Review Behringer TO800 Vintage Overdrive Pedal

Well, I received my Behringer TO800 pedal last Thursday. May seem a little early to post a review, but I put this pedal to the test of fire, used it at our gig Saturday night.

Behringer TO800

When I got it Thursday, I spent about 2-3 hours playing around with it. Pretty simple pedal, it has Drive (adjusts gain or distortion), Tone, and Level controls (adjusts volume). It is all plastic, and honestly, it's seems kinda flimsy. The knobs turn very easily, not firm and smooth like the Behringer CS100 Compressor I bought a couple of weeks ago. I have not really tried to get to the battery compartment, but I have heard this is the pedal's worst feature. You have to use an object like a ballpoint pen and press inward on both of the footswitch's hinges at the same time (got to be difficult). Then you lift off the footswitch. But I just put this on my pedalboard and used my One Spot power adaptor. The AC jack is on the side, some complain about this, but it was no problem to me.

As I wrote in another post, I was interested in this pedal because I read it compares very closely to the original Ibanez TS808 Tubescreamer that Stevie Ray Vaughn made so famous. I have read so much about this original Tubescreamer over the years that I just had to try this Behringer out. And at only $25, it was no big risk.

I have always read that the famous setting on the Tubescreamer is to turn Drive all the way counter-clockwise (Min.), turn the Tone all the way counter-clockwise (Bass), and turn Level all the way clockwise to Max.. So I tried this first. Hey, that sounds pretty good. The pedal has a very warm tone and lots of sustain. So I played a while at this setting. Then I experimented by turning Drive all the way up. You have to come down on Level when you do this or it will get real loud. At this setting the pedal has a very mellow breakup, compares with my Epi Valve Junior amp at about 11 o'clock setting. So this is a very low gain pedal. I also experimented with the Tone. I will say this, all the controls on this pedal are very responsive, you can really hear a difference when you turn them. Tone can go from very low and bassy to very harsh. This is not bad, you just have to find that Tone you like.

Anyway, I played this pedal for hours and also spent 2-3 hours on Friday playing with it. I thought the pedal was good, but nothing spectacular. But this was using the pedal at low bedroom volumes.

Saturday morning I added this pedal to my new pedalboard I have been putting together for a couple of months. This pedal was the last piece I was looking for. So my chain of pedals goes Boss TU2 Tuner---> Danelectro Pepperoni Phase---> Behringer CS100 Compressor---> ProCo Rat Distortion---> Behringer TO800 Overdrive---> Danelectro Fish & Chips 7 Band EQ---> Danelectro Milkshake Chorus---> Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremelo---> and Danelectro PB&J Delay (used as a reverb). Sounds more like a menu at a cheap restaurant than a guitar pedalboard.

We get to the gig and I hook it up. I left the Compressor, EQ, and Delay used as reverb on at all times. By the way, I really like this Behringer Compressor. I do not dial in much compression, I simply like the way it warms up and gives presence to my clean tone. I have tried turning up compression and do not like the effect it has on the bass. It just squashes it down and takes the edge off of it. It gives you a very even sound, but not very dynamic. So I kept compression around 1/2. At this setting it adds a lot of presence to the tone, but doesn't squash everything. You still have some dynamics.

I don't play a whole lot of lead in our band, but I get a few solos. The first is at the end of Rockin' In the Free World. On this I had the TO800 with Drive Min, Tone Bass, and Level about 1/2. I didn't want it to jump out too much. It did sound very good at this setting, though a little too bassy and the volume not quite enough. We are loud, and Lane our other guitarist is not real good at coming down on his volume when you solo, so you just have to go louder. So, the solo was good, the pedal has a very smooth, violin type overdrive, and really sustains well.

So I made a few minor adjustments. I turned Drive to 1/2 (12 o'clock), Tone to 12 o'clock, and Level all the way to Max.

The next song where I play a little lead is White Room. I do not play the solo on this song, but I do play the little fills in the rhythm guitar. So I would play the chords, step on the pedal and play the little fill. Wow!! I couldn't believe the difference. This little pedal was hot! I am not trying to exaggerate, or make this pedal sound better than it is, but it was amazing. The little fills jumped right out. The tone was unbelieveably thick and smooth with lots of clarity and bite. And man, the sustain was fantastic. I can play with this tone! 8)

A little later we played Too Rolling Stoned by Robin Trower. I get to play a long solo here. Man, I played about the best solo I've ever played. You know when your tone is really good it almost seems your guitar plays by remote control. Well, that's how it was.

And the other guys noticed. At break Lane came over staring at my pedalboard and asking me what I was playing through tonight. He bent right down and was looking closely at my board. I almost laughed. I told him, "It's that little green pedal there, that's what you're hearing."

So, I tell ya, I found out what people are raving about. This little pedal is amazing. It is not really the kind of overdrive pedal you use for rhythm guitar. No, you want to use this pedal for solos only, to make them jump out above the mix with great smooth tone and terrific sustain.

If this is what the original Tubescreamer sounded like, now I see what all the fuss is about.

And I think you have to get volume up a little to really appreciate this little pedal. At bedroom volume it is good. At gig volume it is fantastic.

I am convinced. I love this little pedal even if it feels cheap. I will just get another one and carry along as a backup. But this pedal is staying on my board for good.