Aramat Effects TS-808 Mod

Ibanez TS-9, I think we're all on the same page here...

OK here's a sad story with a happy ending.
I bought what I thought was an Aramat modded TS-9 from the local guitar store. It had "aramat effects" and other things written on it in green magic marker. Since the guitar store had no left handed guitars, he demoed it for me, and also a stock TS-9. The "mod" sounded ok to me, it was hotter than the other, so I bought it. Took it home and it sounded like shit. I thought it was bad settings, thought it was the acoustics of my bedroom, tweaked knobs, played standing on my head, played in my underwear in the shower, still sounded like shit. Even I don't play that bad.
Finally I emailed Keith. After determining that it was a fake, I sent it to him. Got it back yesterday, plugged it in, and it sounded like I wanted it to, fabulous. That was just before I blew my amp.
I really can't compare it to another good pedal, just to what it was before, so maybe thats not fair. Also I only played fifteen minutes.
Anyway, the point is, when I get my amp fixed I'll be happy.
BTW, I play an MIJ Telecaster through a '72 Blackface Twin Reverb (which I love, even though it failed me yesterday) if anyone cares. I also have a Schecter PT Custom (love that as well) but I didnt get to try it out on the pedal because of the damn amp.

Um, see above...
Doesnt matter anyway, I'm a three chord wanker who has too much money and plays in my bedroom (does that sound perverted to anyone?)

Here's the point of this review.
If you're a real guitarist, you shouldnt be reading this review, for the reasons mentioned above, because I don't have a clue what I'm doing. Here are some things I do know;
Keith Vanderwhosit (aramat guy) uses printed decals on the back of the pedal, NOT green magic marker all over it.
Keith rocks! He's very fast and prompt and wonderful and I can't say enough good things about him.
The Real Deal sounded exactly like I wanted it to, you might say like I thought it would sound.

I really think I've said everything I need to already. If it were lost or stolen, I would get another one, but I would do it a little different lol. I payed way too much, but thats because I had to pay twice. (Here's your sign dumbass)
I didnt really set out to get an Aramat modded TS-9. I just got it because it was there. Then I figured I might as well contact him. I'm really glad I did.
Before the amp went, I was playing single string surf rockabilly country type stuff and it sounded really good to me. (I was just about to break into "Eruption" when the amp went, damn!)
I should point out before I close that I don't think the guitar store owner knew it was a fake either. He only played it that once while I was in there, and it sounded ok.
Well thats enough, you get the idea.
For those about to rock, I SALUTE YOU lol

3 knobs. can't get any simpler.

this is where it shines. use gibsons, and fenders. marshalls and fender amps. not a single bad sound. a friend says it gives you that eric johnson sound (damn, wanted to sound like me). in all honesty this is a super pedal.

just e-mail keith. you'll know what i'm talking about.

i give it a 1,000. incredible sound. thanks, keith. keep up the good work.

Mine is the TS9DX, so I have a few more settings than the original TS9. Basically there are four modes that you can dial into; TS9, +, Hot, and Turbo. I just like TS9 and "+." The + setting works a lot like a boost, great for solos. I like to turn the gain down and level up so that + mode can really shine.

Sounds great! I really like the warmer transparent tone that roars out of that little green box. (Turn up your amp to really understand the magnitude of this tone). I am using a semihollow body guitar with a 30W Peavey tube amp. My amp's clean channel is its best feature and don't really care to much for the dirty channel, hence the TS9. This pedal really allows me to keep the clear tone of the amp yet colors it with a warm boost of heavier gain. I think that the pedal?s tone sound a lot more real than before too.

I mean for $29 can you really say no? I am happy with the money that I spent. I could have paid a lot more via analogman or Keeley.

I had one small problem listed below but Keith took care of it.

Keith rocks! Somehow my TS9DX burned out a day after I got it back and so I returned it and got it back within a week. Way to go!

Like I said for the money you can't go wrong. Boutique pedals are so overpriced and this is a good way to stick to the man!

What a difference. There is no bad sound to be found at any setting

Like I said before, there is no bad sound. To be more specific, with the tone control close to dimed, (close), it is absolutley transparent, the only flavor change comes when hitting the gain, which sounds very natural and un compressed. For my tastes, and pedal board this is an excellent addition.
Noise is minamal, even when cranked
Definately not weak, sounds 'right' now
I'm using this ts-9 mod through everything, from time to time. Definatley a pedal board staple. And yes it works very well in conjunction with other pedals. I particularly like what it does to a marshall (tubes). It just makes everthing sound the way it's supposed to, even modded amps sound noticably better. Way cool. And best thing it's not overkill, very subtle, dynamic, and reacts well to the touch. Usually that's only found with very pricey stuff, and even then it's a crapshoot.
You can sound similar to whoever used the original madded 808's etc. It's transparent unlike the re issues, and the modd seems to have taken away the tone suck. Off sounds good too. This is a valuable mod, especially for the price (really). Just kicks a lot of other stuff to the kerb.

Yes and Yes. I've had this unit on loan to a buddy till last week, and he beat it raw, but it stll worked great. He was loving it but got frustrated because of all the sound that wasn't there. He bought a Keeley mod, I went with Aramat. Done lots of biz with Robert, can't say enough as he's treated me like a valued costomer. But in all fairness, I don't care for everything he makes. Enter Aramat

Okay, this is where it gets fun. Keith is very patient, especially with a picky guy like me. I probably bombed him with a couple too many e-mails. He answered them all, and didn't seem bothered at all. I apologise to you brother. Everyone seems happy that the mod job gets back to the pedal board in a week. Mine came back in 6 days. Nobody does that, and with a hand writen note. The entertainment industry can be pretty shitty, but this guy is a class act all the way. You can't beat the work, the mod, the man at three times the price. Which is what a lot of fellows are doing, with far less satisfying results. I wish more folks out in musicland would be so humble. Keith is destined to become a giant, and this guy deserves it.

Stylistically I'm a session player for the most part. Play everyhting in sight, and if it's not writen, then I make it up as I go along. Love everything I can wrap an ear around and I'm an absolute tone freak. The mod could cocievably be used anytime, but as you all know that gets old quick. It is though, a very fine addition to an arsenal of sounds. I'd want this one if i could only have three pedals on the board. I think it likes me.
I've been playing 38 years now, and as far as stuff owned, well I'd have to say a lot.Boogies Marshalls Laney Hi-watt Fender. Some odball amps too. Guitars are pretty varied, but mainly strats with custom wounds pick-ups, and a LesPaul standard with Zakk Wylde sig. EMGs wired at 18 volts. Strangely enough still have most of the odball stuff also.
If it were stolen or lost I'd go ahead and replace it with a Green Machine (an Aramat original), and chances are I'll probably get one anyway. THE MOD STANDS.
I absolutely love the mod, and my favorite feature is that it sounds great, at any setting.
I chose this mod because of the reviews and the price. I am more than satisfied, with the whole experience, now if you'll excuse me I must be on my way.....

Piss easy.

I usually like Tubescreamers with single coils - they are generally too midrangey for my Les Pauls ('03 R9's) and my 335, so I use them with my Tele (live) and Strats (studio). I sent my old non-RI TS9 to Keith to see what he could do, and I am blown away. I've gigged with it a few times now, and I must say that it's everything that I want from a TS9 without the bits that I don't. With my Fralin loaded Tele (ash with RW) There's the TS grind, but without the hump in the mids that always put me off. Nowadays it's important to me that the equipment I use does not put me too much in other players' ballpark - I'm trying to get away from sounding like any other player, and this modded pedal is wonderful for me. TS crunch with a more transparent middle, and plenty of bite. I still prefer other pedals with humbuckers, but I have to admit that this one does sound good when used with these.
I use the pedal with the drive set between 9 and 12 o'clock, the volume at 3 o'clock and up, and the tone wherever I want it on that day. The amps I go thru are an Orange AD30, a Matchless Clubman, a DrZ Route 66, an original '65 Deluxe Reveb and a '67 Plexi 100. So I guess that I pretty much always use OD pedals to give good tube ampa a kick in the pants, and this modded pedal is great at it - especially at the price. I liked the Keeley modded TS9 i tried, and I loved the Analogman TS9 I owned. I prefer this pedal to either, and have recently sold my Analogman....

No issues, but I've dealt with Aramat before, and Keith is a great guy to deal with. If there are any problems, I'm sure he'll sort it out.

Like I said, Keith is great.... My TS9 came back to the UK in under a week.

Aramat do a great mod, which in my opinion surpasses the mods of both Analogman and Robert Keeley (both of whom make incredible stuff!!!).
Like I said - I don't need this to sound great with humbuckers, but here it beats the other mods by a long way. With S/C's, this pedal is wonderful, and is more sonically individualistic than the competition - think TS808 grind with FD2 transparency.
If Keith wasn't so fair minded he could charge a hell of a lot more for this. All he needs now is a couple of decals.....

ABC, it's easy as 1,2,3...

a dramatic difference in the responsiveness and tone of your Ibanez Tube Screamer...I use a Les Paul and Telecaster through the pedal and they both sound fanatastic. Each guitar requires different settings, but this pedal modification is really sweet! Play one to judge for yourself...

your pedal's construction and cosmetics are not affected at all, it is an internal mod.

I would cry if I lost it and would immediately replace it...

So easy, even a guitar player could figure it out.

Damn! I hated my stock reissue ts-9 so much that I felt I had nothing to lose. The stock unit just sucked away the tone when applied to a clean or cleaner sound. I had used the unit as a lead boost. Now I can hear so many possible tones! It works as a lead boost, for grind, crunch, distortion (it did add gain at the max setting). I have an original sd-9 distortion, and now I don't think I will use it. It really complements my tone(S).

I've never had aproblem with the stock unit. Mod shouldn't change reliability.

Got my overdrive back in less than a week. Emails are answred same day.

Play a Gibson Firebird, Yamaha SG-1000, Squier Stratocaster w/Bill Lawrence pick-ups (bet you your favorite guitar it sounds better than you would ever think)into ts-9, line6 delay which splits signal into Fender Pro-JR/ Marshall AVT-50 combo. I like it clean/biting most of the time but a 70's distortion gets me going. This set-up is simple enough for me to focus on playing more than the equipment, but interesting enough that I still get inspired to write new stuff just by the sound of a chord or single note. The Aramat modifications has made the ts-9 indisposable in my set-up. It's invisable when off, sweet when on. This is the best 30 bucks I ever spent. Period.

No manual neccessary - drive, tone, and level - simple! I just set the drive on full, the tone at 3:00 and the level at around Noon. Then I can use the volume and tone knobs on my Les Paul Custom to get a wide variety of tones.

I am using a 2003 Les Paul Custom and an '80s Yamaha Solid State G100-112 amp with this pedal. I get exactly what I need from dirt to crunch to smooth fat leads wtih this pedal. Perfect for the classic rock, AC/DC, ZZTop, Clapton, Santana (Abraxas period) tones. I had the stock version of this pedal, and this mod is a real improvement, rich and smooth on leads, chords ring clear without a lot of intermodulation. Exactly what I wanted - lightweight (this is a modded TS-5), small pedal with a tube overdrive tone for my LOUD clean solid state amp. Not noisy at all. Excellent!

I had one of these Soundtank pedals before - it's mostly plastic, but I have to admit its very solid.

The guy who did the mod was very responsive to emails during the sale and shipping - he seems like the kind of guy to take care of problems if you have any.

Excellent for what I wanted - great overdrive for blues and classic rock. I would replace it and would consider other pedals from Aramat. Definitely better than the stock tone and better than most of the boutique overdrives for an affordable price. Only wish it had just a tad more drive, but I'm afraid it wouldn't probably clean up as nicely as it does now.

Very easy to get the sounds I want.

The most wonderful overdriven sound I have ever heard.I am using a 1988 LesPaul deluxe. I go through the pedal to a Fender Deluxe Reverb and my Mesa F50 amp. This setup is simple yet versatile. Think bluesey cruch to smooth leads. I always wanted fat smooth leads, and chords with a little bite. No problem with this pedal. This pedal blows away every pedal I have ever owned, or tried, as far as smoothness, tone and quiet operation. I've owned several of the BOSS overdrives, distortions, Ibanez TS-9, TS-9DX, Guyatone, DOD, MXR, and most of the other popular pedals. I'm sold. I will keep it for life. The sustain, compression and tube tone are amazing without any fuzz or bone-crushing gain. The other reviewers have this pedal right. Perfectly natural sounding. Can get any blues overdriven sound, smooth saturated type leads no problem, to fat creamy rock tones like ZZTOP, or basically any 70's rock. You will absolutely love this pedal. It may very well end your search for that elusive tone, it did mine.

Looks to be very well made, solid heavy metal Ibanez TS9 case.

All questions asked were answered by the owner of Aramat.

This modded pedal is worth twice money.

Lacking the skill and the confidence to attempt a surgical type procedure mod myself. I purchased a TS9 pedal already modified by Aramat. Simple to use only three knobs. Three knobs is my limit. Anymore knobs than three I get really confused.

My set up is very simple. I am using a 1983 Les Paul SpotLight Special with PAF Humbuckers and a 1976 big box Guild X500 with Bigsby. My amp is a 70's Musicman HD130 Reverb Head with twin Celestion 12" V12-80's in cabinets. This is by far the nicest smoothest overdrive I have ever used. My other pedals are a Boss CE2 Chorus and a Ibanez Delay Echo DE7. This pedal is very easy to dial in the tones I am after. I can get all the bluesy sound I can stand. I crank up the gain a little and with my X500 I am rock'n like Setzer and Rev Horton Heat "the good Reverend on his clean mode". The pedal is very quiet. Sounds fantastic, glad I bought it. Thanks to Keith at Aramat.

I suppose it wil last since it is in an Ibanez TS9 case.

Keith has been extremely helpful very prompt on replying to my emails. Seems to be genuinely concerned about his customer relations.

Blues Rockabilly Vintage rock-n-roll playing for 40+ years. Have owned about most everything vintage, only I owned it when it wasn't vintage. If you want a real nice overdrive that sounds really good and sound like an overdriven tube amp even at low volume buy one of these from Aramat.