Any Pedal Mod Gurus Able to Give Advice? (TS7)

[soundchaser59]

Let's make no mistake, my favorite pedal mod guru at this time is Monte Allums. I have installed 4 or 5 of his kits on my pedals, and they are keepers.

In negotiations with my brother, one of the items I forked over was an Ibanez TS7 Tubescreamer. I tested it before I gave it up, and I was actually pleasantly surprised at the sound quality and tone out of the box, stock. I wanted to keep it, but in side by side with my Allums modded SD1 and BD2 it was not quite "there" so I let me brother have it.

But last night I had the brilliant though belated idea to check and see if Allums has a TS7 mod. I was disappointed in my impatience to find that he did have one, but it is currently not available. He even goes so far as to beg people NOT to write asking when it will be available.

But to add to my contusion, I found testimonials on his site where people are raving about - you guessed it - the TS7 mod. They are not dated, nothing on the site appears to be dated, so I have no way of knowing if (1) his web site is simply not updated, and the TS7 mod really is available? Or (2) if those testimonials were from mod kits he sold previously, and now he is updating the mod kit, so the web site is actually correct?

Anyway, I am letting my impatience get the best of me again, and I decided to check with the people most likely to know.

The only thing I really had a complaint about with the TS7 is the noise/hiss level at higher gain settings. Nothing wrong with the tone, and I have the SD1 and BD2 anyway to cover any tone gaps.

So do any of you inclined on the electronic analysis side of things know what one (or two or three) thing I could change inside the TS7 to reduce or eliminate the noise level? Is it simply a matter of using a better chip? Maybe changing a cap? I dont really want to change the tone or the timbre, just getting rid of the noise would be 90% of the TS7 battle, as far as I'm concerned.

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Chris McKinley]

To start with, replace all the wire with larger guage silver and the solder with silver solder. Change to metal caps. Those two alone are responsible for killing most noise in the mods I do.

 

[soundchaser59]

Thanks, I'm looking into it now! :wink:

 

[soundchaser59]

Ok, my impatience strikes again.

I did get some great replies on this question from other sources, grateful for that.

But it turns out that Allums TS7 mod can still be purchased off his web site. It is not apparent at all from the hype on the page, but a guy has to actually click on the drop down list and the TS7 mod kit is still there waiting to be chosen! I finally got a reply from Allums and he says it's the switchable upgrade for the TS7 kit that is not yet available, even though the original TS7 kit can be purchased at any time. I would not have known at all if he hadn't told me how.

Man, it will be hard to choose. Approximately 1 week from now I will have 3 Allums-modded OD pedals: SD-1, BD-2, and TS-7. I really should let go of one to raise some money for a bigger purpose (an amp maybe? Or a Greenback?) I assumed that the BD-2 would turn out to be the lesser of the 3 pedals.

So I just did an hour of side by side with the SD-1 and the BD-2 and I honestly cannot imagine parting with either one of them. I was blown away a couple nights ago when I patched a stock TS7 in front of my brother's Champ amp. WOW! If it's that good stock, then the modded one must be tone nirvana that will make me whine for a Fender amp again!

But when I do another side-by-side with the 3 modded pedals, I may not be able to bring myself to part with any of them! Maybe this is one of the tonequest milemarkers I've been striving for?