Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

[Gunny47]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Ahhhhh...the TS 808HW. They are like $350 though!

Best TS type pedal I have used to date other than the Tumbleweed is the Xotic AC! Transparent and sounds amazing.

That's the Ibanez TS808 Reissue, not the HW. HW comes in that big darker casing with the PTP wiring.

 

[Matt42]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Having played the Green Rhino and the Custom Badass Overdrive side by side, they are really similar pedals. You can keep either of them set to a traditional tubescreamer sound (with the bass drop off) or you can dial in a fatter bass tone.

Really, if you are willing to spend the money, the Green Rhino or the Custom Badass Overdrive would suit you very well.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

I'll vote for the MXR Classic/GT, the GT setting doesn't cut the bass as much as a TS type.

If you really want a TS, get a TS. I use both, as well as an OD-3.

I really want to try that badass OD.

 

[JOEBACCA]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

+1 on the MXR Classic Overdrive. Its like having the GT-OD & the Zakk Wylde OD in one

Pedal due to the internal switch, plus its only $30.00 Brand NEW!! Good Luck finding one

in stock at GC though. I just sold my Fulltone OCD V4 because the Classic Overdrive was

just as good to my ears if not better with more options for 1/4 the Price. Can't beat it

IMO!!!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Best TS type pedal I have used to date other than the Tumbleweed is the Xotic AC! Transparent and sounds amazing.

im confused by that. a ts is not transparent at all

 

[DoomBuggi]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

I'm a fan of the Maxon OD808 Ri. You can find them used.

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

im confused by that. a ts is not transparent at all

Yeah, the Xotic AC isn't a TS derivative.

 

[KBliss]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Definitely, i suggest going to the Analogman site to get a brief education.

Thats where I found out that the $40 TS-7 uaes the same Texas Inst. chip as the TS808 & old school TS-9. Also, the Bad Monkey and others clone much of the circuits...

The guy who designed the Time Bomb, i think wKeeley, gives a great treble boosting history in his description of why he designed it..

PinkUnicornHorsey is an expert on these- he pointed me to what I needed: a Boss Blues Driver. If its a good unit, it's less dramatic, doesn't kill the bass, just tightens a good bit. Modded by Monte Allum is big plus.

Not cheap yet very intriguing is the EP booster by Xotic. Lots of axheroes with creamy gain would turn up the output on their Echoplex: this gadget simulates the 20db boost with similar parts & construction minus the tape motor.

Once you get into it, you start to value the gadget that changes your tone the least. But for cheap starters, the TS7 and/or Bad Monkey is a good start ( think We Die Young, AiC)

 

[papersoul]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Having played the Green Rhino and the Custom Badass Overdrive side by side, they are really similar pedals. You can keep either of them set to a traditional tubescreamer sound (with the bass drop off) or you can dial in a fatter bass tone.

Really, if you are willing to spend the money, the Green Rhino or the Custom Badass Overdrive would suit you very well.

Looks like I am getting a used Green Rhino! Used....

If it doesn't work, I am going to move away from all OD pedals once and for all! A good friend of mine said since I use modern amps, I have no need at all for a tube screamer or OD pedal and he may be right. My Bogner, PWE and when I get the Electradyne will all have ways to boost for solos without a tube screamer. A lot of the guys who use tube screamers are using things like Marshall JCM 800s and older amps. I just might not need them with these modern amps. Too much of a good thing. I certainly am not lacking gain in any amp! LOL. Maybe my Sonic Edge J&J OD is all I need IF I ever want to add some gain, front end push, etc. For most tones I just use my amp's clean and the amp's gain. Plus all my amps have various modes that adjust gain and character of gain.
s

 

[Strat111]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

my absolute fav is a boss OD-1 modded by analogman with some special chip added or swapped or something.

+1000. I have this pedal from Analogman w/Frog mod. The only drawback is the price. It is expensive, but I got it while waiting in line for my Analogman King of Tone (KOT) pedal (approx. 2 year waiting list). I run this as a clean boost into an Analogman Beano Boost treble booster.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

I just got a Green Rhino. You'll love it.
It's my favorite out of all my OD's. (VS 808, GT-OD, OCD, SD-1, OD-3, Dano OCD, Dano Timmy)

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

If any old TS will do just get a reissue TS-9 and roll with it.

If you want a cream of the crop Tubescreamer take that reissue TS-9 and send it to AnalogMan.

Thank me later.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

TS-7 is a total sleeper pedal. Think about trying it.
TS-9 isn't that expensive
Bad Monekey is Bad@$$
Or, try a TS9DX - Four flavors of screamer with more booty/gain. If I had my life to live over, that's what I'd get

 

[everdrone]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Best TS type pedal I have used to date other than the Tumbleweed is the Xotic AC! Transparent and sounds amazing.

hmm for overdrive/distortion pedals: I dont think of transparency as they alter the sound a bit and tighten things up and add a separate distinct character to the sound

for transparency,
you want your amp (volume), or a boost pedal

I have a footswitchable attenuator on my thunderverb for those LOUD leadz, which is a marvelous feat! :approve:

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

i had a brown mod TS-9. Its nice, but not cheap. Ive also tried a bunch of mods myself too.
i prefer the MXR tho at any price point.
If the OP did not specify "cheap", then the fulltone is the swiss army knife of TS clones. It does everything and more. For me its the best easily...but its not the best "for not spending too much". There are a lot of really sweet pedals out there in the boutique world, none of which are cheap :such as way huge, maxon and the really exotic stuff gets more expensive again.
BUt for good as well as not being expensive, the mxr classic/gt/zakk is hard to beat.

..re: transparency: TS pedals and their clones are not transparent. If they were, they would not be TS pedals anymore.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Well, just one more for some additional confusion: the BYOC Overdrive II.
Many of the most common mods in one package, and switchable- also includes a boost. I love mine, and not too hard to build.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

If any old TS will do just get a reissue TS-9 and roll with it.

If you want a cream of the crop Tubescreamer take that reissue TS-9 and send it to AnalogMan.

Thank me later.

I thought the King odf Tone was a cream of the crop Ts.
Anyways..another vote for the Green Rhino. had one once and was berry berry impressed.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Nobels ODR-1

 

[rumblebox]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

 

[Hoss]

Re: Looking for the best Tube Screamer I can buy without spending too much!

Looks like I am getting a used Green Rhino! Used....

If it doesn't work, I am going to move away from all OD pedals once and for all! A good friend of mine said since I use modern amps, I have no need at all for a tube screamer or OD pedal and he may be right. My Bogner, PWE and when I get the Electradyne will all have ways to boost for solos without a tube screamer. A lot of the guys who use tube screamers are using things like Marshall JCM 800s and older amps. I just might not need them with these modern amps. Too much of a good thing. I certainly am not lacking gain in any amp! LOL. Maybe my Sonic Edge J&J OD is all I need IF I ever want to add some gain, front end push, etc. For most tones I just use my amp's clean and the amp's gain. Plus all my amps have various modes that adjust gain and character of gain.
s

good choice...if you don't like it...then you don't like TS voiced pedals. however, there's plenty of other types of OD pedals out there.