# TS9 & 808 Danae Mods



## Pedal_man86 (Dec 1, 2022)

A while back I got a mod kit off Ebay for my stock Ibanez TS9, converted it closer to 808 specs, and also ended up changing some values of the low pass filter.  What those values were I can't remember off the top of my head, I'll have to open it up and double check, but I really liked the way it came out.  It sounded good with the kit I bought, but the values I used for the low pass filter made it more ballsy, and I play heavier styles so I really liked it.  

I got the Danae Overdrive and I'm wondering since it has a bass and treble control how could I get it to sound similar to my ts9.  Play with the values in the bass and treble circuits?


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## HamishR (Dec 1, 2022)

The Danae isn't really a TS as far as I can tell. It's more like a Timmy, so mods that you have done to a TS9 may not translate to a TSV808.

What is it about the Danae that you don't like that would benefit from sounding more like your TS9? FWIW I have found the Danae sounds excellent as long as you keep Sat below halfway.


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## Pedal_man86 (Dec 1, 2022)

I haven't heard it yet, just wondering before I built.


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## jimilee (Dec 1, 2022)

HamishR said:


> The Danae isn't really a TS as far as I can tell. It's more like a Timmy, so mods that you have done to a TS9 may not translate to a TSV808.
> 
> What is it about the Danae that you don't like that would benefit from sounding more like your TS9? FWIW I have found the Danae sounds excellent as long as you keep Sat below halfway.


Some say it’s a tube screamer Timmy mashup.


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## MichaelW (Dec 1, 2022)

jimilee said:


> Some say it’s a tube screamer Timmy mashup.


It's very much a Timmy+TS mashup and as far as I can tell the circuit is actually pretty well integrated. I would suggest that if what you're after is a modded TS then don't start with the TSV808. It's really it's own unique animal and a great sounding pedal. I'd probably start with the "Little Green Scream Machine" as a base PCB.


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## jimilee (Dec 1, 2022)

MichaelW said:


> It's very much a Timmy+TS mashup and as far as I can tell the circuit is actually pretty well integrated. I would suggest that if what you're after is a modded TS then don't start with the TSV808. It's really it's own unique animal and a great sounding pedal. I'd probably start with the "Little Green Scream Machine" as a base PCB.


Built one, I really like it.


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## equinox (Dec 1, 2022)

I like the concept and that the Danae Overdrive (Ibanez TSV808 Vemuram Overdrive) has the clipping on switches to turn on or off and Saturation knob.

My question is...can this be used for BASS?  If not, what would need to be changed to be more applicable to Bass Guitar than Electric Guitar??

Thanks in advance.


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## jimilee (Dec 1, 2022)

equinox said:


> I like the concept and that the Danae Overdrive (Ibanez TSV808 Vemuram Overdrive) has the clipping on switches to turn on or off and Saturation knob.
> 
> My question is...can this be used for BASS?  If not, what would need to be changed to be more applicable to Bass Guitar than Electric Guitar??
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Anything can be used for bass. As a bass player, I was hyper-sensitive to it at first, but soon learned there are only a few pedals that don't sound quite right.


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## equinox (Dec 1, 2022)

jimilee said:


> Anything can be used for bass. As a bass player, I was hyper-sensitive to it at first, but soon learned there are only a few pedals that don't sound quite right.


So, you built this one for Bass Guitar and sounded good as-is??
Yeah, I'm apprehensive on building anything like OD for Bass without first confirming.
A lot of pedals are designed for Guitar, which has a different audio scale, so playing the lower octave's could flub out and sound muddy, for instance a pedal might only be passing frequencies thru a .022uF, when to get the bass guitar notes, may need a 1uF pass through.
There are sooo many pedals out there.  I'd really just like to know what is the best OD for Bass out there and build it.


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## HamishR (Dec 1, 2022)

I know it's been called a "Timmy/Tubescreamer hybrid" but I don't see a lot which is purely TS in there. I guess being able to use a single pair of diodes in the clipping might help it compress like a TS but really it's a lot more Timmy. There isn't the transistor buffering at inout or output and the tone controls aren't TS in the slightest. Of course it doesn't matter what it is anyway because it does sound remarkable.

Since building the first one I have experimented on Vero with a few simplified versions. I got rid of the diode switches because I prefer using two pairs of diodes vastly over the single pair or combinations thereof. I've also built one with a resistor replacing the Sat knob bits because I found a position of the sat knob which sounded killer with a Gretsch, so turned it into a 4-knob OD which now is my favourite ever Gretsch OD! And another where the Sat control is a trimmer on the board.

I'm really impressed with how it has such a clear high end but its not sharp or piercing at all, it keeps the high strings sounding really fat without muffling them. That's hard to do. And the low end is beautifully clear and full of harmonics without being over-bearing. It's a really well tuned overdrive which works best with single coil or bright pickups. It can be a bit too rich with HBs but still sounds great anyway. A friend came around to my place recently with his Strat - he's a monster player. The neck pickup on his Strat sounded incredible through this pedal and I guess that's what it's really aimed at. It has more depth than the average TS and has a much crisper high end too. But it fattens the single coil in a lovely way that made me think of chocolate! Maybe I have synaesthesia?


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## jimilee (Dec 2, 2022)

equinox said:


> So, you built this one for Bass Guitar and sounded good as-is??
> Yeah, I'm apprehensive on building anything like OD for Bass without first confirming.
> A lot of pedals are designed for Guitar, which has a different audio scale, so playing the lower octave's could flub out and sound muddy, for instance a pedal might only be passing frequencies thru a .022uF, when to get the bass guitar notes, may need a 1uF pass through.
> There are sooo many pedals out there.  I'd really just like to know what is the best OD for Bass out there and build it.


Yep, to me anyway. I suppose it depends on your bass and pickups.


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## equinox (Dec 5, 2022)

Supposed to be coming in tomorrow!  Look forward to building it up either way.


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## hamerfan (Dec 6, 2022)

Pedal_man86 said:


> A while back I got a mod kit off Ebay for my stock Ibanez TS9, converted it closer to 808 specs, and also ended up changing some values of the low pass filter.  What those values were I can't remember off the top of my head, I'll have to open it up and double check, but I really liked the way it came out.  It sounded good with the kit I bought, but the values I used for the low pass filter made it more ballsy, and I play heavier styles so I really liked it.
> 
> I got the Danae Overdrive and I'm wondering since it has a bass and treble control how could I get it to sound similar to my ts9.  Play with the values in the bass and treble circuits?


In theory the sat pot should be dialed to 5.6 kOhm (mid way on the knob) the bass to 0, the treble to 1.6kOhm (about 8 o'clock) to get the famous 721 Hz center frequ. for high and low pass.
Can anyone confirm this with an actual build?


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## MichaelW (Dec 7, 2022)

hamerfan said:


> In theory the sat pot should be dialed to 5.6 kOhm (mid way on the knob) the bass to 0, the treble to 1.6kOhm (about 8 o'clock) to get the famous 721 Hz center frequ. for high and low pass.
> Can anyone confirm this with an actual build?


Do you mean on the TSV808? I can't confirm voltages but I CAN confirm it is possible to set the controls to get a more "classic" TS hump, but I tend to run mine more towards the Timmy side of the settings. It's a really neat amalgamation of both pedals and I think they did a great job on the design of the circuit. It's not just a "doing it for the sake of a money grab collaboration" but really it's own animal. (Although what they're selling for on Reverb is pretty obscene......)


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## hamerfan (Dec 10, 2022)

I just read the RC values from the schematic and calculated the famous 721 Hz position of the knobs. So anybody could just confirm this with a Danae build?


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## equinox (Dec 21, 2022)

Ok, so played it thru Bass over the weekend and with some other area Bass Players to demo.  

The Danae pedal is killer!

Sounded EXCELLENT on Bass for those interested in the feedback from me and people.
One question or ask is that the frequency response be extended down to the low-B for the 5-string players?  For 4-string, perfect, but notes between low-E down to low-B, want to ensure does not flub out.

What component(s) would need to be changed to keep the exact characteristics of the pedal, but ensure frequency range is extended down to low-B for 5-string bass??  PLEASE, YOUR SUPPORT.  Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays to all!


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## equinox (Dec 21, 2022)

Looks like low-B has a frequency of 61.7Hz, so need to ensure frequency down to at least that (or lower).
What is the current design tuned to and how to calculate that??


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## Chuck D. Bones (Dec 31, 2022)

jimilee said:


> Some say it’s a tube screamer Timmy mashup.


There's really nothing TS about it.  It's a Timmy with some minor, and somewhat dubious mods.  That screwy network of R9-R11 & C7 does essentially nothing.  I also question using an ultra-low distortion opamp like the OPA2134 in a dirt pedal, but that's just my opinion.


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