Maxon Reissue Series OD808 Overdrive

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Maybe someone would say that's bull because they're both just tubescreamers, blah blah blah. I've heard all that before and I still disagree. Let your ears determine what sounds good. All I can tell you is I've been through all those and I told you what I prefer and why.

In recent years the OD808 has been adopted as the overdrive of choice by a generation of guitarists in a most unlikely musical genre – metal. The lists in this article were last updated on June 5th, 2023 The Best Selling Overdrive of All Time

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For over 40 years Maxon’s legendary "808" overdrive circuit has been an essential ingredient to achieving great guitar tone. Whether it’s used as a booster to drive an amp, as a Dirt box for crunch and extra sustain or as an EQ to shape the tone of a high-gain amp, the 808 in its many incarnations has shown up in more rigs and on more recordings than anyone would care to count. When Ibanez reissued its TS-9 Tube Screamer in 1996 (circuit still manufactured by Maxon), some wondered why they didn’t choose to reissue its TS-808 model instead. Thankfully though, modifications were easy enough to perform to turn the TS-9 reissue into a genuine TS-808 and many offer that service today.

Find out more about how we make our recommendations and how we testeach of the products in our buyer's guides.Long story short ... this unassuming OD808 was the winner. The Ibanez TS Mini was last place and the fancy, ridiculous expensive TS808HW was somewhere in the unremarkable middle. Housed in a heavy-gauge metal enclosure, the OD808 certainly feels rugged. I also have a preference for the older-style stompbox switches as used in the OD808 as they seem to hold up well to long-term abuse and are easy to replace if they do go down. While I have not experienced problems with the Ibanez 9-series style footswitches personally, I have heard some complaints regarding reliability issues with some of them.

It also features a harder clipping pattern than the standard model, creating a searing, full-bodied drive tone that helps chords ring and notes sing. The Extreme shares the same basic circuit architecture as the OD808. However, several key component values have been altered to achieve what may be the ultimate overdrive tone. What I do know however is that there is a world of difference in tone between the newly-issued JRC4558D chip and the Toshiba model as used in the TS-9 reissue. If you currently own a TS-9 reissue and even if you don’t necessarily want to convert it to TS-808 specifications, do yourself a favor and at least get a new-issue JRC4558D chip in there to hear a nice improvement. The OD808 sounded as it should with its proper JRC4558D chip and I’m happy to report that fans of the 808 sound will be very pleased with the sonic results of the OD808. Even though this modestly proportioned and rather plain box commits the apparently cardinal sin of not having a full-bypass switch, the sound is just sweeter and warmer than all the others. When originally constructing my pedal board, I went to great lengths to maintain an unbuffered signal path because I did not like the super-metallic brightness that buffered pedals introduced. Particularly bad with Overdrive pedals.The OD808 Reissue offers up all the warm, creamy, organic overdrive as the original and then some. Never one to rest on their laurels, Maxon has tweaked the current version ever so slightly to reduce noise level while retaining the legendary “808” tone (see Tech Talk below). Still, there's a lot of players that hunger for the original, and companies are happy to oblige. Tube Screamer can mean a number of different things, as even the original has changed many times since its introduction in 1979. In this guide, we're going to cover some of the best Tube Screamer clones, reproductions and adaptations on the market.

The range you can get from the pedal is quite simply, astonishing. It provides the mild overdrive of a tube amp without the sacrifice of the original guitar tone. It can be used alone to reach slight to mid distortions, or to get that warm, rich overdrive. Oh, forgot to add, the VS route 808 is really cheap compared to the Maxon/Ibanez pedals. I know Agent Orange knows this, but for the OP's info, buffers in a chain are not a bad thing, it's all about context. Thats why i like the VS stuff so much. JHS creates a vast range of single-mode overdrive and distortion pedals which have nearly all become fan favorites. For this reason we’d have expected the Bonsai to take the form of nine separate TS-inspired stompboxes – but this love letter to the Tube Screamer, in its 9-in-1 format, is guaranteed to go down as one of the best JHS pedals – and one of the best TS clones – of all time.Different pedals work well for different amps. i have never understood the use of a tubescreamer to boost a marshall or 5150 etc. Maybe because they're known as a boost pedal, primarily because of SRV. But here's the thing. SRV was Fender user, and LOTS of country players use TS's. and they generally use Fenders. Why does this combo sound so good? because fenders are typically amps with a scooped character. the TS adds in what isn't there. For lovers of the 808 sound that don’t want to deal with modification hassles, Maxon under its own name has reissued its own OD808 pedal based on the same circuit of its more-famous Ibanez TS-808 cousin. The “808” sound overall is famous for its bluesy transparency, touch-sensitivity, and smooth overdrive tone. As tone-lovers, we were anxious to take the OD808 for test spin. also, if you get an 808 or TS9 etc etc from whoever some are relay switched, some are TB, whole myriad. for the relay switched ones, this little item to convert them to TB without drilling holes is supposed to be good. To those who were “in the know”, Maxon’s OD808 was identical to the famous Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer in nearly all but name when it was initially put on the market in the late ‘70s and early ’80s. In fact, Maxon was the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) for Ibanez and actually made both the Ibanez pedals as well as its own under the Maxon name. The style of music you play will have a huge influence on the type of Tube Screamer clone you buy. The amounts of gain, tonal control, and voicing of your new pedal will need to be taken into account, as well as whether you'll be using it as a clean boost or not.