Tube Screamer FAQ Version 1

I'm not going to say much on Behringer gear other than that I strongly dislike their practice of blatantly ripping off other people's ideas instead of contributing anything new. That said, since I think you're paying more for a TS7 than we'd pay for a handwired 'boutique' TS9 or TS808 you might consider bugging someone in the States or Mexico to ship one directly to you - judging by the USD-Reais exchange rate Google is using, you'll probably be spending under 100R if one of us cooperates.

Jeff
 
And as we live in the jungle, we have to find ways to have good things, haha
This guy makes copies of pedals and there are samples on the site, there is the ts, the zw, bb preamp clones.
www.efxpedais.com/dist.html
What do you recomend me to buy? I have a DS-1 Keeley but i think it has too much gain to use this way.

Thanks!!!
 
I'll see if I can help you out, but it'll be a couple of weeks before I know - if you have electronics experience it's pretty easy to make your own TS, so consider that first.

Jeff
 
I just read through this whole thread again.


Good times, it makes me want to mod my MXR GT-OD/feel dumb for spending that much on an OD (though $AUD120 isn't so bad I spose).
 
No More Beers said:
Has any of you guys tried the behringer overdrive pedals?
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/TO800.aspx
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/TO100.aspx
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/OD400.aspx

Here in Brazil the ts7 is around R$270, the behringers R$170 and the ts9 is R$600. You can see why im asking about the behringers :)
Click to expand...


I bought the Vintage Tube Overdrive from Behringer to bridge the gap waiting to find a tubescreamer (which I had to travel to London to find by the way) - I haven't used the TO800 once since I got a TS808, and it never gave me a sound close to the Tubescreamer sound.
 
Gelatin said:
I bought the Vintage Tube Overdrive from Behringer to bridge the gap waiting to find a tubescreamer (which I had to travel to London to find by the way) - I haven't used the TO800 once since I got a TS808, and it never gave me a sound close to the Tubescreamer sound.
Click to expand...

Good to know! Thanks a Lot!
 
A question for all you guys. If you had these pedals in the same price, which one would you buy:
TS-808
BB Preamp
Klone Centaur
Sparkle Drive
ZW44
 
Is it just my noob ears, or does the TS really not make much of a difference? I can hear the low end clean up a bit, but other than that I don't hear any mid bump or anything, even when I move that tone knob 0-10 it's not much difference at all.
 
Try pushing the volume a bit higher. The difference is pretty noticeable there.

At least when I use it live, I need a high volume setting, and I can hear the picking and the tone sound really different with the TS switched on.
 
Gary Coreman said:
Try pushing the volume a bit higher. The difference is pretty noticeable there.

At least when I use it live, I need a high volume setting, and I can hear the picking and the tone sound really different with the TS switched on.
Click to expand...

I'll try that when I get home, but I remember reading in here that you should turn the volume too high?
 
llanafreak44 said:
I'll try that when I get home, but I remember reading in here that you should turn the volume too high?
Click to expand...

You actually mean "should NOT turn the volume too high"?

I dunno, I suppose it works different with each kind of amp/cab... I use it with a Dual Rectifier and it smokes everything when the Recto is kranked. At least from live performance experience I can tell you that.

Don't know much about recording with it, haven't got the chance to test it, as I don't own a studio.
 
I'll definitely agree that the tone knob seems to have very little effect, but I definitely notice a slight mid-hump when listening to recorded tracks (and thus I often cut slightly at 700 Hz to tame it) - not very noticeable in the room tough, I admit, but the low-end tightening certainly is, and that's the most important part IMO!
 
Gary, if the volume is set so that activating the pedal significantly increases volume then you're really just adding more gain. It's hard not to conclude that adding gain makes a difference (for those of us who aren't diming XXXs, at least) , so to look for the difference made by the TS's design (and not the addition of more gain) set the pedal so that the volumes are about the same when the pedal is active and bypassed.

The biggest thing the pedal does for us is tighten the bass - if it does that, you're getting exactly what you should have expected. The tone knob doesn't always make too much of a difference - I just use it when switching picks to get rid of some noises I don't like. (Highs are reduced, too, so if you prefer to think of the effect as a bass and treble cut instead of a mid hump then that'll work too.)

Jeff
 
Yes, sorry, I didn't mean the pedal's volume knob, but the amplifier's, I wasn't clear on that... and of course I try to set them at the same rate so there is no difference when active/bypassed.

Anyway... I use it on all the time haha.

Just meant to say that when I played at a louder volume I noticed the TS difference even more. Didn't notice it much while testing it in a normal room. At least from my experience.
 
In my opinion every guitar player should understand and visualize the TS overdrive as a tone shaping processor that basically does the engineer's job to properly sit guitar tracks in rock mixes:

High pass filter > Low-mid band compression > Low pass filter > Harsh frequency filtering

TS type pedals, correctly dialed, should be used in front of every SS, Tube and modeling software pre-amp stages.

Enrique Ibarra
 
I guess there's 2 sides to this tube screamer and one is EQ shaping for an overdriven amp and the other just the tube screamer or two through a clean amp. It seems like it's just personal preference as far as op amps go. I've tried a couple of BB along with the LM833 plus the others I've mentioned but I've gone to using just the JRC 4558d in one TS7 with a dozen caps swapped for metal film for some real smoothness. The other has a variety of cap changes and a TI 4558P whose clip is more square than the JRC 4558d. It seems like in front of an overdriven amp there are different considerations ~ I preferred the higher quality op amps in front of overdrive, but lesser quality when flavoring a clean channel. It's all personal opinion on some levels it seems.

Here's an blues improv I videotaped if anyone wants to check it out, as inappropriate it is for this thread since there isn't a TS on it :)
 
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