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Ibanez series 5

The Ibanez series 5 still hasn't made it to the same iconic status as other Ibanez series of pedals. That is a good thing in my book as these pedals are simply great. Few people know that the series 5 was in fact made of two series. The first one offered metal casing distortion and overdrive pedals in plastic blisters and the second one consisted of plastic pedals in cardboard boxes. This first picture shows 5 of the 6 models of the first series 5. There main drawback is that the on/off switch often develops intermittent faults and that may be the reason why people are selling them off for cheap. The only one missing from my collection is the Thrashmetal TM5, which I have in the plastic form.

The Ibanez Sixties Fuzz (SF5) is just a kind of Big Muff in disguise with a different tone circuit giving it more mids and a less dramatic tone control range. It is somewhere between a Colorsound Jumbo Tone Bender, a BMP and an Ibanez OD850. It could do with slightly more output but the added mids make it very usable with an already crunching amp. These are two of the four I own...

The following Ibanez Power Lead PL5 is pretty much an MXR Distortion + with a post-equalization emphazising the bass and low mids. It is a very fat and powerful distortion that can almost do overdrive. Great for sweep-picking and legato runs: your hair will curl!

The CR5 Crunchy Rythm does exactly what it says. The crunch is fairly bright but with good bass end and can go pretty far. It is quite ear-pearcing into a clean amp but it is quite dynamic and will shine into a slightly distorted amp.

The MF5 Modern Fusion is a pretty bizarre slant on the Tube Screamer. The Ibanez marketing guys pretended that it would get you an instant "Fusion" tone with a soft and sustaining distortion. To be honest, it sounds pretty appalling on a clean setting but use it to push an overdriven amp and it becomes one of the best fuzz pedals ever: very fat, distorted and creamy while managing to remain dynamic. It has replaced my SF5 on my pedal board and this is no small feat!

The Classic Metal is one of the few pedals from the series 5 that sounds good into a clean amp. It is yet another Distortion + derivative with added bass end and sweeter top end. It provides some good tones from overdrive to big saturation.

The second series 5 added all types of effects to the aforementioned overdrives and distortions. Most of them were very good but suffered from the cheap plastic casing and temperamental switch.

The TS5 is a bog standard Tube Screamer, very close to a TS9. You should know all about that tone.

The TM5 Thrashmestal is a Pro Co Rat derivative but doesn't really deliver in the tone department. It is quite harsh and not very subtle. I guess its name is appropriate!

Now here is an interesting pedal: the Ibanez Cyberdrive. It literally is a non-inductor wha (Morley type) in front of an MXR Distortion +, from the second series of the Soundtank pedals. The tone knob controls the wha part. It is possible to get many sounds with just the three controls, from Michael Schenker or Billy Corgan leads, to stoner rock rythm tones (think QOTSA). You can even play some nice funk stabs. The distortion part is very good sounding and responds extremely well to playing dynamics. All in all, this is one great pedal that could have been, or could be, a commercial success if it was housed in a sturdy box.

The DL5 is your classic average quality digital delay which makes it pretty good as a cheap alternative to an analog delay. It does its job well for slap-back or medium length delays with fairly warm and natural tone.

The FL5 flanger is supposed to be a knock-off of the FL9. I haven't verified that but it does sound very close to it. In any case, it is a great analog flanger that can be had for peanuts.