RYRA 808

The RYRA 808 is an analog overdrive pedal from RYRA, short for Rock Your Repaired Amp. The maker describes it as a pedal for players who love some hump in the mids, paying tribute to a classic loved by blues players across the globe¹. It is built in the USA with true bypass and top mounted jacks, a layout that saves pedalboard width¹.

What sets it apart from the many Tube Screamer copies is its packaging: the same three-knob circuit in a compact box with jacks mounted on the top rather than the sides, built by hand in the RYRA shop²³.

A Tube Screamer 808 circuit in a compact box

The 808 follows the template of the pedal it copies. The original Tube Screamer's clipping comes from diodes in a "soft clipping" arrangement in the feedback path of an op-amp stage, a design that gives the circuit its characteristic midrange push and rolled-off low end. The original 808 Tube Screamer was loaded with the 1980s version of the JRC4558D IC chip⁵, and the RYRA 808 carries that same chip, which Guitar.com's reviewer noted "many believe to be key to the sonic magic of original TS808 and early TS-9 units"².

RockBoard's PedalPedia entry sums up the RYRA crew's reasoning: the 808 "has seen many adaptations throughout the years, but the RYRA crew believes that the original 808 version is the" one worth building³. Delicious Audio calls the result a pedal for players who love the classic mids hump, describing it as a tribute to a circuit loved by blues players across the globe¹.

The physical design matters as much as the circuit here. Guitar.com's reviewer found the top-mounted jack connections "worthy of note," because the space-saving design means that, when plugged in, the pedal occupies approximately the same pedalboard width as a mini pedal with side-mounted jacks². He also found each pedal in the range "as robust on the outside as its internal wiring and PCB layout is neat"².

The controls

The control layout is the familiar Tube Screamer trio, one knob each for level, tone and drive².

Because the circuit follows the Tube Screamer design, its clipping is provided by diodes, configured in a "soft clipping" arrangement. Players who want more low end from this style of circuit generally look to modified variants rather than the stock design⁶.

What reviewers said

A published review of the 808 compared it directly against the Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini and found the RYRA "immediately warmer and clearer than the Mini," with more low end, though the reviewer noted the £52 Mini is excellent for the money².

Another reviewer, weighing the 808 in a crowded market of Tube Screamer clones, was still "saying that it sounds awesome"⁷.

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In that episode the RYRA 808 was measured against another pedal rather than judged in isolation: it was described as immediately warmer and clearer than the Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini, and as outgunning it in the low end².

How it compares with other 808-style pedals

The RYRA 808 sits in a crowded field of pedals built on the same circuit. The JHS 808 offers the same basic circuit with true bypass switching in JHS's standard enclosure, while the Maxon APEX808 comes from the company whose engineer originally adapted the OD-1 circuit into the TS-808. The Visual Sound Route 808 and its successor, the Truetone V2 Route 808, package an 808-style overdrive alongside a second effect, and the Vein-Tap.com Saint Blues 808 Overdrive is another hand-built take with true bypass. RYRA also makes The Klone, a copy of a different classic overdrive, which preceded the 808 in the company's lineup².

What distinguishes the RYRA among these is the combination of the original-spec JRC4558D chip, hand-built construction in the RYRA shop, and the top-jack enclosure that saves pedalboard width²¹³.

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