Well Chop Shop is back after a small break in the action. Let me tell you these little articles take a lot of time to put together. Well anyway this issue we get into the history of the Ibanez Tubescreamer. The Tubescreamer was a direct descendent of the Overdrive and Overdrive II (OD-855 also) pedals that Ibanez produced in the early to mid-70's. It should be noted that the Maxon Corp designed and produced these pedals for Ibanez as they still do today in Japan.

Around mid to late 1976, Ibanez produced the TS-808 the "Holy Grail" of the Tubescreamer chain. One must remember that at the time Ibanez was not the huge guitar company they became in the 1980's. They were still mainly known for knock-off guitar copies they manufactured. Therefore, the 808 were made in small numbers compared to later versions. The 808 has always and will always be the most sought after of the Tubescreamer family. Certain electronics were found only in this version of the Tubescreamer that produced the sweetest sounding overdrive. They have been known to come in 2 to 3 different versions of the green they were painted and later came with an R registered trademark symbol above the Ibanez logo.

In 1983, the Ibanez Corporation began to make inroads to the US market in huge ways. Therefore they completely redesigned there pedal line with the "9" series of pedals at that time. The Tubescreamer got a new model name the TS-9, a slight enclosure change which included a new type of footswitch, and MILD circuit changes in the pedal. The changes produced slight tonal changes between the 808 and the TS-9 a debate that still goes on till this day - which is better? Later in the TS-9 series, the op-amp (JRC-4558D) which was found in the 808 was also changed as the JRC Company went out of business. This is known as the greatest change in the pedal sound and really the end of the great Tubescreamer run. It is the Tubescreamer with the correct op-amp that are prized possessions among guitar players everywhere.

In the mid to late 80's, Ibanez discontinued the TS-9 and replaced it with the TS-10. This is the where history started to decline as the TS-10 was just a cheap copy of its great past - the 808 and TS-9. Later came the TS-5 soundtank, which is still made, but is plastic and electronically not the same. In 1996 Ibanez - seeing the Vintage market bloom and the "Hair Band" guitar market shrink - reissued the original TS-9.

The reissued TS-9 looks correct in many ways except the black battery clip and the CE on the back, but the op-amp as discussed before is not correct. They sound very close to the originals but lack sometimes just a ting of sweetness. Many companies have started to mod these pedals (including www.gaspedal.com) with the original JRC-4558D op-amp. This brings the reissues back as far as you can to the originals missing only one thing. Time and the stories of stages and bedrooms the pedal has been for the last 20 years.