Quick TS mod comparison

[Cyanide_Anima]

'ello! A while back I asked my boss a question about Tube Screamers/mods/clones. Some local motormouth was practically begging me to let him mod my pedals.... Since my boss is an engineer I wondered if he could somewhat quickly explain how I could go about modding my TS. I think he decided it would be better to just show me, haha. So he went about building a TS clone for experimenting on part values to get the sound I was looking for. This is the first round of part swapping and I dig the change so far. I'm not going to give away anything other than I used my PRS Standard 24 and either the homemade screamer or the TS9 a mystery amp and a "real life" mix situation. See if you can guess which is which. It was kinda hard for me to pick it out at first.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24232048/Screamer Tres'! ( A ).wav

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24232048/Screamer Tres'! ( B ).wav

 

[Clark Kent]

I think tubescreamers all sound the same... or the diffence is so small that in reality it doesn't matter. Half and inch on the microphone has a million times more affect.

That being said I think I prefer A since it seems to cut just a little more. More middle? A bit louder maybe?

 

[JakeAC5253]

I think tubescreamers all sound the same... or the diffence is so small that in reality it doesn't matter. Half and inch on the microphone has a million times more affect.

Not necessarily. What if you want to keep the same mic position and change the sound. Alter the amp? That never sounds "right." Same mic position and amp settings with a different OD in front of the amp is a great way to get a widening effect. This is the best way to do it because both tones are both different and both good, whereas changing amp settings or mic position will result in one tone being better or clearer than the other.

Clip A sounds like the stock TS, clip B sounds like an SD1.

 

[Cyanide_Anima]

I think they all sound similar. But sometimes even something as simple as changing a pot can do cool things. The signal chain and settings on the pedals, amp, etc. are exactly the same. No post eq. A touch of LA2A emu on guits. inflator/elephant on the master.

To me A cuts a bit more and has a little more note definition, B sounds a little more 3D/full on the bottom and saturated.