ashbass
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2003
- Messages
- 1,918
Other than looks, difference between the reissued TS808 and TS9 is that the TS808 has a JRC4558 chip in it that Ibanez says has been hand tested against specs they'e collected on vintage TS808 chips. This hand testing is supposedly why they are so expensive. Further, there are two resistors that are different. The TS808 resistor values were supposedly better suited to drive tube amps and the TS9 resistors were changed to better accommodate solid state amps.
Some thoughts on mods...
I mod these pedals a lot. I buy them used on ebay, mod them up, and resell. Not a buisiness, but the family gets a movie every now and then.
There are six common mods that you'll find.
1) 808 specs (chip and resistors)
2) super quality components
3) less drive available
4) more drive available
5) more bass response
6) brown mod
1
The 808 specs mod will turn a TS9 into a TS808 as far as coponents are concerned. Put a JRC chip in in place of the stock one and change two resistors. However, I've ABed multiple modded TS9s against reissue 808s and the 808s usually (not always) still sound better. I do believe the "hand selected" chip thing. I also believe that they hand select certain resistors for specific values, see brown mod below.
2
Keeley is known for the super quality comonent replacement mods. I've had some of his pedals and personally like the gritty sound of low-fi components for overdrive or distortion. The hi-fi felt and sounded sterile to me. JMO.
3
The less drive mod is my favorite. This works on both models equally well. When drive is on zero, there is still too much distortion for my taste. I like to just barely hear some grit when playing hard and be pretty much clean otherwise. When I want heavy distortion, I use another pedal. By changing one resistor the Drive control does what it should do in my opinion. It puts the amount of drive at zero when the Drive knob is at zero.
4
More drive. I don't use this in my personal pedals as I don't ever take Drive over 3 or 4. It pretty much doubles the amount of distortion the pedals put out. If Drive on 10 put out 10lbs of distortion before the mod, after the mod it puts out 20lbs. If this mod is used with the less drive mod, Drive on zero will again put out noticible distortion.
5
The more bass mod changes one capacitor to allow more of the guitar's bass signal through the pedal. It doesn't boost bass or anything like that. It just opens a door that the original circuit keeps practically closed. This one really helps to fatten up the typically thin TS sound.
6
The brown mod is probably the most mystical. I believe that Analogman came up with this one. It involves changing 5 resistors in the circuit from carbon film to carbon composition. Most sellers hawking the 'brown mod' only use two carbon comp resistors ala the 808 specs mod so watch out. The use of these 'vintage style' resistors is said to produce a warmer, or brown, tone from the pedals. Carbon composition resistors are harder do find (no Radio Shack) as they are pretty much not used anymore in production electronics. Here too, I've ABed back and forth again and again with stock, modded, brown, etc. 808s and TS9s. The brown mod does make a pleasant difference in tone.
I read somewhere a document by Keeley discounting the use of carbon comp resistors because they are not stable. They drift in value over time so that what was once a 1k value resistor may later be a 1.5k resistor. Keeley, as seen above, is big on high fidelity and thus having his pedals all sound the same. The carbon comp thing introduces an uncontrollable variance in the TS circuit and sound.
I exerperimented a few months ago with 5 or 6 reissue 808s that I had. The stock resistors were all the commonly available carbon film, not carbon composition. What I discovered was that the resistors usually replaced during the brown mod were all above spec. for what value they should have been. Above spec for carbon composition resistors is way common. But above spec for carbon film resistors is not common at all.
So my assumption is that the very drift which Keeley denounces is what makes Analogman's brown mod work. The carbon comp resistors drift above spec to similar values as I found in the TS808 stock resistors. The brown mod resistors and Ibanez's own stock resisotors seem to say that higher value resistors in several key locations appear to make a good difference in tone for these pedals.
As with the IC chips mentioned above, the resistors in the stock TS808 reissues are most likely hand separated from other resistors of lesser, or correct, value.
Some thoughts on mods...
I mod these pedals a lot. I buy them used on ebay, mod them up, and resell. Not a buisiness, but the family gets a movie every now and then.
There are six common mods that you'll find.
1) 808 specs (chip and resistors)
2) super quality components
3) less drive available
4) more drive available
5) more bass response
6) brown mod
1
The 808 specs mod will turn a TS9 into a TS808 as far as coponents are concerned. Put a JRC chip in in place of the stock one and change two resistors. However, I've ABed multiple modded TS9s against reissue 808s and the 808s usually (not always) still sound better. I do believe the "hand selected" chip thing. I also believe that they hand select certain resistors for specific values, see brown mod below.
2
Keeley is known for the super quality comonent replacement mods. I've had some of his pedals and personally like the gritty sound of low-fi components for overdrive or distortion. The hi-fi felt and sounded sterile to me. JMO.
3
The less drive mod is my favorite. This works on both models equally well. When drive is on zero, there is still too much distortion for my taste. I like to just barely hear some grit when playing hard and be pretty much clean otherwise. When I want heavy distortion, I use another pedal. By changing one resistor the Drive control does what it should do in my opinion. It puts the amount of drive at zero when the Drive knob is at zero.
4
More drive. I don't use this in my personal pedals as I don't ever take Drive over 3 or 4. It pretty much doubles the amount of distortion the pedals put out. If Drive on 10 put out 10lbs of distortion before the mod, after the mod it puts out 20lbs. If this mod is used with the less drive mod, Drive on zero will again put out noticible distortion.
5
The more bass mod changes one capacitor to allow more of the guitar's bass signal through the pedal. It doesn't boost bass or anything like that. It just opens a door that the original circuit keeps practically closed. This one really helps to fatten up the typically thin TS sound.
6
The brown mod is probably the most mystical. I believe that Analogman came up with this one. It involves changing 5 resistors in the circuit from carbon film to carbon composition. Most sellers hawking the 'brown mod' only use two carbon comp resistors ala the 808 specs mod so watch out. The use of these 'vintage style' resistors is said to produce a warmer, or brown, tone from the pedals. Carbon composition resistors are harder do find (no Radio Shack) as they are pretty much not used anymore in production electronics. Here too, I've ABed back and forth again and again with stock, modded, brown, etc. 808s and TS9s. The brown mod does make a pleasant difference in tone.
I read somewhere a document by Keeley discounting the use of carbon comp resistors because they are not stable. They drift in value over time so that what was once a 1k value resistor may later be a 1.5k resistor. Keeley, as seen above, is big on high fidelity and thus having his pedals all sound the same. The carbon comp thing introduces an uncontrollable variance in the TS circuit and sound.
I exerperimented a few months ago with 5 or 6 reissue 808s that I had. The stock resistors were all the commonly available carbon film, not carbon composition. What I discovered was that the resistors usually replaced during the brown mod were all above spec. for what value they should have been. Above spec for carbon composition resistors is way common. But above spec for carbon film resistors is not common at all.
So my assumption is that the very drift which Keeley denounces is what makes Analogman's brown mod work. The carbon comp resistors drift above spec to similar values as I found in the TS808 stock resistors. The brown mod resistors and Ibanez's own stock resisotors seem to say that higher value resistors in several key locations appear to make a good difference in tone for these pedals.
As with the IC chips mentioned above, the resistors in the stock TS808 reissues are most likely hand separated from other resistors of lesser, or correct, value.
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