The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello,
I have an Ibanez TS808 that I bought off a guy I played in a band with some years ago. I don't think he really knew what it was worth, because I got it very cheap. It is the real deal, green colour and all. It works perfectly! No scratching or anything...

Has anybody any idea of what this might be worth to the right person? I have no plans of selling it. Afterall, I play an SRV Strat as my main electric. But it would be interesting to know what I could get for it if I was to change my mind.

Thanks in advance!

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Cheers,
Øystein

• Gold Tone Solid Spruce Weissenborn D / Low G / C+9
• National Dynamic A6th / C6th / Leavitt
• Fender SRV Strat
• Ayers Acoustic
• Koch Twintone II

Generally $300-800 depending on condition and which 4558 chip it has. It could sound like junk, but if it was mint and had the "D" chip it'd hit $800 to some collector who would put it in a glass case. If it was mint and also had the original box and "box candy" (cards, instructions, etc) you'd be looking at $1200+.

A basic "player" in decent shape is around $400....they've dropped a lot in recent years as more and more have surfaced. They're not all that uncommon anymore, and there are SO many better OD's..plus the"SRV" thing has kind of run its course.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Jim Sliff on 20 October 2006 at 08:54 PM.]</p></FONT>

Thanks Jim,
How do I find out what chip is in it? I haven't got the box or anything of the original stuff that came with it. It has been used on a pedal board, so it has velcro on the bottom. But I think that could be taken off...

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Cheers,
Øystein

• Gold Tone Solid Spruce Weissenborn D / Low G / C+9
• National Dynamic A6th / C6th / Leavitt
• Fender SRV Strat
• Ayers Acoustic
• Koch Twintone II

If you open the battery compartment you will see the circuit board. As I recall, on an 808 (I have not had one cracked open in quite a while) the components are on the non-visible (top) side, so you have to pull the board - removing screws and the knobs, carefully. The largest (usually) ship on the board will be the 4558 Op-amp. the most desireable one is the JRC4558D. The TL4558P is more rare, but not considered as good. MOST have the RC4558D - note no "J"...but for some reason a lot of folks call the "J" model the "D" chip. Go figure. All of them are good, the JRC is just considered the best.

Hope that helps. I'm going off memory - I know the chip numbers are right, but the pedal dismantling might be a bit different.

Wow, thanks!
I'll see how much I care to do... It might be a bit much, and a bit risky, for a pedal I'm not planning on selling any time soon.

Still, thanks for all the info!

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Cheers,
Øystein

• Gold Tone Solid Spruce Weissenborn D / Low G / C+9
• National Dynamic A6th / C6th / Leavitt
• Fender SRV Strat
• Ayers Acoustic
• Koch Twintone II

What's interesting to me is that the price for these as "collectables" has risen even as there are more and more electronic duplicates and/or improvements available. You can buy hand-made boutique pedals with the "right" components for $200 - $300, buy a modded new Ibanez or Boss SD-1 for $150, send someone your "wrong" pedal and have them modify it for $50, or buy the right chip for a couple of bucks and do it yourself. Ibanez themselves made a series of plastic-bodied pedals called the Soundtanks and that Tubescreamer has the JRC4558 - you can get them on Ebay for 10 - 15 bucks sometimes. Behringer is making an exact electronic duplicate called the TO800 for $25 or so. I gather there's a bit of fraud in the modding business - sometimes people send in their fuzzbox, wait a month, get it back in the mail, plug it in and then think that they sound just like Stevie Ray. Only, it's still the exact same fuzzbox....
Tube Screamer History
Geek Secrets
Chips 'n Kits

Good grief! It seems there's almost a small religion to these pedals, or maybe I should say a sect (spelling?).

I'll try to find out which chip I've got. After all this I'm pretty curious. And judging by your interest, so are you...

Thanks for all the info!

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Cheers,
Øystein

• Gold Tone Solid Spruce Weissenborn D / Low G / C+9
• National Dynamic A6th / C6th / Leavitt
• Fender SRV Strat
• Ayers Acoustic
• Koch Twintone II

The new TS808 reissue sounds great, as well and costs less than $200- about $150 street price. I love that pedal.

Dave M, not all the soundtanks have the "good" chip, it's hit and miss. I have one that I put the good chip in, it is the best of 3 that I have owned, but the switches are really bad, and I put a different switch in it every couple of months. They all sound very good, the collector thing is like baseball cards to me- no real inherent value, but to each his own. JP

Ah well, I'm not collecting it. I only found it by a lucky chance (my only one ), and bought it as quick as I could. Sure sounds good, though!

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Cheers,
Øystein

• Gold Tone Solid Spruce Weissenborn D / Low G / C+9
• National Dynamic A6th / C6th / Leavitt
• Fender SRV Strat
• Ayers Acoustic
• Koch Twintone II

You can find the 4558 chip in period clock radios at your local Goodwill.

I don't know if this is of interest, but I thought I'd answer the guys who were so helpful when I asked about my Tube Screamer.

I opened it today, and I am the lucky owner of a JRC4558D chip! Woopee!

Thanks to all of you who answered my questions!

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Cheers,
Øystein

• Ayers Acoustic
• Gold Tone Solid Spruce Weissenborn
• National Dynamic
• Fender SRV Strat
• Koch Twintone II

Hey Jim P: I did the Monte Allums mod to my TS-5 also. And I had the same problem with the switch, but a few squirts with Radio Shack contact cleaner did the trick. I still ended up gettin a Maxon OD-9, and really love that pedal.

Mike H, I have put 6 or 7 different style switches, the original was really shot. I am planning on putting the whole mess in a new box with a good switch. jp

You can also get direct replacement switches for those here: http://www.mohomods.com/store.htm