I do believe overdrive is distortion but I don't think distortion is overdrive if that makes sense.

The Overdrive isn't going to accentuate a trad surf sound. I own one of the TS808 Tube Screamers and I find that I normally play with it with the least amount of gain possible and that slightly colors my sound. However, I don't do that for surf.

Especially for a Deluxe Reverb you won't want to play surf with an overdrive pedal as the Deluxe is going to give you some dirt anyways.

If you just want non-surf regular rock and roll overdrive a Tube Screamer is great. Also a ProCo Rat is great. There are other decent pedals that give you more dirt than those pedals as well.

Definitely try one out and see what works best for you. I use an overdrive pedal, and my biggest advice is to turn the "drive" waaaay down and crank the volume, so you're coloring your sound more than distorting it. You'll get a little more "umph" from single notes, and a nice bit more warmth out of your chords.

~B~

If you like the fuzzy tones, I like using a Big Muff with the sustain just barely one. Nice mix of the MOAM and Link Wray tones.

RT

Ya know, for all of the "God Like" raving about the old Ibanez Tube Screamer, I really don't know what the fuss is. I bought one back in the day, when they were brand new (79? 80?) and thought it sounded crappy. Then, a couple years ago, I bought another one to supposedly get 'the sound' thru my Blues DeVille 4x10, as several other area geets were playing thru same or very similar (Hot Rods). Still didn't like it.

I'd suggest a Boss Blues Driver, or better yet, a Mesa Boogie V-Twin. The Mesa is built like a brick shitter and uses 12AX7's and has a lot of tone variation control.

S'not cheap, but worth it.

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I sorta like the Robert Keeley modified BOSS Blues Driver. It is all I need for that rare occasion when a bit of dirt is called for. Something to consider...

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KEELEY BD-2 LINK

SSIV

LHR
I sorta like the Robert Keeley modified BOSS Blues Driver. It is all I need for that rare occasion when a bit of dirt is called for. Something to consider...

image

KEELEY BD-2 LINK

I'm a big fan of Robert Keeley's pedals and mods. I don't have a
Blues Driver, but he modded my TS9 tube screamer and Boss TR2
tremolo, and they are a gazillion percent better than stock. I bought
one of his compressors, which is the best I've ever heard (short of
super-expensive studio compressors). I also bought one of his Java
Boost treble-boosters, which I haven't used a lot because it's more for
pushing overdriven amps, and I haven't been into doing a lot of that
lately. I've been real tempted to get one of his Blues Driver mods,
and probably will when I find a cheap used BD2 to mod.

Bob

Bob

JakeDobner
Did he mod it to TS808?

Yes. He installed the Texas Instruments RC4558P chip to convert
it to the TS808, and threw in a more "hi-fi' chip to switch out for
a slightly different sound.

This is the sedscription from Keeley's website:

"THIS IS NOT YOUR BASIC CLASSIC 808 Mod, It's much more, read on Tube Screamer fans!

Keeley Effects use the TI RC4558P like the old TS808 and they all come with a BLUE LED.

• I have the TI RC4558P integrated circuit for your Ibanez Ts-9. This is what came in some early TS808 pedals. This will give your pedal TRUE TS808 sound. Many collectors agree that the TS808 with the TI4558P chip are some of the finest sounding pedals in the production. See photo of a TS808 circuit below. This is the same type pedal SRV used.
  

• We START with the TS808 mods. They include the change of IC to a really nice sounding one, better than the JRC in my opinion and that of most regular users. We also change the output resistors, but don't use noisy carbon comp resistors. They don't add tone! They add noise and they are not within a close tolerance. It is an engineering/physics fact that these types of parts will add noise to your system. We use metal film resistors, only wire wound resistors (which won't fit in your pedal) would have a chance of being quieter!
  

• PLUS, we increase the bass response so that it it is not cut off. A TS9 with full bass response, how sweet and full sounding! We increase the overdrive range. Players stated they wanted to have either more gain on the TS9 or the ability for it to clean up better when the drive was set at zero. We did that. You now have the best of both worlds! CLEANER when turned down and TWICE THE GAIN AND DRIVE when turned up with all of the stock TS808 sounds in the middle. Beautiful vocal sweet woman tone in the mid-section!
  

• METAL FILM FOR HIGHER FIDELITY AND A MORE CONSISTENT SOUND FROM PEDAL TO PEDAL. As your guitar sound goes from one stage of your pedal to the next part (for example; Drive stage, to the Tone Control Stage, to the Buffer Stage), Ibanez used electrolytics to couple it. Well, there is a much less harsh sounding way of doing that. Use metal film caps! We also use metal film in the tone circuit for added fidelity. Is it a small difference, yes! Is it worth it? YES, every little section of your pedal is made up and these improvements don't just add up, they multiply!
  

• New Improvements to the Bypass circuitry! Yes, we make it sound better even when it's off!
  

• New Improvement to the Tone Control circuit! Took some hints from the Sparkle Drive and made our TS9 mods just a touch better. "
  

In my opinion Robert Keeley is the best. His work is second to none, and
he is a super nice guy, who often has thrown in extra chips and upgrades
at no charge.

Bob

Bob

Can you use your TS9 as a clean boost? I have a TS808 and I can't really do that with it, luckily I have another clean boost pedal.

I would just like to have two clean boost pedals on my board, although I do like the TS808 on the lowest gain setting as it accentuates my echoes/delays perfectly.

I've owned the 808 also and find it to be full of tone but built kind of junky. It is NOT True By-pass which will suck your tone. I had it on a looper to take it out of the signal path.
I have a Voodoo Lab SParkle Drive now, true bypass, 808 era overdrive and a clean boost which can cut the edge off of overdrive and add more clean boost. Tryone for 139$ you can't beat them.
You can do what everyone is saying and and dime the tone and zero the overdrive.
I used it through a 4 x 10, and a 1 x 15 combo and it really is a Texas blues type of tone.
For what you are after you may want to try and find a rare Menatone Dirty Blonde which will give you the Blonde TOlex era overdrive and "edge" if you back off the drive.
I was trying to attach a picture of one. But can't figure out how, so I included a link at the bottom of an online dealer. You may still find some Boutique dealers still carrying them.
They are hard to find and out of production at the moment. Rare and semi-pricey but certainly tone is worth it.

http://www.musictoyz.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=MENA12&Category_Code=Menatone

Peace to you, not on you