Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer
Been meaning to do this one for a while. One of the most classic effects ever, the Tube Screamer has been used by just about everybody. This layout is for the original TS808 circuit, but you can also build the TS9 on it as well. Just swap the 100Ω resistor coming off the emitter of Q2 with a 470Ω, and swap the 10k from output to ground with a 100k. The 220nF capacitors on the original TS808 and TS9s were tantalum, but I've laid them out to be film for better response. The 220nF coming off lug 2 of the Tone pot can be decreased to 100nF to open up the range of the tone control. Also, if you feel like it, you could hard mount the Drive and Tone controls to the board if you want.
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classic srv sounds, and the perfect drive to push muffs distortions into the stratosphere.
ReplyDeletecan mark this as verified.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omKi0luhjAA
ReplyDeleteVerified and it works beautifully!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sound!!!
Very smooth and nice.
Hi, did you fit this into a 1590B or into a 125B? Also, do you remember the aproximate size of the board?
DeleteI see you have round, green, and yellow capacitors on the top left image layout. What types of capacitors do you recommend for these 3 different types?
ReplyDeleteThe round ones are electrolytic capacitors, the green ones are film, and the yellow are ceramics. Typically anything below 1nF I use ceramic, and above that I use film (though you can certain use ceramics just fine). Another above 1µF I generally use electros. Hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone especially the one that created this TS , I have a question on where to add footswitch , jack in and out ...sorry im new to this but im interested in building one of this thanks :) and i listed all the parts needed
ReplyDeleteCheck out the general layout notes tab at the top of the page
DeleteThank you and have a nice day :)
DeleteHi its me again , I'm sorry I didn't find it. But can you send me some pics? Sorry for disturbing. Have a nice day again...
DeleteHere's the link:
Deletehttp://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/p/general-layout-notes.html
Lots of offboard wiring tutorials and images online too. Just search on google.
Thank you :) one last thing before I start my journey hehehe
ReplyDeleteIs the blue resistor indicates as metal film? thanks again :)
They do, but carbon film can be used as well. Not vital to the circuit.
DeleteLast question :)
Delete,is it okay if use a 5 band resistor?
Thanks that's all :)
You can use any kind of resistors you want.
DeleteHi... What kind of switch used in this pedal?
DeleteNo 3dpt switches in electronic shops here in the philippines...
I tried guitar shops but no 3dpt switch, may I ask if there's a substitute?thanks...cheers
You could try Millenium 2 bypass. It uses a DPDT footswitch and still gives LED on/off indication.
DeleteHi again...Can i use 10v electrolytic capacitors?
DeleteAnd what's the wattage of resistors? Thank you
10v caps electros are not recommended. Use at least 16v, and 35v is probably safer. Resistors are 1/4 watt.
Deletegood day :) how about the film caps?
Deleteis there anything that i need to know about it?
thanks
You can use film or ceramic caps, your choice. The ones I use are rated at 100v
DeleteHi...is there a difference between mylar and film cap?
DeleteThe only caps in my possession are mylar...
and about the 51pf, can i use 50pf?
Deleteand is the square pad negative side of electro cap?
thanks ...
50pf is fine. Square pad = positive side. Mylars are fine.
DeleteHi again ... I'm confused about the square pads on diode (1N4001,1N4148)
DeleteIs it still positive side or negative ? Thanks
With diodes, square pads indicate the cathode (-) side. Should be the same as the marked side on the actual diode.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletehi can i apply solder mask? and is there any stencil available. sorry just a noob :)
DeleteIs it possible to squeeze this in a 1590A?
ReplyDeleteThe board is too big for a 1590a.
DeleteWhat a pity... so you can take a 1590A Tube Screamer as request XD
ReplyDeleteI don't understand. Made it, but the sound is clean. Tone and volume work, but drive doesn't affect sound. Changed jrc4558. Same story. Can anyone help please?
ReplyDeleteChecked everything. Can't find the reason. Can anyone show the way please?
Deleteme too
Deletei also built this but clean sound also
DeleteI just made the circuit, when I connect 3PDT not work for me , you can be?
ReplyDeleteYou have an error in either your board or in your offboard wiring. Check it with a digital multi-meter and/or an audio probe to find faults.
DeleteMay i get more volume output on this one.
ReplyDeleteThis things sounds great, but not enough output to be booster.
Thx bro.
There are a lot of mods to the TS808 that can be found online. But you should be getting plenty of volume out of this without mods. Double check for any shorts and use an audio probe if need be.
Deletewhat i do if a want to add a clipping diodes switch?
ReplyDeleteBasically you'll take the clipping diodes off the board and put them on one side of a DPDT along with another set of diodes of your choice on the other side and wire it like this:
Deletehttps://s3.postimg.org/x0j1qlpyb/switch_diagram.png
so where I put the sw1a and sw1b? like sw1a on the grey side of D1 and sw1b on the grey side of D2? (im pretty newb)
DeleteYep you got it.
Deleteand this "logic" works to every drive pedal? replacing the switch in the grey sides of diodes?
DeleteHello, I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I'm completely new with perfboards and I have a couple doubts I want to sort out before attempting this build. First, how do you make the 'ground perimeter' for lack of a better term you have in here? Do you just use stripped wire to connect all the pads in the perimeter? Second, when you need to connect a component to ground, and it is close to the rail, do you use wire to jump it or do you solder the pads together? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThere's not really a right or wrong way to do it (unless it doesn't work, then it's wrong haha). What I do is start with resistors and diodes and bend the legs under the board to start forming the traces. Then do the caps, again bending legs and filling in any traces that weren't created with the resistors. Generally by the time I get to this point just about all the traces are formed, but any gaps I'll fill in with either component leg cut offs or stripped solid core wire. For the ground perimeter, it's not really necessary to go all the way around, as long as everything that's supposed to connect to ground connects to ground. Hopefully that helps. I'm working on a tutorial video of how I do perf that I'm hoping to get out soon. So be on the lookout for that.
DeleteI'll certainly be waiting for it! Thank you so much for being so helpful and having this amazing site up. One last doubt, was this designed with a 1590B enclosure in mind or something a little bigger?
DeleteThis one would be easier to fit in a 125B. There's another tube screamer layout for the TS9 that'll work in a 1590B. And the difference between the 808 and the 9 is like 2 resistor values.
Deletehi! what i need to do to this layout if i want to add a switch to go from ts808 to ts9?could that be possible?
ReplyDeleteYou can do it like this fairly easily:
Deletehttp://members.optushome.com.au/bluespherecreations/forum/resistorswitching.gif
This is well worth reading as well:
http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/TStech/tsxtech.htm#obuffer
Buenas Tardes, lo logro conseguir el capacitor ceramico de 51 pf las opciones que me ofrecen son de 47 pf o 53 pf podria indicarme si puedo utilizar cualquiera de estos dos para que funcione el circuito? Muchas Gracias.
ReplyDeleteEither of those values will work fine.
DeleteMuchas Gracias!! Saludos.
DeleteAbout the resistance of 510K and that of 51K, do you think correct 470k + 47k? I would be giving a value of 517k and 47k + 4.7K, I would be giving 51.7 Is what I can get at this point to finish the ts808, do you think it can work?
DeleteThat would work fine. Though, if it were me, I'd just just a 470k in place of the 510k and a 47k in place of the 51k. In all the many variations on the tube screamer out there, those values vary a lot.
Delete
DeleteThank you very much!, I'm going to follow your advice.
Hi! How are you? Let me say to you that your work is priceless!
ReplyDeleteI have only one question about the layout (First of all, I have read your General Layouts Article). What does the yellow/orange path mean in the upper side of the board? As far I understand, red path belongs to VOLTAGE, green paths are GROUND and Blue paths mean AUDIO.
Thanks in advance for your comments! Your contribution is Highly appreciated!
Thanks for your kind words. Those traces are the voltage reference (sometimes called VR, VB, Vbias, etc) and is 4.5v.
DeleteThanks to you for your help! I'll start inmediatelly with my first pcb project
DeleteWhat voltage is supposed to be on yellow line? Im troubleshooting my effect, cause it is not working :/ there are no shorts, what is next to check? Thx
DeleteAs stated above, yellow traces indicate the voltage reference, which is half the supply voltage. So with a 9v supply it should be 4.5v
Deleteso if I have 9V there, what can be wrong?
DeleteMy first guess would be the 10k resistor right above Q1 from the red trace to the yellow is shorted. Try replacing it
DeleteDo you guys ever build an OD pedal which produces more gain than the original? Most of OD pedals I built does, including this one. Could it be because of the cheap components I use?
ReplyDeleteI've done this pedal with "A100K" level pot and when i compare with original, only that VOLUME (Level)pot does not work exactly like the original pedal does. When i change pot with "B100K" pedal works exactly the same as the original. I cannot believe, this sound exactly like TS808. Just USE lin potentiometer (Level B100K) insted of log and you have original TS808. ;)
ReplyDeleteHola me preocupa más el.control de tono , que dices de poner w20k en ese lugar ?
DeleteYou can mark this as verified !!!
ReplyDeleteWonderful sound and identical to the original ts808 !!!
Once again your work has helped us a lot, thanks !!!
Perfeito!!! Excelente sonoridade e um baita timbre.
ReplyDeletePOde montar!
Im getting a weird farting noice even when the pedal is off :(
ReplyDeleteSo, about 50 pf capacitor, can i use a 56pf?? Is it gonna work?
ReplyDeleteYeah that’s fine
DeleteThose 2 1uf caps arent they suppose to be Non polar? Can i use poly capa instead?
ReplyDeleteEither type of cap will work.
Deletedamn, here have a big pop when turns on and turns off... i tried some 3pdts and relay bypass circuits and both have the same pop, can be the circuit? i have add 10k in serial with the input and at the output 100k in parallel and after 1k in serial, i kill 99% off pops with this, but not in this time... any sugestion?
ReplyDeleteIs the layout designed to be conected to a 3DPT so as to get the true bypass?
ReplyDeleteCorrect. See the General Layout Notes tab for offboard wiring info.
DeleteHello, would it work to put a capacitor of 27nf by one of 22nf ?!
ReplyDeleteYes that should work just fine.
Deletethank you my friend
DeleteHello, I just set up this beautiful pedal, what a wonderful sound, but the level is not responding very well, only starts increasing after half past, I need some help to improve this level response, any ideas ?!
ReplyDeleteHow do I add The output can be louder than this.
ReplyDeletei made a mistake using c1815 (ECB) transistors, but i changed for 2n3904 and the pedal works just fine now!
ReplyDeleteposso usar bc549
ReplyDeleteHello Is there a noise problem and hissing?
ReplyDeletechange the tone pot to 5k for better tone control. classic pedal
ReplyDeletePlease help. It works just fine but when the gain knob is at zero it cuts the sound. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteHi, I built one and there's sound coming the effects but the level control is not working. It's fixed in a certain level. What seems to be the problem? The gain and tone controls are working and the sweeps are perfectly fine. I'm loving this pedal but i need to make the level works. Thank you Effects Layout for sharing this. Next project is The Depths.
ReplyDeleteLook for a bridge or short. Or you may have a bad pot and need to swap it out.
DeleteOk ... I'll check on that thank you for the revert
DeleteThe culprit is the 510K ohms to lug 1 of Level Control and my TS808 works great.... thank you for sharing your work
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei built this effect, but sound is only clean, no distortion. I tried more IC 4885 (chinese) and sound is still clean. When i tried tl072 sound was a little bit distorted but still sounds clean. Checked all values resistor and caps, checked all solder joints/traces, replaced diodes, a500k pot and sound is still the same.
Deletevoltages:
Q1,2 (2n3904) - C=9.10v B= 3.8v E=3.4v
pins 1-3= 4.5v, 4=0v 5-7=4.5v 8=9v
hm..any idea where is problem?
me too
Deletewhy mine it so clean?? nofx
ReplyDeleteHello! How big is the PCB? What's the lenght, and wideness in centimeters?
ReplyDeleteCheck the Transfer Image Library tab for scaled PDFs of all the layouts.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt works!!!!!
ReplyDelete