Is it just me?

[dearmrdear]

Ok...I've got to get this off my chest.
I built a ITS8 months ago and I can't get it to sound good.  Round' about March I bought 2 boards to make a 2-in-one and worked on them on and off since then. So after weeks of debugging, swapping out different op-amps, transistors and trying the suggested mods (even the "Expensive Boutique Mods) , it still sound thin and unremarkable. I've double checked the parts values, soldering joints, pots. I've swapped out capacitor types boxed vs. film, the voltages on the IC pins are up to spec., changed out the diodes just in case they were mislabeled. I've even put them in different wrappers! Nothing looks wrong; everything seems to be in the right place, just sound unremarkable.
Is it my tin ear? Please tell me it's just me.

[The French connection]

Hi! It's just you!
Seriously, i've build two ts8 and i'm very happy with them...depend on your rig, on your taste and how you use your overdrive...So in the end, It's just you! 

Welcome!
Bonsoir!

Dan

[dearmrdear]

I kinda figured it was just me...but
It is the quintessential pedal to push a JCM 800 (I have a Ceriatone, moded to sound like a 70's JMP)
just finished building the new BYOC Mouse II, it sound fantiastic!
Shame to waste a good wrapper...

[earthtonesaudio]

I just got done with a good jam session and I have new love for my TS7 with LED clippers.  At low volumes it just sucks, and not in a good way.  Lifeless, poorly defined, limp.  But when I turned the amp up to "11" it totally changed character.  Fat, punchy, nice tone for chords and single notes. 

[frokost]

Everything's subjective. If you don't like the sound of a TS, it's not good (for you). I don't care much for the TS either - on my rig. You always have to take the guitar, the amp and YOU in the calculation.

I have a hotrodded TS which never sounded good for me. Too thin, no balls. Small amp, relatively clean. Then I tried a SD-1 on a Super Lead, and lava was pouring out of the amp. The SD-1 is a weak pedal, IMNSHO, much weaker than the TS. Still, on that rig it was black metal (in a good way).

Turn up the volume and you might like the TS .

[GibsonGM]

Same here, Frokost...I didn't like the SD-1, and it became my first mod (and destroyed pedal!).  It now houses an AMZ boost.    But give me a TS with a 1n914 and a 1n4005, with the AMZ tone mods, and I am in blues heaven  )
Turning it up helps, ha ha ha!

[ayayay!]

Also TS's sometimes do not sound that good until you're playing with at least a drummer & bassist.   Hence what the guys above are saying about turning it up.   

[dearmrdear]

Well the "turn it up" angle is a non-issue, I practice with my JCM 800 cranked, I kick in the ITS8 pedal and... meh. On the same board I have a Mouse II, Triboost, BSIAB II and a Bad Monkey. The BM thoroughly owns the ITS8.
AAAAAAH something has to be wrong! Is there possibly anything that I might have overlooked in the build. Is there a hidden on/off switch somewhere? 

[frokost]

Interesting, as the Bad Monkey supposedly is a relatively stock TS. But, so is the SD-1, and I know which of those i dislike the least (the TS). Maybe it all depends on what you expect from the screamer. You want it to scream? In my opinion, it won't ever do that...

edit: Yeah, GibsonGM, the SD-1 whas the first pedal that I modded as well. I never got it to sound good, so I just built a tube screamer on the board instead and rehoused it. The SD-1 shell now sports a Nyquist Aliaser. The Tube Screamer has been discarded on my board in favor of a Red Llama and a BluesBreaker now. Those suit my taste in low gain much better.

[Mark Hammer]

Built one to TS808 specs, and hated it hated it hated it.  THEN I took the preamp out of the guitar and fed the pedal a kinder gentler signal and found out what everyone was talking about.

Bottom line: the pedal cares about what you feed it and behaves accordingly.

[earthtonesaudio]

Maybe it's that whole cognitive dissonance thing happening... The TS-8 is "supposed" to be this holy grail of tone, and so you expect miracles from it.  Meanwhile the Bad Monkey is just about the same but much cheaper, so it has more tone *per dollar.*

I tend to think of it not so much as an overdrive pedal, but more of a mid-boost pedal. 

[frokost]

There's just something about the character of the distortion that I've never cared for. The Tube Screamer sound for me is relatively clean mids, no bass and distorted treble. Fizzy. The Red Llama was an eye opener for me. It behaved like my AC-30, that low growly overdrive.. Mmmmmm... Event the Rat has a better low gain sound than a screamer as far as I'm concerned, AND an excellent high gain sound .

Everyone has different taste and expectations. If you don't like the pedal, move on. Make something different. Just because the rest of the world thinks the TS is the holy grail doesn't mean that they're right.

[dearmrdear]

I'm taking the plunge and ordering a different TS clone circuit board ( they're cheep enough) You're oh so right about the RAT, it can do low and high gain. It has nearly a flat eq (not so much mid) and the bass comes through better. What the hell, putting them together is half the fun!