Tube screamer shootout: Software vs. Hardware

[Wisheraser]

Just for interests sake, I decided to compare a certain software tubescreamer to the real thing. Just a double tracked Mastodon riff with no post processing at all, so you'll have to forgive the slightly woolly tone. Which do you prefer?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3450474/Sneap TS and Pre shootout/TS 1.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3450474/Sneap TS and Pre shootout/TS 2.mp3

 

[TheDriller]

with a quick listen, i prefer TS2.

Seems to be a bit more defined and "bitey".

 

[JeffTD]

2, does more of what a TS is supposed to, it sounds like. Could've been a settings issue, though! What was the real TS pedal used?

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

Going with 2 on this as well

 

[El_Gato]

2

Looks like it's more bassy. Laptop speakers right now but maybe some adjustment by ear would be nice, too. Thanks for the shootout.

 

[dasbrootal]

2

 

[The Unavoidable]

Yeah, 2 sounds clearer and with more bite. The first one would need some processing to make it work, but nr 2 is pretty much already there.

 

[kev]

Two has more tube screamer goodness from what I can tell. That tighter bite maybe gives it away, but that could be settings too perhaps.

 

[guitarguru777]

2 seems to have a thicker low mid character and a more defined top end. 1 is not bad, but I think I am going to have to go with 2 also.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

2

 

[Fama]

I have to admit I really can't tell a difference between the two.

 

[Wisheraser]

Looks like 2 is the winner by a long shot. So without further ado:

TS1 = TSE 808 from Onqel
TS2 = Ibanez TS7

I think using different settings definitely would have made this a tougher call. Both were set with the drive nearly 0, tone about 9 o'clock and level at noon. One thing I did notice with the software though is that there was something slightly piercing in the high end (which seems to be a bit masked in these mp3 files). That may have been fixed by not using the 4x oversampling feature, but who knows.

I'm going to try this again in a bit with a faster riff and diff tone/settings.


edit: fixed software name

 

[Fama]

Maybe include more different ones? http://www.bteaudio.com/software/TSS/TSS.html and http://www.theserinaexperiment.net/plugins/TSE_808v1.0.zip

 

[Wisheraser]

Yeah, that TSE_808v1.0.zip is the software one that I used. I would try the TSS, but I'm sure given the immense talent that Onqel has for software coding that it's leaps and bounds more realistic that the TSS. It's a good thought, but considering that they're both free plugs, I think I'll stick with the higher quality one.

 

[Fama]

Ahh right, was thinking "I didn't know Poulin made a TS plugin"

 

[onqel]

Looks like 2 is the winner by a long shot. So without further ado:

TS1 = TSE 808 from Onqel
TS2 = Ibanez TS7

For a fair comparison you should compare it to the Maxon OD808, which it's modeled after
The TS7 have a single transitor in the input and output buffer, where the OD808 have OPAMP's.. that's not an 'issue', but they have slightly different components in the tonestage's etc
For a TS7 emulation I think TSS is closer in the frequency domain

 

[Wisheraser]

Hi Onqel! I really wasn't expecting them to sound identical, for the various reasons you mentioned. I was just hoping to be able to get a decent improvement in the sound out of both of them. Again, with different settings I think it's possible that your 808 can compete with, and maybe sound better than, a real TS regardless of the make. Next time I'm going to try to get each sounding as good as I can regardless of how different they are set from each other.