dont forget srv had his modded....

i think it has alot to do with the person's chops.

i have a friend that plays through a fender blues jr and a
boss sd-1.  it's sounds wonderful.  

there are too many variables involved to say that a particular
stompbox is the bomb.

each amp, (especially tube) will sound different from one another.
dont forget srv's amps were modded quite heavily as well.

it all boils down to finding the right stompbox-amp recipe for
you and what you are going for.

I like the sounds of a TS, ODiE, BLue Magic...the latter two weren't around when the 'mangod' ...lol...was doin' his testing.
 TS will sound different through your amp than SRV's.
 Heavily modded is an understatement, I read bout the Twins...uh...I think Leo would not endorse what V.man was using as anything remotely 'Twin' like. Yes some of the preamp was similar or same...once you get to the output section and speakers...all 'convention' goes right out the window.
 Most amps are designed to break up or give warm distortion when cranked...these amps were super built, to Not Distort at all like 'conventional' tube approaches.
 This buying into TS as the way to achiefe [excuse me] SRV type tone...
if fewer people bought into it, it would be a real good joke....seriously, a TS is a very small part of what was going on tonewise there...ultra super high amplitude was reported to have something to do with it. Sound wave pressure levels that could rip your unprotected [or protected] eardrums out...super modded super and twin and marshall and and other amps all stacked in rows and columns to the point of becoming a room sized microwave oven...engineers had to come in to figure out the squeal, and determined there were so many electrons flying around that microwave transmission was occurring, and steel cages were installed around each amp unit to shield/isolate it's transmissions from the rest of the amps to cancel enough microwave to eliminate the squeal....a sound that 'literally provides 'warmth'...lol.
 So basically a TS is a mild OD. [that was a period].
 Playing with extreme loudness [like in Godzilla's trachea] can be alot of fun, even if you are half deaf after...
 I've never heard of amps built like the ultra super clean power tanks that were purportedly used live and in studio with TS to get 'that' tone.  
 If I had 'that', I'd rarely get to 'use' it anyway...I believe without the proper damping, these were extremely powerful 'Police Magnets'
 I had a 100w Marshall Super Lead, could attract cops from blocks away...a few minutes with that thing cranked would draw cops in, in no time...

Valve audio amps emitting microwaves? Now I HAVE heard all the SRV myths!  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Want to know what was going on with SRV's tone?

http://www.tonequest.com/pdf_pubs/samples/TQRDiaz.pdf

Interesting and enlightening interview with Cesar Diaz, the architect of SRV's sound.

Doug

Amps, Pedal's,Guitar, Cords, Power supply whether it be 117 v. a.c. or 9v. d.c., string's, P/U's, your Heart, your head, and last but not least is your hands and hearing, that is what makes records that sell by the mil.
Not hype, not BS, for one to say this is the only way, is for one to be lost in the night, for each style of music there are certian combo's that work better, Let your ears do your decideing, you'll be much happier and play the same rig longer, that's how you learn it's weakness's and it's strong point's, learn to respect a person that has God given talent, some of us have to struggle along with what He gave us,Same goes for building these great sounding pedal's, Thank God for these guy's on the forum that  have the Talent and are willing to share that with the rest of us..
JD

The TS808 is all there is. Throw out all the rest!!  :wink:

The original Tube Screamer TS808/TS9 is a nice circuit, even as a stand alone unit, IMO. It really shines when helping to push an amplifier's preamp section.

Unfortunately, because some famous people (like SRV) have used it, some people have elevated it to mythological status. And most people buy right into the hype, and will pay $300-400 for one of these things.

That aside, I still think it is a good sounding circuit, all things considered. Yes, there are other overdrives out there that some may like better, but the TS is a classic. Just like a Fuzz Face is a classic.

Here is what you must always, always, always understand about diode-clipping overdrives, kiddies.  They depend upon 4 things:
1) Input signal
2) Gain applied internally
3) Clipping action given by diodes
4) Tone shaping

I am going to say in the absence of any field testing that I'll bet TS-808's sound bland and lifeless with Danelectro guitars, and that they sound awful with guitars packing heavily overwound gonzo-output humbuckers.

Why is this?  Because the pedal does what it does by:
a) using a clipping element/strategy that demands a certain signal level to yield a certain degree of clipping
b) applying as much gain as is needed to bring most anticipated signals up to  that level
c) applying the sort of tone shaping needed to yield a certain tonal/harmonic balance, given what it thinks is coming in and how it intends to clip

If you take a stock one and do not abide by any of the assumptions, it will sound remarkably unsatisfying, the same way that a souflé made precisely as it should be tastes wonderful and a soufflé made in any other way is essentially an omelette.  

I made myself one, to spec (JRC4558D, etc.), and hated it.  The following year I finally purchased a single-coil equipped guitar that did NOT have an on-board preamp like the one I had been using previously, and suddenly the pedal came to life.

Context, context, context.

The pedal itself is no magic weapon or midas touch on its own.  It is best to think of it as an "arena" where a certain combinationof other elements can produce a certain sound which many find expressive and pleasing.  Remember, few if any are asking the question "Is SRV's tone lousy or decent?"  Rather, they ask about the pedal itself.  My feeling is the diversity of opinions people have stem from the inconsistency in the conditions in which it is used.

Good points, Mark. Context really is the key on this one. Mine sounds good with my equipment, but maybe it wouldn't sound that good if I were to change my amp or something. When I say stand alone, I mean into an amplifier - one that's already on the verge. It might not sound so good straight into a board, though...

I guess that's why there are so many overdrive/dist circuits out there. Some people will hate one circuit and others will love that same circuit.

Well put, Mark. To me, it's a well designed, well mannered, OD with a strong mid-hump. Nothing more or less. Mass produced effects attempt to try to please everyone's playing and equipment, but can't. I'm not a big TS fan, even though I've spent alot of time testing mods. To me, it was more of a good training in organized testing.

Many of the great players put alot of time playing and learning with nothing between their amp and guitar. Besides the hands, heart, and feel, they know their amp's and guitar's tonal posibilities inside out. They approach effects different from someone who starts using pedals as soon as they start playing. They approach them as effects, not the main source of their sound or style. The players who started in the 50's and 60's kinda had an advantage because there weren't many effects to distract them. Besides playing, they learned how to use their amps and guitars. Doesn't really mater if your gear is modded or not. The more you get inside your amp and axe, the more you find yourself adjusting and using your effects differently.

I probably didn't word this the best way, but I think you know what I'm trying to say. If you devote a couple of days or a week of every month to just play straight without effects, and exploring more of your guitar and amp settings, you'll probably find that your effect usage, and how you set them improves. It's similar to the old advice of laying down your electric for an acoustic during practice. With the heavy strings and no amp, any sloppiness in your playing is not hidden. It forces you to clean up your technique and playing. Same with effects, but instead, you're leaving them out to improve your basic tone finding/adjusting skills .

Doug

That TQR / Diaz article is well worth a read - in fact, I downloaded it for future reference. Here's a guy who knows what mojo is made of, and is prepared to employ a scientific and measurement-based approach to explain it.

The article rang so many bells that I wandered off and pulled out my 25+ year-old 'curly' cable. It's lain unused in a guitar case for nearly twenty years - it's the only reliable and virtually noiseless curly that I ever owned, and hence the only one I still possess. I A/B tested it with two guitars and my Frontman 25R, and guess what? Even my tin ear could tell the difference - the extra capacitance of the curly (or something) definitely does give a slightly mellower tone that ODs in a different way (the distortion in the 25R is basically a TS stage).

I'll have to use it at the next gig - once again I'll be surrounded by 15-year-old shredders asking, "What the f*** is THAT?"  :wink:

its not that far fetched that tubes emit microwaves...the grid accelerates electrons toward the plate, or away from the plate...that would create electromagnetic radiation???

anyway, my friend picked up a new Hyper TS-9 - the 4 knob one - and I really like it.  It sounds _awesome_ on his dad's vintage priceton :-D.  Smooth, balanced drive.  Nothing harsh at all about it.

That article was interesting.  

Diaz is a character to say the least.  

I only use curly cables. You can still buy em from radio shack.

I don't think there is much magic in the stock TS. The magic for Stevie came from some of the best amps ever made being pushed into more OD from the TS. You cannot get that tone with a little Peavey amp and a STOCK TS. It ain't happening. I figured out how to get close to it though.  

It involves the mods on Aaron's mods page. I used 5 (3 on one side and 2 on the other) diodes for clipping (Analogman's silver mod along with the asynchronous clipping) , did the TS808 mods, used a Burr Brown opamp, did all of the Keeley cap mods, as well as Frank Clarke's more/less distortion mods. NOW, this is the God of OD! Holy crap, its as if Zeus himself is raining down lighting bolts of tone upon my amplifier from the dizzying heights of Mount Olympus! LOL