Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

A Skater

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Is this the best pedal one can get for the price? I read many reviews and people call it the best distortion pedal available(for rock, hard rock, punk, metal). Comments?
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

A Skater said:
Is this the best pedal one can get for the price? I read many reviews and people call it the best distortion pedal available(for rock, hard rock, punk, metal). Comments?


What do you want to do with it...I for one do not really care for tube screamers.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

I've never been a huge fan of the TS-9 or TS-808 either. I sent mine to John and he made it alot better.

But personally I find stock Tubescreamers to have kind of a compressed tone that makes me feel like I'm playing inside a chrome bubble that I wish I could break through and get out into the open air again.

I think the Boss DS-1 is a much more versatile and better sounding pedal. It's a pedal I can leave on all the time (that's how Vai and Satriani use the DS-1) and go from clean to scream with the volume tone of my guitar.

The Boss DS-1 has a much more open and natural tone, IMO.

Lew
 
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Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

Skater, it depends on what gear you use and what you want to do with it. It's a great pedal with some amps, not so good with others.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

Stevie Ray Vaughn obviously loved the heck out of them. They're all over every album he made.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

I don't understand why so many people claim Tubescreamers "do it all". Tubescreamers are used for one thing, to push your amp to a light overdrive. They do not have massive gain and they have a large midrange hump which makes them sound great with amps like Fenders, but not so hot with other amps like Vox.

The application I use tubescreamers for are blues and I run mine through a Vibrolux Reverb. Blues and light rock is where it shines, you will not get a "Marshall-in-a-box" etc. Not enough gain or tweakability to offer that.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

my tubescreamer makes the lead channel on my legacy come alive. I think the tubescreamer is one of the best pedals ever made.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

IMHO Everybody should have a Tubescreamer. :laugh2: Works great to
push your Clean amp into some lite OD Or use it as a Booster make your
Big rig go to 11 ! :13:
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

TheLizardKing said:
I'm considering a tubescreamer. From what I've heard the TS7 is the same thing as the TS9 except its shell is plastic. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/150286/
What do you guys think, 60$ cheaper... That paired with a Boss DS-1 will give lethal distortion on my Hot Rod Deville.

The TS7 is the " Tone-Loc " version. It is in a metal casing, and you can Lock the knobs in place ( so you don't forget your settings ).

The TS5 ( if it's still made ) was the plastic one.

I'm not sure if the TS7 shares the same circuitry as the TS9, that would be a question for Stratdeluxer97.

I am a Big user of the Tube Screamer, never leave home without em...:)

ps...a Stratdeluxer97 ( Spina ) mod on ANY Tube Screamer will leave you speechless !!!! ........................................:)
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

the_Chris said:
I don't understand why so many people claim Tubescreamers "do it all". Tubescreamers are used for one thing, to push your amp to a light overdrive. They do not have massive gain and they have a large midrange hump which makes them sound great with amps like Fenders, but not so hot with other amps like Vox.

The application I use tubescreamers for are blues and I run mine through a Vibrolux Reverb. Blues and light rock is where it shines, you will not get a "Marshall-in-a-box" etc. Not enough gain or tweakability to offer that.

I know I just critisized the TS-9, but in fairness, when I plugged my '54 Tele into a TS-9 and the TS-9 into my Vox AC 30 I got the most incredable lead tone I've ever heard!

Sounded like a violin.

But it was VERY LOUD!

I loved it through my Vox.

But I still think the Boss DS-1 is a much more versatile pedal because it's also great for genuinely clean and semi-clean rythym tones and the TS-9 is not.

Turning down the guitar's volume control with the DS-1 on gives a clear tone with plenty of highs...turning down the guitar's volume control with the TS-9 on usually doesn't give rythym tones of the same quality.

SRV used his for solos...you can hear him step on it.

Lew
 
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Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

my TS9 gave me a nice warm overdrive on a clean setting, and a sustaining, gritty overdrive in front of a clean setting. i really liked the way the leads sounded with it, my only complaint was that i didnt get a volume boost from it. hence, i am in the middle of trading it for a Shure SM-57, something i can make more use of. as for punk/metal, i dont think the TS9 is your best bet. its really more of a rock/blues pedal. youd deffinatly be better off with the Boss DS-1, as Lew said.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

I love tubescreamers!

I think it's easy to take them for granted nowadays, 'cause they're everywhere, but it's just a great circuit for doing what the name implies - making those tubes scream ... really a pretty amazing, warm circuit considering it's solid state.

I agree, it has a mid hump, and compresses, but that's often just what you want for a solo boost ;)
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

I will agree that they do have their place but I feel that their place (at least for me) is to thicken up single coils for a goot fat compressed lead tone but I have never like them for myself. There is a lot of gear that I like the sounds of when somebody else is using it, but when I try it sounds like crap...tubescreamers fall into that catagory.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

the ts7 and ts5s are the best deals today in tubescreamers. don't pay $60 or more for the ts9 or 808, as these other pedals can be modded to sound exactly the same. I like the ts7 because of the 'hot' switch.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

About a year ago I bought a TS9DX (Tube Screamer Turbo) because the Tube Screamers seemed like the de facto overdrive pedal to have. For awhile it was between getting that and a Blues Driver. I hemmed and hawed and went with the TS9DX and was pretty underhwelmed with it.

I unloaded it and went with the Blues Driver and felt it was a little better sounding to my ears. Through a series of trades another TS9DX landed in my lap and I held onto it.

I was never happy with the sound I got out of it, no matter what I played it through. To my ears it sounded like a cheap simulation of what the Tube Screamers should sound like. Every month or so I would take it out, tweak it, and then put it back unsatisfied.

I sent it off to John about a month ago and I'm very glad I did. I had him do a DS-1 and the TS9DX. The TS9DX floored me the moment I plugged it in. Immediately it had that signature sound and all the modes just sounded right for what they were supposed to do.

For the record....there's a bit of difference between an Overdrive pedal and a Distortion pedal. The Boss DS-1 is a Distortion pedal. It takes a sound and colors it. Gain levels and knobs on it aside, that's what it does. An overdrive pedal pushes the tubes and the amp to distort. There is some coloring of the sound, as happens with almost any pedal, but it functions differently.

Johns mods do alot for both pedals. The DS-1 is a keeper for me, but for very specialty applications. His mods made it sound MUCH better and made it MUCH mroe usable to my ears, but it still has WAY too much high-end for my tastes and tends to get fuzzy way too quickly. I know alot of this is how the players are using the pedal, and my results are from using it to color a clean signal mostly, which alot of folks aren't doing. But for me the hunt for the perfect Distortion pedal is still ongoing.

The Tube Screamer has the Overdrive pretty much sealed shut though...it's going to take a HELL of pedal to replace that. I love taking it to Blues jams....no one really knows what to think of it until I start playing through it...then they start asking me questions! Lots of em'!
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

A Skater said:
Is it really the best pedal for punk/metal? Or anythting included?

It depends on your amp.

It's good for making leads stand out. It's not very good for rhythm.
 
Re: Ibanez Tube Screamer, Comments?

tubescreamers are cool pedals but not my favorite. lots of people use em and they color your tone alot
 
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