Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini 5-stars Reviews

The Green Meanie

This is the only Tube Screamer I've owned so far that actually IS a Tube Screamer, though I do also own a Maxon OD808, which is of course a TS808 with slightly different resistors and have also owned a Maxon OD820 Pro (Maxon for those 2-3 people who don't know being the company who originally made the Tube Screamer pedals for Ibanez), so SOME comparison is possible. The TS Mini has by and large the same desirable tone of the OD808, great clarity and warmth, though I find the sound of the TS Mini better with a little more gain coming from the pedal and less from the amp, while conversely the OD808 (and so I guess the TS808) and OD820 are better with more gain from the amp and less from the pedal. The TS Mini has more bite and sounds more snarly than the 808 and 820, which in turn sound somewhat smoother and warmer; nonetheless, the TS Mini is a great pedal, it's bonehead easy to operate and get a good sound, looks great and the price is unbelievable - and obviously GREAT for small or overfilled pedal boards. I docked it one star for features because the mini pot knobs for tone and level are hard to see and read at distances of more than a couple of feet, but other than that it's definitely an asset and I would recommend it to others - the search for the ultimate "Tubey-Screamy" pedal is basically endless but this is a mandatory stop along the way!

I bought this OD with the purpose of tightening the bottom end, just to discover that it's a Swiss army knife pedal, delivering from mild to heavy overdriven tones. As you may know the Ibanez TS are well known for their mid frequencies which also help cut in very well in the mix, so if you are looking for a FAT overdrive I advise to look elsewhere.

The only down side for me is that being the purpose of the smaller footprint to save in size, they should have put the 9v input on the side and not on the top, so if you are in need of saving space, please don't forget that, it might make a difference.

For me this is an always ON pedal, being used for both delivering a mild OD on the clean channel, and tightening the bottom end on the lead channel. If that's your purpose, look no further, here's your winner!

The perfect finishing touch

Brilliant pedal (for its price and size). My Marshall dsl40 is a decent amp with good gain but it needed some added overdrive to really sound like the beast it is.

The TS Mini does the job perfectly and seems to have not lost any of the qualities that makes its big brother so great. I've grown accustom to just having it on all the time and honestly can't imagine using the amp without it because it gives me that fuller, fattier sound needed for most hard rock like ACDC or Guns N Roses.

I guess if there was one downside it would be the lack of features (i.e. only two settings to adjust - Tone and Level) but for an overdrive pedal there's not much to play around with anyways once you've gotten the boost you need

Overall, great pedal and boost to my pedal board

Little beast

Great little pedal, big tone in small package.

I use it as overdrive for most songs that I play, but it can be used as a boost too, and a very nice one at that! Nice range of drive from really low (pretty much just boost) to medium-high. Tone knob covers anything you will ever want to play. If I could change one thing I would do something about 2 small knobs which are hard to navigate through when you're at the gig cause you can hardly see their position.

With my Fender American special strat and Vox Nightrain 15 and AC 30 it really shines!

This is one of the best drives i encountered, with Fulltone Fulldrive 2 maybe being the best.

Great pedal, great price, small size, you can't really expect much more!

Ibanez Mini TS (not so mini)

Well I had the originals TS9 from back in the day, this one is very, very, very close.

Very good in front of a clean amp or in the crunch channel.

A classic, at this price is a steal.

This rocks!

This little tiny pedal gives you the full traditional screamer tone the you need for any genre. Works perfect as a booster on your OD. It has a lot of gain and really boosts up your mids. I love it!

Small pedal big tone!!

I bought this with the intention of cramming more pedals onto my board without sacrificing my sound.

The TS mini was a great swap for my ibanez TS9.

It doesn't sound identical but it is a pleasant change.

It doesnt quite reach the depth, warmph and the low ends that the ts9 gives but swaps it out for a marshall like drive.

It sounds dirtier and grittier than the ts9 and worked well with my super strats. I would probably swap back to the ts9 when using a les paul for those low ends however.

The pedal features are simple but they are poorly labelled with the smaller knobs. It could really do with clearer markings as you CANNOT see your settings in daylight without a torch let alone a stage/dark environment.

A simple mod with bright nail varnish will work ;)

All in all for the price this is a fantastic pedal I will treasure.

Big sound in such a small pedal! no excuse for it to leave your board!