Orange Amps Forum

Hello everyone,

I've been playing guitar for a while now and am only starting getting into guitar effects pedals. I have a BOSS GE-7 Equalizer for boosting mids predominantly for solos and am going to get a Dunlop Crybaby Wah in the near future.

The next bit of gear I'm looking at is Overdrive pedal.

I'm basically looking to get a little extra (although it has tons anyway) from my Orange TH-30 and Gibson Explorer and Classic Plus LP for both soloing and riffs that needed more distortion. I mainly play metal and hard rock (Metallica, Megadeth, AC/DC, Clutch, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Down, Crowbar, Motorhead etc).

I've narrowed it down to the following pedals which I think would be able to help with this and are more or less within my price range and have been mentioned in related articles I can find :

-Ibanez TS9
-Digitech Bad Monkey

I have seen one or two videos comparing the two on YouTube and they sound incredibly similar (although the TS9 is close to 4 time the cost of the Monkey) but no one seems to have used it through a TH30. Does anyone here use one of these pedals with a TH30 or would recommend which would suit my amp best?
I do of course intend on trying all these pedals at my local store but if anyone has advice on which would best suit my needs/ music style / current setup or could reccommend a good all rounder from the ones I listed or another pedal that would provide overdrive it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Blew1

I'm not going to say the bad monkey is a bad pedal, but it's developed a bit of a "reputation" around here that makes it a little undesirable! Tube screamers are great. The boss overdrive is good to for the price, many like it better than the tubescreamer and its cheaper. MXR make good ones too. To a to choose from, more about your budget I think. If you want something that's very dynamic, transparent and boutiqe like, expect to spend between $100-$200, but not necessary. I'd take the tubescreamer over the Bad Monkey though. It's also a very popular pedal.

I use a MI Audio Blues PRO together with my TH30. It's really good as a boost to the gain channel and and it doesn't have that super mid bump/bass drop as many Tubescreamer-esque pedals have. It gives me more gain and also fattens up the overall sound ask well as the mid frequencies but in a more ear friendly way

With the same settings I'm also able to use it as mild yet warm/fat overdrive sound, similar to e.g a Fulltone Fulldrive.

That's maybe a pedal you can try out?

/J

Get a Maxon OD-9. Maxon makes Ibanez's TS-9 Tubescreamer and licenses the Tubescreamer design for their OD-9 pedals. Funny thing is that the OD-9 uses the "proper" chip, the JRC4558D, which is strangely absent from my Ibanez TS-9...

Killswitch Engage uses Maxon OD-9's in front of their Laney Ironheart amps to push them a little harder and tighten up the bottom and pronounce the mids. It's a go-to pedal for most metal heads, and an excellent overdrive pedal. I'm thinking of replacing my TS-9 with the OD-9.

jesperbc wrote:Get a Maxon OD-9. Maxon makes Ibanez's TS-9 Tubescreamer and licenses the Tubescreamer design for their OD-9 pedals. Funny thing is that the OD-9 uses the "proper" chip, the JRC4558D, which is strangely absent from my Ibanez TS-9...

Killswitch Engage uses Maxon OD-9's in front of their Laney Ironheart amps to push them a little harder and tighten up the bottom and pronounce the mids. It's a go-to pedal for most metal heads, and an excellent overdrive pedal. I'm thinking of replacing my TS-9 with the OD-9.

It's probably the best tubescreamer, but more $$ too.

Hello Guys,

Thanks for the replies and advice, I will have to check out these pedals! You have given me a real selection headache with your suggestions and that's a good thing with my search for the tone I'm looking for!

@jesperbc + @Jondog
The Maxon is actually around £10/£15 cheaper on Amazon UK than the TS9, I think that's around 25 / 30 Dollars, but I'm curious...why on Earth would Ibanez allow them to make a copy of their product that's cheaper and has the proper chip? Am I missing something? I haven't had the chance to give the Maxon a listen yet, but would you both agree that its a much better buy than the Ibanez? Is there anything inferior in the Maxon compared to the original or is the only difference the brand?

Thanks

Blew1 wrote:Hello Guys,

Thanks for the replies and advice, I will have to check out these pedals! You have given me a real selection headache with your suggestions and that's a good thing with my search for the tone I'm looking for!

@jesperbc + @Jondog
The Maxon is actually around £10/£15 cheaper on Amazon UK than the TS9, I think that's around 25 / 30 Dollars, but I'm curious...why on Earth would Ibanez allow them to make a copy of their product that's cheaper and has the proper chip? Am I missing something? I haven't had the chance to give the Maxon a listen yet, but would you both agree that its a much better buy than the Ibanez? Is there anything inferior in the Maxon compared to the original or is the only difference the brand?

Thanks

Over here the Maxon OD9 is about $60 more. From what I understand, Maxon were always the original builder of the Ibanez tubescreamer pedals. Ibanez distributed them. The two companies parted ways a decade ago. Ibanez started using cheaper parts, Maxon use the right parts and true bypass switching. If nyour into Metallica, Kirk Hammett uses a tubescreamer, original. If you can get the Maxon cheaper, I'd go with that. I've always wanted one, but just never pulled the trigger.

TS circuits work well with the TH30 but my favortie by far is still not an OD but a boost. The Zvex SHO is AMAZING with the TH30...

If it's too much money, there are folks around the web who can build a good quality clone for a lot less (if you're not against cloning of course). I may even be able to recommend one if you PM me.

Cheers.

Is there any difference between the Maxon OD9 and the Maxon OD-808? A lot of Ibanex fans tend to view the 808 as the better model! They both cost the same on GAK!

I have my TS808HW. I paid way too much for a hand wired version of the original TS But I love it. It does boost mids and cut bass but, as a solo boost, that's exactly what I want. I also have a TS9 that I'm planning to send out to Analogman. Their mod eliminates the bass cut.

I haven't been able to try other ODs with my TH30, but I love what my MXR ZW44 does. Every time I tweak the settings I keep coming back to everything at noon on the OD with the gain on the TH30 at half and it just seems like the sweet spot for metal. That set up gives me good clarity while still making metal riffing/solos feel easy.

I'd really like to try some others like the Fulltone OCD, Earthquaker White Light, and Maxon OD808, but I live in the middle of nowhere so it's expensive to buy and compare

The 808

Jon

The OD-808 is essentially a TS-10 Tubescreamer circuit, according to http://www.analogman.com/tshist.htm, and I haven't seen that pedal get a lot of mention anywhere... Everyone tends to go for the TS-9, but yeah - a lot of people use the OD-808. Maybe it has more drive, you know, for metal and stuff?

Which one has the least mid-hump? That's the one I'd get.

I have a TH30, I love metal and I've boosted it with everything! I keep coming back to the Maxon OD808 TS. I run the amp gain about 1-2 oclock and the settings on the TS are gain about 9:00, volume about 3:00.

I have also boosted it with an OCD set more for boost, also good. I have tried the Digitech Bad Monkey and thought it was damn good for the price! You should try it for as cheap as it is. Underrated

I thought eh ZW OD44 was too noisy as was the MXR OD (green one)

I also boost with a Pharaoh fuzz. Its not a true boost, but overlays some heacy doomy fuzz tones on the Orange. Doesn't tighten it up, makes it heavier so be advised

Lastly as someone mentioned, trying boosts rather than ODs. I recently got a Naga Vyper treble (range) booster and I am experimenting with that too.