TUBE SCREAMER QUESTIONS (AND LOTS OF YELLING!!!!!)
- Thread starter JBroll
- Start date
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
I just wanted to jump in and state that the bad monkey CAN NOT EASILY BE MODDED. So your forced to use this pedal as is. However there are some people who use them and find them to be great boosts.
Thanks(<----WTF?), the reason being that it is not a PCB it's one of those really small ass boards (forgot the name).
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
What is the op amp chip that is used (well the most common) in an 808? Is it worth putting one in a pedal you want to convert (such as SD-1)?
Thanks for that one. I was wondering why I hadn't seen too many mods for it...
Oh, and PCB stands for printed circuit board, so technically anything of that sort is a PCB. Even the small ones can be modded - not easily, of course, but it's possible - if you have enough patience.
The 'big' name is the JRC4558D. If you want to get all caught up in 'mojo' and that nonsense, put it in, but the 4558 is a fucking shitty op amp. It was chosen solely because it was cheap and available. There are much better ones out there - maybe look for the 2134. Honestly, I'd put a 2134 in there and start tinkering with the clipping diodes if I were to mod an SD-1.
Jeff
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
The Board to the right, this is the type used in a bad monkey. This is the reason modding it for most people isn't worth the effort.
It's possible, just not friendly. I've done a smaller one - Danelectro something-or-other. Needed tweezers and a little help from someone who didn't have a jitter.
Jeff
Jeff
aramism
Member
i don't know much, hell, anything about op amps or the diagrams but my basic question is this, without getting too complicated and scaling moutains to find some elusive chip, i just want the "standard" tubescreamer chip. i bought a used cheap one off craigs list, a ts9, and i believe andy once said to get the brown chip with the picture of texas on it... which one would that be???
and the reason i'm getting it is to smooth out heavy guitars as well as boost and smooth rock guitars running through mesa mark ivs, iic+, and dual rectos in vintage mode... those are the two primary applications. i would love to tinker with the "srv" application as far as boosting a clean signal but i am more intrested in the distorted applications so which chip am i best off getting.
thanks in advance
and the reason i'm getting it is to smooth out heavy guitars as well as boost and smooth rock guitars running through mesa mark ivs, iic+, and dual rectos in vintage mode... those are the two primary applications. i would love to tinker with the "srv" application as far as boosting a clean signal but i am more intrested in the distorted applications so which chip am i best off getting.
thanks in advance
That'll be the RC4558P. This is the same type as the vast majority of TS pedals use. That one is 'standard' by most accounts - it wasn't the first or the last, but it was the most popular for a good while and it's considered the 'standard' by most people. For all practical intents and purposes, it's the same as the JRC4558 chips - the 4558 is the design, RC/JRC is a matter of manufacturer and they didn't tend to throw out wildcards so if your TS9's current chip has 4558 on it somewhere you're not going to notice a difference. The RC is manufactured by Texas Instruments (hence the big picture of Texas on it), a very large semiconductor and solid-state electronics company, and if you just search directly for one of those (instead of feeding 'TS9 HOLY GRAIL TEXAS PICTURE THINGY' in eBay and spending thirty dollars on a three dollar chip) you'll find it cheap; the JRC4558D was made by Japan Radio Company. It's all Raisin Bran, the manufacturer differences are going to be smaller than the variances between individual chips so it isn't too much to worry about.
However, there are some pedals that have 75558 as their designation, and you'll probably want to replace these. If you need help finding or identifying the op amp, let me know.
I don't know if you mean 3 or 4 out of 10, or 3 or 4 clock dial, but unless you're running an ancient little box that's a substantial drop from full gain. The problem is that too much gain, while 'wicked' sounding in person, doesn't record as well, and that the preamp will have some nasties resulting from being driven so hard. The TS basically shapes the sound to make it distort easier - more midrange, which is where the 'meat' of the guitar lies and what the amp is used to seeing - so unless I'm getting the wrong impression you may have just been told to tighten the sound with the TS and ease up on the gain just so you don't start giving people ideas about chainsaw massacres. Clarification would help here.
After some minimal editing, the FAQ should go up tomorrow. Thanks for the questions, we'll see how well this brick wall flies.
Jeff
aramism
Member
http://cgi.ebay.com/TS9-TS9DX-to-TS...ryZ64418QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
so this is a good buy then no??? it gives me two good chips for my ts9 for my specific application
so this is a good buy then no??? it gives me two good chips for my ts9 for my specific application
Erm... look inside your pedal and see what op amp is there. If it's some sort of 4558, don't bother switching it. If it's the 75558, you'll want to switch, but let me get a little bit across first.
http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntt=595-RC4558P
This is Mouser Electronics' selection of RC4558Ps. As you can see... twenty-eight cents a piece. One of these is a fair trade for a few sticks of gum.
That's not a good buy - eBay is not to be trusted with buying parts, especially parts marketed to guitarists - way too easy to get charged over.
Jeff
http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntt=595-RC4558P
This is Mouser Electronics' selection of RC4558Ps. As you can see... twenty-eight cents a piece. One of these is a fair trade for a few sticks of gum.
That's not a good buy - eBay is not to be trusted with buying parts, especially parts marketed to guitarists - way too easy to get charged over.
Jeff
aramism
Member
you're so sick dude
ps - how about the 4558 where can i get that cheap?
on edit: nevermind that place has them all. which specific one do i get there are several variances of the same chip model it seems. if they are only like a quarter or so each hell recomend me a couple of different ones i will buy a couple of bucks worth it's def worth the investment. at the same time i don't wanna get caught up so i don't wanna drive myself nuts swapping a million chips i just wanted something to smooth out a high gain sound and on another front push and smooth a more rockish tone. oh also the ts9 i got was purchased a week before in guitar center the kid gave me the receipt so whatever it is it is stock.
ps - how about the 4558 where can i get that cheap?
on edit: nevermind that place has them all. which specific one do i get there are several variances of the same chip model it seems. if they are only like a quarter or so each hell recomend me a couple of different ones i will buy a couple of bucks worth it's def worth the investment. at the same time i don't wanna get caught up so i don't wanna drive myself nuts swapping a million chips i just wanted something to smooth out a high gain sound and on another front push and smooth a more rockish tone. oh also the ts9 i got was purchased a week before in guitar center the kid gave me the receipt so whatever it is it is stock.
It would probably be in your best interest to either buy a big order from Mouser, so that you aren't getting jacked by five dollar shipping on fifty cents of electronics - probably organizing a big buy with other forum members who are interested - or just searching for RC4558P on eBay and going for something cheap.
http://cgi.ebay.com/RC4558-RC4558P-...8372436QQihZ009QQcategoryZ50912QQcmdZViewItem is one source for things that are dirt cheap... you just get shafted on shipping with these things. For $3.50 you can get a single from that auction or from Mohomods (another eBay seller, great store for quite a few things if you know what you're after) if you're in a rush, but if we can have a massive board bulk purchase of these chips it'll be cheaper and quicker.
Feel free to shoot me a PM, or hit me on AIM if you see me on. Handle is in the profile.
COUNTER-EDIT: The top one is good - JRC4558D. Unless I'm horribly, horribly detached from reality, that should be the drop-in replacement for it. Also... wait for the FAQ to come out. There's a bit more about other op amps that are worth trying.
Jeff
http://cgi.ebay.com/RC4558-RC4558P-...8372436QQihZ009QQcategoryZ50912QQcmdZViewItem is one source for things that are dirt cheap... you just get shafted on shipping with these things. For $3.50 you can get a single from that auction or from Mohomods (another eBay seller, great store for quite a few things if you know what you're after) if you're in a rush, but if we can have a massive board bulk purchase of these chips it'll be cheaper and quicker.
Feel free to shoot me a PM, or hit me on AIM if you see me on. Handle is in the profile.
COUNTER-EDIT: The top one is good - JRC4558D. Unless I'm horribly, horribly detached from reality, that should be the drop-in replacement for it. Also... wait for the FAQ to come out. There's a bit more about other op amps that are worth trying.
Jeff
aramism
Member
yea well i kind of need one soon. i don't mind paying the $5.00 shipping. i just kind of wanted both chips to do a quick A/B to see how they fair. i'm pretty sure andy uses his ts9 with the rc4558 so i would try that first since he's had success with chimaira and JFAC and i would also try the JRC chip as well since it is supposedly the industry standard. i live in NYC. tommorow i will call a local audio repair guy who i take my mesa stuff to (he is a authorized mesa tech and knows his shit) maybe he has some. i'm producing a band and we are upto the guitars and i really wanna reamp everything or at least track with the ts9 in proper form. i would just record the DI signal but i need to get the proper DI stuff which is another huge uncertainty of mine. see Oz Nimbus' guide to reamping in the production techniques i posted a SOS post there about reamp boxes... but anyway the point is once i get that set up it will buy me more time to tinker with the TS. having a couple of chips will prob help also in the experimentaion.
If you're doing that, instead of soldering chips in you should put a socket in (a dollar at a Radio Shack) - those let you just pop chips in and out with nothing more than a fingernail. I'd just get the RC4558P and maybe an LM833 and an OPA2134... you should be able to find those somewhere around town.
The 4558 sucks. It has literally ridden the wave of mojo from being the trash radio transistor to the godliest of chips and if its actual abilities were used as a measure of its success (and not the willingness of people to spend way too much money on it) it wouldn't have gotten anywhere near where it is... and these things would sound better right out of the box.
If you can't get your hands on some chips, as I've said before the Ibanez TS7 has the 4558 chip in it and is basically the 'classic' TS9 circuit in a less green box. Those are fucking everywhere, and they're $40. Can't beat that with a fucking stick.
Jeff
The 4558 sucks. It has literally ridden the wave of mojo from being the trash radio transistor to the godliest of chips and if its actual abilities were used as a measure of its success (and not the willingness of people to spend way too much money on it) it wouldn't have gotten anywhere near where it is... and these things would sound better right out of the box.
If you can't get your hands on some chips, as I've said before the Ibanez TS7 has the 4558 chip in it and is basically the 'classic' TS9 circuit in a less green box. Those are fucking everywhere, and they're $40. Can't beat that with a fucking stick.
Jeff
aramism
Member
choices choices i think im gonna just get the rc4558 from that site and take it from there, if i'm happy with the tone then i'll just leave it
Ubbb... well I got a new Peavey 6505+ and on full gain, it sounds wicked. I want to use it for recording, and someone mentioned that I should turn down the gain and use a tube screamer. That's all I know really.
Full gain on a 6505
....insane..The use for a tube screamer on the high gain channel is not for extra gain. You leave the gain where it sounds good(in your case all the way up????) and use the tube screamer with its gain setting down and level around half and tone wherever sounds good. They are used mostly to to tighten up the sound...not really to add gain.
aramism
Member
hey jbroll which specific RC ship do i get from that link you showed me the website with all the RC chips, on that page there are several variances.
cobhc
Amiga Enthusiast
Ubbb... well I got a new Peavey 6505+ and on full gain, it sounds wicked. I want to use it for recording, and someone mentioned that I should turn down the gain and use a tube screamer. That's all I know really.
Full gain on a 6505+ is insane, turn that down to like 6-7 at most, or get a better guitar, you don't need that amount of gain.
