Maxon APEX808

The Maxon APEX808 is a limited overdrive pedal from Maxon, designed by Susumu Tamura, the engineer who created the original Tube Screamer circuit. Maxon says it was developed after a meticulous analysis of over 100 vintage and current production Tubescreamer/808 variants over a period of three years, with the goal of capturing the sounds and feel of the best vintage Tube Screamers without the player having to buy one¹²³. The pedal is housed in a classic Overdrive-Green chassis with a brushed aluminum black and silver faceplate, and carries just three knobs: drive, tone and level³⁴.

The pedal is sold out. Both the signed and unsigned variants are listed as sold out or unavailable on Maxon's product pages⁵⁴.

What the Apex808 does

The Apex808 is built on the Tubescreamer/808 circuit family, and Maxon positions it as the distilled result of comparing more than a hundred examples of that circuit, vintage and modern⁵. Where a standard Tube Screamer-type pedal gives you one fixed voicing, the Apex808's behavior changes with your input level. Maxon describes it this way: at low input levels the pedal generates primarily even-order harmonics, and when the input level is increased it generates a blend of even- and odd-order harmonics, imitating the preamp and power sections of a tube amp⁵.

The maker's own description of the sound centers on clarity rather than gain⁵³⁸:

Maxon product description⁹

The three controls follow the familiar 808 layout:

In Premier Guitar's demo coverage, the reviewer's rhythm track used the drive at 11 o'clock, level at 1 o'clock and tone at 1 o'clock, which gives a sense of where the controls sit for a working rhythm sound¹⁰.

Designed by Susumu Tamura from over 100 Tube Screamers

The Apex808's main claim to attention is its designer. Susumu Tamura is the Japanese engineer who designed the original Tube Screamer circuit in 1979-1980 while working for Nisshin Onpa, the company behind Maxon²¹¹. Guitar World's history of the Maxon overdrive and the Ibanez Tube Screamer records that the Apex808 was developed after meticulous analysis of over 100 vintage and modern Tube Screamer/808 variants², and Guitar.com reported that the project took Tamura three years of analyzing over 100 different vintage and in-production TS/808 variants¹².

The point of all that comparing was a finding about the chip at the heart of the circuit. According to Maxon, Tamura's analysis showed that the TS specimens he rated highest all featured not only a specific brand of IC, but an IC from a specific production period. That op-amp was subsequently sourced by Tamura, from New Old Stock supply, and incorporated into the design of the Apex808⁵⁸. Guitar Player's review describes the pedal as the result of this same analysis, with the hand-selected IC changing the overtone components of the signal based on input level¹³.

The pedal launched through the Maxon Custom Shop in June 2020, with a street price of $300. Premier Guitar's press release noted that this was about a fifth of what you would pay for a vintage TS808 at the time⁶, and Guitar World reported the Apex 808 available now for $300⁹.

How the Apex808 differs from the Maxon OD808

The Maxon OD808 Overdrive is Maxon's standard production version of the original 808 circuit, originally released in the Japanese market and later reissued. The Apex808 is a separate, limited project built around a different central claim: rather than reissuing the circuit as it was, it re-creates what Tamura found in the best-sounding vintage examples⁵²¹⁴.

The clearest technical difference is the op-amp. The OD808 reissue uses the JRC4558 dual op-amp chip, the same chip used in the original 808¹⁵. The original small-box OD808 used two MC1458P op-amps, which have nearly identical specs to the 741, according to Aion FX's circuit analysis¹⁶¹⁴. The Apex808 instead uses a hand-selected New Old Stock IC from a specific brand and production period, chosen through Tamura's three-year comparison of over 100 variants⁵¹³.

Guitar World later called the Apex808 "highly acclaimed" in its coverage of Tamura's subsequent modded TS808 work with Godlyke¹⁷, and the pedal drew its own dedicated review from the magazine¹⁷. The press coverage, rather than any store listing, is the better guide to how the pedal was received.

Signed, B-stock and Red-Eye editions

The Apex808 was released in several versions beyond the standard pedal:

• Serial #1-100, signed: the first 100 units were hand signed by Mr. Tamura⁵.
• Serial #101 and up, unsigned: the standard production run⁴.
• NAMM2020 demo unit, B-stock: a super-rare unit with a GREEN font preliminary faceplate that couldn't meet quality standards once moved to full production. It was used at a few guitar shows including NAMM2020 and for in-house testing, and the box may show some sign of wear¹⁸.
• Red-Eye Mod, B-stock: a rare Red-Eye Mod overdrive in B-stock condition, listed at £384.00 GBP and sold out¹⁹.

All of these are now sold out. The signed variant, the unsigned variant, the Red-Eye Mod B-stock and the NAMM2020 demo B-stock are each listed as sold out or unavailable⁵⁴¹⁹¹⁸.

A player documented on Maxon's page, Patrick Veit, uses the pedal for blues and rock 'n roll in The Hallelujah Blues Band¹.

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