any opinions on the ts9-dx?

[birv2]

Found one locally on craigslist for $70. I've read up on them and heard a few sound clips.

I play blues at local jams (nothing pro). Strat through Pro Jr. I'm about ready to jump on it but thought I'd better ask the Fretters first! You guys have never steered me wrong yet.:master:

Bob

[duhvoodooman]

Good overdrive pedal, and that's a fair price, assuming it's in good shape. Tube Screamers tend to sound particularly good with Fender amps, so it should match up well with your Pro Jr.

[Adrian30]

I recently bought one (arrived about a week ago), and to put it in simple terms - I love it! The mode knob has three settings: TS9, Hot and Turbo. At my surprise, turbo is smoother and fatter sounding than hot; and hot is smoother than TS9 mode. I’ve always thought that it would be the other way around, and was expecting more gritty distortion from turbo mode; though I can't say that I was looking forward to it. In either instance, I love it through my Blues Jr. and haven’t tried it yet through the Spider II.

At that price ($70), I wouldn’t hesitate at all. Worst case scenario, if you don’t like it you can get rid of it for the same price anytime.

[Spudman]

Good deal - get it. Just make sure that if it's a lemon you can make it right with the seller.

[birv2]

Thanks, DVD, Adrian, and Spudman for the input. I bought it this afternoon and spent an hour or so tonight playing with different settings.

My first impressions -- love the 4 modes! So versatile. The TS9 mode sounds kind of wimpy, at least compared to the other ones. I agree with you Adrian, that the Turbo mode is smoother and fatter than the Hot mode. It's hard to get a bad sound out of it, but I don't feel like I've found "my" sound yet.

The other thing is that the Pro Jr has its own great overdrive when the amp is cranked. Maybe I should use the TS for more of a boost or for heavier tones. Any suggestions?

Again, great advice here from the fretters.

:beer:

Bob

[Adrian30]

:thwap: Wow Birv,
there are 4 modes! There's TS9+, marked only as a +, I mean a +. Wow! How could I miss that! I probably never tried the TS9 mode than. I guess I'll do that tomorrow, it's too late to be making noise now. Anyway thanks for pointing that out...:thwap: :messedup:

Congrats on your new pedal. You'll love it and I'm sure you'll find your sound soon. Again, I haven't had a chance to mess with it enough (very obviously). It's crunch time for me - the beginning of the semester, but things will quiet down in a week or two. I'm hardly waiting to try it with other pedals, see how that's going to work.


:rockon:

[LagrangeCalvert]

You could use it like I use my BBE Green Screamer - and how quite a few other players use it too - as a pedal to push your amph into a more liquid sounding clip that has less "wool" on it (meaning its not as fuzzy). Turn your Pro JR up to where it just barely breaks up under medium pick attack and the pop the TS on prolly on the "TS9" or "+" settings and keep the gain/drive down on it 7-9 o'clock and turn the volume waaay up - set your tone to where you like it. This gives you a great sounding, SRV style overdrive and boost to your signal to a "lead" setting. Now you have a "gritty" setting on your amp for rhythm and a screaming lead tone for your solos and louder parts. This also turns your pro into a virtual 2 channel amp. You can adjust the boost of the TS by turning your amp up for more breakup and turning down the level on your TS at the same time turning up the drive of the pedal.

Hope these tips help.

[birv2]

:thwap: Wow Birv,
there are 4 modes! There's TS9+, marked only as a +, I mean a +. Wow! How could I miss that! I probably never tried the TS9 mode than. I guess I'll do that tomorrow, it's too late to be making noise now. Anyway thanks for pointing that out...:thwap: :messedup:


I only knew it because I read as much as I could about the pedal on various sites yesterday. And that "+" is easy to miss -- all that lettering is pretty small. Look at it this way. You just got 25% more pedal!

:)

Bob

[birv2]

The TS9DX - Part Deux

OK, I played it again this afternoon and for some reason it didn't sound as awesome as I thought yesterday. Several of the modes sounded like just more bass to me. I fiddled a good bit with gain knob, volume, different pickup settings, etc.

I'm going to try it again and see what I think. Perhaps I just didn't have the right combination of settings. One idea I had was doing some mods on it -- I actually bought the plans for a TS mod from Indyguitarist and have all the parts. I was going to use it with my Tubulator, but since the Tubulator and the TS have the same parts (I hear), maybe I should try it out on the DX.

Yesterday I felt like I had found the holy grail, today ... not so much. Hopefully, it was just the mood I was in!

More later, but still open to suggestions. Lagrange, I did try it as a boost as you suggested but wasn't crazy about the sound.

Bob

[Spudman]

You could be experiencing a brown out or power sag on the grid where you live. That will make you gear sound different and you can never figure out why. Try it again at a different time of day.

[Adrian30]

The TS9DX - Part Deux

Hopefully, it was just the mood I was in!


Bob

Bob, I know it happened to me more than a few times with various pieces of gear that just didn't seem to "act right". I haven't had that problem with the TS9DX up till now, but than again I can't say that I "know" the tones of this pedal well. Hopefully in your case it was just a mood thing.

Let us know more.

[birv2]

I'm also looking into doing the Brent Mason mod on it (from Indyguitarist), which by all accounts really makes it sing.

I'll take it to the jam on Thursday night and test it out there. Nothing like a "live testbed". It becomes obvious real fast if something's working or not!

Bob

[birv2]

upon further review...

Taking the chance that it might be getting tiresome to hear my ever-evolving takes on gear, but....

Spent about an hour and a half yesterday with the TS9DX, so I had lots of quality time to play with all the settings. Two things really helped, I think -- I got to turn the amp up, and the tubes got nice and warm. By the end of the time, I found a tone that I really loved. In spite of reading what everyone said about not expecting distortion from the TS, I think I was still expecting a heavier sound. Instead, it's got more of a sweet, singing tone (at least to my ears). Once I got that, I began to appreciate the nuances of this pedal.

I'm also thinking I won't mod it, but will instead mod the Tubulator. I don't want to mess with the sound now.

:AOK:

Bob

another possibility -- I don't know how much the Pro Jr was played before I bought it used, but I wonder if the speaker is starting to break in?

[Adrian30]

Great to hear that you like your pedal, Bob. I had no doubt that you'll love it. It is a sweet little pedal.:beer:

[birv2]

Great to hear that you like your pedal, Bob. I had no doubt that you'll love it. It is a sweet little pedal.:beer:

I guess it's all about expectations. Even if you've never played through one, you have some expectation of what it will sound like. I couldn't believe how many reviews at HC gave it bad marks because they bought it for metal and it didn't deliver that.

Anyway, I'm glad I cranked the amp a bit more and tried it that way. Big difference! If I was more experienced, I'm sure I would have known that. Live and learn.

Bob