01—JHS Pedals
Bonsai
Settling the 'which Tube Screamer is best?' argument in a single box.
If you've ever wondered whether the TS808 really sounds different from the TS9, buy this and stop wondering. Probably the most useful 'multi' on the market.
02—On the bench
Nine Tube Screamers in one enclosure. Bonsai is a meticulously modeled rotary-switch overdrive that recreates nine distinct flavors of the TS-808 / TS-9 lineage: the original 808, the TS9, the Keeley Mod Plus, the Maxon OD-9, the Exar OD-1, the JHS Strong Mod, the Boss SD-1, the Ibanez TS10, and the MetalZone-into-itself trick. Each setting nails the gain structure, EQ curve, and clipping character of the original. The point isn't to replace your collection of green boxes — it's to A/B the differences in one pedal and find which Tube Screamer you actually like before you spend $400 on a vintage one. The same three knobs (drive, tone, level) work across all nine modes.
- 01nine distinct mid-hump voices, all faithful
- 02TS808 mode is the warmest and most compressed
- 03Keeley Plus mode has the most open low end
- 04MetalZone mode is the surprise — useful as a fuzz
- 05great as a Klon-style boost into a dirty amp
03—In the room
Where else this pedal lives.
- Andy Wood
- Josh Smith
- Mike Stern
An original Ibanez TS9 if you're certain you only want that one flavor — but you don't know that yet.