Tube Screamer FAQ Version 1

[JBroll]

Awesome faq man!

I really enjoyed learning how the Tubescreamer works, including your radio host filler, that's the best part!

Thanks, that's good to hear.

I also second a comparison between the real thing works in comparison with the TSS (tubescreamers secret) VST plugin, though that's not easy to do understandably!

I have TSS and a real ts7, I could probably do a comparison if theres enough interest??

I don't know if it's supposed to model the 808 or 9, but since my 7 is modded to 808 specs at the moment and you've got what I assume is a stock pedal we should have it covered. If you have another good BOSS or Ibanez pedal, put that in the signal chain before the TS (to utilize its buffer before splitting the signal, hopefully minimizing impedance issues) and then split the signal coming out of it, sending one side to the TS and the other straight into your interface so that it can be processed in the DAW; if you have EMGs or other active electronics inside your guitar, don't worry about that.

Even the levels as well as you can (if you have to check quickly, just set the two tracks dead center and flip the phase button on one of them; tinker with volumes until the master level is minimized and unflip the phase) and we'll post the raw tracks and perhaps the tracks processed through Wagner Sharp or some other free plugin.

Jeff

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

OK I am going to bed so I will post these tomorrow but here's what I have-

1 track unprocessed ts7, drive 9 o'clock, tone 12 o'clock, level 3 o'clock (yes it is stock, by the way.)
1 track unprocessed TSS (I set it the same way as my ts7 is - no clue if that actually means anything?)
And I also ran both those tracks through wagner 0.6.

so all in all 4 tracks. I'll post them all up separately and two sets with drums as well.

Right now the TSS actually is sounding a bit better than the ts7! It is a little bit cleaner and less fizzy.

edit: by the way, I don't have access to any other pedals here at home, but I didn't split the signal so it shouldn't be an issue. I just recorded once with the ts7 and then the same thing again with TSS.

 

[JBroll]

Well, if you could split a single performance it cuts down the variations to the differences between pedals alone. That would be ideal, so hopefully we can have a few people take a crack at it.

Jeff

 

[LSD-Studio]

I've just done a comparison between TS-7 and TS-9 again (both modded to 808 specs, same battery and everything)...
I know the circuit is the same, but as stated earlier in this thread the components aren't....same result as last time, the TS-7 sounds a bit darker (the very sparkling highs are a bit more muffled, don't know if it's because of lesser quality components or because the conductors on the pcb have different distances from each other etc or whatever)....I'll post some samples later

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

Well, if you could split a single performance it cuts down the variations to the differences between pedals alone. That would be ideal, so hopefully we can have a few people take a crack at it.

Jeff

Yeah good point. I'll post these tracks up anyway, for shits and giggles.

TS7 through wagner with drums-
http://www.project2music.com/FHD/TS/TS7Drums.wav

TSS through wagner with drums-
http://www.project2music.com/FHD/TS/TSSDrums.wav

TS7 through wagner
http://www.project2music.com/FHD/TS/TS7Wagner.wav

TSS through wagner
http://www.project2music.com/FHD/TS/TSSWagner.wav

TS7 Raw
http://www.project2music.com/FHD/TS/TS7Raw.wav

TSS Raw
http://www.project2music.com/FHD/TS/TSSRaw.wav


ps. it's amazing how sloppy your(my) playing is when it's not masked by gobs of distortion. I gotta work on that.

also, the guitar was an ec-1000 with seymour duncan JB/59s

 

[wolfhalen]

Sweet!

man, they both sound great, but I think the one with the real tubescreamer sounds a little better

it seems that this thing does the same good through a/d converters that it does in front of a real amp!


one thing I gotta ask, are you running through your soundcard direct, I.E. line level interface, or what is you interface through the computer?

Because my soundcard line-in doesn't get the best tone with just direct guitar, I.E. my tone knob hardly works.

thanks for your comparison, and great playing, and drums!!!

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

Sweet!

man, they both sound great, but I think the one with the real tubescreamer sounds a little better

it seems that this thing does the same good through a/d converters that it does in front of a real amp!


one thing I gotta ask, are you running through your soundcard direct, I.E. line level interface, or what is you interface through the computer?

Because my soundcard line-in doesn't get the best tone with just direct guitar, I.E. my tone knob hardly works.

thanks for your comparison, and great playing, and drums!!!

Hey thanks for the kind words man.

Here at home, where I recorded this, I just run my guitar through this little behringer guitarlink thing. It was like 30 bucks at musician's friend and it does the job fine for at-home demos.

If I did this at the studio I could have split it and it would have been ran through an allen & heath preamp and an echo audio A/D.

edit: ok it's $40 now. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Guitar-Link-UCG102?sku=241228

 

[wolfhalen]

hey found a relevant link, where different diode pairs are tested.

The poster said they seem to make more difference than op-amps

I would assume that means you're not using much of the pedals gain, only the amp's..

http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=2540

edit: also wanted to ask JBroll, could you do the same thing with a Boss EQ pedal if thats what you had? I.E. Just ramp the sliders around the 700hz area, and leave the lows down?

 

[JBroll]

I stated in my post that the first place I'd look for mods is the diode pair, but putting in a GOOD op-amp (not another fucking 4558!) can make a huge difference. Track down some Germanium diodes if you can, and go to Radio Shack and pick up a package of sockets, a package of LEDs, and whatever else you're curious to try.

EDIT: missed your edit... I'd probably have the hump going from 700Hz to 2000Hz and the rest toned down a bit, and tinker with the higher end of that range if the amp didn't like it.

Jeff

 

[jess.oceans]

Thanks so much for this, its a really good read. And just saved me some money, time to look into a ts-7.
Just curious though, where would I be able to find some op-amps, like what sort of electronic store? Im just gonna guess that radio shack wouldn't have anything like that, as the one here doesn't have anything I ever look for.

Once again, thank you for this thread.

 

[TomAwesome]

I think I've heard Jeff say before (or rather seen him type) that you can get a certain number of op-amps free from Texas Instruments. I'm not sure how that works, though.

 

[JBroll]

Radio Shacks have them with the other assorted electronic components (the big bunches of drawers); another thing you can do is go to TI's webpage and request free samples (find a chip, and there's a link to request free samples) that'll be shipped out to you.

Jeff

 

[tomijm]

Vintage fucking sucks... we fucking win.

Jeff, gotta love you man!

Thanks for this exhaustive info. How many times you need to say TS7=TS9?!

I have modded SD-1 (not sure about the mod though... I think it's 808'ed). I have to try that on the next band rehearsal. I'm using:
Gibson Les Paul Standard -> 6506+ head -> old Marshall 1960 cab (with brown cloth, thinking about putting in v30s). Have to check what kind of difference will the SD-1 make. Now even TS7 started to interest me. Damn!

- tomi -

 

[Metaltastic]

TS7 RULZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JBroll]

Jeff, gotta love you man!

Thanks for this exhaustive info. How many times you need to say TS7=TS9?!

I have modded SD-1 (not sure about the mod though... I think it's 808'ed). I have to try that on the next band rehearsal. I'm using:
Gibson Les Paul Standard -> 6506+ head -> old Marshall 1960 cab (with brown cloth, thinking about putting in v30s). Have to check what kind of difference will the SD-1 make. Now even TS7 started to interest me. Damn!

- tomi -

I really like the SD-1, never have figured out whether I like it more than the TS or not..

Jeff

 

[DemolitionX]

Just wondering, I looked right thru the 200 pages of this thread and saw nothing about how to mod a pedal.

I got a boss SD1 and wanna mod it to vanilla 808 specs. Can anybody tell me whether it's possible to do at all? Saves me buying a whole new pedal and spending more $$$ on shit. That and the fact that the 808 does tend to work better for producing the frequencies I want. I find my boss pedal has more of a muddy low mid and the gain isn't real clean either. Anyone who could shed light on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Metaltastic]

You'd probably have an easier time selling the SD1, using that money to pay for an Ibanez TS7, and then change the, what, 2 resistors? to make it an 808.

 

[JBroll]

Just wondering, I looked right thru the 200 pages of this thread and saw nothing about how to mod a pedal.

I got a boss SD1 and wanna mod it to vanilla 808 specs. Can anybody tell me whether it's possible to do at all? Saves me buying a whole new pedal and spending more $$$ on shit. That and the fact that the 808 does tend to work better for producing the frequencies I want. I find my boss pedal has more of a muddy low mid and the gain isn't real clean either. Anyone who could shed light on this would be greatly appreciated.

Wouldn't recommend it. The details on what to mod are in there but I'm already assuming some basic knowledge of electronics and such (as I plan to eventually write about that), and there are plenty of other places that do mod tutorials with pictures much better than I could ever hope to.

The easiest option would be to grab a TS7 (since it's the TS9 in a different box it's only two resistors away from an 808) instead of trying to mod the fucktillion little things different in the SD-1. It would be easier to remove some low mids from the SD-1 and change the gain knob's range, which is well-described elsewhere on the series of tubes - and if you want more details directly from me I can try to work through it with you, although I must warn that I don't have an SD-1 with me so I'd be going off a schematic for the fixes.

Jeff

 

[SoundSpiral]

TS7 RULZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1

 

[ahjteam]

bought myself a TS9. Is it just me, but why does the tone knob seem quite shallow? I mean the effect of it seems pretty minimal even if you go from side to side