ampage Tube Amps / Music Electronics	For current discussions, please visit Music Electronics Forum.

ampage archive

Vintage threads from the first ten years

TS9 reissue

:

12/15/1999 2:17 PM
Jim	TS9 reissue As far as I can tell, there is no difference between one of these and an old TS9. Am I right? I was given one as a present, and while is sounds ok through a cooking amp, it sounds crappy through a clean channel. Why does everyone think this is the holy grail of pedals?! Jim

12/19/1999 5:35 PM

The reissues use a different op amp. I don't know that everyone necessarily considers them to be the Holy Grail - I certainly don't - but they do help to cop the vibe of many great players who used them.

I have a Vox Valvetone 810 which is pretty damn cool too. I prefer real tube boxes (if a box is required at all) but the SS ones have their place.

My personal Holy Grail is an amp that doesn't need the boxes. Unfortunately, living in suburbia seems to preclude this since the cranked tone means breaking the neighbors' windows. :

Barry

12/20/1999 2:26 AM

i agree, i don't necessarily think that the TS is the holy grail of sound either. but then again, alot of good sounds have come out of it. its all a matter of personal preference, really.
.
one interesting pedal that has come along at a really bargain price is the danelectro daddy-o. its not the holy grail of tone either, but i brought one home from the shop for testing with my strat/boogie mk iv.
.
if you back the guitar's output to about 5 and run into the effect, using the effect's output knob to drive the amp, you can get some very nice subtle overdrive tones without the typical graininess that's associated with alot of op amp based TS type pedals.
.
of course, all of this stuff is highly subjective. you'll have to listen for yourself. but i have to admit, i was pleasantly surprised by the daddy-o. for the money, its a very decent little pedal, and its built like a brick.
.
bob

12/21/1999 8:35 AM
Barry	The Daddy-O seems to get very good reviews. Could you clarify something? One interpretation of your statement about the Daddy-O not being as grainy a some op-amp based pedals is that it doesn't use op-amps. I fI read it another way, it does use op-amps Maybe its the hour...does it use strictly discrete components or op-amps? Thanks, Barry

12/21/1999 12:47 PM

clarify? sure.
.
i wasn't commenting on the construction/design of the Daddy-O. i was just saying that if you back off far enough on the guitar's volume control you can avoid the kind of graininess that's characteristic of some op-amp based pedals. what i meant by that was that even though it probably does have an op-am in there (most every commerical pedal does now), you can still get some decent sounds out of it and it provides a great sonic bang for the buck, especially when you compare it to the very expensive alternatives out there.
.
having said that, your question raised my curiosity enough to kill a few cats, so i started to disassemble the pedal. if you've ever seen one, they're pretty heavy, tipping the scales at 2 1/4 lb! after removing the rear cover plate you'll find a bi-level circuit board inside. the first board is easy enough to get out (jacks, resistors, caps, one transistor, no ICs), but the second board is rather difficult to get out, as the 5 pots are mounted directly to the circuit board, and the knobs don't want to come off. i removed the screws and flexed the board as much as possible, spotting 2 ICs in there, but i could not see the lettering on them, as i was looking at the board from the wrong side.
.
after taking the pedal apart, i was REALLY impressed by how well the pedal is made, given its extremely low price. its ovbious that they have to be using slave labor in china to produce this pedal, as if it were produced in the USA we would be paying $200 for it instead of $60.
.
bob

12/22/1999 2:03 AM
Barry	Thanks for the detailed description based on your autopsy. I have been very impressed with the build quality based solely on outside impressions. Amazing for something so inexpensive. BTW, how are the cats? Thanks, Barry

1/8/2000 1:11 PM

regarding the cool cat --
.
i've never dissected a cool cat. not to say that I won't try that soon. i bought a case from the factory (i am a dealer) and it arrived with a bad bypass circuit. the pedal functions flawlessly when engaged. it produces some shott-noise when it goes into the bypass mode. its obvious that there's something wrong with the bypass circuit, but i haven't bothered to try fixing it. because the pedal works flawlessly when engaged, i just stuck it into an effects loop. i leave it on at all times, and use the loop;s switch to turn it on and off.
.
now how about this for customer support. i complained about the dead pedal to danelectro. all that they required for replacement was the battery door. the told me to use the pedal as a doorstop, and sent me another brand new pedal. so i essentially got a free pedal out of the deal. someday i may fix the bypass, or put a milinnium bypass in there, or i may just bypass the box entirely with a dpdt switch. but then again, i may not... the effects loop solution is working very well.

Page 1 of 3