James is a guitarist, bassist and drummer and has also toured the UK and Europe with his old band Hypophora. Where performing this mod to a 9-series Ibanez pedal would involve quite a bit of work with the addition of a separate switch that would have to be drilled through the top of the chassis, the OD808 would take to the conversion very easily. Through a mid-scooped amp it really comes into its own, and if you’re in the market for a TS clone that can do a little more then this should be on your shortlist. The toggle switch provides asymmetric the clipping found in the Strong Mod, and the classic symmetric one produced by the original TS9 and TS808. And at lower pedal gain settings, the extra midrange yields a fat low-gain crunch and singing blues lead tones.

When I'm recording bands in these genres, I ALWAYS throw this pedal in the mix to tighten up the guitar tones, as well as to drive amps as well as the best ODs I've tried in the past. While the pots are mounted to a PCB “daughter board” which then mates to the main board, the footswitch and jacks are not directly PCB-mounted and are indeed also quality components. It includes controls for Level, Tone and Gain and a Juiced mode that boosts the signal with a flick of the switch.Vintage TS808’s are susceptible to microphonic noise due to static electricity buildup on the chassis. It has more gain and sounds a little more aggressive than the OD9, but not over-the-top Marshall EQ like the SD9. The OD808X uses the same control configuration you’d see on any basic Tube Screamer—knobs for overdrive, volume, and tone. You can trust Guitar World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you.

The lack of a battery compartment means that this pedal needs to be used with an external power supply – which isn’t included with the pedal. Mode 2 is a clean boost, and works well if you’d rather preserve your amp tone when in tonal nirvana. I'm assuming that you could change the switch in your TS-9 to true bypass if it is not like that already. Placing the Proof toggle switch in the up position allows for increased headroom, while the down position enables maximum gain.

Gives great smooth overdrive on the clean channel, the guitar tone still shines through and it is true bypass when the pedal is off. Maxon play off being the original makers and charge lots of money, and Ibanez are the original brand. Mode 3 is the more ‘screamer’ option; an asymmetrical silicon diode arrangement but with a little more clarity for that ‘transparent’ drive tone we all talk about.

The OD808 produces an exceptionally warm, organic overdrive sound with stunning mid-presence, and this current version has been tweaked further by Maxon to produce even less background noise.A warranty card is also included and the OD808 is backed by a limited 3-year warranty on all non-moving parts such as transistors, while potentiometers and jacks are covered by a 1-year warranty. The OD808X takes Maxon’s classic 808 circuit to the extreme; adding extra Drive, Level and High frequencies to create a versatile, amp-like overdrive with excellent note clarity that won’t get lost in a mix.