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I did have a Joyo Vintage Overdrive before that, but found it a bit harsh and raspy. The Soul Food is a bit more rounded in its tone.
A better question would be what is the best tubescreamer for you? It will depend on your guitar, your amp and the sounds you want to hear and how much you re willing to spend.
At the moment you are likely to get answers to 2 different questions, probably neither are what you want.
Instead of answering your question, people are likely to answer 1 of these 2 instead:
What tubescreamer are you using?
What tubescreame do you have for sale?
OD-1 - 1977
An overall brighter and slightly higher gain mode that does not utilize the Tone knob. This mode also inverts signal just like the original and has asymmetrical clipping. The OD-1 is magical at boosting other drives or amps into singing saturation.
TS-808 - 1979
The classic low gain with that signature pronounced mid range.
TS-9 - 1982
Nearly identical to the TS-808 but with a slightly more pushed low-mid range.
MSL, Power or L Series - 1985
Though metal is in the name, this sound doesn’t quite inspire the modern metal djent we think of. Still it has a higher gain sound with a more low end and an overall more gooey feel.
TS-10 - 1986
Made famous by John Mayer, this model is a slight upgrade from the TS9 for the late ’80s. Bluesy, crisp, more low end roll off and low gain.
Exar OD-1 1989
The EXAR is a Polish made TS-style pedal that has a slightly different drive character with a little more gain than the classic screamers as well as a slightly more transparent feel.
TS-7 (+mode) - 1999
The hot mode on this version gives you the highest gain sound in the Bonsai. More low end and dirt fill out the tone to have you shredding away.
Keeley Mod Plus - 2002
Robert Keeley’s classic mod tightens up the tone on the original giving you smoother mid range and high frequencies, and increased bass response.
JHS Strong Mod - 2008
Our own mod we’ve been doing since 2008 is much cleaner and overall more powerful. The mode has more pronounced higher and low end drop offs.
Having said that, the Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini sounds really great and is just over £50
9s and 808s sound identical, other than the component tolerance/drift variance between individual examples - you can prove it with a switch to select the two different buffer resistor values if you want. (Assuming the chips are the same - there have been a couple of different ones in older TS-9s.)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
If I want a TS tone now I just use a Bad Monkey.
https://youtu.be/OtS-2TP0AZs
“The good news is” they were able to get the original 808 switches remade... the bad news is they’re still shit. And all three models have circuit boards - in fact the 808 and 9 boards are identical.
The funny thing is the video shows a TS-9 at the start, and he’s holding one .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I got it because I wanted something TS-esque and this was a great sounding one for my amp at a very reasonable price. I use it with the gain almost rolled off and the volume cranked, with the tone around 11 o'clock.