Rodenberg / GAS-809 Official Tom Riepl Signature / Effect
Special features:
*Long Life Pot for Drive Level
*808 and 909 mode in one pedal
*3 position switch for Tone Level
*3 position switch for Output Level
*Extremely bright BLUE Jewel LED in 808 mode
*Extremely bright RED Jewel LED in 909 mode
*Specially dimensioned and selected components
*True Bypass
*Works with battery or power supply
*'Long-Life'-foot switch
*Upside blending of lasered high-grade stainless steel
*Handmade in small series
*2 years warranty
Read Tom's statement about the new GAS-809 Tomtone pedal here!
Special features:
The GAS-809 is the only GAS pedal which runs a real GAS-808 and GAS-909
mode in such a small case! It is also the only GAS pedal which offers these two sound modes powered by battery!
With changing from 808 to 909 mode the Jewel LED switches from Blue to Red - really amazing.
The sound is similar to the standard GAS- 808/909 pedals by 90%.
There are changes in tone according to the style and taste of Tom Riepl.
Sound 808 mode:
The GAS is based on the TS-808. Made out of specially dimensioned and selected components it fits into the existing sound harmonically well without really sounding like an external pedal, but more like a part of the amplifier itself. Being more likely an Overdrive than a distortion pedal the GAS was not created to give you a frequent-twisting overall distortion, it just emphasizes the whole frequenzy spectrum with a good and tasty shot of raunchiness. Perfect for boosting the amplifier sound without loosing or changing its natural characteristics.
Sound 909 mode:
The GAS-909 offers the same technical features as the GAS-808, there is just one remarkable difference: the 909 offers three times more gain resources than the 808!!!
Operational units upside:
On the upside you will find the Footswitch, the Jewel-LED, two 3 position switches for Tone and Output Level Controls and a Long Life Pot
(Over)Drive control.
Tone and Output Level switches:
The Tone Level can be controlled by a 3 position switch.
1= Low / 0= Mid (Neutral) / 2= High
The Output Level can be controlled by a 3 position switch.
1= Low / 0= Mid (Neutral) / 2= High
(Over)Drive control:
Have a look at that wonderful 'Frankenstein' Drive control knob!
The (Over)Drive control in 808 mode allows you lower settings than a standard GAS-808, in 909 mode it works similar to a standard GAS-909.
GAS-808/909 switch: on the right side of the pedal
The Tom Riepl Signature GAS-809 can work in real 808 and 909 mode.
In 808 mode the Jewel LED shines Blue and gives the GAS its outstanding overdrive sound - sweet & nice like sugar & spice. The Bass setting is similar
to a standard GAS-808 without Bass Boost.
In 909 mode the Jewel LED shines Red to give that 3 times more gain which
allows creamy and sparkling lead sounds still based on the original characteristics of the 808.
Jewel LED switch: on the left side of the pedal
With a Switch you find lefthandside the pedal (next to the output jack) you have the opportunity to run the LED Intensity in eatherway High or Low Mode.
This Switch dims or brightens the intensity of the Jewel-LED. The brightness is enormous and will help you to see the adjustment of the pedal on an however lit stage.
The Low Mode can be helpfull when running the pedal on battery.
True Bypass:
The Footswitch itself is a true-bypass long-life switch. If the GAS is turned off the guitar signal gets passed through to reach the amp without any loss.The chosen Jewel-LED is of the kind you find on older vintage amplifiers.
Jacks:
You will find the Input Jack righthandside and the Output Jack lefthandside the GAS-808. The battery will automatically be turned of when the cable at the Input Jack is plugged off.
External power supply:
On the rear side of the pedal you can find the jack for an External Power Supply. Its a standard jack (2,1mm). You can use the usual adapters for floor effects (9V DC,+ = outside ring, ground = inside). If an external power supply is connected the internal battery turns off automatically.
Technical Data:
*Input Level: -20dB
*Input Impedance: 1MOhm
*Output Impedance: 10KOhm
*Dimensions (L/T/H (inch)):
2.4 x 4.6 x 1.2
*Weight: 0.7 lbs
*Current - LED 'low': 7mA
*Current - LED 'high':....20mA
*Power Supply: 9V battery or
External Power Supply Unit: use
9V DC stabilisized only. Polarity:
+ = outside ring, ground = inside
RODENBERG amplification, Germany 
Hello,
this is Ulrich Rodenberg,let me tell you something about me, my work and products.
At the age of 13 I began to play guitar and used several old tube radios as an amplifier, this
sounded great (lol). Three years later at the age of 16, after 5 weeks of holiday work, I bought my first JCM 800 in 1984. Although it was and for sure is one of the best amplifier they made, the flexibility was very small for me. Because I had some experience in electronic, in fact I loved it, I built in a second master control switchible by stage board. The second step was to built in the circuit board of the real TS-808 for more gain. I played this modified amplifier two years in my band before I began to study how tube amplifiers really work. The very end was that my JCM was divided in pieces, the chassis and the top was gone to waste - how strange!
I used the transformers, choke, caps to build my first main amplifier in 3 rack space. I had just finished my high school exam in electronics and after 3 years more I finished my education as an electrical engineer.
In 1991 I started up my own business building several Pre- and Main Amplifiers, Heads, Combos and did repair jobs and modifications of everything a guitar player can use. In that time my second job was to
develop medical technologie circuits where I learned to work with microcontrollers and IC's - hard and software.
In 1996-98 I introduced my All Tube Guitar Head, with Motor Driven Pots, 200Watts, fully programmable which was called 'The Most Special Amp' at
Frankfurt Fair! After a 5 year break in building amplifiers I went back to business in 2001 to put my experience of the last years into a new amplifier series. During that time in 2005 a friend asked me to build a real good sounding overdrive pedal and it won't take long the whole GAS-Overdrive
family was developed. The top was when Lee Ritenour stumpeled into the GAS pedals and asked me to build the Official Lee Ritenour LR-GAS. I had designed and built this pedal within only 3 weeks and the LR-GAS was ready to use it on Lee's Asia tour in Nov. 2006
All the time I worked on my new amplifier series too, but the main change in my amp design was to built up amplifiers which uses only vacuum tubes in the signal path, no IC's or something else but IC's and microcontroller only for the internal switching system and Midi. In December 2006 I finished this amplifier series which features 5 completely seperate channels with 22 vacuum tubes - really strange.
For those who do not like Big Heads I developed a smaller 3 channel guitar head with 16 vacuum tubes, in fact this is as big as the biggest amps on the market - I cannot do it smaller (lol).
Today, at the age of 41, I can say these are the most flexible and best sounding amplifiers I've ever made! - more to follow...
Ulrich Rodenberg
