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Jacques Ibanez ts808 page

Jacques Stompboxes ts808 page

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Personal history

In the early ‘70s there were no such things as an overdrive pedal. When we talk about choice of good guitar tones , it usually went from Fender twin clean to fuzz face in a Marshall amp, while these options were way too expensive for teenagers. Even in our favourite records , that creamy tone we all know and like now, was totally absent . Of course, it was always possible to roll-off our guitar volume knob when engaged in a fuzz pedal to obtain something more coherent for rhythm—and then of course go full volume for fire-breathing solo. As far as I can remember, the first time I heard this tone was from a Stevie Ray Vaughan track and it changed everything. So don’t take for granted this tone has always been here : most classic rock album , the foundation of our music , did without.

First experiences

While Boss OD-1 was already there when the Ibanez ts808 came out, it somehow flew under the radar. Some would argue the MXR distortion + could be near, but as we used it only completely cranked up, we totally missed the point.
Another thing is that our beloved fuzz pedals was not that great on cheap transistor amps, with maybe the exception of the Electro-harmonix big muff, a class of its own.
So when we first tried a tubescreamer on our band Emthree 100w tranny amp, it was kind of a revelation: it was just like we eventually got a good amp for almost free.This was so good , I had to KNOW why and how those Japanese engineers have succeeded in that miracle, as I was already building fuzz pedals for my fellow guitar players at that time.

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The biggest secret revealed

Intense scrutiny gave me the secret : two diodes in the feedback loop of an opamp ! Believe me at that time opamps were close to the electronics state-of-the-art , and while two diodes head-to-tail was not really new, the arrangement was ground-breaking. From this mythical times , I have been working on my own version, leading me to the fierce Overtube. But the original green Grail have been cherished all these years, and still part of my pedal collection at the best place.

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Dating an original ts808

For a long time, that question was utterly useless : there were only originals , they were cheap, and the reissue trend was not yet even on my mind of marketing executives : they only changed the models and the pedal became ts9, ts10 ts5 and ts7 .But when market went crazy on prices , Ibanez made these pedals again and confusion started .
Well the outside look is kind of a give away : most of the original tubescreamers have been played A LOT and therefore display the wonderful patina of time. The backplate is also different from the but there is a much safer way to know when the treasure you hold in your hand was made: Japanese capacitors manufacturers had the crafty idea to print the year of production on their products. Just read it and you will know : on these pictures , both pedals shows 1981 date .
You can also spot the registered r near the Ibanez logo which indicates older models.

Tone-wise : is it right to spend so much money on an original ts808 ?

That should be short : YES. Any time we did a blind test with several tubescreamers we had on our feet original ts9 pedals, luxury ts808 reissues , modified reissue surgery victims , clones of various skills , etc … , any of our original pedals was chosen 10 times out of 10 . We could start an argument about mojo or any other vaporous theory but facts are facts. I of course have my personal theories about chaos theory and how original components have somehow learned to work together but I won’t bother you with them. I have seen and heard that enough with numerous vintage original pedals to be sure.

Collector-wise : is it right to spend so much money on an original ts808 ?

Then again it’s an easy YES : the price of vintage original have raised permanently though the years with no limit yet. I remember fondly when those pedals could be bought for 30$ or euros in the short synthesiser era of the ‘80s. So whenever you find one at a price you would agree, just buy it.

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The 4558 opamp chip and the Malaysia story

As we was before ,the circuit of this pedal was conceived around the 4558 operational amplifier issued by Texas Instrument in the ‘70s. By all means this opamp was not targeting high-end audio but meant to be a more modern 741, and then received the modest ‘ general purpose ‘ sticker. You can find it in numerous domestic appliances of that period and that’s a fun game to spot it in thrift stores cassette recorders or radios. Several brands of this chip were used by Ibanez, and some aficionados would only swear by the Malaysia RC4558P from T.I. or Japan Radio Company JRC4558D. My habits in hi-fi tend to direct me toward the original, and as a matter of fact, my favourite ts808, nicknamed ‘ West’ has an original made in USA RC4558P from Texas Instrument themselves. But we are talking a subtle differences here. None original pedal lacked the magic in tone.

Mini-jack power supply

All original ts808 pedals had mini-jack positive tip power supply plug input. But a much lesser known fact that their enclosure was ready for standard Boss barrel DC. A square hole was already present as you can see on pics, while it was not a good idea from the precedent owner to punch it opened.

The ts808 siblings

And that leads us to its brothers : od850 and od855.
At the time of their issue the competition was still opened.
Many music mags gave the OD 850 the award for best harmonic distortion around and no doubt it is a great pedal.
Here are the ts808 signal-to-noise ratio precious info from a yore French tech mag:
Maximum gain: +30 db (+ 40db for OD850 and +45db for OD855)
Equivalent input noise: -100db (-70db for OD850 and -100db for OD855)
Price in French Francs of 1980 : 345,- ( FF 325,- for the other two)
All in all it seemed logical to the testers to choose the OD850 as a perfect ratio between gain and noise.
History made another choice.

My own creation : the Overtube.

I dislike making clones for at least two reasons :
I love to pay homage to the original object of my collection and it is a real joy for me to own several examples of this legendary pedal as well as other milestone pedals. I can find any value of a servile copy and if someone cannot afford an original , a cheap ts7 will always do the job and it is still an original pedal which can one day be cool, who knows.
The other reason is from an artefact point of view : I will always be much happier to sell a circuit I have created myself , expose my own sonic ideas and get the proper feedback from a satisfied customer.
This is why I built the Overtube on a new electronics basis to catch the creamy magic of the original ts808 and add it a CASCADE switch to emulate the use of 2 tubescreamers in series popularised by SRV himself.
Thank you for reading this article and let’s meet on my Overtube page

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WANDRE GUITARS

JACQUES COLLECTION OF WANDRE GUITARS

pictures and text copyright JACQUES PEDALS

Wandre Pioli (Pelotti is often quoted but is incorrect) really was a precursor in the guitar design.
Not only predating any other attempt in  aluminium necks , this genius could not help to be radically different
technically and aesthetically. Playing a Wandre, under his own name or under numerous other brand names such as
Framez or Davoli, is really a completely new experience, even if these guitars were manufactured more than 40 years ago.

SOME CORRECTED HISTORY…

Most books present Mr Wandre as a motorbikes manufacturer who decided one day to make guitars using his technical knowledge, and this genesis would explain the weirdness of the Wandre guitars.

This is totally wrong.

Born June 6th 1926, Antonio Pioli learned the beautiful art of luthery in his father workshop, a reknown luthier.
This succession took place in Cavriago, Reggio Emilia, Italy. We are at an hour driving distance from Cremona,
the cradle of human luthery, the home of Stradivarius.
Nicknamed “Wandre” by his father —which means ‘go in reverse’ in local Reggio slang—because of his eccentricity,
Antonio Pioli was a pure juice luthier, familiar with ancient and classical fine art of making resonant instruments.
He only wanted to make the guitar a better instrument. He constructed a factory in his hometown at his own standard:
to rationalise the manufacturing process, he built a round building to allow interactions of the multiple stages of the fabrication.
A well ahead industrial idea at its time, while quite at the right place, Northern Italian industry was then enjoying a peak of prosperity.

His first task was to find a lasting solution for wrapping necks. Italian woods are extraordinary for tone but
not as hard as American maple, and Italian guitars often suffer from bowing necks.

This is a back view of a Wandre neck. A broom stick of aluminium with a wooden finger board glued on it.
To avoid the cold sensation of the metal, a simple adhesive tape is applied along the neck.
While strange at first , these necks are very comfortable and every one of them is perfectly straight.

You can adjust the tilt of the neck ultra precisely because it is mounted on a hinge secured by two screws you can see at the heel. With all this , you adjust your string touching-fret-bottom-low with no buzz. Not bad for an economic ’60s guitar!

This a close view of the peg head, firmly screwed to the neck on three points.
Here we have a very nice angle with no risk of breaking it : the peghead/neck junction is a solid block of aluminium!

Here is the most exciting piece of my wandre collection: the mighty cobra !!!
This is the 1st model and believe me and INCREDIBLE guitar.

First, the cobra is really a joy for the eyes, its design being both classic and innovative in terms of color, shape and layout.
Second, the playability is extreme, let say better than a well set Japan RG Ibanez, which is not a small feat.
The aluminium neck is perfectly straight and the great frets allows ultra-low setting with no buzz nowhere.

But , the main originality of the cobra is of course its reverse bridge.
The reverse bridge is some kind of a legend for wandre aficionados, and to see it –and hear it– at last really is a great honor for me. Most people talk about a cythar-like tone given by this device: this is not true at all. The ringing resonance of the guitar is nothing nasal or metallic.
It is a shimmering delight, still present when you plug the guitar, because of the nice microphony of the davoli pick-ups.
Nevertheless, my cobra gives me some of the best jazz tone I can play,
proving that the low frequencies were not sacrificed on Mr Wandre innovation altar.
It is worth noting that the 2nd version of the cobra, aka cobra 2 , bears a standard bridge, making it much less desirable to my eyes, while a splendid beauty of her own.

The fierce headstock is no stranger to the guitar well-sustained tones and uncanny looks. Notice the usual 3 screws system.

To end the cobra article, here is a nice view of its bamboo-mysterious-india-located-movies-green-radical-sunburst finished back.
The vibrato system remains quite obscure for me. All I can say is that this black metal prong contains some kind of spring.
Mr. Wandre really did nothing like the other guitar makers.

Here is my second hollow body Wandre lying on a fellow Davoli amp. It is the same guitar than the blue one.
The body is not as it is often quoted, in fiberglass.
It is pure Italian poplar with a heat arch top construction painted with a heavy glossy finish.

What is funny about the amp is that it says proudly “transistor” on its front plate but is all tube.
Just the opposite of the current trend !!

Here is a very special semi-acoustic electric bass. The shape is somehow similar to the my guitars, while this instrument bears a beautiful sparkling lake placid blue finish. The construction is different too: it is the n°2 type wandre neck through, a massive aluminium device with sliding bridge. The pick-up is missing.

You can see here that this type of neck is more sophisticated, bearing an exotic wood insert, mother-of-pearl pegheads, and complete induction of the cold aluminium neck in some classy ivory white plastic , with a very nice feeling.

  This is the strangest thing about this bass: each fingerboard inlay is different. And the last one is more often found on EKO guitars. No clue why such a complicated work was done on this bass. Before leaving, please notice the exquisite wandre peghead aluminium inlay on the wood insert.

Here is my newest acquisition : a baby blue wonderful fulcrum neck with the strat like head. This means the strings are only supported by the aluminium structure, and that the hollow body is just assembled on this for tone, ergonomics and looks.
The weak small pick up seems original , but this wonderful axe would disserved a better medium.

Here is a side view that helps to imagine the guitar in 3D. Note the curved back and perfect action, once again !

Here are some more WANDRE guitars :
First a very rare plain style DORIS . I have heard the name came from a French woman he kind of fancied.
You can only admire the delicacy of the sparkle red finish and the exquisite exotic wood head. I wonder if the lady was that beautiful…


Then another COBRA, with a very nice orange hue.


And last but not least, a ROCKOVAL , in poor condition, with a –I guess– non-original stars and stripes painting . I know Mr.Wandre did make some very unique custom paintings but the style was quite different, involving romantic birds and trees.