I'm sure this has been posted 1000x before, but I'm getting my Peavey XXX next week, and looking into getting a Tubescreamer at the same time (along with a noise gate) I'm debating between a TS808, TS9, and a TS9DX since they're all in the same price range, and readily available at just about any music store.

Anyone have any suggestions? and if you have suggestions, how about settings suggestions too :-P

The Digitech Bad Monkey is a great alternative at a lower price. That's my suggestion.

I can custom build you a TS808 if you want.

price isn't a huge deal, I'll probably end up at the store trying everything out the day I pick up my head.

Don't buy the xxx. Get behtinger products and I promise you won't even need any extra overdrive. I've been hearing rick rubin and metallica are abusing behringers for their upcoming release. Seriously man, behringer is the way to go.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

DreamingInExile said:



well basically I can hand build and hand solder you up a ts808 to sound how you want, and still have it be a few bucks cheaper than a new ts808. It's not so much the price as it is getting the exact sound you want. I can also re mod the thing different times for you for a few bucks so you can tweak it to how you like.

that's not a bad idea, if I can't find a unit that I'm happy with, I may take you up on that offer.

joshtruction-Can you hot rod my line selector pedal?

passerby‘er said:


like and A/B/Y pedal?

I think he want's it modded to be an A/S/L? pedal

boss line selector. How bout the whammy pedal?

passerby‘er said:


I have never messed with the line selector pedal or the whammy pedal. I do got some mods for wah's though.

Josh, I just got my Mesa Quad and was thinking of getting a Maxon Tube Screamer reissue. I'd be very interested in what you could do for me.

GoatCatalyst said:


I can make you a pedal that aside from the case you can't tell the difference from the maxon.

interesting. are you familiar with the Mesa Quad and would you be able to build something especially complimentary to it? how much?

GoatCatalyst said:


I want a mesa quad pretty bad. I can build something up for that. I'd probably charge around the same price as a stock ibanez pedal. If you don't like the sound, for 10 bucks I'll mod it again differently and do that until you are 100% satisfied. I try to aim to get it right the first time. A lot of it comes down to personal preference as everyone has different idea's of what sounds good and what doesn't. What do you normally look for in a boost?

honestly, i've never used a boost. i've been using my gt-5 processor as my preamp for WAY too long. now that i've got the Quad, i'm pretty much going after that FUCKDOZER tone, if you know what i mean

GoatCatalyst said:

oh, I'll agree with you there, I've been using my Behringer V-Amp pro for FAAAARRRR too long!

on the note of FX pedals, I'm also going to be in the market for a good gate stomp box, I like the Decimator, but I can't find anywhere around here to try one out.

DreamingInExile said:

Behringer....Hell yes brother

luckily, the Quad is very quiet, but i'm sure a boost will fix that and necessitate a noise gate

passerby‘er said:

you really are quite amusing... did you always wear that pink helmet when you rode the short bus?

GoatCatalyst said:

once you go boost, you never go back. although ive never really known boosts to work that well in front of preamps.

i heard the mxr micro amp is good

BLUE!

just the tone elitist I was hoping to see in this thread, what are your recommendations?

blue said:


I know my mesa formula and studio didn't sound too great until I wacked em with a boost. Still wasn't the sound I wanted, but it was a ton better than before.

it may be likely that i just need more time to play with the controls. didn't have too much time to do that yet.

DreamingInExile said:


my picks:

Digitech Bad Monkey
Ibanez TS-9/808
Maxon OD-9/808
Keely SD-1 5 Star/Katana Boost
Fulltone OCD
...or have Josh build something for you (recommended)


my favorites out of that list would be the OD-808, OCD, Bad Monkey & 5 Star. But when it comes down to it, they're all tube screamers more or less. I just look for maximum transparency/smoothness in my boost. I currently use a Moho Mods TS-7 converted to 808+ specs, but pretty soon i'll be sporting my Joshtruction modded SD-1.


and please for the love of christ use the crunch channel, not the ultra channel. boosting the crunch channel is the #1 way to get the best high gain sounds out of a XXX. when i used shawn's old XXX for a few shows, boosting it with a bad monkey on the crunch was the only way to get a
satisfying sound.


oh yeah, and make sure you got a good set of tubes in there. i see too many players not changing tubes regularly enough/at all.

bump for mahk