Tubescreamers full-size or mini ?

markj

I’ve never played a ts808. Was wondering will the mini version stack up against a ts808. Also how good is the keeley modded version of the ts808.

Daved756

Get the biggest one you can 

Sporky

Daved756 said:

Get the biggest one you can 

That's s Maxim for life.

ICBM

All Tube Screamers sound the same to a high degree of approximation.

HAL9000

Sporky said:

Daved756 said:

Get the biggest one you can 

That's s Maxon for life.

FTFY

Phil_aka_Pip

If you get the baby ones, you can have 2 on your pedalboard which gives you more sounds. The punters aren't going to care whether 1 baby one sounds the same as the original kind.

Modellista

That Pedal Show did a comparison and decided the Mini was just as good as its big brother. I find all the Ibanez Mini pedals great - I use the delay and chorus all the time with the TS. Made in Japan, nice solid units, sound great. Just need a bit of chalk pen to mark the micro pot positions. 

Daved756

Yeah that is the thing I find annoying with mini pedals - hard to dial in due to the smaller knobs.

ICBM

Daved756 said:

Yeah that is the thing I find annoying with mini pedals - hard to dial in due to the smaller knobs.

And they always pick the wrong one for the large one. It’s so universal I’ve started to wonder if it’s intentional for some reason I don’t understand.

On pretty much any pedal that changes level, it should be that one - since it’s the one you’re most likely to need to adjust quickly and accurately.

gibsongretschfan

Someone needs to build a macro tubescreamer

ICBM

gibsongretschfan said:

Someone needs to build a macro tubescreamer

They already did - there’s a “hand wired” one, with all the components mounted on tag strips. 

Although rather ironically one of them is the JRC4558 chip - which according to some people is where the ‘magic’ is - a little mass-produced, machine-made device which contains more electronic components than the rest of the circuit .

english_bob

ICBM said:

Although rather ironically one of them is the JRC4558 chip - which according to some people is where the ‘magic’ is - a little mass-produced, machine-made device which contains more electronic components than the rest of the circuit .

A 50p op-amp chip is magic? Crazy.

Everyone knows you have to have the five quid Burr-Brown ones to get magic. 

bingefeller

I got the Mini and it sounds great and was only £60. 

ICBM

english_bob said:

A 50p op-amp chip is magic? Crazy. 

Everyone knows you have to have the five quid Burr-Brown ones to get magic. 

lol

Pretty much everything you need to know about the bullshit on TGP is there.

For what it's worth the bass response is controlled by the circuit - the cap and resistor to ground in the NFB loop of the first gain stage mostly - not the chip. The difference the chip makes is to the HF response because it's affected by the slew rate - and then, only when the gain is a long way up. The way most people seem to want to use a TS these days, with the level up and the gain low, the chip type is more or less irrelevant.

And the reason the JRC4558 sounds better at high gain levels is exactly because it's a low-quality chip with poor slew rate...

english_bob

ICBM said:

english_bob said:

A 50p op-amp chip is magic? Crazy. 

Everyone knows you have to have the five quid Burr-Brown ones to get magic. 

lol

Pretty much everything you need to know about the bullshit on TGP is there.

For what it's worth the bass response is controlled by the circuit - the cap and resistor to ground in the NFB loop of the first gain stage mostly - not the chip. The difference the chip makes is to the HF response because it's affected by the slew rate - and then, only when the gain is a long way up. The way most people seem to want to use a TS these days, with the level up and the gain low, the chip type is more or less irrelevant.

And the reason the JRC4558 sounds better at high gain levels is exactly because it's a low-quality chip with poor slew rate...

To be fair, it's about the cheapest, lowest maintenance TGP snake oil tonequest crackpipe fantasy I've seen.  

ChrisCox1994

The mini sounds good, but the 808 reissue DOES sound different. I didn't want to believe it but it is just smoother on the midrange + has more low and high. its such a small difference but once you hear it you can't un-hear it.  

ICBM

ChrisCox1994 said:

The mini sounds good, but the 808 reissue DOES sound different. I didn't want to believe it but it is just smoother on the midrange + has more low and high. its such a small difference but once you hear it you can't un-hear it.  

That’s probably because it’s properly buffered rather than true bypass... which is about the only difference in any of them that really matters.

Roland

In the days when I used pedals my choice was made based on size. I reasoned that I was more likely to hit the larger pedal on a dark stage. You can get more mini pedals on a small board, but give yourself more of a problem in hitting the right one in a hurry.

guitarfishbay

ICBM said:

ChrisCox1994 said:

The mini sounds good, but the 808 reissue DOES sound different. I didn't want to believe it but it is just smoother on the midrange + has more low and high. its such a small difference but once you hear it you can't un-hear it.  

That’s probably because it’s properly buffered rather than true bypass... which is about the only difference in any of them that really matters.

Sounds like I’d prefer the mini then. The way I use one less low end is preferable. I’ve had a go on a mini and I thought it sounded decent. Never tried any of the fancy higher end ones, unless the Visual Sound Route 66 one counts.

Keefy

Daved756 said:

Get the biggest one you can 

Sporky said:

Daved756 said:

Get the biggest one you can 

That's s Maxim for life.

Or a Maxon - this one is a TS that blends in clean signal at the bottom of the Drive control range: