TS9 or OCD (or clone)

bloodandtears

Thinking of putting a pedal in front of my Marshall 3210 mosfet head for those 80's big hair vibes...

Should I be looking at a TS9 or similar (eg. Joyo Vintage Overdrive)

or something totally different.. like an OCD or Boss DS1

Dave_Mc

boss sd1 would be my pick. i haven't tried your amp, though. not much in it between the ts or sd1, but the sd1 has a little more brightness and edge whereas the ts is a little smoother, and to me that sounds a little more 80s. though it depends on the amp, guitar and speakers too, if the rest of your gear is already a bit bright or fizzy and could do with being smoothed out a bit, the ts might be better.

the sd1 has a bit of a bypass bleed, though. cured with another buffered pedal in front, but that assumes you already have one. ironically enough, the cheapo daphon sd1 clone doesn't seem to have that problem (though the boss probably sounds marginally nicer, or at least has a little more level boost on tap, if mine are anything to go by).

Forge

If I were you I would go for a used TS9DX, they are cheap and do quite a bit more than a TS9.

mike_l

I like, in front of Marshalls

Bad Monkey, volume boost, extra grit and treble and bass controls.

Boss SD-1, volume boost, smoother than a BM, mids only control

Boss DS-1, similar to a SD-1, but rougher, harder sounds (Digitech Hot Head is pretty similar, but has treble/bass controls)

EHX East River Drive - pretty close to a TS without the extra cost of a full-on TS.

Vox Satchurator, similar to the DS-1 (I think it's a modified variant) with shed loads of mids, and shed loads of gain.

MXR Distortion+  Randy Rhoads used one. Tightens low end, and add some sparkle to the treble.

MXR Distortion3  plenty of additional gain, volume boost, mids control.

MXR Custom Badass 78 as D3, but a bit brighter, slightly tighter sounding.

 

p90fool

Bad Monkey, Ibanez TS7 and Joyo Ultimate Drive. Get all three for about 80 quid, it's all you'll ever need and will cope with any mood or style.

If you settle 100% on one over the the others just sell the other two and buy the boutique/vintage/pointlessly expensive version of your favourite.

Voxman

Behringer to800 vintage tube overdrive. Its a cheap tubescreamer clone in a (tough) plastic casing but it uses the same germanium diode chip and is one of the most under rated pedals out there.

p90fool

What on earth is a germanium diode chip?

Voxman

I'm not a techy, sorry, and perhaps chip is the wrong terminology. But I do remember reading ages ago that the original tube-screamers tonal warmth was partly attributed to a germanium rather than silicon diode in its circuitry. I'm sure folk here like ICBM know a lot more about this than I do.

monquixote

My vote would be £45 for a Hardwire OD from Amazon. 

Bargaintastic!

An OCD is not the right pedal into the front of a dirty amp IMO.

Kebabkid

I agree with Monquixote- a TS-type pedal would be better here. The OCD is great but better into a clean channel or on a break-up sound. Bad Monkey, Nobels ODR would work too and along with the Hardwire recommendation, you're looking at £30-50 new for some of these , so good, do-the-job options.

viz

+1 for the Ibanez TS9DX - it's really tweakable and it gives you grunt and squeal without mushing out your amp. Steve Vai uses one and his sound manages to be warm, bouncy, responsive, driven, hard, forgiving, tender, liquid, transparent, organic, lucid, vocal, growling, emotional, shocking, and vaulted. Basically a cross between honey dripping off a razorblade and a warm ocean of chocolate lapping onto the seashore.

TheCount

Voxman said:

Behringer to800 vintage tube overdrive. Its a cheap tubescreamer clone in a (tough) plastic casing but it uses the same germanium diode chip and is one of the most under rated pedals out there.

No Germanium in a ts808 but either way, if it sounds good, it is good. I'd get a bad monkey for cheap, they're pretty good pedals and the eq should give you a bit of scope.

I use to own one of those Mosfet Marshalls like the OP, swapped it with a mate for a JCM800 head!! Then I stupidly swapped the 800 for an ADA mp1. Hindsight and all that.....

randomhandclaps

Agree with @monquixote - Hardwirdwire CM-2.  Two flavour OD with plenty of EQ shaping to suit and does the TS thing great.  At the price they are going for through Amazon I think it's too good to miss.

Also worth remembering is that the use of TS (mid focused) pedals in front of most amps was not just popularised for the extra gain but also to tighten the bottom end.  The problem is that this isn't a constant so dependent on playing volume, amp and speaker the point at which things get mushy and flubby will change.  Also some amps can sound a bit ice picky in the highs when pushed by TS ODs. The CM-2's bass and treble controls are a big bonus in adjusting to these factors.

MoANjAm

Or hows about the TC Spark Booster? Little gem in a box with 2 tone, grit and drive control plus  clean, mid or fat boost options. Best pedal I've bought.

ThePrettyDamned

Voxman;402108" said:

I'm not a techy, sorry, and perhaps chip is the wrong terminology. But I do remember reading ages ago that the original tube-screamers tonal warmth was partly attributed to a germanium rather than silicon diode in its circuitry. I'm sure folk here like ICBM know a lot more about this than I do.

It won't have germanium in, but maybe the vintage correct chip.

Which makes very little difference to the sound, until you're at higher gain settings. Visual sound did a chip swap test at moderate gain settings and the most noticeable one was swapping it for a video chip!

I'd go for the bad monkey, od-3 or hardwire od. They're all pretty good, the bad monkey does that middy smooth sound quite well.

Dave_Mc

Voxman said:

I'm not a techy, sorry, and perhaps chip is the wrong terminology. But I do remember reading ages ago that the original tube-screamers tonal warmth was partly attributed to a germanium rather than silicon diode in its circuitry. I'm sure folk here like ICBM know a lot more about this than I do.

No worries. There's no law that says you have to have a degree in electronics to have opinions about guitar gear (and there are certainly way more tech-savvy people here than me, I just sort of have a passing interest in it).

I think they just used standard silicon diodes. The chip can (maybe) affect the tone slightly, though. I had a biyang with swappable chips and (before it died ) ) there seemed to be a bit of a difference in tone with different chips in there.

The klon is the one where everyone talks about the germanium diodes I think. electronics types say it doesn't make much difference.  I dunno, I haven't compared.

monquixote said:

An OCD is not the right pedal into the front of a dirty amp IMO.

Based on my cheapo joyo clone, I'd tend to agree.

randomhandclaps said:

Agree with @monquixote - Hardwirdwire CM-2.  Two flavour OD with plenty of EQ shaping to suit and does the TS thing great.  At the price they are going for through Amazon I think it's too good to miss.

Also worth remembering is that the use of TS (mid focused) pedals in front of most amps was not just popularised for the extra gain but also to tighten the bottom end.  The problem is that this isn't a constant so dependent on playing volume, amp and speaker the point at which things get mushy and flubby will change.  Also some amps can sound a bit ice picky in the highs when pushed by TS ODs. The CM-2's bass and treble controls are a big bonus in adjusting to these factors.

I agree that the hardwire is really good (and is doubly so since it can kind of do the TS-thing, and also the more transparent thing, so if you can only get one OD, it's hard to beat, especially at less than £50), but I can't seem to quite get it to sound the same as my cheapo Joyo TS clone (or my SD1). I think it might be the 18V internal voltage (though I could be wrong), it doesn't quite compress the same and have the same "bark" (for want of a better word) in the mids etc., it's always a bit more open-sounding. It seems a bit clearer in the highs as well (so I'm not sure it'd help the ice-picky thing), my joyo ts clone seems smoother.

It's entirely possibly user error is at play, though. Maybe it can be dialled in to sound the same and I'm just an idiot (I could certainly get it close, but not exactly the same). But, for example, I had no bother dialling in the bad monkey to sound virtually identical to my Joyo (close enough that unless you had the two head to head you'd think they were the same).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you just want a killer OD which can kind of do the TS thing (and which can do a lot more), the hardwire is great. If you just want the TS or SD1 thing, and want to get as close to that as possible, I'd get something else (e.g. bad monkey or boss sd1).

Voxman

Voxman said:

Behringer to800 vintage tube overdrive. Its a cheap tubescreamer clone in a (tough) plastic casing but it uses the same germanium diode chip and is one of the most under rated pedals out there.

Not sure why I had 'germanium' stuck in my head, but the Behringer To800 does use the same diodes as in the original Ibanez Tubescreamer TS808; I checked the Behringer product page and it says: "Uses original 4558 IC plus MA150 distortion diodes for authentic vintage sound".  

Babones

RAT, Maxon SD9.

Dave_Mc

Voxman said:

Voxman said:

Behringer to800 vintage tube overdrive. Its a cheap tubescreamer clone in a (tough) plastic casing but it uses the same germanium diode chip and is one of the most under rated pedals out there.

Not sure why I had 'germanium' stuck in my head, but the Behringer To800 does use the same diodes as in the original Ibanez Tubescreamer TS808; I checked the Behringer product page and it says: "Uses original 4558 IC plus MA150 distortion diodes for authentic vintage sound".  

Yeah that might be it. I dunno what diodes the original used. That code doesn't really ring a bell,. though (but the IC sounds like the right one).