Ibanez TS808 Reissue - Review

Ibanez TS-808 Reissue Tube Screamer - Review

Ibanez TS-808 Reissue Tube Screamer Review

What can I say about the TS808? Everyone should know about this little ditty - and everyone should have one. Well I may stand corrected by some that this little green box is for everyone, but for anyone who wants to play Classic Rock then this is the baby. Place it in front of a Marshall JCM800 (or older amp) and watch that amp come to life - just as you have listened over and over again on those classic tracks but probably didn't know it.

Yes the TS808 is almost an institution when it comes down to Classic Rock. But this one in question is a reissue. Now if you're one of those old school guys you will by now wanting to close this review and you will have already decided that the reissue TS808 is rubbish. We all have our views and those may well be yours. But those views are often tinged with a little snobbishness like 'I have the old one it's much better' and 'mine is worth...' well actually none of that matters.

Most reviews will harp on about the kit and how you wil or will not like the sound etc ad nauseum. Well think about this. There are basically two things that matter, does the kit work, and most importantly how does it sound to your audience (notice I did not say 'how does it sound to you'). That's right, you bought this to sound good to your audience didn't you? The most important thing about a musician is how he sounds to the audience.

So here we are reviewing the TS808 reissue. I have to be subjective in this review so I'll let the cat out of the bag right now. I think the TS808 and the TS808 reissue is damn near the same with a smattering of tiny changes - not worth the difference between the two. I bought this one for just £50.00 pounds second hand. It looks like there has been some fool trying to age it for a better vibe, but really I don't care what it looks like - so I bought it in a snap. It was a bargain.

There are just three knobs, Overdrive, Tone and Level so it's not rocket science to use. The way I use it, and the way many of the old school Marshall guys use it is in fact not as a distortion pedal (which actually it is not that good at). I use it as a method of increasing the input volume to the preamp, and keeping the overdrive low. This has a similar effect to increasing the output of your pickups without adding much distortion from the TS808. The sound in front of a Marshall is glorious. Even from this 'reissue' it sounds the same to my ears as the old ones.

You could go and spend £400.00 pounds plus on one of the old ones (if you are silly enough), or you could buy one of these and modify it to the older specs (costs about £10.00 pounds in bits (a good idea) or you could just do what I did. Wait for someone to want to dump one of these because they believe what others say that these are in some way inferior to the originals AND they don't know how to use one, grab the bargain of a lifetime (which I did) and play as you get it (the best idea so far).

Anyway, it's your call. You can basically do what YOU want - but don't lose sight of the fact that it is your audience who will tell you if it's any good or not. Not some reviewer like me, or your mates, or the music store, or the manufacturer.

So I rate this as good as it gets - the new ones are about £110.00 pounds on the streets and if you get one like I did, then it's a veritable steal - it's got to be a 10 out of 10 for this one.

Here's what I liked about this one under review:

• The Price
• Quality of Build
• Even I liked the sound (a bonus) - so does my Audience - a Necessity
• Can be modified if I want to do that quite cheaply
• Easy Change Battery

If you use this pedal correctly it's a keeper. If you use it as the guy who bought it before me (I was told it was just a few months old) then he clearly did not 'get' the sounds or vibe from this pedal. If you are all about turning everything up to 11 (hello Nigel) then this TS808 Reissue - or for that matter even the old TS808 is not going to be for you. Just buy an amp with extra preamp tubes in it like the E670 from Engl. But if you want 'that' sound like the Classic Stuff then this is the pedal for you.

I did go to see Michael Schenker a short time ago and had the pleasure of being about four foot from the stage the whole gig. Michael is an awesome guitarist, and apart from a few other simple pedals, in front of his Marshall JCM800 was one of these pedals. Oh yes, and it WAS a reeissue. One thing's for sure, if it's good enough for Michael Schenker - trust me - it's good enough for your audience too.

Heres the Ibanez link to their site: www.ibanez.com/ELECTRONICS/model-TS808

TS-808 as it comes but without the knocks...

TS-808 Battery Cover

If its good enough for him....