Maxon OD Shootout

[GuitarIv]

Just found this amazing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ak_nWBdEMhg

Lengthy, yes, but a good comparison. My favourites are the OD-9 Pro+ and the ST-9 Pro+.

[hubobulous]

Yeah, I used to subscribe to his Riff of the Week channel and it was always full of insightful lessons and product explanations. His albums are worth checking out too.

[ericsabbath]

right now I have a ts9dx, an od808 and an analogman od9
the od9 arrived a couple days ago and I didn't have time to test it yet

I also have a cheap oliver sd10, which is an 80's roland licensed brazilian boss sd-1 clone (board looks exactly like a boss sd-1, but most of the electronic components were made in brazil instead of asian, including a brazilian 4558D opamp)

I'm not sure if I have a favorite, and I'll probably sell most of them and keep whatever pedal is left
each one has its qualities for boosting (I use very low gain from the amp)
the ts9dx on ts9 mode is the hottest one, with that rich harmonic content and tighter picking response
the plus mode works really well for fatter leads or thick rock rhythms without going into metal focused tones
the od808 is slightly smoother and less saturated, quite polite and articulate.... kinda feels fatter, but only because it has less top end attack
the sd10 sounds just like a boss sd-1, and seems to have less output than the ts9, but a little more compression, and is also slightly treblier on leads than the od808

[TheyCallMeVolume]

OD9 sounds best here I think. Saw Dave with Steve Vai, great playing and great tone too! Loved the Friedman BE he was using.

[Telerocker]

OD9 is a classic. I'll still have an 1981 TS9 lying around. It's not on my board now, but this thread might change that.  :)

[GuitarIv]

Eric, I have a TS9DX as well, does it's job pretty well allthough I mostly only use the regular TS-9 Mode. I can't imagine my life without a tube screamer anymore, really gets the best out of an amp.

[tekbow]

OD9 is a classic. I'll still have an 1981 TS9 lying around. It's not on my board now, but this thread might change that.  :)

get ready for a bit of a "meh" attack. If it's an 81 it'll prolly have the JRC opamp in it, but i'm long past believing it makes as tonal difference. I've got an 83 and what i notice between it and a keeley modded 808 is the Ts9 doesn't have as much volume for boost, in fact i find boosting a lead channel results in things getting muddier (poss cos a soldano is mid heavy anyway). However, where it lives better than the modded 808 is on an "on the edge of breakup" clean channel with the power tubes cooking. This is where that wonderful glassy chimey SRV style grit appears.

[Telerocker]

OD9 is a classic. I'll still have an 1981 TS9 lying around. It's not on my board now, but this thread might change that.  :)

get ready for a bit of a "meh" attack. If it's an 81 it'll prolly have the JRC opamp in it, but i'm long past believing it makes as tonal difference. I've got an 83 and what i notice between it and a keeley modded 808 is the Ts9 doesn't have as much volume for boost, in fact i find boosting a lead channel results in things getting muddier (poss cos a soldano is mid heavy anyway). However, where it lives better than the modded 808 is on an "on the edge of breakup" clean channel with the power tubes cooking. This is where that wonderful glassy chimey SRV style grit appears.

Ampsettings and the kind of guitar are important with this little green box. Since I have an Orange Rockerverb I don't use it. It makes my amp sound smaller.  Other pedals work better with the Orange.

[hunter]

I was looking at Maxons, Keeleys, Majik Box etc. But today I connected my OTC V4 on 18V - DAMN, I don't think I'll need another dirt pedal.

[ericsabbath]

the analogman maxon od9 sounds great
hard to say which one I like better
I like the compression and edge of the oliver, the fat midrange of the analogman, the aggressiveness of the ts9dx and the thick articulation of the od808

[tekbow]

Ampsettings and the kind of guitar are important with this little green box. Since I have an Orange Rockerverb I don't use it. It makes my amp sound smaller.  Other pedals work better with the Orange.

I personally think it has more to do with the amp

Speculation Alert:

Tubescreamers found their place as something that filled out the midrange on amps. IMO some of the most famous cases of tubescreamer use was on American Amps like fenders (SRV) and Boogies (pick your eighties metal band) along with what i call Yankified Marshalls (Stateside Export Marshalls that had 6L6 type valves fitted by the distributers) all of which, to my mind, had a less prominent midrange.

Sometimes i don't get the Keeley/A-man type mods. In the case of the mod+/silver mod they claim to get rid of the unpleasant nasal "midrange hump" that tubescreamers had. Now correct me if i'm wrong, but the whole filling out the midrange thing was the very reason they were used? either as a boost for solo's or to generall cut thru the mix. I think there's a lot to be said for the "less/more drive" mods (which also seem to raise the output, and, depending on the amp, the "tightening up the bottom end mod", because they do result in the TS become a great tight open clear clean boost that adds volume. But it makes the TS not a TS anymore. removing the mid hump takes away what a TS is. Thats why i think the A-man/Keeley "hifi midhump killing" mods are a bit odd. It's like having a slightly more characterful clean boost, but something less than a TS.

Don't get me wrong, the keeley sounds great, and it still has enough midrange to compliment what my amps putting out already, it does add to the low end of my amp too, and the TS9 does sound great doing the glassy gritty thing on a clean channel.

I just think the tubescreamer has been mojoficated beyond all reason these days. Not everyone needs one, if you like it fine, but i know a lot of people who own TS's because "everyone owns a Tubescreamer". Not meaning anyone here btw. I see kids beeline in and out of local music shops with them. especially the 808 RI

[ericsabbath]

Sometimes i don't get the Keeley/A-man type mods. In the case of the mod+/silver mod they claim to get rid of the unpleasant nasal "midrange hump" that tubescreamers had. Now correct me if i'm wrong, but the whole filling out the midrange thing was the very reason they were used? either as a boost for solo's or to generall cut thru the mix. I think there's a lot to be said for the "less/more drive" mods (which also seem to raise the output, and, depending on the amp, the "tightening up the bottom end mod", because they do result in the TS become a great tight open clear clean boost that adds volume. But it makes the TS not a TS anymore. removing the mid hump takes away what a TS is. Thats why i think the A-man/Keeley "hifi midhump killing" mods are a bit odd. It's like having a slightly more characterful clean boost, but something less than a TS.

I agree
and that made me very skeptical when I bought my analogman od9 (it wasn't really expensige anyway)
don't know which mod it has, but it actually sounds more midrange focused than all the other overdrives in the picture I posted
top is just a little tamed in comparison, but has a ton of mids
sounds close to the od808, but the mids are centered in a more vocal frequency

[tekbow]

Analogman actually does 2 mods, one thats the equivalent, or vice versa, to the keeley mod, and a classic mod that makes your TS9 (or new 808) etc sound like the old ones did.. now i'm not sure about that, not sure how much actual objective difference there is between a reissue and an original (the early TS9's RI's for example were built in the same factory by the same people as the original TS9's), i guess you could argue that compnents from diff manufacturers and the fact the circuit board in the current TS9 and TS808 RI's are the same, account for the difference in sound, but conceivably in modding a current RI to have the character of an original maybe tightens up the midrange focus? So i guess your 9 could be the classic mod?

by the way, here's that visual sound vid on op-amps that settled the mojo op-amp controversy for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpTv2jAree8

Could be argued that the pedals are route 808's and therefore not tubescreamers and not reall world comparison, but IMO visual sounds 808's sound better than the non modded ibanez RI's anyway.

[ericsabbath]

i guess you could argue that compnents from diff manufacturers and the fact the circuit board in the current TS9 and TS808 RI's are the same, account for the difference in sound, but conceivably in modding a current RI to have the character of an original maybe tightens up the midrange focus? So i guess your 9 could be the classic mod?

difference between 9 and 808 is two resistors, maybe a capacitor as far as I remember
the newer 9's supposedly don't have the JRC 4558D opamp

[Toe-Knee]

i guess you could argue that compnents from diff manufacturers and the fact the circuit board in the current TS9 and TS808 RI's are the same, account for the difference in sound, but conceivably in modding a current RI to have the character of an original maybe tightens up the midrange focus? So i guess your 9 could be the classic mod?

difference between 9 and 808 is two resistors, maybe a capacitor as far as I remember
the newer 9's supposedly don't have the JRC 4558D opamp

This is all true.

I find TS sound better with the NE5532 (also not in the new ts9)