TS9 vs. TS808

TS9 + 2ch Dual Rec + 4x12 cab (w/ V30s) + Gibson LP

I'm currently using a TS9 with a 2ch Dual Rec and I'm considering picking up a TS808. Before I do, I'm wondering if any of you have done a side by side and/or traded one for the other, and can offer some input. What can I expect so I can decide if this is a good choice for me?

I currently use my TS9 like this:

GAIN: 8 o'clock
LEVEL: 11 o'clock
TONE: 2 o'clock

The more gain I dial in with the pedal, the darker my tone gets.

I play Hardcore/Punk.

Thank you for any input

im actually tossing up whether or not to buy either one for my dual, is it worth the coin?

Get a Maxon OD 808...I tried them all...guitar center hated me for all the returns I went through...but the Maxon is THE pedal for a recto.

Triple Cheeseburger said:

im actually tossing up whether or not to buy either one for my dual, is it worth the coin?

Click to expand...

The TS9 is the only OD pedal I've use with my 2ch Dual Rec, but I like it. I wouldn't use my dual rec without it (because of the style of music I play). The pedal really tightens up the low end and takes the blanket off the amp at the same time.

But it does effect your tone and I've read and heard that the TS808 is more transparent.

ibanez4life SZ! said:

Get a Maxon OD 808...I tried them all...guitar center hated me for all the returns I went through...but the Maxon is THE pedal for a recto.

Click to expand...

If I can't (or don't want to) afford the MAXON OD 808, can I get by with the TS808 for now? Or is the Maxon so much better that It's worth the extra 150 bucks? (I can get a TS 808 used for $100 but I can only find the Maxon pedal new for around 250).

First off let me say that I have never owned the Maxon 808 but have heard nothing but great things about it. $100 for the TS 808 RI is a great price. I had the opportunity to A/B a TS 808 and TS-9 that I borrowed from a Buddy before I bought one with a 2 CH Dual Rec. The TS 9 is a great pedal but it has more of a mid spike characteristic. Where as the 808 is more transparent and warmer sounding to me. To me it just tightened the feel of the Dual.

I know have the GSP 1101 which has both the TS-9 and 808 modeled and both are very close. I kind of go back and forth depending on my mood or what I'm playing. I kept the 808 though and anytime I play straight into the head minus the rack unit, this is what I prefer.

The important thing is that you find what fits for you. Tone is in the ear of the beholder.

I bought a used TS9 for $45 and then Used about $20 worth of parts and modded it to TS-808 specs. You can't tell the difference between mine and a real vintage TS-808 now. It smoothed out the mid hump and also made the pedal warmer, more transparent and responsive. You can get the exact parts I used in a kit from an ebay seller named Tubescreamerheaven. He even ships his with a cd rom that has both printabe instructions and a vid of him doing the mod. He includes solder and desoldering brade so all you need is a soldering iron.

clutch71 said:

First off let me say that I have never owned the Maxon 808 but have heard nothing but great things about it. $100 for the TS 808 RI is a great price. I had the opportunity to A/B a TS 808 and TS-9 that I borrowed from a Buddy before I bought one with a 2 CH Dual Rec. The TS 9 is a great pedal but it has more of a mid spike characteristic. Where as the 808 is more transparent and warmer sounding to me. To me it just tightened the feel of the Dual.

I know have the GSP 1101 which has both the TS-9 and 808 modeled and both are very close. I kind of go back and forth depending on my mood or what I'm playing. I kept the 808 though and anytime I play straight into the head minus the rack unit, this is what I prefer.

The important thing is that you find what fits for you. Tone is in the ear of the beholder.

Click to expand...

Thank you.

I think I'm going to pick up the TS808 and give it an A/B. It helps to hear from someone who's experienced these pedals through a 2ch dual rec. That's the kind of feedback I was hoping to get

Transparency is important to me. Back when I ran my JCM 800 on a regular basis, I put an MXR superComp on it to give it a shot. It was the first MXR pedal I'd ever used and I was amazed at how much it colored up my tone. It seemed to suck all the warmth out of the head, now matter how little I dialed in. Even with the pedal switched off, I could still hear the effect of simply having the MXR pedal in the chain. That was the first and last time I ever used an MXR pedal.

R_ADKINS80 said:

I bought a used TS9 for $45 and then Used about $20 worth of parts and modded it to TS-808 specs. You can't tell the difference between mine and a real vintage TS-808 now. It smoothed out the mid hump and also made the pedal warmer, more transparent and responsive. You can get the exact parts I used in a kit from an ebay seller named Tubescreamerheaven. He even ships his with a cd rom that has both printabe instructions and a vid of him doing the mod. He includes solder and desoldering brade so all you need is a soldering iron.

Click to expand...

Very interesting.

I'd consider doing this mod just for the guided practice and the experience of having done it. I assume it was a piece of cake?

What type of music do you use it for?

Switching between the 808 and the 9 versions is really pretty easy and can save you some serious coin. BTW, you can take an even less expensive pedal, the Boss SD-1, and mod it to exact TS9 or TS-808 (both modern and vintage) specs without a whole lot of effort.

I did this kind of thing a number of times to the point where I just decided to start making my own overdrive circuits from scratch to get 'em exactly the way I want 'em. I couldn't have done that without spending plenty of time tinkering around modding already existing circuits to find out what does what. If you think you have the time and patience, I highly recommend learning to do mods yourself. I've saved hundreds of dollars over the years doing so.

If you don't, then do yourself a favor and save the money and get at least a modded stock pedal if you can't afford a boutique-quality overdrive to start with. Stock SD-1's, TS-9's, TS-808's, YJM's, Zakk Wylde's, etc. are all just "okay", but can sound really fantastic when modded by someone who knows what they're doing.

tunedown said:

R_ADKINS80 said:

I bought a used TS9 for $45 and then Used about $20 worth of parts and modded it to TS-808 specs. You can't tell the difference between mine and a real vintage TS-808 now. It smoothed out the mid hump and also made the pedal warmer, more transparent and responsive. You can get the exact parts I used in a kit from an ebay seller named Tubescreamerheaven. He even ships his with a cd rom that has both printabe instructions and a vid of him doing the mod. He includes solder and desoldering brade so all you need is a soldering iron.

Click to expand...

Very interesting.

I'd consider doing this mod just for the guided practice and the experience of having done it. I assume it was a piece of cake?

What type of music do you use it for?

Click to expand...

Well I have YEARS of soldering under my belt so for me it was a 15-20 minute job. I use it for metal, metal and ....oh yeah....metal. I leave it on all the time unless I want to do any clean parts, it sounds that good.

Hunt for a used Maxon OD 808...I got mine for $85 :wink:

Check out the comparinator to get an Idea of the diferences between the different pedals.

http://www.oldtonezone.com/distortionoverdrive-pedal-shootout/the-od-pedal-comparinator/

Me again :lol:

I just realized you're in Phoenix....I'm in Tucson...if you're sweating it that bad, I'd be more than happy to arrange something for you to try the pedal with my rig/rectifier. Don't know if it would be worth the drive for you, but I thought I'd offer.

Eric

ibanez4life SZ! said:

Me again :lol:

I just realized you're in Phoenix....I'm in Tucson...if you're sweating it that bad, I'd be more than happy to arrange something for you to try the pedal with my rig/rectifier. Don't know if it would be worth the drive for you, but I thought I'd offer.

Eric

Click to expand...

No ****

Well... How about if, the next time I'm in Tucson playing a show, I'll PM you and see if you're free. Maybe I could try it out on my rig and maybe you teach me a thing or two about OD pedals and Rectifiers?

Sounds good.

Eric

The Maxon 808 is a great pedal, however I still prefer my TS9 over it, to me the TS9 Gives a little Mid bump that the rec's need and cuts a little bit of the excessive bottem end the rectifier has. Dont get me wrong, the 808 does alot of the same, but for some reason I just like the TS9 better so far, but I have to do a little more comparison.

on your settings, do you mean when you say gain at 8 oclock that you have it completly off? If so that is good, want to really make your amp scream just max the level.

My settings
TS9
GAIN: Completly Off
LEVEL: Maxed
TONE: 11 o'clock

Roadking V1 Low Volume.
I dont use the loops so I have them bypassed and adjust volume by channel volumes.
Presense 12 Oclock
Gain 1 Oclock
Treble 12 Oclock
Bass 11 Oclock
Middle 12 Oclock

Roadking V1 Stage Volume
I dont use the loops so I have them bypassed and adjust volume by channel volumes.
Presense 10 Oclock (this is adjustable depending how loud, usually between 10 and 12 oclock)
Gain 1 Oclock
Treble 12 Oclock
Bass 11 Oclock
Middle 12 Oclock

tunedown said:

TS9 + 2ch Dual Rec + 4x12 cab (w/ V30s) + Gibson LP

I'm currently using a TS9 with a 2ch Dual Rec and I'm considering picking up a TS808. Before I do, I'm wondering if any of you have done a side by side and/or traded one for the other, and can offer some input. What can I expect so I can decide if this is a good choice for me?

I currently use my TS9 like this:

GAIN: 8 o'clock
LEVEL: 11 o'clock
TONE: 2 o'clock

The more gain I dial in with the pedal, the darker my tone gets.

I play Hardcore/Punk.

Thank you for any input

Click to expand...

Yeah I think I got mine used for about the same in great shape.

ibanez4life SZ! said:

Hunt for a used Maxon OD 808...I got mine for $85 :wink:

Click to expand...

siggy14 said:

The Maxon 808 is a great pedal, however I still prefer my TS9 over it, to me the TS9 Gives a little Mid bump that the rec's need and cuts a little bit of the excessive bottem end the rectifier has. Dont get me wrong, the 808 does alot of the same, but for some reason I just like the TS9 better so far, but I have to do a little more comparison.

on your settings, do you mean when you say gain at 8 oclock that you have it completly off? If so that is good, want to really make your amp scream just max the level.

My settings
TS9
GAIN: Completly Off
LEVEL: Maxed
TONE: 11 o'clock

Click to expand...

Basically, yes.

I usually dial in "some" gain, but never more then 2 ticks on the dial. I've actually started to enjoy how much..."meaner" it sounds with just a hair of gain.

And, I usually set my tone fairly high, so I have to keep my level at a moderate level to keep from squealing. (I also use a hot pickup, so that could account for some squealing too). I'll try bringing my tone down and bumping my level as high as I can get it and see how I like it.

Thanks for the input!

What pickups, what year gibson and kind?

tunedown said:

siggy14 said:

The Maxon 808 is a great pedal, however I still prefer my TS9 over it, to me the TS9 Gives a little Mid bump that the rec's need and cuts a little bit of the excessive bottem end the rectifier has. Dont get me wrong, the 808 does alot of the same, but for some reason I just like the TS9 better so far, but I have to do a little more comparison.

on your settings, do you mean when you say gain at 8 oclock that you have it completly off? If so that is good, want to really make your amp scream just max the level.

My settings
TS9
GAIN: Completly Off
LEVEL: Maxed
TONE: 11 o'clock

Click to expand...

Basically, yes.

I usually dial in "some" gain, but never more then 2 ticks on the dial. I've actually started to enjoy how much..."meaner" it sounds with just a hair of gain.

And, I usually set my tone fairly high, so I have to keep my level at a moderate level to keep from squealing. (I also use a hot pickup, so that could account for some squealing too). I'll try bringing my tone down and bumping my level as high as I can get it and see how I like it.

Thanks for the input!

Click to expand...

siggy14 said:

What pickups, what year gibson and kind?

Click to expand...

I play an LTD EC-1000 Deluxe, but I don't use the stock bridge pickup. I use a Ceramic Gibson 500T. Same thing for my 1992 Les Paul (but that's in the shop, so I've been using the LTD til I get it back).