The Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue is back. This is the incomparable overdrive pedal that vintage gear hounds are always hoping to find. The 2004 TS808 reissue features the same famous square footswitch and the warm tones of the JRC4558 chip used in most of the original TS808s. Ignore look-alikes. If your tone is suffering from a lack of real warmth, the TS808 is the real, nongeneric prescription.
Order the real thing and get the warm overdrive you've been missing.
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Decent pedal over all is the best way to sum it up. IMO its way overpriced and you can get something a lot better for the same price. Tubescreamers were great and were used by many great guitarists, but they just arent made the same anymore. Ibanez knows how many artists endorse the name Ibanez Tube Screamer and they know that people are going to buy them. Therefor they aren't really inclined to make a quality product like say a new company would. These pedals are mass made. Im sure the actual cost of these things is around 1/10 of the actual price, probably less. I have a 1982 TS-9 and while I know its not the same product, after A/B the two beside each other I know that these pedals aren't worth the buck (or the 180 bucks) anymore. Beside the original 80's pedal it sounds like a tin box... Really. This is with a USA Fender Strat through a Marshall Super Lead 100 watt. I mean, its not bad, and if I didn't have the original to compare it to... I might not have noticed it's inferiority. But truly, I didn't have to take more than 5 seconds to know... It was just that obvious. Nonetheless people are going to buy these because they are going to google Stevie Ray Vaughan or some other artist or simply just from hearsay due to the legacy that Tube Screamer has made for themselves. I dont claim to have a perfect ear, and I know everyone has different tastes, but this pedal isn't worth it... Apart from the sound, take a look on the inside at the circuit board, or the whole pedal for that matter, and think about how much this pedal really costed to build... If I were to stress any point in the review is this ... "TIN BOX". Pretty decent overdrive, but it doesn't sound "real".Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.I can't complain at all. This is the best distortion for a Marshall amp made. Works with my Mesa too.
What can I say? I've kept this pedal longer than any pedal and its still on my pedal board. It delivers that cut through lead like no other.
Hasn't failed me in 5 yrs. of gigs.
A little over priced.
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.If you can handle this pedal with oven mitts and padded shoes for your entire life, be my guest. All I can tell you is that from just regular use it broke down on me and it needed to be replaced after a year.
What I'd recommend doing is what I did after my TS808 broke down, and get a Keeley TS9. It was the same price as the Ibanez TS808 for me, it has a greater range of overdrive, no midrange hump, the same chip as the TS808, a nifty blue LED on the front, true bypass switching, a higher quality switch and knobs, and it has yet to fail me in three years. Do yourself a favor and get the Keeley! You won't be disappointed in that pedal.
Everything you need and it's easy to figure out, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a bad tone out of this pedal. I do wish it came with true bypass switching, but that's not a big deal with this pedal as it doesn't color your tone a lot when it's turned off.
Horrible build quality. This pedal started breaking down on me after about six months, and had to be replaced within a year. The knobs started falling off as they are made of very thin, cheap plastic, the switch started sticking, and the input and outputs started fussing. If I didn't have my guitar cables plugged in just so, there wouldn't be any sound or it would crackle a lot. The switch in particular was annoying; imagine having to stab at the numbers on your cell phone just to get them to work, and you'll know what this pedal was like trying to turn it on and off. It was really only used for bedroom jamming and the occasional gig, so it wasn't handled poorly, just regular use. Also, I don't stomp on my pedals, I tap. I'm not stupid enough to treat a pedal this expensive like a toy.
Sound is exceptional, build quality is horrible, so that evens out to a five for me. Unacceptable for a pedal that costs this much.
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.This is the tone I've been after for years! If you want a classic blues tone (e.g., SRV, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Albert King) this pedal is for you. I use mine through a Fender tube amp, which is a must. This pedal will not work well unless you plug it into a good tube amplifier. Also, the pedal is meant to give you "clean gain." In other words, you can get classic sounds out of it, not heavy distortion. If you're style is hard rock or metal, this pedal isn't for you. It's designed for blues and classic rock players.
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.This is a reproduction pedal of a classic so I suppose thats why the stuck with the original design instead of fixing the obvious and well documented problems. First the good stuff... It sounds good. The pedal is reasonably sized so it fits on a pedal board pretty good. The controls are nice and give about the variety of control you'd expect form a tube screamer type pedal. Dont run it through the FX Loop. Its gotta go in the front of your amp or it will sound horrible. Now the not so good stuff. The switch WILL break. The square button was a bad design from the start and if you ever have it modded or get a mod kit it will always come with a proper button switch. So eventually you'll need to repair the switch. While your inside the pedal you may as well fix the other big problem... the LED is worthless. Unless you stand directly over the pedal in the dark, you can't tell if its on or off. So switch out the LED. This requires using a smaller resistor. Its not a complicated mod so you can do it yourself. If you can't or don't want to then have a qualified person do it. I really helps to be able to tell when your pedal is actually on or off. Thats kind of the point of an LED on/off indicator. Yes I would recommend this to friends but tell them to just have it modded immediately.
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.Full overdrive with mid tone and 9 o"clock level thru PA = no need for an amplifier. The best overdrive I have ever used especially with compression added between pickup and guitar volume knob..... it not only screams , it moans...Love it!!!!!!
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.This is a wonderful overdrive pedal to go with a tube amp that is already breaking up. I use this with a Marshall class 5 tube amp and I love it. I have owned this pedal for more than a year. I have not had any problems with it. I would describe this pedal as warm. This is an overdrive pedal. It is not a distortion pedal. I would not recommend this pedal for a solid state amp.
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.This model has the notorious on/off switch that will need to be replaced after about 1 year of pro use -- it is a bad design. The pedal itself sounds great, really about as good as the earlier ones. My issue with this is they are charging $79 more than the other Screamer models because of the op amp used in this one, which is a 50-cent part, my friends. At that price, they could have at least included true bypass in the unit and improved the switch. Be aware that this DOES NOT sound like the TS9 Screamer. This is not the model SRV used. I tend to like the sound of the 808 a little more than the TS9, but your tastes may be different. I don't play live with my latest 808, because I don't want to stomp it hard and have to replace another switch. It is what it is.
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.I Love It
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
.This pedal lives up to it's original claim, at first I was skeptic, after all I could return it, oh no, it stays in my arsenal, this is the real deal!
Ibanez TS808 Vintage Tube Screamer Reissue
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