Ibanez TS9DX

Nice and simple!

I have a host of guitars, mostly Strats. I just got the pedal yesterday, so I have only tried it with my '89 Strat with Exotic pickups through my '73 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. It sounds great! I'll agree with all the other reviews on that fact that it doesn't get extreme in the distortion level, but the tone is all that! I was at first disappointed that I couldn't push it to the max of some distortion pedals, but after 15 minutes of bluesy stuff, I came to appreciate the tone. I'll try it later in combination with other pedals and use it as an occasional boost for lead lines. It has a sweet crunch that seems to respond to playing dynamics. I can see using it all the time to develop a signature sound.

I have another Ibanez pedal that I have had for 25 years and it still works perfectly. I have no reason to doubt the TS9DX's durability.

My musical styles run from bluesy stuff at home and contemporary worship music each Sunday at church. This pedal is perfect for the blues and will serve as a booster when doing power chords and lead lines at church. I have been playing over 30 years. I own a bunch of Strats, Taylor, Hamer, Epi SG, Schecter basses, amps... I would replace it if it disappeared. The tone is the main thing I like about it. You may need a mature, developed ear to appreciate it since it doesn't get nuts with the distortion level. I chose it because of its reputation - I didn't try it before buying it. If I did, I might not have bought it, but I'm glad I did because the tone is killer.

It is very easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. I bought it used, and there was no manual. This unit has not been upgraded.

I use this with a Fender Mexican Fat Strat, into a Boss CS-2, DS-1, Ibanez TS9DX, Boss MT-2 (in front of the amp) and in the effects loop I use (all Boss) PH-2, BF-2, CH-5, and DD-3. It has very minimal hum even when used with other distortion or overdrive effects. It makes my guitar sound fat and bold. It always sounds strong, but does not give you enough gain to play anything heavy, which was expected when I bought it. I use it with a Marshall VS100. I can get the big solo sounds of SRV, or I can play some soul-inflected single-note lines with it. It's also good for blues and some rock stuff with the use of other distortion. I use the regular TS9 mode when I need to add just a bit of grit my guitar. Although, the tone knob doesn't have enough high end.

I would certainly use this without a backup. I have never gigged with Ibanez gear, but I would trust this thing. It seems solid, and it's metal, which makes it seem more worthy of my trust.

Never had to deal with them.

I play many kinds of music, I would say mostly rock. I also play other kinds of stuff, basically anything I like. I have been playing for 6 years, but I have spent a lot of time learning about guitar gear. If it were stolen, I would certainly buy another. It makes my guitar sound so good. I compared this to almost every other overdrive pedal on the market (besides the expensive boutique pedals, which I could not afford) It was the best one I came in contact with. I had a Boss SD-1, and it was all high end, and not natural sounding. I just with the tone control had more of a range. This little box certainly helps me make music, and it's not a pain in the ass to deal with. Email me if you think there are better overdrives out there, or if you have suggestions for my setup.

easy to use. pretty flexible.

strat>Boss TU2 tuner> TS9dx>voodoo labs OD (solo boost)>MXR phase 90> Mesa/Boogie Mark III > Orange 4X12 cab.
This is not a shredder pedal. this pedal will give you rich full sounding tube driven distortion, more flexible than the Ts9 but I don't think it nails the real Tubescreamer sound. I comes damn close though... the higher modes this pedal offers do in fact give it more drive, more sustain and more output. I like it better than the TS9 because I need a little more drive. I think most guitar players think that their favorite players have heavier tone than they actually do, this is a very popular pedal for a reason...It doesn't really color your amp too much, you overdrive your tube amp and it still sounds like your amp, your guitar and your playing. this won't pedal won't cover your mistakes but it will give you killer tone if you are good enough to use it.

built like a tank, never had a problem.
I would and do gig without a back up.

never had to call. this by the way is the only piece of Ibanez gear worth buying...I don't think I'dcall them if anything happened anyway, they put out such shitty guitars I don't think i could stomach talking to them, I would just break out the soldering iron and fix it my self...

I play hard rock and funky chili peppers type stuff.
I use it as my main overdrive cause I'm not a metal head and I like the naked response it gives me...It makes me play clean and use my hand and body to create long lasting notes instead of some high gain sustain'a'riffic pedal. this is a players pedal in my opinion. this pedal is for the dude who has reached the point of wanting to control his tone through his playing not have his pedals predict how his playing will sound. I like this overdrive better than the crunch channel on my Mesa, I think it's just a little less mid range-ish, mesa always has that mid honk you can't get rid of, but i find the combination of the two works... especially with single coils. If it were lost or stolen I would sell another pedal to go and buy this again. if you are looking for a high gain shredder pedal than you should look else where. if your looking for a classic rock/ hard rock/ bluesy / crunchy sounding overdrive this is it. I give it a 9 cause nothing is perfect.

Take a look at previous comments - nothing is changed ;)

I'm using Fender '83 MIJ Telecaster (SD "Distortion" humbucker in the bridge) -> Dynacord REX (old!) 40W tube (EL34) -> Marshall 4x12 1960AV

Effect is good. I've expected a lot more with the price I paid. It is probably the wekaest overdrive I've seen. I mean, there isn't too much drive! I have EHX Big Muff and it has 2 or 3 times more overdrive! TS9DX is only for blues and REALLY SOFT rock or if you just want to push your tube amp - it's perfect! Really high output! (haven't seen one like this!)

And about artists? I heard that almost everyone plays TS9 from SRV to Pearl Jam (the must use something with Ts9 because they sound much distorted). Well it's really, really good but can't be main overdrive/distortion if you want to play harder music. The sound which comes out of this effect is "sweeeeet". Nice, long, bluesy, cranked-tube. With this pedal forget grunge, heavy-metal, punk. This baby won't do this!

It's cute built and will last a very long time. It's just well built. It's heavy.

Never dealt with them.

Well, this is not a good match for my style. I play emo-punk and grungy stuff and some california punk (Weezer, Rentals, Pearl Jam, Offspring, Blink-182, Green Day). It just does not suit any of these styles/bands. It seems to be only created for blues sounds or for pushing tube amp, really. Sound is very very good, but it does not do "these" things for me I wanted. the "hot" switch isn't hot enough even to play Weezer stuff, which is deafinitely no Mesa-like. I rated here 6/10 because it does not fit my style, but man, I don't think that's sh*t, that's why I gave 9/10 for the sound quality. By the way - when you have Twin Reverb ot smth like that, buy this effect and you'll sound similiar to Placebo, I think. Try it before you buy.

Pretty easy. Descriptive labels on nobs are accurate. My pedal was modified by AnalogMan to 808 specs.

'81 fender precision bass -> ts9dx/808mod -> eden wt-500

Not exactly transparent, but less noisy than other pedals I've used. The AnalogMan 808 mod smoothed out the mod,+, and turbo settings which were a little too much to begin with.

Very nice sounding overdrive tones. I've had a hard time finding something like this that works with bass. Fulltone BassDrive and SansAmp Bass Driver were others that I had thought of trying, but the higher pricetags kept me away. Even without the mod, a good sounding bass overdrive that can be found used for around $70-80 pretty regularly.

Looks reliable. Owned a ts-9 reissue a while back and the footswitch ended up braking. Not sure if that's common or not.

Never dealt with them.

I had been contemplating changing amplifiers because my Eden can sound a little too modern; I'm sure there are better suited amps for what I play. However, the ts9dx and the Eden amp are a great match, I run it almost all the time. I would like to try running it through the effects loop to see how that effects the transparency of the effect, but I don't find this unit as noisy as others have noted.

four knobs and a stomp switch, pretty easy

the manufactors description of this pedal is way off. you do not grt more gain in the higher modes. just more bass. this pedal was intended to repl. my 20 yr old boss supr o.d. it has a hard time getting the job done. the only thing this pedal has going for it is all the hype other people give it. ill give it a 6 cuz thats what it deserves. it will push a tube amp into over drive.

its well built, ill give em that.

the thing i dislike about it is all the unusable extra sounds that they charge you extra for

real easy to figure out. Only the ts-9 setting has any use though. maybe the + can have it's moments.

This pedal is noisy. You gotta crank up some didtortion on the amp to get this thing half decent. This pedal, when off, seriously changes your tone - very shrill. This thing is obviously not true bypass. Put it in an effects chain, and you'll want to smash it with a hammer. It takes over everything. I would not call this pedal "transparent".
I'm playing a Jazzmaster and a 335 archtop through a vintage Silvertone tube amp. I have many other pedals, even a Keeley modded ts9, which sounds better but is still loud and also definately not true bypass. I like to play through a zvex FF to a zvex 2in1 to amp and this pedal does not belong in this chain. It could be my amp, or I'm not playing loud enough, but I'm not that impressed with the ts9 and ts9dx. I've tried moving it around in my chain of various pedals and it's pretty much the same. Sounds pretty good with a Keeley Java boost

who knows.

haven't tried.

I think the Keeley modded ts9 is worth owning, but the stock ts9dx is not worth the price and any setting past classic ts9 such as turbo and hot is completely useless.

it is really simple to use. mine is stock. no upgrades. i was thinking about getting it modded because it is a little trebley on the teeth but i want to hear a modded one first since i dont how much it would change the sound.

i use a wolfgang guitar to a dunlop wawa,fuzzface,ts9dx,univibe to a marshall valvestate 30 watt amp. the sound quality is pretty nice but sometimes you have to work it the right way so it isn't so trebly. it sounds way better with a marshall tube amp!!

it sounds great on a clean channel and can get a bluesy lead tone out of it. but when it comes to playing rhythm you usually have to turn the volume down on your guitar or turn the drive down a little so it isnt so dirty. i really like to use it on a distortion channel on a marshall amp. Setting the gain at half to three quarters and the contour all the way up bass at 5 and treble at 4 on a marshall amp with the tubescreamer drive on ten, level on ten and tone at your liking you can get a a nice la saturation sound. nice for artificial harmonics and leads. you get alot of feedback too with the amp on full distortion. it is good feedback though since it really has more sustain.

i like the pedal itself but if i lost it and had to replace it i would probably buy the ts9 not the dx because i personally couldnt fine any use for the added knob. it only really adds a crunch to your lower strings. but spending only ten bucks more for the dx you always have that option later down the road if the comes to use it.

i had it for nearly a year now and havent had any problems with it but i only gigged with it probably 15 times and took care of it. my friend had a ts9dx and he plays a real lot of gigs usually 3 a week and he complained to me that he changed 2 pots in it because they were wearing out and getting scratchy. so for a backup he bought a ts9(not the dx version) and he said by taking the back off he said it looks like the pots are stronger on the ts9 then on the ts9dx. i never had a problem though so ill rate it a ten

i never dealt with ibanez so i cant voice my opinion.

i have been playing 3 years and play hendrix to van halen to stev vai and stevie ray vaughn. and mostly 80's hairband music. i am not bragging but i am really expierenced and can play eruption, for the love of god and many many others note for note. i am only mentioning this so the reader can get an understanding of i know what i am talking about. but always try before you buy. i would buy another one if stolen. like i said before when used on the gain channel of a marshall amp(marshall only because thats all i really heard or played it on)it really adds alot of sustain. i tested it by hitting a note and allowing the note to sustain with out the tubescreamer on and then with it on. i cant remember how many seconds but it really does add sustain to your sound and is great to overdrive an allready driven tube amp.

i really hope this review helped!!

*if anyone reading this has a modded ts9 and would lke to let me know by email what it does to the sound it would be greatly appreciated.

Four knobs, they do what they say. Anyone with fingers can get a good sound out of this, although TS9, +, Hot, and Turbo basically all sound very similar.

My setup is an old Washburn WX-6->Ibanez TS9DX->Dunlop Crybaby->Fender Frontman 25R. Even with the crappy Guitar and Amp (I'm cheap)I can get a sweet sound. When using the neck singlecoil pickup I could get some nice high ends, but the lows were bland. Now, with the TS9DX, I get a great, bluesy bass tones. As everyone else said, this is not a metal distortion box. The only distortion I get is on TS9 mode with the drive past 12 O'clock, and even then it's not much. But all that is fine for my music (Blues).

You could probably run over it with a truck.

Never talked to 'em.

This was exactly what I was looking for, an overdrive box with little distortion to enhance my tone. The only sad thing is that it's worth more than my guitar.

The TS9DX is a straight forward, simple to figure out pedal (especially if you are already familiar with the TS9). The extra mode pot is able to push the drive without changing the character of the sound. The ac is standard to any IBANEZ, BOSS, or other pedals that are 9 volt with pos tip, this is great for anyone using comon power supplies, or daisy chain.

It's basically the TS9 (re-issue) sound with a little more kick. On bass, it'll help to achieve the TS9 sound without sounding weak, as is the case with the TS9. On guitar, the TS9 setting is more noticable, making the higher settings that much hotter. This pedal is all over drive and doesn't get to the stage of "distortion" so it's true to it's purpose.

The construction is good, aside from the controls. The smaller pots are a bit weak. I've already had to replace one. The chasis on the other hand is indestructable, and the stomp switch hasn't been a problem, nor should it with the history of the older SOUND TANK design.

When the pot broke, I had no support from any retailers, so I had to install a standard 500k pot myself.

I've been playing rock for many years, and tried many overdrives. I had a re-issue TS9 befor I recieved the DX. I play bass, but dable a bit in guitar, so I mainly use the DX with my bass rig which includes a hot rodded FENDER P-BASS with a DUNCAN BASSLINES QUARTERPOUND P, a J-BASS with EMGs and a MODULUS through an AMPEG SVT II through an SVT 810E and the plus settings cut through the frequencies better then the standerd TS9. On guitar using a GIBSON LES PAUL STUDIO (stock) the TS9 worked great, and the DX worked that much better. I recomend this pedal highly, even with the pots being the way they are. It has a better overall sound then alot of boutique pedals I've a/b'ed it with costing 2 or 3 times more.