Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer Guitar Pedal Review
The Ibanez TS-9 overdrive trumps every other dirtbox I’ve ever owned in every category–except maybe versatility, but more on that later.
I run the pedal between my Fender Telecaster and Vox AD100VT amp, which I normally leave on the “AC-30″ emulator setting. The amp’s many models have great overdrives sound on their own, but it’s difficult to program the 2 channels so that one is clean and one is distorted without having a serious volume imblance–not to mention the small dropout in sound that occurs when you stomp on the Vox’s footswitch.
The TS-9 neatly solves this problem by providing a nice, crisp overdrive sound that blends perfectly with every amp setting I can come up with. I won’t say that the signal is transparent, but it’s awfully close–the only addition to the sound (so far as I can tell) is a slight midrange increase. In my experience, this frequency bump actually makes my tone better at higher volumes anyway. I can see why someone might not like it, though.
I’ve heard stories about the TS-9’s footswitch giving out, but since I’m not the type to slam my jackbooted heel down on my pedals, it seems to be a nonissue thus far. The pedal seems at least as well-constructed as my Boss pedals, which means it’ll outlive me.
The only possible concern I can see with the pedal is that it kinda only does one thing. Don’t buy this pedal if you’re looking for a highly-tweakable unit with a variety of tones; DO buy this pedal if you’re looking for a badass crunch tone that responds really well to your playing without sounding overly muddy nor overly crisp.
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This is a classic. I know a lot of people who would rather have the tones from this pedal than any one of the million customizations. I’m not sure why people want to even mod the TS9. I say keep it like it is. It’s one of the true classics that still hold up today.