Calling Ibanez pedal nerds

[stein]

I have gas, but my budget only allows for MAYBE a pedal.

 

I am considering getting an IBANEZ CP-9 compressor. I have tried then before, and right now it is the only ped I think I may have gas for. But, before I lay down the only cash I may get to spend, I am curious if there are some better than others, as in the case of the TS-9. I tried 3 today, 2 silver label that both were fun, but sounded slightly different, and a black label, which didn't work but they might have it working soon.

 

I know it is only a pedal, but it is all I can afford. I think I can get as much happiness shopping and getting one as a guitar, because you gotta appreciate what you got. I thought it would be way more fun to discuss here before I do it.

 

I am open to ideas and suggestions, and also curious if there are any experts that might have something to teach me.

[Searcy]

I just swapped a B52 amp head for a TS9 last friday. I havn't had a chance to crack it open and see what chip it has in it but it sure makes my Premier Club Bass 120 sound like Joe Walsh when I cramp the SG through it. I used to have a TS9DX which makes for one hell of a bass overdrive but I sold it last year when I did a little down sizing.

[stein]

I just swapped a B52 amp head for a TS9 last friday. I havn't had a chance to crack it open and see what chip it has in it but it sure makes my Premier Club Bass 120 sound like Joe Walsh when I cramp the SG through it. I used to have a TS9DX which makes for one hell of a bass overdrive but I sold it last year when I did a little down sizing.

I think that there is something to the chip, but I also think a lot of chips get overlooked and a bad rap.

 

I have one of the first reissues with the TA75558 chip and I LIKE it..I wouldn't change it. I have also played one with a 1458 chip (honest..a TS-9) and liked it to.

 

I have a shop here that at one time had a buttload of tube screamers, old and new. I wasn't surprised that a lot of the older original ones had mojo and sounded better than others, but, what was a surprise is that even some new ones sounded just as good. The best sounding ones (to all the ears there) were a mix of old and new, even a stock TS-7.

[Searcy]

I have found that when you use a pedal like a Tube Screamer or a Boss DS1 to just nudge a good tube amp into greatness it's all very subjective. There is now magic formula becayse each pedal is a bit different and each old tube amp is very different. I hate a Tube Screamer by itself but pushing this amp it's amazing.

[stein]

I have found that when you use a pedal like a Tube Screamer or a Boss DS1 to just nudge a good tube amp into greatness it's all very subjective. There is now magic formula becayse each pedal is a bit different and each old tube amp is very different. I hate a Tube Screamer by itself but pushing this amp it's amazing.

I have 2 reasons or uses for a tube screamer 1) when I play through an amp like a blackfaced fender, riding the volume control and boosting the volume in such an amp makes it both brighter as well as louder, so at times when I want some fatness to the leads with out being piercing, the tube screamer does it extremely well, and compresses even more than a compressor.

 

Also, even if I never step on it, it evens out the sound using longer cables. It gets knocked for NOT being true bypass, but having at least one buffered pedal can be a very good thing, and as a buffer, it is the best sounding I have found.

 

Sure, sometimes it is fun screwing around to crank the distortion to hear the pedal, but TRULY when actually using it, BARELY on is where it is at with these.

 

There are clones galore that actually sound better and more natural than a TS-9 when used at higher setting, but as much as I hate to be a tube screamer cliche freak, I have not tried one that sounds better when used barely on for a little unperceptable boost.

[Searcy]

True Bypass is just a trendy catch phrase that people are hooked on these days. I'm not a fan at all. I have a few pedals that are true bypass but that's just because that's how they came. I use long cords and 5 or 6 pedals at a time so... I like a good buffer.

 

The compressor you're talking about is one that's been recomended to me a few times by a friend of mine that sold his when he switch to rack mount. Now he wishes he had it back.

[This_Dying_Soul]

Not familiar with the compressor, but I LOVE tubescreamers. Something about the midrange hump in it's tone.

 

I'd someday like to get my hands on a tubscreamer, but just can't afford anything other than the TS7. It sounds the same as all the others to my ears, but I had bought one once and it had a defective switch right out of the box. Since then I decided to wait until I have enough spare cash to get a TS9 or TS808. If nothing more, the switches are better quality than the TS7.

 

While I like the tubescreamer with the gain turned up just fine, the way I LOVE using these things is to crank the Level and then add just enough gain to start to get some saturation. Put this in front of a clean amp on the verge of breaking up and you find out why they call them TUBSCREAMERS... it's not so much that it is supposed to emulate the sound of distorting tubes; its what happens when you use them to slam the front end of a good tube amp with a a hotter signal than what you achieve by plugging the guitar direct to the amp.

[stein]

Not familiar with the compressor, but I LOVE tubescreamers. Something about the midrange hump in it's tone.

 

I'd someday like to get my hands on a tubscreamer, but just can't afford anything other than the TS7. It sounds the same as all the others to my ears, but I had bought one once and it had a defective switch right out of the box. Since then I decided to wait until I have enough spare cash to get a TS9 or TS808. If nothing more, the switches are better quality than the TS7.

 

While I like the tubescreamer with the gain turned up just fine, the way I LOVE using these things is to crank the Level and then add just enough gain to start to get some saturation. Put this in front of a clean amp on the verge of breaking up and you find out why they call them TUBSCREAMERS... it's not so much that it is supposed to emulate the sound of distorting tubes; its what happens when you use them to slam the front end of a good tube amp with a a hotter signal than what you achieve by plugging the guitar direct to the amp.

I don't know what the various ones are going for now, but I thought the TS808 price was ridiculous when they first came out. I also think maybe the MAXON made ones might sound better than the newer IBANEZ ones. When I tried a bunch, the two newer reissues made by Ibanez both sounded real close to each other, and not as good as the Maxon made reissues I was trying. There was enough variation between all of them, that I would have to say you wouldn't know without trying the actual pedal.

 

I said all that to say, that the TS-7 is a real sleeper. My buddy ended up buying one, not only because it was cheap, but because the one he bought sounded better than most of the "vintage" ones and reissues that we tried.

[EVOL!]

I don't know what the various ones are going for now, but I thought the TS808 price was ridiculous when they first came out. I also think maybe the MAXON made ones might sound better than the newer IBANEZ ones. When I tried a bunch, the two newer reissues made by Ibanez both sounded real close to each other, and not as good as the Maxon made reissues I was trying. There was enough variation between all of them, that I would have to say you wouldn't know without trying the actual pedal.

 

That's what I use: Maxon OD808. Got mine in 2001 and since then I have had little to no desire to even hear a different Tube Screamer flavor. Maxon did make the originals for Ibanez in the seventies.