Tubescreamer-Hype or OD God?

[Alpha579]

Hey all,
What do you lot think of the TS series? Is it all hype, or is it really a class pedal? And is the buffered bypass really a problem? Or is it quite transparent.
Just trying to get too grips with this Tubescreamer for/against madness,
Alex

[petemoore]

Its a soft clipping, slightly midrange humped, 'distortion' effect with alot of output.
 Nothing sounds exactly like a vintags TS. Nothing even comes close.
 What does a vintage TS sound like?
 I think most people use the standard produces by a D/A converter [or magnetic phonogrash] source, SS pre and power amp, and a 2 way or 3 way 'hi-fi' speaker system [Home stereo or boombox] with a studio doctored  recording of SRV playing a strat guitar through an extremely [and unusually] modded Twin amp, with PA type speakers in it.
 With the right OA in it, [the one with the Dead guys fingerprints on it], this thing will let you drive your amp down the road.
 Ok nuff mythbustin'...Try an ODIE, Blue Magic, or just a well voiced booster or two [Jfet or Mosfet...] into a half cranked tube amp.
 I've been using an SD-1 alot lately. I like the way it sounds with the front end pushed with an OS comp, a Fetzer Valve, etc.
 Build your Mojo stuffed TS, with OA and Diodes sockets...and forget about that thing on the net that was buried with it's owner, dug up, verified as the 'only' one that ever worked like itself, and priced higher than the decent guitar you'll need to test any TS with any hint of conviction.
 Thing was probly modded anyway...I know I would.

[acromarty]

I bought a reissue TS9 some years ago, and was not particularly impressed with the sound, nothing special.
Then I modded it with different clipping diodes, different op-amp, did the resistor changes, swapped the electrolytic coupling caps for polyester, and it was totally transformed. Now I use it regularly into the clean channel of my amp for that singing sustained creamy lead sound. Cuts through the rest of the band like a knife.

[jimbob]

I bet with the right popular musician endorsment people would buy "crap". Actual crap. Srv could have made anything sound good. I used to buy into the myth /this and that.. No more for me. I now only care what sounds good to my ears. It just so happends the Ts-808 is not my thing--its cool though. NO deity. :lol:

[brett]

TSs do have a good sound.  But so do other circuits.  I really like the Blues Breaker (which is a broadly similar circuit).

For me, it's a good working distortion pedal.  Not INTRINSICALLY better or worse than a fuzzface, a bazz fuss or a distortion+.  Just different and sweet in its own way.

I bet with the right popular musician endorsment people would buy "crap". Actual crap.

That's been done.  Labelled "Pure artists's shit", the original cans now sell for tens of thousands of dollars.  I forget the artist's name, but it's in a book I have on modern art.

[Ge_Whiz]

Two comments to make:

1. Folks regularly forget / ignore the fact that most famous TS proponents used them as preamps to drive a following valve amp, and rarely for their innate overdrive sound.

2. Too many bedroom guitarists don't understand the difference in tone between bedroom loud and stage loud, having never got on stage. So, they condemn the TS because it sounds weedy through their 15W Marshall, and rave about digital pedals that sound great at low volumes, but utter crap at stage levels.

[BD13UK]

Just wish I knew how to add effective separate Treble and Bass controls to the TS series, what a difference that would make

[AL]

The Nobels ODR-S is a great overdrive with a 3-band EQ. It sells in the states for around $80 and in my opinion is a much better pedal than a stock tube screamer.

AL

[dosmun]

Today I think it is just hype.  There are lot of clones and other OD's that can do the TS thing and more.

Back in its day there weren't too many different OD's like today so it pretty much was one of the top dogs.

[primalphunk]

I love tubescreamers but there still is entirely to much hype about them.  It's my personal favorite as far as overdrives go but I still expect that someday I'm gonna build a blue magic pedal like JD suggests at GGG.  Heck...for something similar to a tubescreamer but with a slightly different twist you can always buy a voodoo labs sparkle drive...but it's way more fun to try to build something.  

As an aside...My third project was an ampeg scrambler(strange ring modulation octave thing) which by itself I'm not very impressed with how my build turned out but if you put a tubescreamer, orange squeezer or maybe a clean boost in front of it...then it sounds nice...really nice IMHO with the tubescreamer.

Has anyone here put a warp control on a tubescreamer clone?

[Transmogrifox]

I think a Tubescreamer is a damn nice sounding effect.

That doesn't mean there aren't better OD's.   I think the appeal to the TS is that it was one of the first of its kind. Think about it, that was a quite innovative and novel approach the first time somebody used the soft clipping characteristics of a non-inverting opamp stage with head-toe diodes. It sounds great when driving a valve amp at high volume.  I generally like to tune my amp to the sweet spot where the TS is overdriving the preamp, and the preamp is starting to break up the power amp.  Unfortunately, I have never been in a recording set-up where this can be done effectively, but I was playing in a venue for a while where I could put the amp in a different room and mic it into my DSP...and crank the amp.  That was the sweetest tone I have ever had (not that I'm a tone god or anything--pun intended)

People have only improved on that since then.  Therefore, I think there are many "damn nice sounding" ODs out there, and the TS series is one of them.

[TheBigMan]

Bit of both to be honest, and Ibanez clearly know it.  There are people who are paying big money (in relative terms) for a TS-808 RI and then modding them for even more money when they could get a TS-9 much cheaper.

I like them myself, and have 2 TS-5s, a TS-9 and an ST-9 (Which shits on a stock TS-9 from a great height   ) They do what they do very well, and so long as you know what to expect you won't be disappointed.  It cracks me up when you see the HC reviews that say I couldn't get a Korn sound, or Limp Bizkit or whoever.

I have actually used one for metal with some success though.  If you get your amp settings right with a slight mid scoop then the lead sound with a TS can be awesome.  But trying to use a TS as a high gain distortion pedal just doesn't work.  Light OD/dist sound OK to good depending on the amp, and as a solo booster the TS is the yardstick by which all others are measured.

[Steve C]

with a studio doctored  recording of SRV playing a strat guitar through an extremely [and unusually] modded Twin amp, with PA type speakers in it.

I'm pretty sure Stevie Ray used a AC 30 in the studio for his sound.  

And Ge_Whiz pretty much hit the nail on the head with his post.  The only thing that bothers me about it is the noise it makes with single coil pickups.

[Jered]

There are much better OD's you can build available from people right here on this forum.
Jered

[Somicide]

Going through my local music store the other day, seeing how some chorus pedal sounds, and i see an Ibanez Tube KING, the sucker had a tube in it, and i though, @#$% yea, awesome, i wonder if the other forum guys have seen this?
sad, i know.
anyone heard this sucker though?

[Bluesgeetar]

Ibanez Tube King haz been around for a while now.  

Personally I hate the TS808.  Here in Seattle the Guitar Center Seattle store is kind of like one of their flagships like the Hollywood store.  Alot of vintage stuff!  I have had many friends that worked there.  After store closing one night we sat down and tried out 5 TS808 they had in the store.  We tried them with a Boogie MK1, Marshall blues Breaker amp, Fender amps (tube), a Mareshall plexi and JCM800 and an AC30TB.  I hated it!  I tried all 5 cause was wanting to buy one cause the "hype" had got me.  I purely hated them.  TO me it is all hype from SRV!!!  I dig the sound actually of the Matchbox on Runoffgroove and Thunderchief.  Matchbox is my fav sound of the two.  I really regret buying hundreds of dollars of vintage trannys.  The Matchbox pretty much has the sound I wanted on OD/fuzz type boxes.  I have a rule that I adhere to and it has worked for me for along time.  Nothing with Chips or Opamps will make it to my pedal board as far a boosts and OD/fuzz, wah stuff.  I have never heard anything with a chip or opamp that made me happy.

[Ge_Whiz]

"...2 TS-5s, a TS-9 and an ST-9..."

ST-9? A 'Screamtuber'?  :wink:

[TheBigMan]

"...2 TS-5s, a TS-9 and an ST-9..."

ST-9? A 'Screamtuber'?  :wink:

Super Tube Screamer with additional mid boost on the far right of the pic with a TS-9, CS-9, FL-9 and SD-9 also pictured

[george]

well there must be something to them because I remember reading an interview with SRV where he said that he hadn't found anything better than a TS even though he was constantly looking.

No doubt a lot of it has to do with the amp you are using, but artists as disparate as Kirk Hammet, the guitarist from Pearl Jam use the TS as well as blues guys like SRV and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, so I think there is more than just hype going on.  

I definitely think a tube amp is part of the tone recipe, using the TS-9 to boost as well as create overdrive of it's own, to clean up roll the guitar volume down rather than switch off the TS.

just my $AUD0.02 ...

[george]

well there must be something to them because I remember reading an interview with SRV where he said that he hadn't found anything better than a TS even though he was constantly looking.

No doubt a lot of it has to do with the amp you are using, but artists as disparate as Kirk Hammet, the guitarist from Pearl Jam use the TS as well as blues guys like SRV and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, so I think there is more than just hype going on.  

I definitely think a tube amp is part of the tone recipe, using the TS-9 to boost as well as create overdrive of it's own, to clean up roll the guitar volume down rather than switch off the TS.

just my $AUD0.02 ...