Johnson TOD9

A 3 knob overdrive pedal, drive: which is overdrive or distortion amount. Tone: which has a good range. Level: amount of volume or boost when engaged. PLUS a turbo or hot switch. Battery is accessed like a Boss pedal with a thumb screw on the pivoting foot switch. I take off 1 point for that cuz I prefer the Ibanez 9 series battery placement more. It came with a manual but it isn't necessary.

I really like & was surprised with this pedal! It is actually 2 pedals in one with the Turbo/Hot switch. On Turbo it is a great overdrive. I leave the drive mostly on 0 - 2. The tone on a little past high noon. The level control can give a get amount of boost for a solo unlike some others I have tried. It is also guitar volume sensitive, so if you turn down your axe it will clean up. Crank up the volume and it will scream really well. Also it has the same JRC4558D chip as the Ibanez TS-9 ( I peeked inside). Very impressed !
If you flip over to the Hot setting, sounds more like a heavy metal type of thing. Much more of a distortion effect which I very rarely would use. But is nice to have it on hand when you do, and you don't even need to have another pedal for that.
I use a Kramer focus 2000 into a 66 Fender Bassman head & 15" JBL bottom. Other effects as desired.

It looks pretty solid, based on the Boss design ,but a little longer.
Made of metal. The input & output jacks are metal & not mounted directly to the circuit board which is good. "I" would not bring a back up

They have a website. Haven't needed it.

I've been playing for about 30 years in weekend gigging bands till about 5 years ago. (Just got tired of it) Mostly play bass for the last 12 or so but know a good guitar tone when I hear it. Right now I have a Butler real tube, Onerr carbon X, Yamaha od , DOD od & Arion Tubulator. The Johnson TOD-9 is my go to overdrive now.
I don't have the Ibanez TS-9 or 808 to compare it to. But I do have well seasoned ears, and this pedal is pretty damn good regardless of the price aspect.
I take off 2 points cuz there will NEVER be a pedal that can sound like a tube amp cranked to tonal nirvana

right out of the box everything on 12 o'clock sounded cool. any setting on the pedal is gravy cept for high gain maybe depending on your axe and your amp.

like i said from the start, very even tempered and bluesy, WARMTH out the ass. its got a great soulful quality to it. this is due to the transperency of the pedal. your guitar and your amp and most importantly your fingers all shine through. this pedal is like, stevie, david gilmour, type sound. not edgy or anything like some prog rock stuff. very american sounding. like putting a bassman next to an AC30. its just smooth, warm and uncomplicated dirt on your sound.

seems solid. alot like a boss stompbox.

no idea

i will give this pedal a NINE because the sound is simple and all things good are simple. and the price. 60 bucks isnt bad. i overpayed a little since the only place that carried it was the size of my room and those small shops hose everyone on everything. but it was wirth it. i got the sound i needed and im not broke after the fact. so how can you beat that?

soulful, cheap, tough, simple. enough said.

It's a no brainer tube screamer deal.

Sound is not bad for a $39 pedal. Too bad they couldn't get rid of the little "ploop" when you switch it out, that's the main gripe, otherwise it compares to my 1980 Ibby TS808 which I sold to buy a Rocktron Silver Dragon and this POS pedal. Gave it a 7 cuz of the little "ploop" sound it makes when you switch it out.

I baby my stuff so it will probably last until it's dug up by archeologists in the distant future.

Hope I never need it, they usually don't want anything to do with you unless you are buying something, think SALES.

So far, not bad, but the "ploop" noise.

If you can't figure it out, I'm surprised you learned to play guitar. The only problem I could think anyone could possibly have is fat fingers making the 9v battery tough to replace.

I have a Rocktron Replitone that has good gain, but not that natural crunch sound, so I got this pedal. My amp is back at college, so I plugged this into my friend's Vox amp, and it sounded great. No noise when off. No noise while on...except for the great overdrive crunch and distortion it's supposed to deliver. Doesn't suck tone. The TURBO mode on the switch gives a warm classic overdrive crunch. While other people have said they don't like the HOT mode, I think it sounds amazing...although I am more into alternative rock / punk. The HOT mode is more of a screamin' overdrive sound. Haven't tried it on a solid state, although when I plug it into my Rocktron Replitone back at college, I may make an update if there's any noticeable difference. Only complaint is that there is a subtle yet slightly noticeable pop when you step on the footswitch...I was running it on a low battery though, so maybe a fresh one or an adapter will fix that...? Not iritating enough to get on my nerves though. Overall, I love the sound.

This is basically a Boss pedal (solid steel with good spring action) with Tubescreamer circuitry in the middle...a hybrid of two copyright infringements. But anyway, it seems like the casing is just as tank-like as the Boss pedals. There is a little rubber lining on the pedal part that makes the pedal spring back a little softer that has started to tear away, but from what I hear, all pedals of this style have the same problem, and it doesn't really affect much anyway...just a nit-picky thing. I'll probably just pull the rest of it off and it will still work fine. The dial knobs look cheap in the pictures, but they actually have a nice solid turn feel to them. None of that flimsy plasticy feeling you get on some knobs that will spin if you breathe on them too hard.

Haven't dealt with, hope I don't have to.

Keep in mind, I am giving this high ratings based on the price. This pedal is not the exact same schematic circuitry and build as some of the more sought after overdrive pedals (Ibanez TS, Maxon, etc.) but it's darn close and it does have the JRC chip or whatever that have become famous in the other pedals. I got this pedal for $10 plus shipping on ebay! I cannot believe I stole this pedal for this cheap. Whether you are on a budget or don't feel like paying off the big name companies an extra $50 for their name-brand label, then this is the pedal for you.

easy easy

im using it to drive my korg Ampworks that goes in to my Behringer GMX 2x12. I wanted the ampworks to run clean and to use a tube like destortion. This is fine if u are on a budget, I am really pleased with the sound, I use it for a gentle drive sound on the TURBO mode. I too am not fond of the HOT side. I am playing rythem, so it may be better for lead stuff. It OK sounding, better than the drive in my VAMP, and smoother than the ampworks. I will go for 7 to be fare. Its cool. but not all that tube like, but i can make do with it. HEY, it rocks anyhow!!!

VERY STRONG...I looks good like the boss pedals

dont know

I play U2 coldplay radiohead

Plug it in,hit the switch and you're in there.

Hmmm...Ya' know,I didn't really like this box.The sound was too bright,it was kinda noisey(I use a Twin)and a little flat sounding.Don't get me wrong,if you're on a tight budget the TOD9 can do the job.But it's no match for an OD-3(a beast),SD-1 or TS-9(10).I thought it was kinda "run of the mill"...nothing special.Too Bad.

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The TOD9 has the potential to be a very good pedal.I love having the "HOT SWITCH" option,but it actually made the pedal sound more harsh! I found the TOD9 lacking in responsivness,body and character.
This pedal sounds better than some of the other crap I've tried,but I'd NEVER take it on a gig!I don't wanna be embarassed!

"Hey Johnson...what happened??" The E.Q. dist. box is very good,how'd you mess THIS up??

C'mon now,you guys can do better than this.

Classic three knob configuration with DRIVE, TONE and LEVEL. Also has a "mode" switch with two selections, TURBO and HOT. Easy...no-brainer to use.

Knobs are on the wimpy side. Too small and cheap so I'll get some quality knobs from Radio Shack to replace them.

Can you say TUBE SCREAMER knock-off! Since I developed a fascination for Overdrive/ Distortion pedals, I have aquired a nice little collection by which to compare others. My two favorite Overdrives are a TS-9/808(Silver Modification) modded by AnalogMike and my self-modified Marshall "Bluesbreaker"(1992 Original, not BB-II). Those two OD's give me a killer sound.

I had been curious about the Johnson OD unit after purchasing thier analog/delay and stereo chorus units. It turns out that this pedal is dang near a dead copy of the original 808 Tube Screamer pedal down to the sound and the JRC4558D op-amp chipset. I spent an hour just comparing the Modded T'Screamer and the TOD9. The TOD9 is a little raspier and the midrange is slightly less pronounced than the Silver Modded TS-9. These tests were confined to the TURBO mode on the TOD9 because it is comparable to the Tubescreamer TS-9. The TS-9 doesn't have the mode select switch.

The HOT side of the mode select switch, on the TOD9, picks up where the TURBO selection leaves off. It is more of a traditional saturated distortion. I didn't particularly like the HOT side of this unit. It didn't suit my preference for distinguishing one note from another. Too noisy on HOT. TURBO is the way to go for me.

It's construction is more like a BOSS pedal probably because it is supposed to be made in the same chinese factory as Boss pedals. Haven't had it long enough to comment on the reliability. I hope it will be as reliable as the BOSS units.

I bet you'll have to call the Peoples Liberation Army(PLA) since they probably own the factory.

I play blues and blues/rock through a variety of guitars and amps. I mainly use a Guild Bluesbird AAA, Fender American Deluxe Strat, '65 Gibson SG, etc... through a Marshall TSL, Blue Voodoo, Vintage Club, and a Behringer V-Amp 2.

I'll keep this one as a backup to my TS-9. Good sounding unit...at least on the TURBO side. You might like the HOT selection, I didn't. No tone drain when switched off...all pedals should be that way!