The Ibanez TS-9 is a great pedal but suffers from a weak buffer, which can suck tone. Making it True Bypass can help your signal chain when it is not in use. The heavy-duty 3PDT is also a nice touch for durability. In addition I like to change the output buffer and the chip back to TS808 specs. I get the JRC4558 chips from the good folks at Small Bear Electronics.
True Bypass Mod:
In order to True Bypass the pedal, remove the .1uF cap coming off the collector of Q1, both JFETs, and both 510k resistors that are connected to the JFETs. Then jump the removed JFET that formerly connected the the volume pot to the .1uF cap that connects to the base of Q2. From there just connect the 3PDT as typical.
TS808 Mod:
Changing the chip is a pain, particularly desoldering the old chip. Once I have it removed, I replace it with a chip socket so that I can have the option of trying different chips. The TS808 used old JRC4558 chips. With that done, change the resistors on the output buffer (Q2): 470E becomes 100E, and 100k becomes 10k. All done.
Pics and Demo to come.
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