Ibanez TS-808 Reissue

3 knobs, overdrive, tone, level. Easy to use, sounds good on any setting.

I'll keep it brief. Its a ts-808 tube screamer. I have owned many overdrive/ distortion pedals, and this is where it ends for me. Very smooth, transparent, retains all of the guitars tone without coloring. Medium overdrive, for any style of music, it adds that magical element that is so hard to nail down. To me if you have a tube amp, its that sound that the big boys have, and a lot of them use this pedal. I have to agree with a previous review that some people seem to have no clue!!! This pedal sounds great as is. That sound is what it was made for. Those who have to mod everything should maybe by a pedal that sounds that way to start with. There's a reason they list for 239.00, and its not because they sound like crap until you spend another 50.00, or 75.00 to 100.00 dollars plus shipping after you buy it to make is sound normal. If you believe that your fooling yourself. I once sent off an ibanez ts-9 and a maxon pedal to one of the listed guru's of mod-drama, and got 2 mods each. When the pedals returned to me, they sounded a little different, not bad at all, one of them had a little less bass, but more overdrive. I liked them better before I sent them off, when they were stock. Wasted dollars! Arrogance won't let most people admit that. Any time you mod anything there is a trade off. You can't improve it you can only change it. Chances are if you need more overdrive or bass, that pedal is already out there. These reviews are for this pedal, not the changed one. People shopping want to know how this pedal sounds, not the modded one.

Been playing for over 35 years, blues, surf, rock, country, some jazz,ect. If lost I would have to replace it. I like this pedal for what it is. I have had many boss, rat, dod, and other custom pedals. I like this one or the maxon version better than any I have tried.

You have to learn how to use this effect.

This is an excellent pedal:transparent, mild, intelligent and tasty. No need for any magical mods - believe me! It is really funny to watch all those Analogue gurus as they offer their receipts for "more bass", "more gain" and true bypass... (do you know that for example Klon Centaurs have NO bypass at all!!!) I DO NOT understand why someone who needs a stompbox with more bass and more gain buys the TS808? Please - have a BOSS OD-3 or Digitech Bad Monkey... It is a typical thickhead snobbism to have got a TS808 and leave it to "modify". Do you think those Japanese guys are totally dull and they can not change a value of resistor or capacitor? My god. Dont forget: all these modifications just make the effects sound a little bit "different" not "better"! I A/B-d the original and the reissue TS808. If there are ANY differences these nuances you could handle very simple: by turning one of the three knobs 1mm to the right or to the left (or do the same with you amp or guitar). THATS ALL!!! But if you think so - go and pay to the "gurus"??? ;o)))

I am glad to have it.

No need. It is an Ibanez.

Blues, jazz, rock and everything in between.
My rig: Gibson ES335, Fender Strat, Fender Blues Junior (with Celestion Vintage 30), Dunlop JH-F1 (!!! excellent!!!), Cry baby, Deluxe Memory Man, Small Ston... and THE TS808.

Very easy, standard Tube Screamer knobs. Simple overdrive pedal.

I'm gonna do everybody a favor and keep this short and sweet. I hate it when gear nuts get WAY to in depth on sound quality. I have the TS-9 and the 808 reissue. I much prefer the reissue to the TS-9. It's much smoother and more vintage sounding. I'm not going to compare it to other pedals. It has its own sound and I like it. It's not a Fulltone OCD. It's not a Boss pedal. It's a Tube Screamer and it sounds like a Tube Screamer. Your guitar tone comes through very nicely with this pedal. Also, for all you know-it-alls, true bypass isn't always good depending on your setup.

Note: Tube Screamers don't sound all that great unless the amp is TURNED UP. I think a Tube Screamer sounds pretty bad if the amp is only turned up to 1 or 2.

Seems to be built pretty well. Only time will tell. My other Tube Screamer has been stomped on thousands of times and it still works fine.

Never had to deal with customer support with this company

Overall a great sounding pedal. Remember, if you have a crappy amp or guitar or both, don't expect a pedal to magically make your tone better.

Already many times said.
Three knobs OVERDRIVE, TONE, LEVEL - a piece of cake.
Manual easy as that.

TS-808 - Tube SCREAMER of Tubes CREAMER - both names say where the TS-808 stands for. It makes the tubes scream a little AND it makes the tubes sound like the cream on the pie.
Marvelous! The overall best sound to get with an overdrive.
In short: The best overdrive on this planet.
Nice to know that many of the famous guitarplayers of the world think the same.

I owned a TS9 for ten years, never had a problem with it.
I expect to have no problems with my TS 808 either.

Never had to dealt with them.
They have a great site.

I play melodic rock with influences of blues, jazz and fusion for about 41 years. Fender Stratocaster, TS 808, Line 6 MM4 and DL4 and a Marshall 4140 100W Country Club is my main gear (also Boss CS3 and OC3). The TS-808 is my main FX-box. I was always very satisfied with my TS-9, but when I compared the TS-9 with the (more expensive) TS-808, I was blown away by the SOUND of it. The difference is not that big, but the sound of the TS-808 has the magic. The sound of the TS-808 makes the difference. When lost or stolen, I buy a new one the same day. Maybe I buy another TS-808 for extra possibilities (rythm/solo). I wish, I had bought this reissue earlier (the old original ones where not in my view and were far too expensive), but ... I do have it now. Every time I play: Is that me? Yes it is.
If you buy a TS-808 for its tone, you can't be disappointed! Of course it's made for the owner of a tube-amp (but also on my VOX-pathfinder 15W at home - it sounds very nice).

Simple but sophisticated. You have to build your skill.

This is an excellent pedal:transparent, mild, intelligent and tasty. No need for any magical mods - believe me! It is really funny to watch all those Analogue gurus as they offer their receipts for "more bass", "more gain" and true bypass (do you know that Klon Centaurs have NO bypass at all!!!) I DO NOT understand why someone who needs a stompbox with more bass and gain buy the TS808? Please - have a BOSS OD-3 or Digitech Bad Monkey??? It is a typical thickhead snobbism to have a TS808 and leave it to modify ??? do you think that those Japan guys are totally dull they cannot change a resistor or capacitor? My god. Don??t forget: all these modifications just make the effects sound "different" not "better"! I A/B-d the original and the reissue. If there are ANY differences there these nuances you could handle very simple: by turning one of the three knobs 1mm to the right or to the left (or do the same with you amp or guitar). THAT???S ALL!!! But if you think - go and pay to the "gurus"??? ;o)))

No need.

Blues, jezz, rock.

Great Pedal
Do yourself a favor and get it modded.

I bought the Keeley modded 808 a few years ago. He has since run out of original JRC chips from 82 and has to go to another.
I worked at a guitar shop for a while and compared the reissue with the Keeley mods with the stock model and the stock TS9...

WORLDS APART

I've heard a lot of modded pedals and though... meh.... nothing really different... but this was night and days my friends...

then... years later I buy on ebay an original 1982 tubescreamer!!!
First thing I do is compare it to the Keeley Modded TS-808.....
.......
... almost nothing in it... the Keeley mods are so close its scary..

tough as nails
especially with the hardcore true bypass switch

i'm not calling Japan... are you kidding me... they speak Spanish there and I only speak Endlish heres.

The Pedal rocks! only if you get the mods though... don't put up with a crapola sounding Ibanez piece of green snot! get the mods and get yourself happy!

Tubescreamers make the world go round

Very easy to use. 3 controls, overdrive, tone and level with a simple on/off switch. Could not be any easier to use. Comes with adapter cable and 9V battery

My main musical interest is in blues and blues rock music. I play a 1974 Gibson SG special with mini humbuckers on it for lead and a Danelctro Jimmy Page model for slide. I listen mainly to Robert Johnson, Albert, BB and Freddie King aswell as Mike Bloomfield, Johnny Winter, SRV, Jimi Henrix, Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters. The Ts-808 helps me get the sound of all of these guitarists - with the obvious exception of Robert Johnson! Every body knows that SRV used the Ts-808 and I can see why! I keep the overdrive low and have the level and tone at 12 o'clock (half way around). It goes very well with my Carvin belair vintage tube combo on both the clean and overdrive channel. I also use an Dunlop Crybaby which it also sounds great with.

Well have not yet gigged with it because as it stands I have had for 1 day, but it seems to be a good sturdy build quality with a solid weight.

Bought off of ebay. Not interested in upgrades as yet, as I like the sound as it is.

It is a good match to by blues playing. I have been playing for 2 years I have owned boss pedals and they are no match to the Ts-808. If it were stolen I would definatily buy another for the full ??115, I payed ??73 for this one. I love both the look and sound of it there is nothing I dislike about as it is also very versitial and this is shown by the fact that several metal guitarists use them. I don't want to say I can't play with out my tube screamer like alot of guitarists do but it is a pedal that can be used subtley but importantly (thats how I like to use it) or it can be a key part of some bodys tone. The main way I use is to boost my slide sound, slide is where I like to use it the most but I can't say no to stepping on it for a few solos that call for sustain and warmth!

3 knobs ez. This is a follow-up to my review a couple of weeks ago.

I've had my Keeley $50 mod back for a week now...and WOW. A lot of other people are giving the stock Ibanez TS-808 reissue a 10 or other high scores...but as mentioned...I thought it sucked.

I've been playing 35 years and mostly run a EJ Strat thru a variety of nice amps. As mentioned...I never owned the original TS808...so I'm no expert on the sound.

There must be a real so many competent ppl are modding even the reissue TS808. I am absolutely in luv with the Keeley modded TS808.
I got the $50 mod. As much as I luv Keeley's stuff...I may also get an AnalogMan TS808 reissue mod as well.

Again...$50 for the mod. The reissue itself cost $169.

Yup...in my one humble opinion....the stock reissue was awful sounding...esp compared to after having a competent person mod it.

Now...it will never be out of my effects chain...and I am a minimalist.

This is a pretty straight forward unit to use. There is a enough room on the knobs to tweak a bit but this a fairly singular usage pedal on it's own. But that isn't the beauty of it. It's how it fits with the rest of your rig.

My main setup is a US Neck-Through Mahogany Jackson Soloist with EMG's into a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and Mesa 4x12. And occasionally a 535Q Dunlop Wah. I don't particular like pedals I find that they suck the tone out of a good amp. I had a pedal phase when I was first starting guitar and doing the grunge thing. I've owned Boss OD-2, DS-1, MetalZone, and this pedal is not in the same category as those. Through a good setup those pedals sound cheap and processed. It seems almost like sacriledge to run those through good amp. If you want a high distortion sound get the amp that already has that potential.

This pedal is mid driven (like the guitar signal itself), warm, and low gain. This pedal fills out your tone and adds slight gain to it. It does not produce your distortion unless you are looking for some old blues sound. I was convinced that I would never want a distortion pedal again after comparing those crap boxes to the pure tone of my Mesa. Actually I made that decision before that when I used play a Marshall DSL100.

Anyway the Mesa sounds absolute huge and crushing in Modern Channel 3. But especially noticeable with leads it was missing that front end grit that Marshalls have. Even at high gain it was clear and defined. Awesome for chugging rythmns but just missing something. Something that could be partially gained back by running it with the Rectifier Tubes but then the overall tone loses power. Finally with the TS-808 to my surprise I found that missing piece. Just a bit of gain out front to push and distort those high mids that I scoop out of my tone on the amp. The end result is absolutely crushing.

I wish I had the chance to try the original I can only imagine what it sounded like. I'm giving it a 9 because although it does what it does amazingly I'm sure there are better similar units out there.

I'm sure it's pretty sturdy. Probably dependable. There are original units still around and imagine these reissues are built similarly. But I'm not mean to pedals.. I actually hide this behind my amp left on all the time. I'd gig without a backup cause it isn't essential to my tone just that added flavour. I'm sure in standard live setup people are are barely gonna tell the difference.

Who knows? I've luckily never had to deal with customer support for any of my gear. I've played several hundred shows and toured and I've come to depend on my gear or fix it myself.

My primary music style is punk hardcore and metalcore. So not quite as much over the top saturation as some death metal, but definately more than classic metal or hardrock. The TS-808 feels like that piece I was missing. Gives back that EL34 crunch without losing very much 6L6 clarity while making my guitar tone sound more saturated at the same time. And I'm only running both my amp and pedal gain around 1 o'clock. Lots more room to crank it.

I wrote this review largely to these kids(not that I should call them that I'm not really much older than them) who are complaining about it's lack of distortion for their Nu-Metal when their favourite artists like Mick Thompson from Slipknot uses it, or even going further back Kirk Hammet from Metallica. Or perhaps maybe more modern their favourite Metalcore and Screamo bands. They complain they can't get their tone out of this pedal and are pushing it through a fender frontman or running it with a Metalzone. This pedal is not a replacement for a good amp distortion. It's one of the most natural sounding boosts you will find.

Only two downsides. One, is whether or not the price is worth it. Considering it costs a fraction of what everything else in my rig does it's not a big deal if it can provide what I need. Second, it isn't true bypass and it definitely sucks tone when it's off. Luckily I run it on all the time. If it was stolen I don't see why I wouldn't pick up another one. This is the first effect I feel comfortable running with my mesa all the time. My wah and G Major mainly come out for studio work as I hate how much the tone is taken from the amp the added complication live. The TS-808 can also give a little practice amp that extra punch. All around useful little box.

Ez is not the problem.

I've been playing for many years...and have lots of great guitars and amps. I'm disappointed with this unit as it sounds muddy and wooly to me. I much prefer my Rat2 Keeley mod and my Keeley FuzzHead with their fuzz overdrive qualities. And I'd like to own a Pete Cornish effect some day. I'm sure I'm going to have Keeley mod this unit for me. I never owned the original TS808 so I can't say that I'm an expert on what this thing should sound like...I just know that I'd not thrilled with the sound. I just bought it new a month ago and have been "testing" it a lot.

I have older Ibanez pedals...they are well built.

Never had to deal with them.

I'm going to give this a 5. Again...I'm not an expert...but if I'm not mistaken...the TS808 re-issue...is not built like the original.

I wonder if Ibanez just decided to "sell out" and cash in. If that's true...what a disappointment. My unit will be modded.