeel and growl just like I wanted without sounding overly compressed.

But the Nocaster pickups in my '53 are going...at least the lead pickup is. It's just not ballsy and middy enough for my tastes. I like the neck pickup alot tho.

I think I'll put a Jerry Donahue in there next.

Lew

Great post Lew to me and I'm sure to others? I think it's all about using better components within the circuit and the chips...Your pedals now have the RC4558P and I Know Keeley swears by these chips over the JRC4558Ds....You also have this chip that I sent you and an RC4559P you might like also? Coming from you Lew,I take these posts in very high regard.Your posts as always are very detailed and thorough.Thanks again...

John
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Great post Lew to me and I'm sure to others? I think it's all about using better components within the circuit and the chips...Your pedals now have the RC4558P and I Know Keeley swears by these chips over the JRC4558Ds....You also have this chip that I sent you and an RC4559P you might like also? Coming from you Lew,I take these posts in very high regard.Your posts as always are very detailed and thorough.Thanks again...

John

Thanks you John!

I'm a huge Jeff Beck fan and have been since about 1966 or whenever it was I first heard Heart Full of Soul and the Over, Under, Sideways Down album from the Yardbirds.

That growly RACE CAR TONE Beck get's is something I've tried to achieve for almost as long I've been playing the guitar.

These TS-9's you modded will now do that trick! They wouldn't before...not quite.

That's one reason I always prefered the DS-1 over a TS-9.

Every player, I suspect, has to find thier own way to get the tones they hear in thier head. I can't get the Jeff Beck tone I hear in my head with a RAT...even tho that's what Beck himself uses.

It's easier for me with a DS-1...which he doesn't use.

So I guess I'm not really after an accurate Jeff Beck tone any more than I'm after the exact tones of any of my heroes...I'm after my own tone but inspired by those guys.

Anyways, the modded TS-9's are delivering the goods...and that's no BS!

Lew
 
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Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Lew,
even though I know you like your MIJ DS-1, I get the feeling you would really like John's DS-1 mod. ;)
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Lewguitar said:
Thanks you John!

I'm a huge Jeff Beck fan and have been since about 1966 or whenever it was I first heard Heart Full of Soul and the Over, Under, Sideways Down album from the Yardbirds.

That growly RACE CAR TONE Beck get's is something I've tried to achieve for almost as long I've been playing the guitar.

These TS-9's you modded will now do that trick! They wouldn't before...not quite.

That's one reason I always prefered the DS-1 over a TS-9.

Every player, I suspect, has to find thier own way to get the tones they hear in thier head. I can't get the Jeff Beck tone I hear in my head with a RAT...even tho that's what Beck himself uses.

It's easier for me with a DS-1...which he doesn't use.

So I guess I'm not really after an accurate Jeff Beck tone any more than I'm after the exact tones of any of my heroes...I'm after my own tone but inspired by those guys.

Anyways, the modded TS-9's are delivering the goods...and that's no BS!

Lew

Lew....I have a modded DS1 here at home....I'm going to send it to you and let you road test it with your stock one and see what you think? The modded DS1 is a great sounding pedal...

John
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Thanks John, That'd be great. I wasn't wild about the Keeley Seeing Eye modded DS-1 I had...it didn't get that low end moan I was mentioning, tho otherwise it was very cool. There's a certain upper-bass/lower-mids resonance I like to hear from an overdrive (or a bridge pickup) and the Keeley modded DS-1 lost it. My stock DS-1's have it.

The thing I like most of all about the unmodded DS-1 is the way I can turn my guitar's volume down and the tone cleans up. So I can leave the DS-1 "ON" all the time if I want to, like Vai and Satriani do.

Can't do that with the TS-9 or the Fulltone '69...my other favorite distortion or overdrive pedals. I can with my Rat, but it's not really my tone.

I changed the NoCaster lead pickup for a Jerry Donahue last night, BTW. The '53 Tele gets the tone I like now: almost a P90 tone from the bridge pickup...plenty of that quacky/moan now...like my long lost '51 Tele had.

Thanks! Lew
 
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Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

John, I'm going to loan my newly modded TS-9's to my buddy AJ for a few days. He's a Tubescreamer user and has an especially nice stock one we can compare too. AJ's always playing...so he'll be a great source to get some feedback from too. Thanks again! Lew
 
Re: Tubescreamer mods from John (STRATDELUXER97)....

Lewguitar said:
John, I'm going to loan my newly modded TS-9's to my buddy AJ for a few days. He's a Tubescreamer user and has an especially nice stock one we can compare too. AJ's always playing...so he'll be a great source to get some feedback from too. Thanks again! Lew

Sounds good Lew...Tomorrow I'll get a DS1 going out to you..My DS1 mods aren't SEM,and quite frankly the SEM sounds too sterile and hi fi to my ears..And yes it lacks the lows...I truly feel you'd like my DS1 mods,but you'll have to let me know? I think I still have your address Lew but i'll contact you if I need it again...

John
 
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