Ibanez TS-7

This pedal is quite easy to use . . . very simple setup. The manual is fine, but as with most equipment you should just play around with the settings until you find the "sweet spots" for the equipment you play through.

I tested the TS-7 with the following equipment:

* American Deluxe Stratocaster & Standard Squier Stratocaster, Digitech RP-7 Pedal, Crybaby Wah, Fender Chorus Amplifier & Fender Frontman 15 Amplifier

This pedal puts out some really great tones. You can get this unit to give you every nuance of overdrive from a volume boost to a overdriven tube amp. It's great for achieving "bluesy" distortion and cutting above the rest of the band. For those of you complaining that the TS-7 doesn't provide enough distortion for you, I say, go out and buy a dirty distortion box. If you're looking for death metal distortion . . . you're not going to find it here. However, if you are looking for a "tube amp being driven at higher levels" simulated overdrive . . . this pedal is for you.

Additionally, the TS-7 features a "Hot" mode which seems to double the amount of distortion present in your signal. It boosts your volume and output even more and can be used in a variety of applications if the TS-9 overdrive isn't quite cutting it for you. The sustain present in both modes is wonderfully and allows you to hold onto every note until it falls away softly. This is truly a beautiful device.

The casing seems very sturdy and the "Tone-Lok" knobs are a great feature. After finding a particular setting, the knobs lock down below the casing so that they cannot be readjusted accidentally. I've never had to deal with Ibanez, but I'm sure if a problem surfaced we could work everything out.

I would gig (and have) without a backup. Bring along some fresh batteries and let the thing rip. It won't cut out on you.

I've never dealt with them.

I have been playing guitar for 4 1/2 years and I play mostly blues, jazz, and funk music. This pedal allows me to cut above the rest of the band and get some major tone from a little box. The sustain is incredible and I find myself using this box more and more.

I love the "Tone Lok" feature because I can find a certain setting and not worry about the knobs being turned accidentally.

If it were lost or stolen, I would go back to the store and buy another one within a week. I'm that confident of it's ability to perform. Take it easy!

This pedal has a way of sounding really good in every setting. It's very easy to get a good sound out of it, either as a standalone unit or as a boost unit. The manual is really poor, but I don't see anyone needing that to use this pedal! I give it a 10. Really easy to use and to get a good sound out of it! It actually surprised me!

Wow! Nothing else to say, practically. I never played the original TS-9, I don't like Stevie Ray Vaughan and I don't care about his tone either. I play 80's shred and lots of wicked solos. In fact, I needed a booster in order to take my Marshall amp all the way to the top. So in short, my setup looks like this: ESP guitar > Ibanez TS-7 > Marshall DSL 50. That's it!

I like a very pure straightforward sound and I dig the "guitar into the amp" tone. In fact, and listen to me kids, this is the ONLY way to get a GREAT lead tone. And for those who don't play or think about using this box for scooped sounds, look elsewhere. My tone is rich, harmonically enhanced and with lots of mids and not much bass nor treble, just the right blend. I needed a TS-7 to boost a little.

Okay, here comes the sound part: It sounds really good. I compared this pedal to the BOSS OD-3 side by side in the store the same day with the same gear and the same licks. Let me tell you that, for what I need, the TS-7 is the absolute BEST!

The OD-3 sounded really good too! I can really see that guys who play the blues and stuff like that like the OD-3. It was very RICH and harmonically FULL, with lots of growl and grind. The OD-3 is an EXCELLENT overdrive pedal! The only bad thing is that, since it is so harmonically rich, it ruined the tightness of my low-E string. Which, in other words, means that with the level of gain that I already used on the amp, my low E farted like hell when I pulled out some very clean Paul Gilbert style licks. Also, the OD-3 had a tendency to enhance the presence on my sound. This is not very appropriate in my case, since I like a high-gain sound that has a lot of BODY in the mids and lots of crunch.

So, to sum it up, the OD-3 sounded great and I mean GREAT! with less gain and the neck pickup on! It was fat and had THAT TONE all guitar players are after. In fact, the OD-3 is MUCH fatter than the TS-7.

Now, I bought the TS-7. It was an easy choice. It was the only overdrive pedal I ever tried that could put out a CLEAR signal to the amp that doesn't muddy up and that doesn't add presence to the sound. In fact, I think it's great cause it adds MIDS to my sound, and this is perfect for my lead tone.

In short, the TS-7 with an already overdriven Marshall is THE SHIT as far as I'm concerned. My lead tone now really kicks ass. My lead tone has an elusive cranked mids sound, with added CRUNCH and definition.

The HOT mode is great also, specially as a standalone unit or when I use less gain on the Marshall. Definitely, both modes sound really good!!! GOOD, good, GOOD' GREAT TONE happening! Really!

Well.....hummmmm...! Obviously, the BOSS wins the draw easily on that one. It's not a BOSS pedal and it's really not a Sound Tank or a DOD.

It looks like it could last a long time, but wouldn't be tough in a "throw it at someone" situation....get the point ? Be careful and it will remain intact.

The knobs are really cheap, but they're recessed into the body, so who cares? No matter what, I once had a BOSS pedal which had a knob completely chopped off. This cannot happen with the Ibanez so...I'm giving a 7. Its no BOSS, but it's good.

Great Pedal! Which it would come into a more rugged body without costing twice as much though! That the only culprit. The sound is awesome and that's what matter the most, because I'm careful with my gear. I might as well say that I have the best tone I've ever heard when using this pedal. This says how good it is!

It is a stompbox! No-brainer

Very transparent. Sounds like a TS-9 in "TS9 mode". The increase in gain while twiddling with the drive knob is seamless... like how a tube amp works while gaining volume.

The twist with this pedal though is the "HOT mode". You get very raunchy overdrive good for blues rock and hard rock.

This pedal compliments my Mesa Boogie Studio Caliber. It really pushes the preamp well. Very good for blues and hard rock. I also use the TS7 with my Marshall Drive Master. I use it to push the DriveMaster to make a high gain monster sound.

In TS9 mode I can get some very decent Gin Blossoms sounds as well as some SRV when using my Strat.

Excellent pedal!

THE BEST PEDAL FOR THE MONEY! I play blues, metal, hard rock, and it really is a very versatile pedal. Use it as a standalone pedal, it works great! Use it to boost your amp or pedal's distortions, it works great, too! I recommend it for everyone serious about tone. Don't be fooled by its low price.

Incredibly easy three knobs and one mode switch. If you couldn't read english or play the guitar it would take you mabye 2 minutes to figure out how to use it.

I use an Ibanez GAX70>TS7>either a peavey rage 158 for practice or a marshall mg50rcd for playing. The peavey sounds like crap, but the pedal makes it sound 1000 times better than the built in distortion and I'm not exagrating. I play punk and ska and I know you'll find that hard to believe with a tubescreamer,but it really works. I either put it on TS9 mode with everything at 10 or on hot mode for the heavier stuff. I can get the sound of most of my favorites. It sounds great for my bands ska cover of Anarchy in the UK.

It looks weak from a distance but it can take a beating. I am very clumsy and I also get made easily, many times have I dropped or thrown this and it been fine.

I dealt with them for my guitar and they were great. I havn't had any problems with this pedal though.

I know that after you read this review you'll think I'm a total ass who knows nothing about guitars (playing ska with an Ibanez and punk with a tubescreamer) but I purposly bought these things to be different and to have my own sound. I've been playing for 3 years. If this were stolen I would buy at least one more. I tried a Boss metal zone, a DOD supra distortion, and a Danelectro overdrive, along with various distortions from my digitech RP100. This pedal beat all of the pedal, with the boss in close second, but for $30 more. So if you like music and don't want to suck then buy this pedal, now.

3 knobs and a mode switch. Very easy to manipulate sounds from this box.

My current set-up consists of 1 of 3 guitars; An Ibanez TC620 Talman with a Dimarzio DLX Plus Soapbar pickup in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan Classic Stack single coil in the neck, a Hamer Sunburst Flat Top with SD 59 and Distortion and an Epiphone Les Paul with an SD Invader in the bridge. The signal goes from the guitar to a Dunlop Crybaby wah, Boss BD-2 Blues Driver (for gain boosts on solos), the TS-7, a Marshall Jackhammer for the heavy stuff, Boss CE-3 Chorus and a Danelectro Dan-Echo. It then goes to my amp, a Marshall Valvestate 8100. I use 3 overdrive/distortion pedals because I run the amp clean. I like the amps distortion but it just doesn't cut through live the way the Jackhammer does.

The Tubescreamer is basically my rhythm channel. I just absolutely love what it does. I'm not going to say I can "nail" peoples tones because it's usually in their fingers and soul pretty much. However, I can approximate SRV's transparent overdrive. I love how this thing sounds both dirty and clean at the same time...amazing!

The TS-7 can RAWK as well. With the gain turned up a bit, you can get a good rootsy Keith Richards vibe going. I love the hot switch on it as well. It's reminiscent of Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World" tone. It does get a bit noisy when I kick on the Blues Driver for solos but what do I expect huh. Besides, noise isn't always bad :-)

I really can't say yet since I've only had it for a bit. It's holding up so far and the metal casing seems solid. However I'll wait to judge reliability because the Marshall Jackhammer is indestructible on the outside but it crapped out on me after 2 months and I had to go in there and fix it.

I'm 31 years old and slowly drifting from my metal phase and getting into good ol' Rawk & Roll. The Tubescreamer is perfect for that. I prefer using the TS-7 for my rhythm as opposed to the Blues Driver. The Tubescreamer's overdrive is smoother and has an amazing clarity to it. For the price it can't be beat either. It's a keeper.

Several knobs and a switch, but it's all very straight forward. There are plenty of nice sounds to be had.

I generally have a budget setup, but this pedal just makes my guitar sound a lot beefier than it really is. It adds a very pleasant grunginess for the kind of music my band is doing right now, which is basically trashy noise-pop with lots of keyboard madness. Speaking of which, keyboards do interesting things if you run them through this too!

Looks and feels solid. I bought it practically new and have not had any problems whatsoever. Casing looks like it could take quite a hit and the knobs can be pressed down into the body so they can't accidentally get snapped off during travel.

Very flexible overdrive. The only thing it doesn't really do is give you that compeltely saturated distortion sound. You're probably better off with some sort of metal pedal if that's what you want. The "HOT" switch can give you a serious volume boost if that's what you're into.

how could it be eaiser 3 knobs and a switch?

It adds his and other noise, but it does add more gain witch makes it understandable. I use it with these settings, on the drive channel of my amps, jcm 800 w/2 channels. and roc pro 1000, and a vox cambridge reverb 30 twin. It can make the roc pro and marshall get even more saturated and give the vox more crunch.

I think it will work for a very, very, very, very,......... long time!

? I never "deal with" companies i just go to the store where i buy the stuff from!

I love it,BUT the noise it makes pisses me off so much that i don't use it in my band. Only at home. Maybe i'll buy a noise gate, then it would kick massive quantities of ass!

duh!?!

This is my current setup Fender strat (with seymor duncan bridge humbucker) or epiphone sg => Morely bad horsie wah => Boss OC-2 octave => Ibanez TS-7 => peavey classic 50 head => effects send => mxr phase 90 => boss bf-2 flanger => dod fx 65 choris => ibanez De-7 delay. I basically use this pedal as a boost, drive low, tone loe, level high. This pushes the tubes a little on my amp, and adds a sweet sounding drive. Great for fattening up single coils, but sounds good with humbukers too. It also adds drive and output, when i use iut with the lead channel with my amp. This makes it easier to get sustain for leads. But lately i have been using the pedal for recording, and it gives a great rock distrotion tone, when used on the hot setting plugged straight into the board. Very versatile.

Yes it is made entirely of metal, although the knobs seem a little chaep (lightwiehght plastic). Althoguh you never know when a pedal (or anything for that matter), will just fail. (To be fair ive experience this with a multitude of brands, dunlop, danelectro, boss, dod, sometimes stuff just stoppes working).

this is just one pedal everyone should own. You can find a use for it with every kind of music, and it even works good with bass. For the price it is a tremdous value. Dont pay the extra money for the ts-9 reissue, this sounds just the same, but aslo has the boost option.

Easy as pie. 3 knobs(drive, tone, level), one switch(TS9 or hot), manual included, w/ some sample settings, not really needed. Input/output on opposite sides(input on right o/put on left).

I am using a '00 Gibson SG std, with a practice amp, and its all good. i really could do w/ a new amp though...
If you flip it over to the 'TS9' mode, and back off the gain, roll the tone back, inbetween the humbuckers, Instant 'woman tone'!!

The hot switch gives a more saturated sound, but i usually have it on TS9 mode, with full drive, and the tone @ 1 o' clock.

Great sounds!!

It's made of metal, and it's solid!! i would use it a w/out a backup, very reliable. =)

Dunno...

I play punk,(greenday, sex pistols, NIRVANA) rock, and stuff. Great for this type of thing. I'm sure it would be great for vey gifted players, who can play cool solos and stuff, but it gives a great sound when playing powerchords. Great pedal! if it were stolen, that would suck. i initially had the Ibanez DS7, but then i traded that for the TS& and i think it's a better pedal. Looking for an overdrive pedal? Ibanez TS7!!!

It sounds great. It is tough to see whether you are in Hot mode or TS9. You would not be able to switch in the middle of songs easily.

I played the ts9 and ts7. the only differnce i found was in the tone. I had to put the tone all the way up on ts7 to match the ts9. I found the hot to be a bit much but if you control the volune it is cool.

I do not need a metal case. i take care of my equipment and anybody on stage that does not belong I either throw beer at them or make them sleep with the drummer de Jour.

No sir, No problems.

I think the best thing is to find whether you like distortion or overdrive. I have played for 25 years. I like overdrive, Robben Ford and SRV. This pedals helps me find tone.

This is a GREAT pedal. Very easy to use, but what stompbox isn't

. I went to GC and put both this pedal and the TS-9 together, They sounded EXACTLY alike and the TS-7 has that "hot" selection that just takes the overdrive over the top. I use it alone, inline with my amp distortion or my DS-1. I just fell in love with it the first time I used it.

I play everything, especially hard rock and punk and I just love this pedal

The usual three knobs, drive, level and tone. And, oh! there's another switch to choose between TS-9 and hot mode. I hope it's not to difficult to use the switch. How hard can it be?

TS9 mode sounds like, a TS9. Transparent sounding overdrive, but not all transparent(That would be the TS808). Good enough for me. The TS7 is simply one of the sweetest, warmest overdrive pedals out there. I use it in front of my POD, and now I've totally stopped using the overdrive in the POD! The POD is mainly used for EQ purposes now, as its built in amp modelled distortion can't hold a candle to the TS7, they all sound harsh compared to it.
Hot mode is great too. It sounds like a TS9 given a boost similar to that on a Fulltone FD2. Not much change in tone from TS9 mode. Great for leads and making my Strat single coils sound like humbuckers!

I think this is how the TS7 got its price tag. Same sound as the TS9 with extra hot mode, and twice as cheap. How could it be? The only reason is in the light looking construction, which I am hoping hard for to endure my first few gigs with it.

Value for money! I will certainly buy this over and over again until I get enough for a Fulltone FD2. I bet TS9s will be stuck on the shelves of music stores with the TS7 now out. It beats all the Boss pedals for their value. Only thing is I wish the 2 modes would be footswitched, then this will truly be the budget FD2! The hot mode is really like a Lead mode and TS9 mode for rhythm. What heaven for the short of cash!

Sort of an update of a prior review, as I got another TS-7 over the weekend to complement my first, via ebay. The unit was broken when I got it (and it only cost me $15 bucks), and it took me all of about 8 minutes to fix it, so now I have 2 TS-7s. The main reason I am writing this review is it took me a little while to find the sound I wanted with this product, but I finally have it figured out. The best settings (at least for me, using a Strat), is Drive: off, Tone: 1 o'clock, and volume: 3 o'clock for TS-9 mode, and 9 o'clock for hot mode. These settings keep the volume between the two pedals essentially equal, and when a big volume boost is needed I turn them both on.

I use either a heavily modified strat (very fat Warmoth v neck, custom shop 50's pickups, locking tuners, rewired bridge pickup to share the tone knob with the middle), or a '72 thinline tele. My effects chain is: MXR DynaComp -> TS-7 (hot mode) -> TS-7 (TS-9 mode) -> Crybaby -> Boss Chorus -> Danelectro EQ. My signal then goes into a POD 2.0 for stage work (it's easier for the sound guys to dial in, and it doesn't blow the rest of the way for volume to get a great tone). I usually have the POD set on a Fenderish clean sound, just on the edge of breakup, so when I kick on the TS-7 I get SRV (on TS-9 mode), or similar to the fatter Jonny Lang sound on hot mode. For jam sessions my effects go into a Hot Rod Deluxe, on the clean channel just at the point of breakup (I think just a slight touch of dirt on a clean channel is the best setting to use the TS-7). With the Strat, I feel this pedal works much better, just because the single coils don't get as muddy, and aren't as easily lost in the mix. I also use a '72 Tele Thinline (dual humbuckers, very fat sounding), and the TS-7 fattens it up even more, for a Jonny Lang vibe, although the Tele gets a little muddy, hard to be heard in a larger band ( I blame the humbuckers, not the TS-7).

The second TS-7 I got was broken when I got it, it appears that someone just took it apart and reassembled it incorrectly (a couple of connecter pins were bent and not fitting into the PCB). I don't fault Ibanez for the pedal being down. I haven't had any trouble with my first TS-7, and I don't expect any with my second.

I love these pedals. I have all kinds of different distortion/overdrive sounds available on the POD, but I usually just set it on a clean sound and use one of my TS-7s for my dirty work, with awesome results. I can get any kind of overdrive I want from these pedals. I am not a big fan of distortion, and there is a huge difference between distortion and overdrive in my opinion, so distortion lovers may need to look elsewhere. The price is great, for less than the cost of one TS-9 reissue, I got 2 TS-7s, that I use to get some great sounds. Plus, for the electronically inclined, the TS-808 conversion, is a snap, probably only a 10 minute job with some soldering iron skill (which I don't think is really necessary, the pedal sounds great stock).

Simple, 3 knobs, Drive, Tone and Level. It also has a boost switch.

I think it sounds great through a tube amp, but too brittle through a solid state amp. My setup is an Ibanez Silver Cadet with stock single coils plugged straight into the Tubescreamer and then into a Peavey Encore 65 tube amp. I have the drive all the way to 10, the tone at 7 and the level at 5. Sounds great for blues, then I kick on the boost switch and get a more metal tone.

Very durable I would gig without a backup. it is made of a tough metal case and the knobs lock in when you push down on them.

Never had to deal with this so far.

I play blues, hard rock and metal and so far i love this pedal. With the guitar i have now it is good but put a les paul through it and watch out, I am going to add an EQ to boost the tone a bit but otherwise it is great. If it was stolen i would get another. Need i say more.

I really love blues tones, especially Eric Johnson's. And this pedal was on sale for $40 and AC adapter for free, so I got it.
This is my first OD pedal, and it was pretty easy for me to get the sounds I wanted.

I have peavey 5150 amp(killer lead channel!) and this amp has a lot of gain and sound perfect for metal, rock, and shredding!
But, 5150 doesn't produce a very good blues sound, so I ran TS7 on the clean channel, and got very SMOOTH, CREAMY sounds. And when used with dirty channel, it made my lead sound smoother without affecting amp tone.
But, I have to say, it sounds a little thin on clean channel, so I sometimes use 7band equalizer to boost a little.

I just got this pedal, but it seems to be working well and built well.

I've tried Ibanez TS9DX, and I liked it better, but I got TS7, because it had decent sounds and was much cheaper. It's a great pedal for the money.

You just can't get easier than this. Three knobs, level, gain and tone...plus a switch for going from TS-9 to hot mode...While it is easy to do the switch, the lose of 1 point is because basically I feel they should have made that footswitchable. A jack for a footswitch would not have been hard to put in there and would have been great for switching from rhythm to lead when playing live. That is the only reason for the lost point.

Man, I have a general rule that I never give a 10 because there's always room for improvement, but I had to throw that rule out the window for this thing. It sounds great!!! Best overdrive I've ever heard. When I went to the store, I knew I wanted a Tubscreamer, I had every intention of buying a TS-9. I decided to try all they had, TS-5 (Soundtank), TS-7 (Tone-lok), and the original TS-9. We hooked all 3 of them up in a chain, and I switched between them at various settings. Right off, I knew the TS-5 was out, to nasally. In TS-9 mode on the TS-7, I honestly thought the TS-7 sounded better than the TS-9...Just a tad warmer and smoother, real nice. The additional Hot switch is a great addition as well...Adds more saturation and makes for a good lead tone (should be footswitchable though.) I also tried using it with my Boss DS-1 and the TS-7 is great for boosting an already overdriven tone into a powerful distortion...If you're looking to boost another overdrive into high gain (kind of like Randy Rhoads), this is excellent for that as well.

Looks pretty sturdy. Better than the TS-5 (Soundtank), but not as good as the TS-9.

Never tried them. Not even on the website, so I'll stay out of this one. To be honest, I've owned quite a few Ibanez pedals over the years, but I've never had a need to deal with them. not even with the Soundtanks.

Great for any kind of overdriven sound you want. SRV, Brian May, Led Zepplin, Aerosmith...Anything overdriven. Not recommended for metal though, unless you want to use it to boost another pedal into high gain, it's great for that. Overall, a superb pedal. Like I said, it would be nice to have a way to switch the TS-9/Hot switch by foot and it could be a bit sturdier, but otherwise, you can't beat the sound...Not even with the actual TS-9. If I lost it, I'd definately buy a new one. For the price, you just can't go wrong with this thing.

It's three-knobs and a switch: Drive, Tone, Level, TS9/HOT modes

I use this with a Yahama Pacifica into a Peavey 5150. The 5150 is currently unable to produce much distortion and it needs to be repaired and I decided to use the Tubescreamer with it. It sounds pretty warm and does produce a tube-like overdrive. The HOT switch on can get a little noisy w/ single-coils sometimes

Nothing weird has happened with it yet. I've had it for a few months and it works fine with batteries, but I usually use an adaptor.

Never dealt with Ibanez

The Ibanez Tubescreamer is a great overall pedal. It produces a good tone and you could play rock and blues with it and everything in between. I wouldn't recommend it for metal, it doesn't quite have the gain for that. The push-lok system is pretty cool also...it allows you to lock the knobs in place so you don't lose your settings.

Three knobs (drive, tone, level), and a TS9/HOT switch. There is a Rosetta Stone-like manual that gives you the instructions in about 5 languages, but it's pretty unnecessary because the pedal is so straightforward.

My setup is Fender Strat w/Texas Specials -> Crybaby -> Tubescreamer -> Big Muff -> BOSS Chorus -> Fender Amp.

I must say that this is in a first-place tie for the best-sounding overdrive I've ever heard. It ties with the TS-9 because, as far as I can tell, the two sound exactly the same when the TS-7 is in TS-9 mode. It is a very subtle overdrive when compared with most of the distortion boxes out there. At first, I just thought it was just doing a volume boost, but it does so much more. It's kind of hard to describe, but while it's "transparent" in that it doesn't really affect your overall tone, it just adds something...well, in a word, transcendent.

I'm describing the TS9 mode above. I haven't played around with the HOT mode much, because it doesn't sound nearly as good.

This thing is no BOSS, but if you treat it right, I don't imagine it will give you any trouble. While the TS-9 is probably a bit sturdier (though I've heard more than a few horror stories about the TS-9's switch), so long as you don't take the word "stompbox" literally, you should ba alright.

Never dealt with Ibanez.

This is the sixth overdrive I've owned (some old DOD thing, BOSS DS-1, OS-2, OD-3, and TS-10) and this one is the best. Other overdrives tend to have some annoying characteristic about them (i.e. too tinny, too bassy, not enough volume), but this one just seems to add something to the sound you already have without completely altering the sound of your guitar and amp.

The TS-7 sounds just like the TS-9, so what I say goes for that too. The tradeoff is that the TS-9 is sturdier and is a really cool green, but the TS-7 is less than half the cost. I hear the the old TS-808's are even better, but they're roughtly eight times more expensive than the TS-7, so if it ever breaks or gets lost or something, you're only replacing $50, not $400. Overall, a fastastic value.

Three knobs, doesn't take a genious to figure it out. Just play around with it you'll get the sound your looking for.

I use it with a SRV signature strat and the fx212 crate. And it sounds great. I can get a very good sound of SRV or any other blues i am playing. I don't get any noice, it sounds great and i think its just as good as the ts9 and i like the hot switch on it too.

Good solid pedal. I'd use it in a gig, but i'd still have a backup but thats just how i am.

They rock!

Its a great pedal for the money i love it and if i ever lost it or something happened to it i defently would get another one.

Only three knobs, very simple

Sound out of the TS-7 was good for my practise/recording rig..50's strat with texas specials through a fender blues jr. I play reggae and blues, no heavy metals tones needed.
Pedal was a bit noisy with the single coils

This is why I 'm filing this review, to get the word out my TS7 was a not even worth the 50 bucks I paid for it.
I have had ait a little over a year, but it was kind of a backup pedal for gigs, and for use in practise. I actually used it less than ten times, and while it say unused, it managed to break on it's own.
The problem seems to be in the output jack, an intermittent problem where you get no signal when the pedal is turned off, but worked ok if you turned it on. Useless that is for any real gigs.
Note that on the website www.analogman.com the new TS7 is reviwed and he mentions the possibility the board inside may be susceptible to breakage. That may be what happened here.

It was too late to get a rebate from AMS where I bought it 13 months ago. I have emailed Ibanez. I really don't expect anything to happen, but you never know.

So now i'm wondering whether to be an idiot and buy another, or just get a TS(, cause I dig that sound.
I've been playing for 25 years, and have purchased a hell of a lot of pedals in that time, including an original TS 808 back in 1980.
I never had a pedal that went to shit this quickly...including my 1975 Big Muff, which I also had problems with. I would say these ton-lok pedals may be the worst pedals ever made, by my experience.

Three knobs and a stomp box. Not that hard. The manual has some useful settings i still use the lead tone setting from the manual.

Im runnin this with a Fender Deluxe Nashville Tele / Fender 50's Strat -> TS-7 -> Crybaby -> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It's flat out the best pedal i have ever played. I hate these glowing reviews and i never trust them but here is one of them. On the TS-9 setting you can get a great warm overdrive sound like SRV, and maybe some Clapton. But kick on the hot switch and you got the scream of Jimmy Page at your fingertips. I can honestly say i have never played a better pedal. It covers everything from Aerosmith to Zeppelin. I don't like how the hot switch works but i play barefoot so its not that hard for me, lol. But other than that the pedal can really scream and you can get the warmest sounding overdrive on the market.

* I played this next to a TS-9 reissue on the same settings and it sounds identical. And the hot switch makes it in my opinion better that the reissue for half the price.

* For all of you that say its only for a tube amp... I play it through my hot rod deluxe and i must admit it does sound better but then again a tube amp just flat out sounds better. But when i run it through my Peavey solid-state it's still a great pedal and i would recommend it to anyone.

Get an AC-Adaptor. This pedal went out on me during a gig and the second half of our show was flat. I had to depend on my Fender amp overdrive and it was nowhere near the hot saturated tones i was getting out of the tubescreamer. This pedal is flawless if you plug it in.

Never dealt with Ibanez.

10. Matches my classic rock/blues style perfectly. The ts-9 setting is great and the hot switch takes me over the top when i need to get there. i recommend this to anyone. If it were stolen i would find the guy, cut his dick off, and shove it up his ass

It's cake. You just set the knobs and push them in so they won't change. It is very easy to get a sound you are looking for from this pedal.

I play a Fender Strat through a Roland BC-60 Blues cube. At first the amp had exactly what I wanted, but as I began to try and find my tone, the amp need some help. The TS7 Tubscreamer was all it needed. There is no noise from the unit at all. I leasve it on the "TS9" setting, but if you are looking for a more dirt, swithc this bad boy to "Hot" and it really screams.

The unit seams extremely durable. I've only had it a few days, but I plan on having it for quite a long time.

I would definatly buy one of these again. I play blues and you can get that perfect blues tone out of it no matter what you are looking for. To be honest, I did avoid buying one for a long time due to the over use buy a lot of people b/c of SRV. This isn't the same pedal he used, but you can get his sound out of it if that's what you want. It's also get if you don't want to dish out the cash for the TS9 Reissue

It's a distortion pedal. Drive, tone, level, same as any other distortion pedal. (It also has a TS-9/Hot switch which is just a gain boost)

I have a 50th Anniversary Strat, a standard Tele, and a JS10TH Ibanez Chromeboy. I run them through a bunch of effects and a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV. I mainly needed the pedal for using in jazz band practices, where I don't have the oppourtunity to lug a heavy amp around.

Versatility is what I was looking for when I purchased this. It needs to play everything from Glenn Miller, to Al DiMeola, to Kansas. It has the ability to switch gain modes which is excellent, so I can use it in the lower gain setting for a more bluesy feel, and putting a teeny bit of grit into my solos. When I flip the hot switch on, the gain isn't remotely as close as blistering as my Boogie, but it's enough to give me a good boost in sustain, and enough compression to allow harmonics and taps to ring through clearly. With the hot switch off, the tone is very gritty and clear. Think SRV. With the hot switch on, it gives me enough gain to crank out some classic rock, maybe some fast legato riffs. With hot on, the distortion is very smooth and creamy, which I like. It is also very clear and definitive. Unfortunetly, it's not a match for some good tube amp distortion. When I dig in on my picking or switch to the bridge pickup, I can get lots of grit and crunch and expression out of my amp. On the TS-7 I get smooth.. and more smooth. The hot setting is a little noisy, but it's common sense to turn the effect off when you're not playing. It's not overly noisy, so I wouldn't give it any special notice.

I heard someone else say that the purpose of a tube screamer is meant to drive tube amps. That's not true, it's just another distortion box. Of course it'll sound better on a '59 Fender Bassman than on a Peavey Backstage solid state amp. The name tube screamer has nothing at all to do with driving tubes in your amp, if you want to get a driven tone out of your tubes at a low volume, you are looking for a Power Attenuator (THD Hotplate, Marshall Soundbrake, etc.) NOT a Tube Screamer.

It's a pedal. Like all pedals, it sounds a little bit thin compared to a good amp, and it has its shortcomings. I admit, it's the best distortion pedal I've ever used.

The case seems to be built out of some kind of aluminum/plastic composite. It seems very rugged. The knobs push in flush with the case when you're not using it so they won't get knocked off, or turned unintentionally. Great if you're stowing the thing in a bag for a few hours then need to play later. The battery terminal is a decent solid plastic one instead of those flimsy bendy plastic ones that always seem to have a lead ripped out while changing the batteries. I would certainly feel comfortable gigging without a backup. Of course, it's always smart to carry a battery or ten with you if you're not using a power supply.

Ibanez makes some fantastic products, like their JS, JEM, Benson, Gilbert, and Petrucci models. They make some great pedals like this one too. But they also make some awful products like the lower end of the RG series, etc. I've never dealt with them directly, but from what I've gathered, they have a very "used car salesman" approach to standing behind their products. God forbid the day my $2500 Chromeboy breaks.

I play anything with good guitar in it. I've been playing nearing 6 years at about 2 hours a day since I began. If it were stolen, I'd probably get another. It would be nice if there were another switch to add even more gain. The gain on the pedal isn't enough for me to feel comfortable trying to pull off long tapping runs (like the solo to Bad Horsie, etc.). I picked this pedal because of its versatility, decent price, and rugged construction. It has a nice smooth tone which is great for playing with a jazz ensemble, because when played tastefully, the distortion isn't overbearing, and can actually fit in with a sax or trumpet. It is the Santana woman tone on a budget. I spent a lot of time and money looking for it, and if I had come to this pedal many years ago, it would have made things easier and cheaper for me.

The long and short of it:

-Versatile. Great for blues and some classic rock.
-Do not expect heavy metal tones out of it.
-Rugged.

it doesn't get easier than this.

Amazing! THE best pedal out there. Period. It seems to nail SRV perfectly.Can nail Texas blues, or more modern stuff like KWS if you use it on the HOT setting, or with the drive channel on your amp. Made my guitar sound awesome, although like other reviewers have said you have to use it with a tube amp.

Just as good as TS-9.

It just kills any other pedal for SRV, and the blues. I also have a crybaby, and in combination with this pedal it sounded better. It sure gives me inspiration to bend faster, longer, and harder.

This pedal is really easy to use. 3 knobs, gain (distortion), tone (to add/take away bass/treble), level (volume, makes a great boost if you need it.) The manual's pretty basic, but does give some recommended settings.

I run my rig as follows: Aria Pro II Fullerton (fat strat copy) -> Crybaby -> TS-7 -> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It's very crucial that you have a tube amplifier, otherwise the pedal will sound really bad. That's why it's called a tubescreamer so it can scream your tubes at low volumes. So you probably don't want to but it if you have a solid state. Otherwise this pedal is very versitle, this is probably the only distortion pedal I'll ever buy. It's only SLIGHTLY noisy on the "HOT" mode which to me isn't very good except for rock. But it does make a good rock pedal. It seems to get a great sound, if you're looking for something even closer to SRV's sound, buy this pedal, and then have analog man do an 808mod to the original TS-808 that Stevie used. I've compared this pedal side by side with a TS-9 reissue, there is no difference. You can nail SRV's Love Struck Baby (on texas flood) and tons of other tones. Perfect for blues musicians. OK for classic rock.

It seems to be really sturdy, I've already dropped a couple guitars on it, and it seems fine. But it's not made of metal, so treat 'er nice.

THE pedal for blues guitarists. I've been playing for about 3 years. I'd definetly buy it again, a lot cheaper than the TS-9, and also more versatile because of the "HOT" setting. It gave me a inspiration to create my own sounds, and also nail other people's. I couldn't be happier.