Ibanez TS9DX

4 knobs; level, drive, tone, a 4 position mode switch. A hair more difficult than a standard TS-9, but it's quite easy to operate.

On the TS-9 setting, it sounds like a TS-9 reissue. As you notch it to turbo, you get subtle drive intreases without straying away form the original character. TS-9's generally add light overdrive (not highgain distortion), or it can boost other drive units/amps. The TS-9DX doesn't get too fuzzy, or harsh, and I've run this with another TS-9 to do a 2 stage overdrive and it worked great. I already had the TS-9 Reissue and was looking for the same sound with a little more boost, and the DX delivers.

The casing (i believe designed by Maxon) is solid, but I managed to break a shaft on the level pot, making it a handy on/off kill switch. I was able to replace it with a standard pot. otherwise, no problems.

Follows the TS-9 vibe quite well. The price is right, and it can be modded to a TS 808 type sound (which would be interesting to hear a TS 808 with the 4 modes). Even with the boosting, I still use it as an overdrive, for highgain distortion I use a Marshall Gon'Nor II pedal.

Very easy to use. The "Drive" control is like a distortion pot adjusting the overdrive, then there's a switch with four settings as already described, along with a gain pot and a tone pot, and the foot stomp button indicated by a LED. This is not an all-out distortion or fuzz pedal and the settings are subtle yet distinct levls of overdrive.

Exceptional tone and very quiet with my rig. I use this in a bedroom set-up with a Warmoth tele I built with Bill Lawrence pickups and Bill's five-way switch. The guitar goes into an old Ampex 6V6 push-pull tube amplifier I turned into a head after a complete rebuild job with fancy film and foil caps and a new power supply, along with a speaker cabinet I built with a 16-Ohm Eminence 12" speaker (their clone of the Celestion Vintage 30). This setup was very clean but needed some more gain to drive it, and after some research I guessed that the TS9DX had a little more range than the other Tube Screamers. I guessed right and am very happy with its versatility: between the guitar's five settings and the Ibanez' four, I get a variety of tones from Esquire-like high-end sparkle to near-marshall stack roar. And no noise at all. None. Zip Nada.

Don't know yet, but it looks to be very well built. I use it in my bedroom every night without a backup.

Dunno yet.

I play my own music which ranges from blues to country to alternative. I find this to be a perfect fit.

4 knobs, all basic functions; Drive, Level, MODE, and Tone. The Main difference between this tube screamer and the TS9 is the addition of the MODE knob. You can choose between 4 different Modes; TS9, TS9+, Hot, Turbo.

I use this pedal with my Peavey 5150 II Head and Randall 2x12-1x15 cabinet and a Jackson King V USA with Seymour-Duncan JB pickups. The 5150 sounds good on it's own, but lacks the midrange and sustain needed to get a really brutal death/black metal tone. That's where the tube screamer comes in handy. I front end the pedal (Guitar>Cable>PEDAL>Amp) and use it as sort of a Compressor/EQ. In the TS9 mode I jack the Level up to about 8 and the Tone to 7 and just a bit of drive(3)to give it a little more gain. The pre-amp (gain) is set to about 4 and a half on the 5150. I also have the bass set to 4 and the MID to about 2 and the High is up to 10. This set-up is relatively noise free, I don't use a noise suppressor. Overall I really like the sound the pedal gives me, more midrange and sustain. The tone is suited for Arch Enemy, Avulsed, and Emperor inspired metal.

These pedals are known for being as tough as they come. They feel heavier than other pedals their size and it seems to be made very strong. The knobs are recessed far enough away from the footswitch so no worries about accidentally messing up the settings with your dumb feet.

N/A

I listen to Black, Death, Progressive, and Thrash Metal. I've been playing for about 9 years now. If it were lost or stolen I might get another one. I love the boost in distortion it gives me. I think it could be a little less harsh sounding but it still sounds great. I like the flexibility of the MODE knob. Overall I like this pedal and it does what I want it to do.

4 knobs: Drive, Level, Tone, Mode. How hard is that? In case you are in doubt, there is a manual, which explains: "that knob controls this, this knob controls that, that knob changes modes..."
I only use the TS9 setting, however I can get a Santana sort of sound with the + setting and midrange boost on "Blackie," my Eric Clapton Strat.

Strewth! I got this pedal on a whim; I had never tried one before I got it. I was blown away by how smooth this little seasick-green box sounds! There is that middle hump that is associated with the Tube Screamers, which I like. Although, with the midrange boost on Blackie, it's a bit much. I mainly use the TS9 setting as I said, although it's nice to have the extra settings there if I decide I need it. It's not noisy, except on really dirty settings on the amp. I mainly use this with a little MS-2 mini Marshall to get a nice overdriven sound (nice to my ears anyway!).

Built like a tank. Dropped it a few times and it's still tickin.

Never dealt with Ibanez

I've been playing about 18 months now, and I've got an Eric Clapton Strat, an Epiphone Les Paul 100, and a Maton J808 acoustic. I play mainly blues, classic rock and Christian rock, and it suits these styles perfectly. It's not a distortion pedal, it's an overdrive pedal! Not for metal! If it was stolen (I wouldn't lose it!), I would get another one straight away, although I might think about so-called "holy grail," the TS808. I love everything about this pedal, it's dead simple to use, easy to get a good sound out of it. I do wish it had some sort of control for the amount of mid hump you want, but I don't know if that's possible. I bought this pedal because I read that a few guitar heroes used them (SRV - the most famous Tube Screamer user, Carlos Santana, Tommy Emmanuel's electric stuff) and wasn't disappointed.

Very easy to use. I only use the ts-9 setting. drive at 8-9oclock, tone at 12-1oclock, level around 2-3oclock.

It could be my imagination but having owned one of the standard ts-9 re-issues to me the TS9DX sounds better. More depth in tone. It has the standard ts-9 mid hump which I like but there are some songs which can do without it so I use my Rat for those. I run an early 70's Telecaster through the Dx, Rat, Bossce-2, Bossdd-3 into a Vox ac15 or Pro Junior depending on the gig. Very nice.

Tough as nails. Look after your gear and it will look after you.

I'm a working musician so I play a whole variety of gigs from my original music to 'rent paying' cover gigs. Playing for around 21 years and own too much gear to mention, not that I'm a gear freak its just gear that I've bought over the years. I'm really happy with the combination of effects I'm using at the moment the ts9dx is a great all round overdrive.

I must mention that mine seems to be one of the earlier pedals as it has the Maxon circuit board. Maybe some one can comfirm this??
Fabulous pedal, easy to use and easy to get a good sound from.

I use a telecaster through this with a Rat and dd-3 through various amps depending on the gig. The ts-9dx has a very transparent but thick tone to my ears and is fabulous as my cleaner o.d pedal. I use the Rat to dirty it up a bit more.
Very pleased indeed!

very, very dependable......for all you young cats jumping around on stage playing your "Blink 182 post punk" don't jump on your pedals THEY WILL BREAK!

I wish people new what they were talking about and how to use thier gear before placing reviews!! Some one even suggested that it has the same circuit board as the Boss DS-1...PLEASE!!! If you're experiencing noise from this pedal you are probably a bedroom player with gain and tone knob cranked to 10 trying to play Metallica's "Enter Sandman".
this is a brilliant pedal IMO better then the standard ts-9. having said that mine seems to be one of the ealier versions with the Maxon circuit board, that may be the difference....I've been playing for almost 20 years, many styles of music, this pedals does it all.

Easy to use, of course! I would have liked a manual with more settings, it would not have hurt! Not so easy to get decent sounds.

This thing is really poor. Noisy, lifeless and simple. You'd better trust in a good amp tho get the natural overdrive. Expensive for the price as ithas the same schematics of a Boss DS-1 and the likes (really!). It comes with a crappy chip and components. I would have replace it with a LM833 as one of my friend said--noiseless and with a greater clipping. I do not have any idea why is it that this pedal does not come with a better chip, as they are not really expensive. The JR4558 is crap compared to the LM833, and the one that comes factory is even crappier. The sound is mediocre. I would recommend other great pedals for the price--there has been too much hype about the TS808 and TS9. Look for Carl Martin's Hot & Drive MKIII, the Jaques Fuseblower, Toadworks Death Rattle II, T-REx Mudhoney (a clon of the MXR distortion+), etc. TS9DX is not so versatile, despite you can choose the clipping stage diodes, which sound more or less the same. It does not matter what do you use it with.

Why do you want to depend on it? Get a better thing and save some bucks. There's too much hype about it PERIOD. CHeap components.

Not needed.

I regret getting this ugly thing. Hard to re-sell. A nightmare.

Four knobs in all -- one of them selects the style of effect. Really simple to find something you like.

I play mostly early 90s type rock, some blues...using a Gibson Les Paul Standard or a Gretsch Duo Jet (with dynasonics) into a Traynor YCV20 for recording, or a Fender Blues Deluxe for gigging. The pedal has some very nice sounds -- three of the four settings sound great, the last I had no use for.

Unfortunately, as nice as it sounds when active, it completely kills the sound when it's turned off. Especially when you play single notes, you can hear a lot of buzz after every one. I actually thought my amp was busted, but as soon as I unlugged the TS9 the buzz was gone. It's really too bad, because it's a nice sounding pedal when in use.

feels as solid as anything I've owned.

Never used them

Well, a pedal is only as good as it sounds -- I would give it a zero for the noise it generates when off, and a 10 when tuned off. The avg. is 5. So, that's what I'm going with. I replaced it with a Boss SD-1. The sound isn't as natural and it doesn't have a true bypass switch either, but it's MUCH quieter...not to mention cheaper.

Its easy, 4 knobs 1 footswitch

Alright about time a pedal that was better than I expected. I put the TS9DX Tubescreamer in the loop of my Boss NS2( Noise Suppressor ) that goes into my Ampeg Vh140c halfstack. If you know anything about that Ampeg its a High Gain solidstate that emulates a Tube amp. Kinda like Mesa Lows with Marshall Highs. I love the sound of the head by itself but the TS9DX adds more definition and flexibility to my sound. The Four modes are cool,I use only the TS9 and + settings on my distortion. The Hot and Turbo settings are too much on top of distortion. On the clean channel it could be used for tighter low to medium gain stuff so the Hot and Turbo modes are not useless. Its a really great pedal kicks the Boss SD-2 ass all over the place.

The guy I bought it from said the Turbo mode didnt work, well on my rig it did and everything was working like expected. But anyways this feels as well built as my boss pedals.

I really wanted the TS-808 but those are really expensive plus I think the TS9DX was made for metal players so it fit me perfectly. Im goin to buy as many of these as I can find its that good. Dont pass it up even if you think you dont need one, you really do. Bad ASS all the way.

4 knobs. level, mode, gain, and tone. how hard can it be?

i am using an epiphone sg standard loaded with an emg 81 and 85 through a line6 spider2 30watt 112. i use it on the metal channel to give that channel some more kick. it also smoothes it out. sounds awesome for a boost to the clean channel too. its good to use if you want to give a pre-existing dist. some kick and if you want to play blues. i mainly use the + and ts9 settings. good stuff.

solid as a tank.

if i had it stolen, i more than likely would get another one. but don't use it for a straight up distortion. use it as a boost to a pre-existing dist. or for clean sounds.