Ugly Truth: Vintage TS-9 Tube Screamer

Some time ago I was going through the bargain bin at the local music store and found a Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer. I already had a TS-9DX and wasn't all that impressed by it, but I figured that I would compare the two and see if there were any major advantages with one or the other. On a lark I traded bit of gear for a $0 transaction. One home I played the two Tube Screamers side by side. The TS-9 did seem to have a little more high-end on tap, but the two were very close. Weeks past and I wanted a project, so I decided to do some mods to the TS-9. The bottom plate was covered in Velcro covering the bottom. I peeled the Velcro off to access the screws and the bottom label came off. Usually I don't care about such things, but I stopped and peeled the label away from the Velcro. To my surprise it was not a contemporary label. To the internet I went to find out when this pedal was made. It could be vintage. So using the label, battery door, and some of the actually PCB components, I was able to determine that this pedal was made in 1983. It was one of the earliest TS-9s ever made. I was holding a $200-300 pedal. I was excited by the find, and I also decided that I would mod it, obviously. The picture isn't always pretty though.

Pedals Don't Get Better With Time

There is a big to-do about vintage pedals, but the reason that vintage pedal are popular isn't really based on fact. We owe most of our desire to vintage effects to two things: discontinued effects (the real reason) and vintage instruments. For as long as I can remember, people have said that violins better with age. The oldest and finest violin was Stradivarius. Fast forward a few hundred years and people still clamor over Pre-CBS Fenders. So people apply a subjective thought about violins to modern instruments and that spills over into other gear. There are some reason that some people go up in value. The Boss Slow gear is a pedal that has gone out of production and are hard to come by. They can be seen as high as $500. But people who care still rave about replacing passive components with vintage counterparts, spending time and money to replace something with objectively no difference. The truth is that many of components worsen over time. Metal rusts, Pots get scratchy, years of exposure cause degradation.

Much Of The Difference Is In Our Heads

I did a shootout with several Tube Screamer and Tube Screamer like pedals. After A/B-ing each combination with each pedal in its own loop, I was only able to discern slight differences between the pedals. They ranged from a $40 Bad Monkey to EHX's East River Drive to my vintage TS-9. I'm not saying that I could replace one for another and there be no difference, but the difference there was made little impact to the overall sound. No one casually listening would be able to tell the difference from the cheapest to the most expensive. Just knowing which pedal I was playing probably accounted for most the difference that I "heard".

The Coolest Thing About Owning A Vintage Pedal Is Owning A Vintage Pedal

The only time that people know that my TS-9 is vintage is when I tell them, and every I do, I feel like that guy. There is nearly no reason to own vintage gear than to brag about it. I wouldn't have picked up this pedal if the seller actually knew it was vintage. I do run a TS pedal on my board, but it's not the vintage one. I run an East River Drive because it sounds good and it has True Bypass and a brighter LED (and the pots aren't scratchy(and yes, I've tried contact cleaner)). I've considered sell a number of times. It would be nearly all profit, but I've decided that having a somewhat rare pedal around isn't a bad thing. Its more like a neat collectible than a pedal that I use. On the one hand, it's a good working pedal that deserves to be used, on the other hand, it is a semi-rare and valuable piece of gear.

Conclusion

The thing I like most about the pedal is the story that I get to tell of how I acquired it. I also like to see people reaction to the value of the pedal. Yes, I brag a little bit, but mostly I just think it's cool.

Music Store Finds Are What Give Me Hope...

All of us that are lucky to live near a great local music store know what greatness can await us in the discount bin. Lately I had a great find in my local store. I've been looking for a deal on a pedal I could tinker with, so when I noticed an Ibanez TS-9 sitting in the used gear bin I got a little excited. The guys at the shop gave me a fair shake on the price so I came home with the pedal. After giving the pedal a good going through. I decided to tweak it. So I sit down with my new find about to get busy with a soldering iron and, on a whim, I peel the velcro that had covered the bottom plate. Of course the label peels off. I decide I want the label on my pedal so I try to separate the two. This is almost impossible. Just getting a corner start was frustrating enough, but I kept going. I notice that the label read, "Made In Japan". Interesting, most pedals are made in china, except the vintage ones of course. So now I look up the history of the TS-9 and how to tell if it is vintage or reissue.

Step one: The Label

If the label is black then it is the oldest edition of these pedals, meaning it was made in the very early 80's. This doesn't mean that a silver label is not vintage, just that its is made after the first ones with black label. The Silver label has a couple clue to the age of the pedal. If it says "Made in Japan" then your off to a good start. In the upper right hand corner there should not be the familiar "CE" symbol. This was added later, and its a dead giveaway that the pedal in more recent. The more recent reissues' serial number begin with "00", vintage units should not. The first number in the serial number should be close to the year of manufacture, ie 3xxx means the pedal is made in 1983.

Step two: The Guts

Getting into the pedal, the inside of the battery cover should say "MAXON". Looking at the PCB the capacitors should be green in color and the IC may be a few different types, but the JRC4558 is the one that most people look for. If all these things check out then you can feel pretty confident that you are in possession of a vintage Tube Screamer. Congratulations!

This was the case with my find. I couldn't believe it. I found this pedal in the discount bin and come to find that it is actually worth several times the price I paid. Sometimes it pays to do you homework.