All user reviews of 4/5 for the Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer

Analog overdrive pedal format classical guitar type boss. Jack connector, standard 9v supply, rackmount or non editable model. The whole is placed in a sturdy metal case. Jack in, jack out, and roll youth!

UTILIZATION

A tone, a drive and volume, nothing too bad, after the effect is very accurate, which induces specific settings to find a sound that mixes well with the general mix (you can quickly fall into a shrill sound or aggressive).

SOUND QUALITY

This is a nice overdrive, less warm than 808 ts (and incidentally cheaper too), with a nice bump in the mids and tight bass that suddenly are reduced compared to the untreated. Works very well with guitars of course, but also keyboards (rhodes particular). It is very good for its driven gently, or upstream of a real distortion, at the time it used to change the eq for drilling during lead passages. We can blame him a simple tone instead of eq fuller, but it allows a large number of shades.

OVERALL OPINION

I kept some time before selling because it does not suit the band's sound in which I was (at the time I did not have my home studio or my personal projects otherwise I would have kept! ). Qualities may be its shortcomings, namely its sound will not suit all styles, even in the blues. This remains an excellent pedal, cheaper but less friendly than its predecessor, which must be done to get the best!

Analog overdrive
limping very solid, with a trap below for 9V battery (not need a screwdriver to change)

In / Out, 3 knobs (drive, tone, level)
simple and effective, can be used as a boost (but it colors)

UTILIZATION

Easy to use, is in overdrive on a clean channel, either boost on the clean channel to saturate the amplifier, either boost on crunch channel, or even overdrive channel crunch, to blend colors ....

SOUND QUALITY

This is very typical after one likes or dislikes ..
it compresses a lot, withdrawals are low, it makes a nice bump in the midrange .. but what is good!

I use it before a Ceriatone Plexi 1987 with a Strat and a Gibson SG.

She primarily uses boost (drive low (2), high volume (8)) for solos. She brings an incredible presence that is through the mix!

With the strat is a real treat, she brings this side medium "in your face": there's SRV's listen to understand what I mean

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 2 years
I had tried many other models at the time (like MXR GT-OD ...)
I was seduced by its very characteristic that contrasts really! it gets a good slap when it is activated for a solo.

Value for money not yucky for a pedal of this quality!
Pedal to have!

This pedal's been around for decades and has been used by almost every professional guitarist at one point or another. Used either as a slight overdrive or as a boost to push a tube amp harder this pedal is very versatile.

UTILIZATION

My only real complaint about this pedal is the LED is very dim. Unless you're on a dark stage and in direct vision it's very hard to see if it's on or off. There are mods to replace it with a brighter one, but stock it's not ideal. Other than that it's great, haven't ever had any problems and I've owned a few. Switch has never gone bad, knobs never get static-y, and jacks have never cut out. Pretty solid pedal.

SOUND QUALITY

This pedal has a pretty natural tone, sounds pretty similar to a real overdriven tube amp. There's a slight mid boost to it which helps cut through other instruments as well as filling out the tone a bit. With the gain high and volume around half it gives a natural overdriven tone, similar to Steve Ray sounds. With the gain at minimum to half and the volume maxed it works as a boost. Put in front of a tube amp it'll push the amp harder resulting in even more overdrive than just either by themselves. Most modern metal bands prefer to use one as a boost into a high gain amp. The mid boost again fills out the tone a little along with helping cut through the mix. It also helps tighten the low end which is crucial for faster music along with low tuned guitars.

OVERALL OPINION

I've owned a few of these over the years and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy another if anything happened to this one. It's very solid built, looks and sounds great, and is a pedal that always stays in my chain regardless of what kind of music I'm playing. I'd recommend it to anyone playing jazz, blues, all the way to rock and metal.

Picked this one up at Guitar Center in Boston a year ago (2002) for about $100.

Easy to use (only three knobs). Definitely a mellow overdrive and nothing more, however it is great at what it does. Throw it on while on your clean channel and it's sort of a fuzz, or overdrive your leads with some added sustain and attitude. It's nice at getting a sort of Slash-like tone on lead. Don't forget SRV though also.

The only thing i don't like is that it adds a little extra noise, especially when your on your distortion channel. It's hardly noticeable while playing, but if you have to pause for any reason i prefer to curl my volume control down a couple levels to avoid listening to the thing bitch at me.

The construction is perfectly good I'd say, but then again no guitar gear of mine has ever shit the bed so I don't have much to compare it to.

Bottom Line is try it out. See what you think. I personally think this pedal could be an asset on anyone's rig.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Tone and drive level, it's easy for rglages.

The PDAL is a good old analog, mine is equipped Maxon.

UTILIZATION

It plugs and just play with the drive and Tone to find on the bluesy sound that goes well.
The level used to set an output level equivalent to other drives of the amp or stand out in a riff or solo.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound is that of an equivalent lamp lgre amplifier saturation.
The pedals Ragit trs well volume of the guitar and the attack of the strings.
RULES Although the sound is great for blues and blues to rock, metalhead, go your way.

OVERALL OPINION

C'tait my pedals achte Premire in 84, I found the same on ebay.

Well, I sold the meantime, I had made changes in Tvon mac, which provides a rel gain and closer to the sound of the True TS. But I tried a TS10 and I cracked it is much more velvety than the TS9 and suits me better.

CHARACTERISTICS of the Tube Screamer? So there are guitarists who do not know the pedals!

Joke hand, it is a design classic pedals. I find it nicer than Boss but also think more in terms CHAC battery (9V but you can also use an AC adapter). For he is in a trap located under the pedals which do not ncessite disassembly always too long.

UTILIZATION

The basic principle of such pedals is relatively simple. APRS having branch, it RULES three pots:
- Drive: the saturation level
- Tone: Tone is expected one but it's actually a plutt SETTING THE mdiums band (as a electro-acoustic amp). This requires a familiarity.
- Level: the output volume.

SOUND QUALITY

I use a Danelectro with various amps and in each case, the sound is to go. This as said, the particularity of rglage "tone" I demand an adjustment period and made me even hsit with a Boss SD-1 but had a better Tube Screamer Agues got my rendering. The SETTING THE saturation is gradual trs.

I first bought it because my amp is a lamp Stimer Garen 1962 and then dpourvu channel saturation. The rendering is plutt organic and warm (normal is analog technology) and it is easy to forget that it is a machine transistors. It also works perfectly in front of a Pignose.

- Crunch: Grand musical.
- Satur: Crmeux and blues-rock hope. The pedals offer a contribution in sustain (sometimes I got too) while having a brand personality trs. This is an excellent saturation, but that of pedals, not that of an amp.
- Mtal: Do not saturate enough. For this aim plutt a Pro Co Rat.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 9 months. I like the sound organic, progressiv of rglages. As said prcdamment I hsit with a Boss SD-1 (trs good and half price) but I found the Tube Screamer more subtle in its tone. It said so much, I think you pay the price of the legends more than enough, however, this is a legends MRIT: This is terrible for PDAL blues-rock.

The Ibanez TS-9 is a modern reissue of the ever popular TS808 Tube Screamer introduced by Ibanez in the early eighties as their take on the perfect pedal to get a nice subtle soft overdrive sound, or perhaps to push your cranked Marshall stack into sonic oblivion. Either way, the original (as used by noted players like Stevie Ray Vaughan) was a hit and vintage examples on the market regularly sell for big bucks. The TS-9 was introduced by Ibanez a number of years back to capture some of that magic from the original TS808, but bring it into the modern age and price it so that a wider demographic of players could afford to own one.

It's basically an overdrive pedal that has a fairly low gain level - perfect for soft bluesy overdrive tones as well as boosting an already overdriven amplifier. Nothing more, nothing less. It's able to be powered by batteries or an AC adapter - a great plus for modern players.

UTILIZATION

Setting up the TS-9 to go is very straightforward. There are only three knobs which are Drive, Tone, and Level. The Level controls the pedal's overall output, the Tone controls the frequency at which the pedal sits (it sweeps from a bassier sound to a more trebly one) and the Drive control adds more gain or saturation to the pedal. It's certainly very simple to use and many players from young to old have had one of these at one time or another and used extensively, so it definitely hasn't suffered any backlash due to "user error." Sometimes people mod these pedals to attain a different tonal character too.

SOUND QUALITY

The TS-9 Tube Screamer sounds great with many different guitars. Using it into a clean amp such as a Fender Twin or Deluxe yields some great low gain and very dynamic bluesy tones that are perfect for S.R.V type tones if you're using a Strat type guitar, or for even thicker bluesy tones if you're using a Gibson such as a Les Paul or an ES-335. If you run it into an amplifier that's already distorted in some form the pedal simply adds more gain to the amp, allowing it to get the desired amount of gain that you want, but may not be able to get out of the older amps (IE: Marshall JMP) that really need that extra volume to get the gain out of them. It's definitely a versatile pedal that works for many settings. About the only thing it doesn't do is standalone high gain tones, but there are mods out there online that can turn the TS-9 into a firebreathing high gain machine.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think the Ibanez TS-9 is a great reissue of the classic TS808 Tube Screamer. For those players looking for a great boost that has good dynamics, a pure and true tone and excellent signal quality, the TS-9 is definitely worth a shot. At about $120 new, they're priced fairly for a new unit, though if you shop around online they can be had cheaper.

- Controls for volume, tone, gain
- Buffered bypass
- Powered by 9v battery or Boss style adapter
- LED indicator
- Easy battery access
- JRC chips
- Compact
-Durable


UTILIZATION

Very standard OD control, volume, tone, and gain. This is one of the more basic OD pedals on the market, and is a piece of cake to set up and use. I’ve never experienced any kind of reliability issues or anything like that. The bypass is buffered and can be converted to true bypass pretty easily.
It makes a pretty good boost, just set the volume all the way up, and roll off the gain completely. It sounds exceptionally good with a dying battery, some power supplies will even have a voltage bleed on them to mimic that.


SOUND QUALITY

You’ve heard this pedal countless times before. Rich and thick OD. Not really any kind of high gain pedal, but just good solid bluesy drive. Starts out pretty creamy, and can get quite gritty with the drive dialed up. Use it to push your amp right to the edge of breakup, or as a standalone drive unit. It has an inherent mid hump in it, so works really well as a boost. It can tighten up any high gain setup, and really helps you cut through the mix.

OVERALL OPINION

This is the sound that you’ve heard on countless albums and the pedal you can expect to see on every other board. That said, it’s worth noting that there are quite a few different versions of this one. There is quite a bit of discussion about the differences between the older ones and the current production TS9s. In my own opinion, it is a lot easier to go after one of the tubscreamer variations currently on the market, than try to track down or pay an arm and a leg for a vintage one. Most high end pedal companies make really nice variations on the tubescreamer circuit. Some of my favorites are the Diamond J Drive and the Lovepedal Kanji.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are something like three component variations between the TS7, TS9, and TS808, so it’s pretty easy to mod between them. If you’re after a TS808 but tight on cash, you might want to consider modding the substantially cheaper TS7 to 808 specs.

The Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer is a classic. It's synonymous with rock and blues guitar tone almost to the extent that Marshall or Mesa Boogie are...well ok, maybe not to that extent. This overdrive pedal is widely recognized by musicians and non-musicians alike though, as a staple in any guitarist's rig. This is the "other" little green stomp box (the original being the Ibanez TS808)

Ibanez used several different op amp chips throughout the years (whatever was laying around, lol) and the results were that some TS9s sounded better than others. I believe the chip that was intended was the JRC4558 that was used in the more consistent (and much better sounding in my opinion) TS808. There is a reason why so many people mod their TS9s to 808 specs...

It's a simple pedal: foot switch and three knobs, which control drive, tone and level.

The TS9 is powered by a 9 volt battery or standard 9 volt AC adapter.



UTILIZATION

This pedal is extremely easy to use, though not always easy to dial in a pleasing sound with every rig. The tone control can be a bit finicky.

SOUND QUALITY

The TS9 debuted in the early 80's as a variation of the TS808. The circuits of the two units are similar, but the sounds are not. Someone stated in another review that the differences in tone between the TS9 and 808 are subtle, when in actuality they are quite different sounding, as one listen will tell.

The 808 has a very transparent and smooth character due to its Japanese JRC4558 chip. It isn't harsh or bright, and has a very musical and pleasing tone and is still the standard box that most of the boutique builders copy! The TS9 in comparison, is very bright and much thinner sounding, with less transparency, and more obnoxious biting high end sound. It doesn't sound as thick as the 808, and doesn't provide the smooth and singing, violin-like lead sounds that the 808 can provide.

Many players have coaxed fantastic blues sounds out of the TS9. This is especially possible through thick and dark sounding amps, as the thin and bright character of the TS9 adds just the right amount of bite and grit to turn a Fender or Boogie clean sound into a gnarly stinging blues tone.

Another strength of the TS9 is its boosting capabilities for rock and metal where tightness and clarity are needed in distortion tones. The TS9 is a great unit for boosting an already distorted amp into that pushed realm, and simultaneously cleaning up the bottom end response, and adding some presence. However, I feel that only certain amps, preferably dark and muddy ones, benefit from this boost sound. If an amp already has a bright and present character, the TS9 may be too crispy and biting and may warrant unpleasant results.

The 808 is a much more well-rounded boost, and provides the same benefits with none of the drawbacks.

One other important thing to note about the TS9 is the range of the Tone control. I found that it was really only usable in the 7:00-11:00 positions. Anything more than that produced very bright and unpleasant sounds. The high end frequencies in this thing are just too piercing.

OVERALL OPINION

The TS9 has been heard on many great recordings and can be used effectively as a rock/metal boost, or a straight up blues overdrive. That said, I feel that there are literally hundreds of better overdrives on the market, and one of them (possibly one of the best ever) is the TS9's big brother, the TS808.

Skip this one and go for the ultimate in overdrive, the TS808.