Tubescreamer/OD pedals - now which to buy?

Dave_Mc

CHrisP86 said:

(a) Tried a friends keeley modded ts9, which was great, but not sure I want to spend that kind of money, even second hand, on a boutique pedal. Are the boutique versions really worth it?

(b) Otherwise thinking something like a joyo vintage or ultimate drive or a boss sd1 that maybe I, or one of the modders on here, could play around with if required. Don't really fancy a bad monkey. Or would a boss ds1 do the job?

(a) I haven't tried that many of the boutique ones (and I haven't tried the keeley), but if you're just using it as a boost for a high gain amp I don't think there's any need to go boutique. An awful lot of the time (in my opinion anyway) the boutique ones "improve" the tubescreamer for being run into a clean amp as a standalone overdrive. For a boost they don't really need to be improved (IMO).

If you can stretch, the visual sound route 808 is pretty nice, has a few of the boutique "improvements", and is cheap(ish) on thomann for around £55. Or the joyo does the job, but I'm not sure how reliable it is.

(b) The SD1 will also do a similar job- doesn't sound exactly the same as a TS, but it's in the ballpark. I prefer the SD1 for certain things, and a TS for certain things, so it's not like either is really (at least in my opinion) better.

People have used a DS1 on occasion for a boost, and it'll work (at least to a certain extent), but if you want the tubescreamer thing I doubt you'd be that happy. In that case the SD1 would be much, much better than the DS1 for doing the TS-thing.

CHrisP86

Thanks for the thoughts.  Think I will try a joyo of some sort.

Voxman

I've tried loads of tubescreamers and the one I have on my pedalboard is the Behringer To808 Vintage Tube Overdrive. It has the same diodes as the vintage Ibanez tubescreamer and it cost £20.

I kid you not, this is a blindingly good pedal. Used it for the last 4-5 years and its been quiet and reliable and sounds great. Had a friend that bought a real Ibanez ts808 that he paid about £95 for. Played them side by side and even he was amazed at just how good the Behringer was..you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference except the Behringer tone control had better range.

Dave_Mc

^ I haven't tried the Behringer, but the Joyo one does sound very good- you can certainly get good-sounding pedals for very cheap. It's just the reliability I'm concerned about.

mike_l

For tightening the low end you could do loads worse than an MXR Distortion+. Randy Rhoads used one........

For a lead boost (into a Marshall), I'd go with any one of

Boss SD-1, Boss DS-1, Digitech Hothead (similar to the DS-1, but has bass and treble controls) Bad monkey, MXR Distortion3, MXR Custom 78 Badass Distortion, EHX East River Drive (a tube screamer by EHX)

For a Stand-alone (alt to a dirty amp)

Hardwire CM-2, Marshall Jackhammer, Guvnor 1 or 2, Shredmaster (not my fav Marshall in a box, but not bad)

CHrisP86

Thanks for the additional ideas.

After all this I remembered that I bought a TS clone off ebay that has just sat in a drawer because I wasn't that impressed when I first got it.  Used it again quickly last night and it actually sounded pretty good (although may have a look at a couple of joyo pedals for comparison).

Anyone know who makes the TSC branded pedals on ebay?  Have a couple of questions for them but can always just message through ebay.

Dave_Mc

^ Do you have a link to it? They're not on the effects database website (which is normally where I go to figure out stuff like this ) ). EDIT: The one I found on Ebay said they'd changed the cosmetics, the new ones aren't ringing any bells.

CHrisP86

Its this one (which is probably the one you've seen):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TSC-overdrive-pedal-tube-screamer-clone-TS-808-9-effects-pedal-NEW-LOOK-/231408105479?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item35e0ff7807

Dave_Mc

Yeah that's the one I saw. It's not ringing any bells, unfortunately. I'm guessing it's not a Joyo, since the Joyos (at least the older-style Joyos) don't have the power adaptor on the side, they have it on the top.

xHymnal

Has anyone played any of the Jam Pedals variations? I've always liked the paint job on them

dunstanmus

I use a Tubedreamer 88. It is really good. Right side for a clean boost and left side for a bit of growl through amps which are well driven already.

Cheers Rich

therose789

PALISADES!!!!

Nerine

I'd say basically, if you want a Tubescreamer, just get one.

Every guitarist should own one IMO.

Exceptional pedals, really.

Although, never use one as a standalone drive into a clean channel. That sounds awful to me.

You get this weird layer of clean guitar with a distorted signal kinda running parallel to it. You can definitely hear the clean guitar still though. Even with the gain maxed.

I have two. A regular TS-9 and a Keeley Mod TS-9.

ICBM

Nerine said:

You get this weird layer of clean guitar with a distorted signal kinda running parallel to it. You can definitely hear the clean guitar still though. Even with the gain maxed.

Exactly - that separated clean with distortion sitting on top of it is my pet hate with most solid-state overdrives. That's why I can't stand the Sparkle Drive - they took that and made a feature of it .