Keely TS-9 Mod Plus - educated opinions?

[goye2cz]

A couple years ago I bought a new Ibanez TS-9. (I think the year was 2009) I haven't played with it in about a year because I've been playing bass more. In the past few days I've been jamming with it straight into the amp. I like the sound but I don't like how thin it sounds. The tone knob seems to boost a narrow range of frequencies. The bass is really missing at lower drive settings. I found myself setting my clean amp channel to a good volume, setting the gain on my drive channel to just barely overdriving and then simply using the TS-9 to push it into overdrive. It does this fairly nicely but like I said, the sound is thin.

Enter the Keeley mod. I've read on the website a description that seems to talk about what I would like to see in my pedal but I'm hesitant to believe someone tooting their own horn. I've read some reviews that seem to be very positive, but lacking in grammar (if you know what I mean). I've seen many youtube videos that were useless to me in really hearing what the mod does... or possibly they were fine and the mod isn't so great?

I do understand that modding the pedal would make it a whole different animal. Knobs will operate a bit differently, the tone may be different, it's a matter of taste but I haven't seen anything on the internet that would help me see if this is really what I'm looking for.

Does anyone have this pedal mod and a stock pedal they would be willing to a/b test with quality audio recording? I'm tired of watching horrible sounding videos on youtube about this. Sorry if this sounds a bit like a rant but being a web developer it just really gets me when I look for content and instead I find a large amount of junk.

Anyway... thoughts?

[JFrankParnell]

I hear you, bro...why do ppl bother making a sound demo using their frickin point and shoot cam?

My take on TS mods and clones is that its a lot of hooey. I mean, sure, there are different sounding pedals for different tastes, but the super spendy ones arent worth it. And a mod that sounds good with one guitar-amp-setting might not work for you.

Since your complaint is thinness, I'd suggest looking for a TS clone with both bass and treble knobs. I like the Bad Monkey, its cheap and does the trick.

[cynical1]

I saw this on modding the TS. Fat Mod. Seems like it's just a capacitor swap to even out the response range to cover the full range of a guitar or bass, depending on the value inserted.

And as long as we're tossing out OD pedal recommendations, I scored a Digitech CM-2 Hardwire Overdrive on eBay and am amazed at what it can do. The tone controls are active, so when you boost the bass or treble you get an honest boost, versus a subtraction from the core signal. It's sensitive to the guitar's volume pot, so you can go from smooth boost to entry level distortion with a quick roll of the pinky.

HTC1

[goye2cz]

@jfrank, I have the feeling you may be right here. I just keep reading these reviews that are so glowing it's unbelievable. Kind of like the time the guy Guitar Center responded to my question about what color a guitar case was. His answer: "Nuclear". Sorry, couldn't find that one in my crayola box dude... On the other hand, if there was a useful A/B test video out there, even though it would be different on my rig, I would be able to at least get a general idea of the differences. I'll check out that Bad Monkey if I can.

cynical1, Sounds interesting to me. I've steered away from Digitech for a while but after the Prague Music Con (Muzika) a couple years back, they've had my attention. I set up the sound system for the guy presenting the Hardwire line of pedals. It was 2 or 3 months before they came on the market here. The concept of Digitech coming out with a true-bypass pedal had my attention. The sound of the overdrive they presented was great. The show was too loud for me to give it a good test drive at the time but thanks for bringing it back to my memory, could be worth a second look.

I'm not so willing to crack open on a whim a pedal I paid good money for. The TS-9 is good at what it does, and it may keep it's place on my board for some time. I'm also not willing to tweak the knobs on the rest of my rig just because of one pedal or component. I'm a big fan of that "whole instrument" concept and anything I add to the chain needs to improve the sound when in use, and not be part of the sound when not in use.

Thanks for the comments. Food for thought.

[JohnH]

Ive got a Bad Monkey - and its a good pedal for very few $. Apart from sounding good and being very versatile with its gain and twin tone controls, it has the added advantages of being bright metallic green, and having a name such as 'Bad Monkey'. Plus its really well made with a strong metal case.

heres a few youtube comparisons







The second two are hampered by the BM being at a lower volume level, so to hear a fair comparison, you have to keep moving the vol control.

All in all, they are fairly similar, but the Hardwire has an edge on the BM. Also, not obvious, but the BM in 'switched off' mode is not quite as transparent as a good buffer can be.

John

[thetragichero]

Oct 10, 2011 19:07:32 GMT -5 cynical1 said:

And as long as we're tossing out OD pedal recommendations, I scored a Digitech CM-2 Hardwire Overdrive on eBay and am amazed at what it can do. The tone controls are active, so when you boost the bass or treble you get an honest boost, versus a subtraction from the core signal. It's sensitive to the guitar's volume pot, so you can go from smooth boost to entry level distortion with a quick roll of the pinky.

HTC1

i've been extolling the virtues of this pedal (and the rest of the series) for a couple years now
my old bassist thought it would make his crate sound like a marshall ;D, so he hated it and flipped it to me
i've used it in front of my dsl, xxx, 5e3 clone, and picovalve and i LOVE it
i also have the stereo delay that does everything under the sun, and i just got the stereo reverb and am still learning how to use it
these pedals blow just about anything out of the water!

[morbe]

I purchased a ts 7 and modded it to the ts 808 circuitry. The only reason I modded this pedal was because I got it at a good price and didn't mind screwing it up. Did it change my tone? Yes, but it was so subtle that I got ear fatigue before I could tell any real difference. If I had the chance to do it all over again. I would not have wasted an hour of my time for so subtle of a change.