Tube Screamer Mods 101

matta · 2009-11-01T17:00:55+00:00

Hi Guys, I thought I'd share some pics of how I spent a day last week, I'll call it 'The Tale of Two Tube Screamers' as I had 2 different TS9's come in for...

Tube Screamer Mods 101

nick

matta wrote:
nick wrote:Nice 8) With regard the low end tone suck, Ive noticed this on my TS10, is it possibe to increase the poly cap at the clipping stage on the TS10? just to get it a bit more bassy. I run it with the tone all the way over.
Hi Nick,

Yes it is, the TS10 is not much different, at least in the parts that count from a TS9/TS808, you can do the same thing to a TS10. Just locate the IC/Opamp that is used in the clipping stage and trace out the - input, which is Pin 2 of the opamp. The 0.047uF which forms part of the RC Network is replaced by 0.1uF cap, this will increase your low end, technically it doesn't INCREASE it, it just allows more bass to pass through the filter network, which audibly has the same results.

Cheers

Matt

And if I drop it off in your faithful hands, roughly what would it cost? ?

matta

nick wrote:And if I drop it off in your faithful hands, roughly what would it cost? ?

Hey Nick,

In keeping with the Forum rules I'd rather not say in public, I've dropped you a PM with the details of the mods and costs.

The TS10 can be converted to a TS808, a little more work, but easily done ?

Cheers

Matt

nick

matta wrote:
nick wrote:And if I drop it off in your faithful hands, roughly what would it cost? ?
Hey Nick,

In keeping with the Forum rules I'd rather not say in public, I've dropped you a PM with the details of the mods and costs.

The TS10 can be converted to a TS808, a little more work, but easily done ?

Cheers

Matt

Thanks, will let you know 8)

JK

anyone in JHB able to do these mods? Not planning on visiting CT for while!

shadow1

hmmmm very interesting ? my maxon od808 is a great pedal but yes my low end gets abit knocked by it. MAtta your a genius! think when my cash is on the rise i want to bring my pedal board to you, to do some tuning/true bypassing etc ? get her PIMPED ?

matta

JK wrote: anyone in JHB able to do these mods? Not planning on visiting CT for while!

Hey JK,

I can recommend a few good techs in JHB, but to be honest due to the cost of living difference between CPT and JHB they charge almost twice what I charge and may not have the parts handy (mine are imported from the USA) so in the long run it would be cheaper to ship the pedal return to me here in CPT.

I'll PM you details.

Cheers

Matt

matta

shadow1 wrote: hmmmm very interesting ? my maxon od808 is a great pedal but yes my low end gets abit knocked by it. MAtta your a genius! think when my cash is on the rise i want to bring my pedal board to you, to do some tuning/true bypassing etc ? get her PIMPED ?

Hey Don,

Yes the Maxon and Ibanez pedals follow the same circuit/design, so is also highly modifiable.

RE pedal boards and true-bypassing, it makes sense if it is just a single pedal, but if you have more then it makes sense to actually build a standalone TB Looper/Routing system.

I'm in negotiations with a Canadian company about importing some VERY slick enclosures and offer a 5 channel TB system, user configurable, so you might only want 3 loops and swap out the 2 of them for a Tuner Mute and a Master Bypass, need 10 loops? just daisy chain 2 of them together, I can also build a buffer into them if you have a lot of pedals/long cable runs... more on this in time.

Cheers

Matt

singemonkey

I got the impression that some prefer the TS9 tone to the TS808. What's up with that? The feeling I got from my reading is that the 808's a little darker maybe?

shadow1

matta wrote:
shadow1 wrote: hmmmm very interesting ? my maxon od808 is a great pedal but yes my low end gets abit knocked by it. MAtta your a genius! think when my cash is on the rise i want to bring my pedal board to you, to do some tuning/true bypassing etc ? get her PIMPED ?
Hey Don,

Yes the Maxon and Ibanez pedals follow the same circuit/design, so is also highly modifiable.

RE pedal boards and true-bypassing, it makes sense if it is just a single pedal, but if you have more then it makes sense to actually build a standalone TB Looper/Routing system.

I'm in negotiations with a Canadian company about importing some VERY slick enclosures and offer a 5 channel TB system, user configurable, so you might only want 3 loops and swap out the 2 of them for a Tuner Mute and a Master Bypass, need 10 loops? just daisy chain 2 of them together, I can also build a buffer into them if you have a lot of pedals/long cable runs... more on this in time.

Cheers

Matt

YES MATT! now you talking my language ? cause this tap dancing is a mission! LOL keeps making me move towards wanting a multifx, altho i am sure i wont be happy with the multi fx tones and at the end of it i will go back to the stomps again. keep me posted on this system... My board should be almost complete by December ?

thanks for all the help

Manfred-Klose

or maby a all-in-one: ?

http://www.beavisaudio.com/projects/ScreamerLab/

but its a tricky project and will require lots of patience and time.

guidothepimmp

hey matta,

I have the TS808 reissue which i quite like, do you think that modding it would make much of a difference to my tone? I keep reading about how close these are meant to be to the older ones??

opinions?

matta

The circuit will be 'technically' correct, but you can still benefit from the cap upgrades... the stock caps they use cost 5c's, the german made WIMA film caps for example cost 10 times that, not a big deal when you are modding it yourself, but a big problem for Ibanez as it would send production costs through the roof.

The caps tend to just 'smooth' out the tone, the best description I can give it is makes the pedal feel part of the amp, stock it sounds like it is ontop of the amp...

Cheers

Matt

guidothepimmp wrote: hey matta,

I have the TS808 reissue which i quite like, do you think that modding it would make much of a difference to my tone? I keep reading about how close these are meant to be to the older ones??

opinions?

guidothepimmp

Thanks Matt,

Definitely something i'll consider.. where would you say the best place to get cap's would be? I usually use an electronics store thats quite nearby but I couldn't tell whether theyre good quality or not :-[, also do you know what the parts no's would be? ?

oh and sorry about the offtopic, my laney tends to hum quite a lot on the gain channel (its all tube), but even small volumes like the gain on 4 and the volume on 2 its already quite buzzy... is there something i could have a tech do to it to quieten it down a bit or are tube amps generally like that?

Thanks for your help

matta

I use WIMA's where possible, the agents in SA are Avnett Koop. I like to use the MKS2 range, RE the values and number, you are going to need to do this to taste... I can tell you I replace the 1uF lytics with WIMA's, the Tants with their equivalent values in film and I tweak/play with the input buffer cap to lower the bass.

RE the Laney, there are bunch of reasons, check the Amp thread, I've responded there.

Cheers

Matt

guidothepimmp wrote: Thanks Matt,

Definitely something i'll consider.. where would you say the best place to get cap's would be? I usually use an electronics store thats quite nearby but I couldn't tell whether theyre good quality or not :-[, also do you know what the parts no's would be? ?

oh and sorry about the offtopic, my laney tends to hum quite a lot on the gain channel (its all tube), but even small volumes like the gain on 4 and the volume on 2 its already quite buzzy... is there something i could have a tech do to it to quieten it down a bit or are tube amps generally like that?

Thanks for your help

guidothepimmp

Thanks Matt :goodtimes:

matta

Hey Guys,

Reviving an old thread. I'm putting together my pedal board and while back I bought a Visual Sound Route 66 from AndyD. I plugged it in and have been playing with it over the past few days. Basically it is a TS808 and Ross Compressor clone in a box.

I love the compressor, twangy and clamps down thick and squigy, but the TS side bothered me. While it was in the realm of TS808, like the Maxon/Ibanez's the 1uF caps are bipolar electrilytics, these smear your tone, causes bass/low end distortion and muddies up the low mids.

I swapped them out with high grade 1uF polys and it's night and day difference, low end distortion be gone!

If you guys only ever do one mod, do this, it doesn't change a TS being a TS, but it will clean up that low end haze/distortion.

Pedals back on the board and I'm enjoying it.

Cheers

Matt

nick

For the not so technical could you point them out on the pic in your first post?

Also, I remember I swopped out a cap on my TS9 to allow more bass through, I'd like to reverse this mod, or just half the cap value to let slightly less bass through.. but for the life of me can't find which cap it is I swopped out.. Can you remember which it is?

matta

Hey Nick,

The two big red capacitors, top left hand side, 1uF. The cap you changed was probably the small red one, in my case the 100nF one in the first picture.

Cheers

Matt

nick wrote: For the not so technical could you point them out on the pic in your first post?

Also, I remember I swopped out a cap on my TS9 to allow more bass through, I'd like to reverse this mod, or just half the cap value to let slightly less bass through.. but for the life of me can't find which cap it is I swopped out.. Can you remember which it is?

AndyD

Hey Matt Still loving the ts 808 that you modded for me. Still on my board after 2 years. I guess the mod you are talking about re caps was done on mine. Still sounds Great. Great to see you back on these pages.