Keeley Mods worth the money?

I was thinking of getting my TS9 modded with the Keeley TS9 Plus Mod. It'd cost me about 59 dollars. I'm not too pleased with this pedal for clean boosting my Roadster, I should have gotten the Maxon 808 but that was more expensive and I had to order it. Whatever.

Anyways, anyone get this mod done to their TS9 or have a TS9 from him? Is it worth the money? How would you say it sounded versus stock?

I would recommend just getting a Barber Direct Drive instead.

Save your money and do it yourself. Do some searching online and you'll find TONS of info on building and moding pedals. People make heaps of money doing pedal "mods" that are pathetically simple and cheap, but charge tons of money. My favorite is the TS-9 to TS-808 mod. That involves changing the opamp (about $0.50) and two resistors (about $0.30). Some will throw in a super deluxe magic tone enhancing blue LED too (about $0.50). That's not even $2 worth of parts, yet some people charge $50 for this mod. You could even add a true bypass swith for about $8. Don't get me wrong, many "Professional" modded pedals do sound good, but you can achieve the same or better results with a little work and a lot less money.

mr_fender said:

Save your money and do it yourself. Do some searching online and you'll find TONS of info on building and moding pedals. People make heaps of money doing pedal "mods" that are pathetically simple and cheap, but charge tons of money. My favorite is the TS-9 to TS-808 mod. That involves changing the opamp (about $0.50) and two resistors (about $0.30). Some will throw in a super deluxe magic tone enhancing blue LED too (about $0.50). That's not even $2 worth of parts, yet some people charge $50 for this mod. You could even add a true bypass swith for about $8. Don't get me wrong, many "Professional" modded pedals do sound good, but you can achieve the same or better results with a little work and a lot less money.

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hmm. this is true.

i wonder if i can do it myself.. i'm totally not handy though.

No. My favorite pedal guru hype involves "vintage" silicon components (re JRC5548 IC - a really abysmal part!). Get real!

ty

i really wouldn't be able to do this myself.. i'm awful when it comes to being handy like this.

so, for 50 bucks i can upgrade my TS9 or trade it in and buy either an Maxon 808 or an OCD which would both cost me more money. Would the TS9 mod be the better option? I heard it ends up sounding better than the regular 808

There is VERY little difference between the Maxon and Ibanez tubescreamers. The tonal difference between the two is quite subtle. There are a lot of tubescreamer based pedals out there (Voodoo labs sparkle drive, Fultone Fulldrive 2, Digitech Bad Monkey, Xotic BB Preamp, etc., etc.) Some add a few bells and whistles, but for the most part, they use the same opamp feedback loop diode clipping circuit to add distortion. The Boss SD-1 is also very similar too. The OCD is opamp and clipping diode based too, but it uses a different configuration and sounds quite a bit different than a tubescreamer.

What don't you like about the tubescreamer, and how would you like it to be different? Perhaps we can offer some other suggestions.

basically more base and a smoother sound, both things the TS9 mod by keeley are offering. I know i'd like the keeley peddle just by how they describe the sound. the stock TS9 kills a lot of the bass oomph and everyone says the maxon 808 doesn't.

Be careful with adding more bass into the input of your amp. It will get loose and farty really quickly. Many of the people who like these bass modded pedals are running Marshalls. Marshalls are much brighter sounding with less bass than the Rectifiers. They can tolerate a bit more bass in the input without getting too farty. Most Boogie amps will get quite farty if you add too much bass to the input. It's better to add bass after the amp's clipping stages with a post-gain EQ or with an EQ pedal in the FX loop. That said, the tubescreamer does have a pretty significant bass roll-off. Adding a tiny bit back might do it some good for some sounds. I'd prefer a variable amount though.

I suggest you check out the Xotic BB Preamp. It's basically a tubescreamer that has an active two band EQ (treble and bass) in place of the regular tone control. It give you a lot more flexibility than the stock tubescreamer. With the treble and bass set high, you get a flatter or even scooped sound. With the treble and bass set low, you get the vintage tubescreamer midrange hump. The Digitech Bad Monkey is also very similar.

i had a keely 5 star modded boss SD-1. THAT was the best drive pedal I ever played.........i have a direct drive now....but, i kinda miss the clarity and presence of the modded SD-1.

I suggest you check out the Xotic BB Preamp. It's basically a tubescreamer that has an active two band EQ (treble and bass) in place of the regular tone control.

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No- it's not anything like a Tube Screamer! I now own both, a modded TS-9 and the BB preamp and they are nothing alike. The BB is smoother and more "Boogie-like" with noticable compression, while the TS-9 is more tighter edged distortion with a nasty nasally rasp. The Tube Screamers are great for boosting old Marshalls, but for a Boogie amp, gimme the BB preamp anytime!

I dig the keeley modded pedals. I use the Boss Blues Driver with my Mark IV as clean bump on ch. 1, a little extra grit on ch. 2 & a little more drive on ch 3.
That's with the drive knob at about 2, the tone & level at midnight.

I also got the Keeley modded Boss Distortion & Super over drive, but the BD is really very sweet sounding.

If i'm playin thru a different amp (at rehearsal studio) I usually just use the whatever amp they got clean, and use the Blues Driver as the OD sound. Along with some other cool pedals, like a Fulltone DejaVibe, Fulltone FatBoost & MXR Carbon Copy...I'm good to go.
BUT...
A good axe and my Mark IV are essentials.

Patrick

I often thought about that question... is it really worth the money?? Is any mod worth it??? If you are not happy with your pedal, why not just buy a different one. There are literally hundreds of boost / OD pedals out there ranging from about 20 bucks and up! I only have about 10 OD pedals and I swear there are a few (when tweaked) are impossible to tell the tonal difference.

If you aren't a handy kind of guy, Keeley mods are excellent and their customer service is unbeatable. The standard TS-9 or 808 mod should be fine-they offer a "baked" mod which gives the screamer a hotter sound. I use the Keeley-modded BD2 these days as I have gone to one OD pedal instead of two, and the BD is more versatile and higher-gain. The TS is a one-trick pony, but it is a really, really good trick!

TS-9 (Stock and AnalogMan Modded)
Maxon OD-808
Bad Monkey
Screaming Blues
Boss Super Overdrive SD-1
Boss Blues Driver (Stock and Keeley Modded)
Barber Direct Drive
Nova Drive
Seymour Duncan Twin Tube
Satchurator
M.I. Audio Blue Boy Deluxe

Bought and sold all of the above except the Satchurator and the M.I. Blue Boy Deluxe. For me, these two pedals clean up the best, and also have more gain at the other end than most TS-9 types. The modded pedals were better than stock, but only marginally, to my ears.
(I play PRS, Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls through Mark III combos with Celestion GT-100s and EV/Thieles. I play quietly and loudly, and actually prefer the pedal distortion at low volumes. Well, sometimes.)
With all the TS-9 types, even modded, I always end up running the tone control at zero - they're just too bright for me. The Blue Boy has great tone controls - Bright, Mids, Tone, and Character, which you can use to add or subtract that "flubby" bass.
I just dig the Satchurator's liquidy Marshally lead tone. No, its tone control doesn't work, but the tone controls on Marshalls don't do much, either.
Now, these are just my opinions. The important thing is to find the pedals that work with your sound. I might like completely different dirt boxes if I played Rectos or Bogners or Twin Reverbs.
My 2 cents. YMMV

The modded pedals were better than stock, but only marginally, to my ears.

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I agree with that in large part... which brings us back to the theme of this thread: are some of the high dollar mods (like Keeley) reall worth the $$$?? I can't speak for the Keeleys, but I use the Monte Allums DIY kits in my TS-9, Boss GE-7, and Boss compressor. It really cleaned up the Boss pedals considerably, and the most noticable difference in the TS-9 would be swapping out the chips. There is probably a substantial difference between the Texas Instruments chips and the Burr Brown chips. I tried them both and ended up leaving the Burr Brown chip in. It had more "balls" and still had nice and smooth OD characteristics. I agree about the TS-9 tone control, you just can't dial out the nasally highs out of that thing and keep any kind of decent bottom, it all just kinda muffles out. All in all, I think the mods do help, as replacing cheesey components can't hurt nothing. But for my money, I'll go with Monte's $19.99 DIY kits and let the touring boys (with the touring $$$) have the $150 mods.

-DLM

MrMarkIII said:

TS-9 (Stock and AnalogMan Modded)
Maxon OD-808
Bad Monkey
Screaming Blues
Boss Super Overdrive SD-1
Boss Blues Driver (Stock and Keeley Modded)
Barber Direct Drive
Nova Drive
Seymour Duncan Twin Tube
Satchurator
M.I. Audio Blue Boy Deluxe

Bought and sold all of the above except the Satchurator and the M.I. Blue Boy Deluxe. For me, these two pedals clean up the best, and also have more gain at the other end than most TS-9 types.

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i have a satchurator and it doesn't clean up at all for me.. weird

I can't speak for the TS-9 Keeley upgrade, but I use a Keeley moded Boss Blues Driver and I love the thing. The upgrade did make a noticeable difference imo. With this upgrade, they insert a toggle that can be activated to add some bottom. There isn't a huge jump, but very usable. I'm currently using it with my ED as a clean boost for rythem. I use very little of the pedal's gain. I depend on the amp for this. Using it this way really makes the tone crystal clear. It makes the already great ED sound even better imo. The BD is so transparent. It colors the tone of the amp less than anything I've personally heard. There may be pedals that are better, but I would bet not in this price range.

I liked the modded pedal so much, I sent in another to have it modded. I plan to use this one for leads to not only add some clarity but to also add gain. I use a Radial Loopbone which allows me to dedicate affects for rythem and lead. I can preset all my pedals and with the flip of one switch, toggle back and forth between rythem and lead. Pretty cool device.

By the way, the original JRC4558 *is* a 'truly abysmal part'... but that's why it sounds good. Think about it! We're not talking hi-fi here, we're talking *distortion*. The tone of the original Tube Screamers was based around this chip and they still sound as good or better than most of the modern versions. You won't necessarily get a better guitar tone just because you use a fancy expensive chip with *lower* distortion characteristics and wider bandwidth...

I salvage and collect any JRC4558 I can find from scrap 1980s audio equipment - they aren't that rare. They make a modern TS808/9 reissue sound much better.

Elixir said:

I was thinking of getting my TS9 modded with the Keeley TS9 Plus Mod. It'd cost me about 59 dollars. I'm not too pleased with this pedal for clean boosting my Roadster, I should have gotten the Maxon 808 but that was more expensive and I had to order it. Whatever.

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I realize this is old, but for the benefit of anyone else thinking along the same lines...

Watch Craigslist!

About a month ago I got a Maxon OD808 for $60!!! I also have an Ibanez TS808 (paid Twice as much for). I've A/B'd them multiple times with multiple styles and still can't make up my mind for sure. Gotta say I'm leaning toward the Maxon. (Which makes sense due to it's being more like the original TS)