Boss BD-2 Vs. Ibanez TS-9/TS-808 Keeley Mods

cannotstaylong

I have been using the TS-9 Reissue (standard, no mods) for a few years now as my main overdrive pedal. I usually crank the volume and keep the gain nearly full on the pedal, using the guitar's volume knob to control the gain output to the amp. It's versatile for me, allowing me to go from a clean tone, to a distorted crunch. Although I love the pedal, I have increasingly found something lacking in the tone. There is a significant lack in clarity when I push the gain, which is a complaint I have read elsewhere. It is hard for me to find a real sweet spot with the pedal, either finding it too muddy or entirely too bright when I go for more clarity. I like a thick, warmer tone, but retaining clarity, especially in the mids, is very important to me.

I have been doing some research and keep coming back to the Keeley modded pedals, specifically the Boss BD-2, Ibanez TS-9 and the TS-808. At this point I feel like one of those would give me the improvement in the tone and clarity that I desire. From what I have read and from the videos I have watched, I am leaning towards the Blues Driver.

I play everything from Stevie Ray Vaughan/Hendrix style blues, to early-90s Pearl Jam style grunge, to Pink Floyd, to Led Zeppelin and many more. While versatility is important to me, I'd rather have a pedal that gives me the warm yet clear tone that my current TS-9 is not giving me. Don't get me wrong, the TS-9 is great and isn't far off, but it's lacking something if you know what I mean. I'm not opposed to changing the way I operate the pedal, i.e. moving away from the cranked volume and gain, if I can get that sweet spot I'm looking for.

For those of you have used all, some or just one of these Keeley modded pedals, what are your thoughts/opinions? Which would you recommend? What are the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other?

Thanks for your suggestions/opinions.

cannotstaylong

Bump.


Looks like there aren't a lot of people on here who have used these pedals before.

mccreadyisgod

I own 2 of Keeley's TS-9 modded tubescreamers, one of the Plus mods (his version of an 808 mod) and one of the Baked mods (like an 808 with more gain).

I can tell you without a doubt that either of his mods provides a lot more clarity and usable range in the tone control. It's a bit brighter and clearer overall, and the range of the tone control gives you a lot more access to the "sweet spot" area of the stock TS-9.

That said, even the Keeley modded TS-9 or TS-808 will have the TS tone and character, which is predominantly a mid-boost overdrive. It's best used with a proper tube amp, as I've always thought they sound pretty weak through a solid-state amp. The BD-2 usually yields better results with a solid-state or hybrid amp. I can't speak for the Keeley-modded BD-2, as I've never tried one... I can tell you that I've never cared for the BD-2 myself, even though I've heard other people get great tones from them.

From what I know and my experience with stock BD-2's, they are more of a full-range overdrive that has more gain available than a stock TS-9, TS-808, or the Keeley Plus mods. The Keeley Baked mod probably has the same gain as a BD-2. A lot of people think the BD-2 is a clearer overdrive as a whole, but it isn't a classic lo-fi mid-boost overdrive like the TS-9 is.

The best I can tell you is to take your TS-9 into a shop where you can A/B it against a stock BD-2, and if you decide you have a preference at that point, buy the Keeley mod (you can actually buy the BD-2, brand-new and modded, directly from Keeley, or just send your TS-9 in for the mod since you own one already). It would be nice if a guy could actually test-drive the Keeley pedals at a local shop, but that's the price you pay for boutique pedals. The one good thing about Keeley is you can always sell (or, for that matter, buy) them on eBay fairly easily.

cannotstaylong

Thanks, mccready. I just realized that I had written that I have a stock TS-9, when in fact I have a stock TS-808. I will see if I can get to the store this weekend and compare my TS-808 with the stock BD-2.

I like what you have to say about the Tubescreamers working really well with tube amps, as opposed to the BD-2 working well with a solid-state or hybrid amp. I am a tube amp guy myself, so something that is geared more towards that is what I am looking for (not that the BD-2 is necessarily geared away from tubes or towards solid-state).

How do you use your two modded TS-9s? Do you have them both in sequence in your effects chain at the same time? If so, how do you utilize each?

Of your TS-9s, which do you like better, and why? Also, how would YOU compare each to the stock TS-808?

Easties

MJM Blues Devil Pedal. It wipes all of them. It's out of circulation but search for one. I have had all the pedals above including the Keeley Mods and I pretty much now just run MJM's. Obviously everyone is after a different tone, but if you get a chance to try one out or see one for sale, buy it on spec. You won't be disappointed dude.

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... drive/10/1

mccreadyisgod

In my pedalboard, I use the Plus mod as a light overdrive, the Baked mod as a heavy drive/distortion, and can combine the two for heavier distortion. If I add my compressor (stock MXR DynaComp), I can get all the sustain and drive I want. I have the Plus wired right before the Baked, so it's light drive feeding heavy drive if they're both on.

Between the two, I have to say I prefer the Baked mod... it does everything the Plus mod does, pretty much, but has so much more gain available. As for how either compares to the stock TS-808 reissue, I can't say, I haven't played any of the new 808's.

I definitely didn't mean that the BD-2 can only be used with solid-state amps... they sound good, in the right hands, with tube amps as well. But the TS-9 sounds really pathetic thru anything but a good tube amp (or maybe a hybrid amp with a tube power section, a la Music Man).

One more thing... the pedal everyone's been talking about for the last two years or so in the high-end overdrive market is Paul Cochrane's Tim and Timmy pedals (basically the same pedals, but the Tim is a bigger box, the Timmy is a smaller box). I still haven't tried one myself, since I'm happy with my rig, but most of the tone snobs on other message boards won't use anything else.

cannotstaylong

mccreadyisgod wrote:

In my pedalboard, I use the Plus mod as a light overdrive, the Baked mod as a heavy drive/distortion, and can combine the two for heavier distortion. If I add my compressor (stock MXR DynaComp), I can get all the sustain and drive I want. I have the Plus wired right before the Baked, so it's light drive feeding heavy drive if they're both on.

Between the two, I have to say I prefer the Baked mod... it does everything the Plus mod does, pretty much, but has so much more gain available. As for how either compares to the stock TS-808 reissue, I can't say, I haven't played any of the new 808's.

I definitely didn't mean that the BD-2 can only be used with solid-state amps... they sound good, in the right hands, with tube amps as well. But the TS-9 sounds really pathetic thru anything but a good tube amp (or maybe a hybrid amp with a tube power section, a la Music Man).

One more thing... the pedal everyone's been talking about for the last two years or so in the high-end overdrive market is Paul Cochrane's Tim and Timmy pedals (basically the same pedals, but the Tim is a bigger box, the Timmy is a smaller box). I still haven't tried one myself, since I'm happy with my rig, but most of the tone snobs on other message boards won't use anything else.

Thanks for the additional info.

I didn't mean to imply that you were saying the BD-2 was more of a solid-state pedal. I'm not even sure why I put that in my earlier post anyway. I guess I was just trying to get a sense for which you thought was best with a true tube amp.

I like how you chain your Tubescreamers, although I probably would be looking to have one pedal do the trick. As I said in my original post, I like to use the guitar's volume knob to dial in the gain, using the pedal as a sort of pre-preamp (like SRV did). In this case, it sounds like the Baked mod might be better, at least between the two Tubescreamer mods.

I'm assuming the Baked mod could be used for light overdrive the way you use your Plus mod, correct? From what you have written and based on the Keeley manuals online, it seems as if it works just like the Plus mod, but with more gain. Given the way I use the volume knob to control the gain, I would prefer to deal with only one pedal. If the Baked mod can still do the light overdrive of the Plus mod while also giving me the possibility for more gain, then it seems like that might be the one to go with.

I'm interested to see how you sequence your compressor, as I use the same compressor in my setup. Do you place it before or after the overdrive? Right now I have mine before the ts-808. What settings do you use on the compressor? I know everything is different depending on the amp/other effects/preference, etc., but I always like hearing how other people use everything as it gives me other options to try out.

Paul Cochrane's pedals seem quite interesting. From the little bit that I have read/seen online they definitely seem like top-notch pedals. Not sure if that's the direction I want to go right now, though.

Thanks again for the help.

mccreadyisgod

Yeah, the Baked mod can be used at a lower gain setting for lighter overdrive, it just has more available.

I run my compressor right after my wah and before my TS's, as such:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v326/ ... oard-1.jpg

Signal flow is: Volume -> Vox Wah -> Comp -> Phase 90 -> TS Plus -> TS Baked -> Line 6 Tremolo -> Boss Delay -> Line 6 Reverb. The tuner, a Korg pitchblack, runs off the sidechain of the Volume pedal. And most of the time, I use my Morley A/B/Y between the Reverb and my 2-channel amp, a Sovtek Mig 50, so I can choose one channel or the other, or both together.

I have my Comp where it is for two reasons... 1) it helps tame the high-end sweep of my wah; and 2) I tend to organize gain-related pedals in order of actual gain/distortion (comp, clean boost, overdrive, distortion, fuzz). It seems to me that you would get more sustain by running overdrive first and comp second, but I don't really need any more sustain. As for settings, it really changes depending on the stuff I'm playing. Sometimes it's more of a clean boost with really light compression (like a kicker for leads); sometimes it's set for moderate compression and matched output (mixture of finger-picking and strumming); sometimes it's a massive squash ("pumping" tones, maximizing sustain, or for volume-swell work).

cannotstaylong

mccready,

Many thanks on your replies, been very helpful. From everything you've said the Baked mod sounds like it might be best for me, especially given the way I like to control the gain with the volume knob. Sounds as if it can pretty much do everything the Plus mod can, but with the option for more drive.

Thanks as well for the compressor advice. I have the identical compressor and phaser, and I use them in the exact same positions. I like my compressor right after the wah for the same reasons you stated. For a long time I had it much later in my chain, not sure why. Nevertheless, when I used the wah (used to use the Vox, now I'm using the Crybaby 535q) I would get some pretty harsh high end with the compressor late in the chain like that. It really smooths and balances everything out.

Anyway, thanks again. I'm leaning towards the Baked mod, but I'm going to keep looking around. I might still compare a stock BD-2 to my stock TS-808 to see what I like. Anyway, thanks for the thoughts/advice.

cannotstaylong

Thought I'd give this a bump since it seems there are a few more people on the Musicians/Gearheads page these days.

Still haven't had a chance to try out the Boss pedal yet. Possibly this weekend.

savman

Hey,
I have a stock TS-9 and Keeley BD-2. Use them both together, as MIG states the BD has a lot more gain than the TS especially the Keeley modded version. I think the interesting thing with the BD is that you really can use the vol to dial in your tone if thats your thing. (which it sounds like it is)
I have to say, though, if the gain is cranked right up it can get a bit muddy- especially teamed with a cranked tube.
But the two if them can give you a load of different tones especilly if your trying to recreate early PJ tone.

cannotstaylong

savman wrote:

Hey,
I have a stock TS-9 and Keeley BD-2. Use them both together, as MIG states the BD has a lot more gain than the TS especially the Keeley modded version. I think the interesting thing with the BD is that you really can use the vol to dial in your tone if thats your thing. (which it sounds like it is)
I have to say, though, if the gain is cranked right up it can get a bit muddy- especially teamed with a cranked tube.
But the two if them can give you a load of different tones especilly if your trying to recreate early PJ tone.

Thanks savman. How exactly do you use your TS-9 and BD-2? Am I correct to assume that you use one for your standard overdriven tone and then use the other for leads/extra gain? If so, which do you use in each position?

savman

Yip, exactly. I have a basis of 4 tones as a platform. Clean- straight through the amp, TS-9 set at low to mid gain for a warm slightly driven tone, then the BD-2 set at just below max drive for a crunchier tone and then I use them both togheter if i want to play a lead (i dont often play leads tho and suspect that an EQ or some other kind of booster would generate better results). Then you can color each of the tones with say wah, delay etc if need be.
Ben

cannotstaylong

savman wrote:

Yip, exactly. I have a basis of 4 tones as a platform. Clean- straight through the amp, TS-9 set at low to mid gain for a warm slightly driven tone, then the BD-2 set at just below max drive for a crunchier tone and then I use them both togheter if i want to play a lead (i dont often play leads tho and suspect that an EQ or some other kind of booster would generate better results). Then you can color each of the tones with say wah, delay etc if need be.
Ben

Interesting. Thanks for the input, that could be something to try out. I still like to be able to use my guitar's volume knob to control the gain, so that might be more difficult using the two pedals... especially where they would have different settings. Then again, it might work alright if I used he Tubescreamer with the volume cranked but only moderate drive, and then have the BD-2 over top for leads. I guess I'm kind of thinking out loud about how I might be able to combine the two-pedal concept while still having the flexibility with each to use the guitar's volume knob to dial in the gain. I would like to have a bit more gain available for my leads while also still being able to back it off and have the more intricate, slightly-overdriven tone I can get with the TS.

Which makes me come back to just having one pedal and using the volume knob. Just seems simpler to me and more versatile within one song. That of course brings me back to the original question of which pedal, the Keeley Modded TS or BD-2 would be best. Eh, I might try and use the long weekend to try out the standard issue TS versus the BD-2 and see what I like. Whatever I end up doing, I feel like a Keeley modded pedal is in my future, in which case I would still have my standard TS to use for my light overdrive. I guess at that point I'd be able to try out different combos to see what works best. Thanks for the advice.

thecount

You are probably going to laugh at this but I am currently using a Dano Transparent OD pushing a Dano CC Drive. These two pedals are outstanding together, are true bypass, and are very inexpensive. I couldn't be happier with the sound. I'd love to have the Keeley modded pedals, but to be honest I don't need them. The Transparent OD is very clear and articulate, while the Drive kicks in the mids and low end very very well.