JHS Pedals Bonsai 9-Way Screamer Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal, Green

Product Information

A few years ago we tried to figure out which were the best-selling overdrive pedals on the market by looking at several online music stores’ listings organized by “most popular.” The answer we got from the data was unequivocal: the Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9 and its mini sibling won first and second place. In all likelihood, those two pedals are still topping that list to date, and it’s very likely that the Tube Screamer also tops the list of the best-selling pedals of all time. Mayer has gone through an abundance of guitar amps in his time. He has played a number of Fender amplifiers. There have been Vibroverbs, Vibro-King Customs, Band-Masters, Super Reverbs and more. The Dumble Steel String Singer has been a favorite of his but you’d sooner find a tin of tartan paint down Home Depot than one of those. Another popular use for the Tube Screamer is to boost or “front-end” an already distorted amp. Not only is there added gain, but also the EQ curve is perfect for tightening up large amounts of gain on the low end and adding clarity with the mid-boost. Myriad options are most commonly associated with modelling technology, but the Bonsai is all-analogue. With all the extra circuitry, which JHS spent three years developing, there’s no room for a battery compartment or the input and output buffers of the originals. This is a true bypass pedal, complete with the slight popping sound that accompanies switch-on.

With the gain at zero, it seemed like the Bonsai was slightly cleaner and a touch more transparent than my TS-9. The Tube Screamer’s popularity spawned a host of clones and mods. Many pedal manufacturers offer their version of the venerable circuit, and many high-profile pedal designers started off modding Tube Screamers. There is a litheness to Mayer’s sound so we want an amp that has that sort of response, that abundant clarity and then just the right amount of juicy breakup when the moment calls for it. There has to be a dynamic range so wide you could drive cattle through it. Following in the steps of our Muffuletta (released 2015), the Bonsai utilizes a simple rotary knob to switch through nine classic, vintage, rare, or hard to find variations of the Screamer. Creating the Bonsai became an archeological dig of sorts that sent us deep into the history of this circuit by examining dozens of versions, variations and replications. At the end of it all, Josh chose nine of his personal and favorite units and we painstakingly replicated every nuance and aspect of each pedal. One of the most challenging parts of this project was accounting for component drift as many of these pedals were decades old and the internal components had strayed from their original values. Each pedal was individually replicated using our Audio Precision analyzer and various other methods that allowed us to perfectly replicate every aspect of the sound and feel of the unit. It's important to know that the Bonsai is not a "box of mods," it is exact replications of these nine units all housed in one box! The Bonsai is exact replication, not emulation. When you choose a mode on the Bonsai rotary, you are actually activating components specific to each mode and playing the unit that Josh chose along with all the quirks, drift, vintage mojo, and individuality that a vintage pedal has.In the late 1970’s the overdrive pedal was arguably perfected when Japanese engineers designed the sound that we now know as the heart and soul of so many of our favorite artists, recordings and sounds. Players ranging from The Edge, Trey Anastasio, Buddy Guy, Kirk Hammett, John Mayer, SRV, Carlos Santana and thousands more from every possible genre have utilized and depended on this classic iconic green box. If a single effect pedal was chosen to board a Voyager 3 mission and be solely responsible for showing the universe the sound of overdrive, it would undoubtably be Tube Screamer. It is probably the most produced and sold pedal in the history of guitar pedals! The Bonsai is our tribute to one of the greatest pedals ever created. Let’s be clear from the outset – the Bonsai isn’t nine distinct overdrives in a single box. It’s more like three overdrives plus six variations on a theme. The OD-1 is a rough diamond and we compare it to a DIY build OD-1 with an added tone control. Despite the authentic absence of a tone control on the Bonsai version, it’s unmistakably the same circuit with symmetrical clipping diodes and a rougher but clearer sound than a regular Tube Screamer. The hot mode on this version gives you the highest gain sound in the Bonsai. More low end and dirt fill out the tone to have you shredding away. Keeley Mod Plus - 2002 Robert Keeley's classic mod tightens up the tone on the original giving you smoother mid range and high frequencies, and increased bass response.

Delivers a smooth, tight tone with less noise, an increased bass response, increased clarity, and more percussive qualities. In 1981, Ibanez created the “9” series of pedals that included the TS9 Tube Screamer. This was a replacement for the 808 and was very close in construction — the TS9 notably had a larger footswitch — and sound, except that the output was changed, resulting in a slightly brighter and less smooth sound. Ibanez has had many iterations of the TS throughout the years; they currently offer seven different versions of the Tube Screamer. However, the two that are the most talked about are the 808 and the TS9. That Sound The JHS Bonsai is 9 tube screamers in one pedal. JHS founder Josh Scott looked at multiple versions of the iconic tube screamer and spent 3 years developing replicas of their circuits, using an Audio Precision analyser to make sure he was getting the exact same sound that the originals produced. This is an all-analogue pedal, staying true to the original tube screamer signal path, are the circuits are replicas, not emulations. This is a great way to explore the history of tube screamers without needing to buy a separate pedal to hear each sound, and also for Tube Screamer fans that need more options than a single pedal usually offers. Following in the steps of our Muffuletta (released 2015), the Bonsai utilizes a simple rotary knob to switch through nine classic, vintage, rare, or hard to find variations of the Screamer. Creating the Bonsai became an archeological dig of sorts that sent us deep into the history of this circuit by examining dozens of versions, variations and replications. At the end of it all, Josh chose nine of his personal and favorite units and we painstakingly replicated every nuance and aspect of each pedal. One of the most challenging parts of this project was accounting for component drift as many of these pedals were decades old and the internal components had strayed from their original values. Each pedal was individually replicated using our Audio Precision analyzer and various other methods that allowed us to perfectly replicate every aspect of the sound and feel of the unit. It’s important to know that the Bonsai is not a “box of mods,” it is exact replications of these nine units all housed in one box! The Bonsai is exact replication, not emulation. When you choose a mode on the Bonsai rotary, you are actually activating components specific to each mode and playing the unit that Josh chose along with all the quirks, drift, vintage mojo, and individuality that a vintage pedal has.An overall brighter and slightly higher gain mode that does not utilize the Tone knob. This mode also inverts signal just like the original and has symmetrical clipping. The OD-1 is magical at boosting other drives or amps into singing saturation. TS-808 - 1979 In the late 1970's the overdrive pedal was arguably perfected when Japanese engineers designed the sound that we now know as the heart and soul of so many of our favorite artists, recordings and sounds. Players ranging from The Edge, Trey Anastasio, Buddy Guy, Kirk Hammett, John Mayer, SRV, Carlos Santana and thousands more from every possible genre have utilized and depended on this classic iconic green box. If a single effect pedal was chosen to board a Voyager 3 mission and be solely responsible for showing the universe the sound of overdrive, it would undoubtably be Tube Screamer. It is probably the most produced and sold pedal in the history of guitar pedals! The Bonsai is our tribute to one of the greatest pedals ever created. Robert Keeley’s classic mod tightens up the tone on the original giving you smoother mid range and high frequencies, and increased bass response. To say that the Tube Screamer caught on is a monumental understatement. Its clever design simulates the way a tube amp responds to the guitar’s wide dynamic range. The distortion it produces has a soft clip, and its EQ curve accentuates the mids and tightens the low end. The high end is adjusted by the Tone control. These attributes have made converts out of guitarists from every musical genre, including players as diverse as John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Brad Paisley, and Trey Anastasio. Just about anyone you can think of has used a Tube Screamer or TS clone/mod at some point.

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When a product reaches this level of popularity (or even a much lesser level, for that matter!), it’s only normal for the industry to take note and try to “join the revenue party.” That’s why the Tube Screamer has become one of the most cloned and referenced pedals of all time. The last mode, JHS, is based on JHS’ “strong mod,” which has more focus in the high end. With gain and tone knobs both at noon, the JHS mode seemed like the loudest of the nine. It was also among the most open sounding. Yet it retained a nice balance of creaminess for single-note lines. When I rolled down my guitar’s volume knob, the JHS mode cleaned up very nicely, allowing me to get a clean-ish sound for chords that I could readily dial up to an aggressive, vibrant lead tone. Nearly identical to the TS-808 but with a slightly more pushed low-mid range. MSL, Power or L Series - 1985 With the JHS Pedals’ Bonsai you can get the classic sounds of nine Tubescreamers in one pedal. Let the Bonsai help you find your overdrive zen. In the mid ’70s, Japanese guitar manufacturer Ibanez and its parent company Hoshino added effects pedals to their product line, and the Nisshin Onpa company was tapped to manufacture them. Simultaneously, Nisshin’s agreement with Ibanez allowed Nisshin to sell these same pedals under their own Maxon name. By 1979, the line included the Maxon OD808, which was internally identical to the Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer. As the story goes, Hoshino was better capable of international distribution, so the Ibanez brand was sold in America.

The lists in this article were last updated on June 5th, 2023 The Best Selling Overdrive of All Time You could argue that every guitarist should have a Tube Screamer. But if you’ve ever wondered which variation is right for you, dread that voyage to the snarky pedal forums no more. JHS has put nine very solid-sounding versions right at your fingertips. Our own mod we’ve been doing since 2008 is much cleaner and overall more powerful. The mode has more pronounced higher and low end drop offs.With that in mind we’ve got to play the percentages and see which would give us the most archetypical Mayer tone. As the top of the piece we mentioned creamy blues and candied funk, but let’s at to that elasticity. The interesting thing about the Bonsai is that it doesn’t just strictly replicate Ibanez Tube Screamers. OD-1 mode is based on Boss’ 1977 OD-1, the overdrive that inspired the Tube Screamer. Like the original OD-1, the Bonsai OD-1 mode takes the tone control out of the signal path. It’s predictably more open and brash. Sweeping through the TS modes, each offers subtle changes in gain and frequency emphasis. MSL gives a throatier low-mid bark while TS10 lowers the gain and applies a more extreme low-end roll off that takes a bigger bite out of the low mids. Though metal is in the name, this sound doesn't quite inspire the modern metal djent we think of. Still it has a higher gain sound with a more low end and an overall more gooey feel. TS-10 - 1986 USED products: 4% of the current new selling price to increase the warranty from 3 months to 1 year. 4% for each additional year.