need advice on monte allums mod

[birv2]

I'm looking into doing one of his mods on my TS9DX.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Bob

[duhvoodooman***]

I'm looking into doing one of his mods on my TS9DX.

Any thoughts?

Well, he offers a well thought-out kit with good instructions at a fair price. Which mod are you considering, and what do you want to achieve with it, tone-wise?

[birv2]

Well, he offers a well thought-out kit with good instructions at a fair price. Which mod are you considering, and what do you want to achieve with it, tone-wise?

As far as I know, he has only one mod for the TS9DX (he calls it the "dual drive mod").

I'm looking for some "upgrades" on three of the modes on this pedal. As most people have said about the pedal, those 3 modes basically add more bass and cut the overdrive. I'd like to reverse that. I'm not looking for insane distortion, since I play mostly blues. But I'd like some creamy overdrive up to a bit of ragged dirt.

[duhvoodooman***]

OK, I just looked at that kit. Nice enough kit at a reasonable price, but from what I can see, it just converts a TS9 to TS-808 specs, adds some higher quality caps, and an IC socket to be able to change opamps. It does nothing that I can see to change the pedal gain, so if you want more "oomph" from your TS, this won't do it.

BTW, the very popular so-called "brown mod" has two elements to it: First, it changes the ratings of two resistors in the pedal's output buffer to be the same as what was/is used in the TS-808. Fair enough, because many people seem to agree that the 808 has a somewhat nicer/warmer tone than the 9 versions. And the only difference between a TS-808 and a TS-9 is those two resistors and maybe (not always!) a better opamp.

Secondly, it uses "carbon comp" resistors for that purpose, vs. the newer & more commonly used carbon film or metal film varieties. In point of fact, the old carbon comp technology is clearly inferior to these new types, being intrinsically noisier, but this was the type in use when the TS-808 first came out in the late 70's. IMO, this element of the "brown mod" is unscientific mumbo-jumbo. Why upgrade the caps to higher fidelity versions and at the same time install "lower-fi" resistors?? Just silly, if you ask me. But this is the kind of "lore" that floats around and people grab onto as being fact, rather than applying scientific principles and/or the brain God gave them. OK, back off the soapbox. In any case, Monte isn't responsible for the brown mod myth, he's just offering a kit that contains a very popular mod that people look for....

[birv2]

Whoa, thanks, DVD. I really know very little about the technical aspects of all of this. I don't really know a resistor from a capacitor but am willing to learn.

I'm also looking at the Garmopat mod and have been emailing and phoning back and forth with him. Are you familiar with his stuff?

[duhvoodooman***]

No, not familiar with Garmopat; will check it out this weekend.

How are your soldering skills? This kind of thing involves some pretty fine soldering. Actually, desoldering the old parts from the effect PCB is trickier than soldering in the replacements. You have to be careful not to apply too much heat, potentially damaging the traces or eyelets on the PCB....

[birv2]

How are your soldering skills?

Non-existent.

I actually know someone who's really good at it and likes to do it for fun. So I would get him to do it.

I actually would love to acquire soldering skills, but not at the expense of a good pedal.

I've looked briefly at some of the 5E3 amp kits. Maybe someday....

Bob

[duhvoodooman***]

I took a quick look at that Garmopat page. Yeah, that one should meet your needs. It's a far more extensive modification than the Allums mod klit, which is focused on tonal enhancements in the existing TS circuit, not gain boosting and additional circuit functionality. This one would give you pretty much everything in the Allums mod plus more gain, switchable clipping modes (a great mod!), and a bass boost switch. Not quite up to the level of flexibility of my Zonkin' Yellow Screamer modified TS clone pedal, but definitely a significant upgrade! That's why it's more than double the price of the Allums kit. Well worth it though, IMO....

[birv2]

DVD, did I mention that you are The Man? :

Seriously, thanks for taking a look at that. Another reason why I love this forum!

Actually, the price for the Garmopat mod includes parts, labor and return shipping. And the Allums mod just includes the parts. So it's a pretty good deal.

Thanks again!
Bob

[Adrian30]

Speaking of soldering...Is a 30W fine tip soldering pencil the right wattage to use?

[duhvoodooman***]

It's a tad large, but should be OK as long as you're careful. Keep your contact times short.

[birv2]

Thanks for all the input. I actually got an email from Monte Allums. I had asked him about how his mod affected all 4 modes of the TS9DX, and he said the first two were for guitar and the other two for bass, so it probably would not do what I wanted it to do.

So I think I'm going to go with Garmopat mods. But Allums gets major props from me for his honesty. Wish everyone were like that.

Bob