Best Tube Screamer type pedal?

voxmanjohn · September 2013

I know that most overdrives are based on a Tube Screamer but what would you say is the best tube screamer type pedal you have ever used/owned?

stickyfiddle · September 2013

The only TS based pedal I'e ever got on with is the Valvesporker, but I'm pretty sure it's tweaked so far that there's little tubescreamer left in there. I haven't actually tried a TS in years- I might like one much more now.

mike_l · September 2013

Into a valve amp, a Digitech Bad monkey, gain set fairly low, bass and treble tweaked for a nicer boosted sound.

Currently either a Boss SD-1 or SD-2 into a solid state amp.

vasselmeyer · September 2013

I never really liked TSs, but I have a Boss FB-2 pedal which builds on a TS-type boost but also has a cool feature where it zeros in on a small section of the sound spectrum and gives pretty much instant feedback at any volume. So you can use it as a clean boost, a mid-gain boost or a feedback unit. I don't use it very often but I like it very much indeed.

monquixote · September 2013

The Hardwire Overdrive is worth a go.

Not massively expensive, has the (essential IMO) bass control, an additional mode for a bit more welly and unlike the also great Bad Monkey, it is TB rather than buffered.

Dave_Mc · September 2013

out of what i've tried, the bad monkey is hard to beat on the cheap.

it really depends on what you mean by "best", though- more features? getting rid of the things some people don't like about a ts? getting rid of them while also being able to sound like a ts as well? cheap but still really good? sounding slightly different (in a useful way) while still being in the same ballpark? etc. etc.

guitarfishbay · September 2013

I really like the Visual Sound 808 circuit. It has a load of volume if you need it, a bass boost switch, and it seems to be fairly smooth for tone.

I've got an SD1 which is similar but different, I really like that for getting pinch harmonics to pop out more easily and to also give a harder sound.

I should finally get my Bad Monkey back tonight too. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works with my Roadster.

Best really depends on the rest of the chain IMO. The differences are subtle but sometimes some pedals work better than others due to how they can be tweaked. However they all arguably will work for the same thing so I don't think it is worth having several unless there really isn't anything else you'd rather buy. I've only ended up with three through trading and hoarding, it wasn't intentional...

)

benmurray85 · September 2013

cheapest and best solution has to be the boss sd1. i bloody love my ts9dx though GREAT with a tele

dindude · September 2013

Mad Professor Little Green Wonder is by far the best I've tried. Has more gain than a regular TS, holds the bass better, and you can really fine tune that mid hump, also has way less compression. It's a very musical sounding pedal.

ragingben · September 2013

Got a used Way Huge Green Rhino mk2 from the US for around £40, really decent ts type overdrive if a little bulky. The 100Hz knob is actually really useful for adding the lows back in that are sometimes attenuated with ts type circuits. Expensive to get hold over over here though

Dave_Mc · September 2013

^ Yeah the bulk is what stopped me getting one- and also the visual sound route 808 (which, if it does have more volume boost on tap, would be very useful- the lack of boost is about the only thing I don't like about a TS). I know dv247 had a route 808 for a really good price a while back but I chickened out and went with a bad monkey instead as it's a more sensible size and shape.

benmurray85 said:

cheapest and best solution has to be the boss sd1. i bloody love my ts9dx though GREAT with a tele

I'll see your sd1 and raise you my cheapo daphon sd1 clone which i got for (IIRC) £13 from marcmart and which (if mine's anything to go by) doesn't have the boss's bleedthrough problem in bypass. Not bad for a third of the price of the "real thing". Admittedly the boss version does look a lot cooler. And I'm guessing it's built better too, to be fair.

also the Bad Monkey is cheaper than an SD1 (it is from thomann, anyway).

But I agree, the sd1 is an excellent circuit- similar enough to the tubescreamer that you can use it in the same way and for the same thing, but different enough that it doesn't just feel like you're buying another ts-clone, either. For some things I prefer a ts-type pedal, for others the sd1.

daveyh · September 2013

I have a Bad Monkey and a Fullldrive II, neither are going anywhere.

monquixote · September 2013

I should point out I have a Route 66 on the classifieds for £60 which has the excellent TS circuit in it.

octatonic · September 2013

Also check out the Emma Stinkbug. Greatly under-rated pedal.

chrisj1602 · September 2013

monquixote;35844" said:
I should point out I have a Route 66 on the classifieds for £60 which has the excellent TS circuit in it.

I'd second that, I have the Jekyll & Hyde which has the same TS in it, and also a more distorted version.

viz · September 2013

Keeley ts9dx turbo every time.

Bidley · September 2013

I've had a proper TS9 for donkey's, and I see no need to change it.

photek · September 2013

Rockbox Boiling Point. Hoping I don't open the usual can of worms about this pedal but it really is a cut above.

Lixarto · September 2013

My Valvesporker.

Now please to buy it

TimmyO · September 2013

I love the Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive. Sounds great (like a TS) handy dual EQ and more solid than a very solid thing. Plus a huge 'button' for the clumsy footed

longi · September 2013

TimmyO said:

I love the Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive. Sounds great (like a TS) handy dual EQ and more solid than a very solid thing. Plus a huge 'button' for the clumsy footed

+1 for the CM-2 I'm loving mine, the separate bass & treble controls make all the better. Also the Line 6 M5 TS model is excellent for the same reason and is almost identical and almost as good. They really are very close plus you get a lot more effects to mess with.

paulk · September 2013

voxmanjohn said:

I know that most overdrives are based on a Tube Screamer but what would you say is the best tube screamer type pedal you have ever used/owned?

That would be, erm, a Tube Screamer

Travisthedog · September 2013

The sd1 isn't a tubescreamer derivative is it

Dave_Mc · September 2013

yeah

ICBM · September 2013

Travisthedog said:

The sd1 isn't a tubescreamer derivative is it

Depends... actually the TS is a Boss *OD-1* derivative - that's the ancestor of all feedback-loop-diode-clipping pedals - but I don't know if the SD-1 was Boss re-copying the TS (which came before the SD-1), or whether they evolved it directly from the OD-1. My guess is that they did re-copy it, since the tone circuit is very similar on both pedals, but on the other hand it's a fairly generic circuit and they may have just copied the *idea*, while using their own original pedal as the starting point.

Dave_Mc · September 2013

^ Yeah obviously that's the more "complete" answer

) Have a wisdom

I think it'd probably be fair to say, though, that regardless of who copied whom, they're well within the same ballpark. Very similar style of pedals, regardless of which is derived from which.

That's not to say they sound identical, of course, they do both sound a bit different (TS is smoother, SD1 is grittier/fizzier/edgier and has a larger gain range too I think). But they both do (roughly) the same thing- midhump (of varying degrees), bass cut, compression, work well as a boost to an overdriven amp etc.

dogload · September 2013

Being thick and naive, I assumed they were totally different creatures. I have to say (probably a heresy) that I don't particularly care for the Tube Screamer. I have an 80s one (as well as a BBE Green Screemer!) but they don't 'do it' for me in the way the SD1 does.

Once again, another titbit of guitar related trivia.

Dave_Mc · September 2013

Oh yeah I mean they do sound (at least a bit) different, and you could well prefer one or the other. I mean a judicious change of component value here or there in a strategic place can change the tone quite a bit.

Sporky · September 2013

TimmyO said:

I love the Hardwire CM-2 Tube Overdrive. Sounds great (like a TS) handy dual EQ and more solid than a very solid thing. Plus a huge 'button' for the clumsy footed

I had one and it was indeed very good stuff.

ICBM · September 2013

dogload said:

Being thick and naive, I assumed they were totally different creatures. I have to say (probably a heresy) that I don't particularly care for the Tube Screamer. I have an 80s one (as well as a BBE Green Screemer!) but they don't 'do it' for me in the way the SD1 does.

They're certainly far from identical, there are a lot of component value and some small circuit differences - these add up to quite a different sound. The overall layout topology and a large part of the circuit is identical though, to the point where you can actually modify a SD-1 circuit board into a TS without too much effort - or probably vice versa, but I doubt anyone would because a TS is a lot more valuable than an SD-1!

I also do prefer the SD-1, although they often have an irritating problem of leaking overdrive into the bypass signal if they're not preceded by another buffered pedal.

monquixote · September 2013

Loads of pedals are slightly modified TS circuits, but they can still sound quite different.

The three versions of the RAT only differ by one component, but they all sound very different.

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Best Tube Screamer type pedal?

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