Tube Screamer FAQ Version 1

Could someone do me a favor?
I need someone to record a dry clip using active pups (i have emg 85), a TS7 and wagner lets say.....and a tuning close to Dd?
Something I can reproduce the closest possible...along with the settings of course...
The thing is that so far i've been using my PODxt's screamer simulation and now i got a TS7, but comparing the two i have to say the podxt cleared up everything much more than the TS7 which is a bit too flubby...It could be misleading though because it's a PODxt and within it dwells the fizz and thus giving a less flubby-more high end sound...
But i want to know which is the politicaly correct thing here...
I've been using the pod quite some time now and while i like it's tones for playing, in a mix everything sounds thin and plastic.....so i'm kinda trying to give the pod a rest, at least for now....

One other thing i noticed is that using the same settings on the TS7 and wagner it sounds alot better through my passive stock pups of my Ibanez RG than the EMGs...Well not exactly better....proportionaly better...

Jeff you're the man...
 
Make sure you can listen to the POD and real TS on their own to make sure that tonally they're similar. It could be that you have drastically different things going on between those two. I don't have much experience with the POD model but you should turn everything else off and just compare a track of plain POD TS sim and a track of TS to see if there's a difference there - it's entirely possible that the output level or gain level is completely different and that's changing things around.

Jeff
 
I had already tried that but it's kinda difficult to spot the differences like that....the signal is highly dynamic like that and i think i'm missing a lot when judging it this way....
But surely the pod has a lot more gain than the TS7...
So...any other suggestions?
I want to see if this is normal or maybe there is something wrong with the TS7??
 
I doubt there's anything wrong with the TS7. It could be that you're used to dialing the POD in with a good deal of gain - remember that you're not trying to crunch the fuck out of the pedal, the gain should be coming from the amp/modeler and the pedal is just conditioning the signal. I think it's just a difference in the way the two are dialed in; try dialing the level of the TS7 higher and cutting the level of the POD model down.

If something were to go wrong with a TS7, I doubt it would just sound like something else entirely.

Jeff
 
Thank you for your time Jeff....really appreciate it..
I'll continue experiment....

But just for saying i usually have the level of the TS pretty high because software modelers are way too noisy when their gain is turned up...so i think i would be going for something like 70/30 (preamp/TS) when getting my gain...
Of course the TS is not a way to add gain but tightening the already flubby output (when using mid gain settings) is what i'd like to do...
Please let me know if you think any of the above is the wrong way to go...
 
I didn't understand the technical stuff on the ts9 and 808 (noob!!!)... I'd want to run a tubescreamer through a 6505 head, how exactly would it tighten and shape the tone.. because it don't like the idea that it "cuts out a bit of the bottom and high end"?? .. also which of the 2 would you reccomend for the metal sounds (e.g Hypocrisy, Gojira, Aborted, Darkest Hour, Nevermore etc etc).. would it take away the heavyness of the amps tone and add vintage sound to it?
 
You'll still perceive a great deal of high and low end. Amplifiers aren't always built in ways that really do what we want as well as we want it - for a really good distortion sound you're going to want to stage your gain properly, making sure there isn't too much bass (which pisses the circuits off and makes the next stage have to deal with a weird, icky mess) or treble (which makes things too harsh, and through further gain stages this is compounded) in each stage. Further, scooped pickups (while sounding evil and grim and METAL AS FUCK in principle) are just going to make this MUCH fucking worse. The amp basically handles mids better, so that's what you give it. It won't make your sound a vintage middy AM radio mess, you'll have plenty of bass and treble at the end and you still have EQ. Just about anyone Sneap has produced recently has a TS doing its job on the guitar tracks, so don't worry about losing your metal.

And... I did cover the (minimal!) product details in the FAQ... buy a TS7. It's the same as the TS9 for a much better price. You can turn the TS9 (and, as a result, the TS7) into a TS808 by changing two (2) resistors. The TS7 costs MUCH less - $40ish, if I'm not mistaken - and does the same thing.

Jeff
 
Still not a model number... Philips/Signetics makes a lot of chips, if it doesn't have a model number on it I can't tell you a thing about it.

Jeff
 
Been wondering this for a while, be it my old Ibanez TS9DX or my Maxon OD820, it introduces a lot of noises when in (when not playing, you know, the ssssshhhhhhhkkkkkkkrrrrrrrrrsssssshhhh), is this the same for you guys?
 
Well if you mean general background noise, I tend to think that's inherent to any distortion circuit - I just turn the output level down so that the noise with it on is at unity gain with the noise with it off (usually around 10:30 on my TS7)
 
Yes, any distortion/overdrive circuit will compress the signal, raising the noise floor. Depending on the gain it could seem two to three times (at least) louder; you can compensate for this with your noise gate or an expander but that's just the inherent tendency of compression to make quiet things louder. Now, it may be made with cheap-shit noisy parts (that's mass production for you), but most of the noise will just be coming from the compression.

Jeff
 
I have a maxon 808 that I use in front of my 5150 and while it does tighten up the low end considerably I noticed that it also adds a bit of a fizzy quality to the sound as well.

Are some OD pedeals better at keeping the sound tight w/out adding some fizz than the maxon 808?

If they are all about the same, then what is the best way to combat the fizz? Different preamp tubes?
 
JBroll said:
It's in how you use it, really. You're winding up with more distortion if that's happening - are you changing any amp settings?

Jeff
Click to expand...

No, not changing any amp settings. Keeping the preamp gain on about 4 (lead channel) - overdrive on the 808 all the way off and the level at 12 o'clock. Still adds some fizz... :Smug:
 
Keep in mind that the pedal is giving you more effective gain, so turning the amp gain down would be a good idea. There's still noticeable distortion at the lowest drive setting.

Jeff
 
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