Long ago I posted a thread about how to do the TS808 mod on a TS7 and it went over REALLY well! Well I thought I'd share some more love. An Ibanez TS5, as all tubescreamers except the 808, is a TS9 circuit on a cheaper board, in a cheaper box... and tanks are metal so this one is kind of special! Not to mention you can score them for $20 or so usually.
Here's the culprit!
Start by removing the three knobs. Just pull really hard and they come out. Then take the four screws out of the bottom cover and the one screw holding down the PCB and ground strap. The board should come right out now:
First step... remove that HORRIBLE sounding opamp!!! Use desoldering braid on all parts mentioned in this thread. Press the braid against the solder pads and heat until all solder is absorbed. If the part doesn't fall out or pull out with no effort, desolder some more. NEVER force the part out! These boards are cheap and easy to damage.
If you have little experience at this I HIGHLY recommend soldering in an IC socket as opposed to just soldering in the new opamp. Heat can destroy them very easily. Note the notch on the top of the opamp drawing on the PCB, you want the notch of the socket and the dot on the opamp pointing in the same direction.
For old school tubescreamer tone use a JRC4558D. I personally prefer RC4559P but you can use TL072, TL082, NE5532, OPA2134PA, etc... lots of opamps work and you can find differing opinions all over the net.
Next... Desolder R34 and R35:
Change R34 to 100 ohm and R35 to 10k ohm. I use 1/4 watt metal film resistors but anything you can fit in there will work. It doesn't matter which direction you put resistors in.
Now desolder D2 and D3:
If you are aiming for early tubescreamer tone try to find some 1s1588 diodes and put them here. I buy them on ebay or effectsconnection.com Note the arrow on the board, this points to the negative side of the diode. The diode will have a stripe on this end. I recommend using two different diodes for asymmetrical clipping. A 1N4002 and a red LED is my personal favorite. The short leg of an LED is the negative leg and goes in the direction of the arrow on the board. 1N4148 diodes sound pretty close to 1s1588's and can be bought at Radio Shack. Try different combos and also try soldering two diodes in series in place of one diode!
If all you want is an 808, now you have it! You can stop and reassemble the pedal... but that's boring!
Next I recommend desoldering C11 and C12:
These little orange tantalum fellers sound like shit lol. They are .22uf caps. Just removing them and replacing them with .22uf metal film caps make the pedal sound quite a bit better. It cleans up unwanted distortion and adds overall clarity. I replace them with .15uf metal film caps. This reduces mid hump and shifts the frequency of the tone control. Another popular combination is .22uf metal film in C12 and .1uf in C11. Experiment!
Desolder R18 and R19:
These change the gain! R18 is 4.7k ohms stock and R19 is 51K ohms. The lower value you use in R18 the more gain and clarity you get but it also reduces bass. The lower you use in R19 the more your pedal cleans up when you have the gain all the way down. 10k is good and the most popular for R19 but experiment. Anything lower than the original is an improvement. People use between 3.3k and 1k in R18, again experiment.
Desolder C10:
Original is .047uf. The bigger cap you use here the more bass you get. I recommend anything in between .1uf and .22 uf. Try a few and see what works for you!
Now remove C8 and C13:
These are 1uf electrolytic caps. Replace them with 1uf metal film! This takes some mud and distortion out from the low end and again improves overall clarity.
Last but not least... What would any good pedal be without a bright ass LED?
Desolder it first then remove the screw:
The negative side will be marked with a line or arrow just like the diodes, short leg goes here. (LED = light emitting diode)
3mm LEDs will fit right in. I like 5mm
drill the hole out to 3/16" to fit one.
The finished product:
That's it!!! Just put the pedal back together the same way you took it apart and RAWK! Feel free to ask any questions!
Here's the culprit!
Start by removing the three knobs. Just pull really hard and they come out. Then take the four screws out of the bottom cover and the one screw holding down the PCB and ground strap. The board should come right out now:
First step... remove that HORRIBLE sounding opamp!!! Use desoldering braid on all parts mentioned in this thread. Press the braid against the solder pads and heat until all solder is absorbed. If the part doesn't fall out or pull out with no effort, desolder some more. NEVER force the part out! These boards are cheap and easy to damage.
If you have little experience at this I HIGHLY recommend soldering in an IC socket as opposed to just soldering in the new opamp. Heat can destroy them very easily. Note the notch on the top of the opamp drawing on the PCB, you want the notch of the socket and the dot on the opamp pointing in the same direction.
For old school tubescreamer tone use a JRC4558D. I personally prefer RC4559P but you can use TL072, TL082, NE5532, OPA2134PA, etc... lots of opamps work and you can find differing opinions all over the net.
Next... Desolder R34 and R35:
Change R34 to 100 ohm and R35 to 10k ohm. I use 1/4 watt metal film resistors but anything you can fit in there will work. It doesn't matter which direction you put resistors in.
Now desolder D2 and D3:
If you are aiming for early tubescreamer tone try to find some 1s1588 diodes and put them here. I buy them on ebay or effectsconnection.com Note the arrow on the board, this points to the negative side of the diode. The diode will have a stripe on this end. I recommend using two different diodes for asymmetrical clipping. A 1N4002 and a red LED is my personal favorite. The short leg of an LED is the negative leg and goes in the direction of the arrow on the board. 1N4148 diodes sound pretty close to 1s1588's and can be bought at Radio Shack. Try different combos and also try soldering two diodes in series in place of one diode!
If all you want is an 808, now you have it! You can stop and reassemble the pedal... but that's boring!
Next I recommend desoldering C11 and C12:
These little orange tantalum fellers sound like shit lol. They are .22uf caps. Just removing them and replacing them with .22uf metal film caps make the pedal sound quite a bit better. It cleans up unwanted distortion and adds overall clarity. I replace them with .15uf metal film caps. This reduces mid hump and shifts the frequency of the tone control. Another popular combination is .22uf metal film in C12 and .1uf in C11. Experiment!
Desolder R18 and R19:
These change the gain! R18 is 4.7k ohms stock and R19 is 51K ohms. The lower value you use in R18 the more gain and clarity you get but it also reduces bass. The lower you use in R19 the more your pedal cleans up when you have the gain all the way down. 10k is good and the most popular for R19 but experiment. Anything lower than the original is an improvement. People use between 3.3k and 1k in R18, again experiment.
Desolder C10:
Original is .047uf. The bigger cap you use here the more bass you get. I recommend anything in between .1uf and .22 uf. Try a few and see what works for you!
Now remove C8 and C13:
These are 1uf electrolytic caps. Replace them with 1uf metal film! This takes some mud and distortion out from the low end and again improves overall clarity.
Last but not least... What would any good pedal be without a bright ass LED?
Desolder it first then remove the screw:
The negative side will be marked with a line or arrow just like the diodes, short leg goes here. (LED = light emitting diode)
3mm LEDs will fit right in. I like 5mm
drill the hole out to 3/16" to fit one.The finished product:
That's it!!! Just put the pedal back together the same way you took it apart and RAWK! Feel free to ask any questions!
