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

[papersoul]

Hey guys!

I have been playing in a 90s cover band and have been playing a lot of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and plenty of other stuff from the 90s and feel I could use a Tube Screamer in my collection. I use a Bogner Shiva and PWE Event Horizon and am buying a Mesa Boogie Electradyne.

Right now my only boost pedal is a Sonic Edge J&J Overdrive which is great but I am thinking I want something with that mid push for a change.

In reality, since I use modern amps with solo boosts built in, I may not need this but I have GAS! I also use a modded EQ in the loop and that may be my preferred method of boosting on something like the Electradyne. After all, it has to come down to what works for me!

I will say that the J&J OD is one of the best I have used for adding gain to any amp, very transparent.

You see, even though I don;t have all my pedals on my board at all times, it is nice to rotate in pedals at times.

This is expensive!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aInEQG-c1Mc

 

[Jessie's ghost]

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

I always thought the Ibanez TS-7 (the Tonelock Tube Screamer) was pretty close to the current reissue TS-9. You can find them cheap on the used market, and as long as you don't get one with a goofy footswitch, it should be a pretty solid pedal.

 

[Chickenwings]

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

 

[Matt42]

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

I really dig the GT-OD, and the slightly hotter Wylde OD. Both are really transparent and maximize the amps natural tone. I pair the Wylde OD with a Gretch Hollowbody and get really great thick tones.

The pedal I'm really digging on right now is the MXR Custom Badass Overdrive. It's got that TS808 feel, but doesn't have the bass drop off of the Tubescreamer.

 

[Boogie Bill]

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

Bad Monkey, and the BBE Green Screamer.

Bill

 

[misterwhizzy]

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

I really dig the GT-OD, and the slightly hotter Wylde OD.

And if you've got one, you've got them both. There's a switch inside on the top left corner of the PCB that switches between the two. I replaced the inner switch with one accessible from the outside.

 

[Mincer]

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

A vote for the Bad Monkey. Cheap, with better EQ than a TS.

 

[youngthrasher9]

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

A vote for the Bad Monkey. Cheap, with better EQ than a TS.

I second this. I love my bad monkey.

 

[ericmeyer4]

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

Visual Sounds rt808. About $50 used and sounds fantastic.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

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

Bad Monkey- I really dig this little pedal although mine has a switch about to go... but that is also after about 4 years of consistent use....

 

[Artie]

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

Another vote for the Bad Monkey. The simple inclusion of bass and treble controls, (as opposed to just a tone control), gives it a lot of tonal versatility.

 

[bancika]

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

if you can find one, MXR classic OD guitar center special is supposedly the same as GT-OD but with a different paint job. It's got an internal switch to go from GT-OD (close to TS) to Wylde OD (close to SD-1). I got mine for 30$ new a couple of months ago.

 

[papersoul]

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

I am a HUGE MXR fan, especially the new pedals. I might check it out. So far the best I have tried in 25 years is the Sonic Edge Tumbleweed in British mode!

Any bass drop with the GT OD? I expect a Tube Screamer to have some bass loss and boost the mids, after all I use it on some single note lines. If I want to retain everything my amp has to offer, just more gain, I use the Sonic Edge J&J OD.

 

[bancika]

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

If you want more flexibility you could spend a bit more (~100$) and get a green rhino which is a TS with more flexible tone stack so you can shape the bass as you like it.

 

[Simon_F]

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

I haven't tried the GT-OD though I've heard a lot of good things about it.

The Bad Monkey is a fantastic pedal for the money. As ArtieToo says the separate bass and treble controls make it more versatile than a single-tone TS-type pedal and you can easily dial out any bass-drop. It has a smoothness to the drive and not a ton of gain. Sounds great as a light overdrive into a clean amp or as a boost to kick an already distorted amp. Great bang for buck and can be picked up used on eBay - if you buy a used one and don't like it you'll be able to sell it easily and get your money back.

 

[jdier]

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

I have the TS-7 (the newer grey one) and I think it was $30. I also have some TS9's that were modded by Keeley.

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

For recording I struggled with the TS-7 a bit and since I had some TS-9's around I swapped them out.

Live setting? I would pull out a TS-7 all day long.

 

[Bludave]

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

I'm Jonesing for one of these. I have a TS9 & it works beautiful but I would really like to play this side by side to see which I like better.

 

[papersoul]

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

I'm Jonesing for one of these. I have a TS9 & it works beautiful but I would really like to play this side by side to see which I like better.

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.

 

[papersoul]

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

If you want more flexibility you could spend a bit more (~100$) and get a green rhino which is a TS with more flexible tone stack so you can shape the bass as you like it.

What is the quality of the Green Rhino like? How about compared to something like the Xotic pedals like the AC Booster which I think is fantastic and very small to boot!!! :cool2:

 

[Gunny47]

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

What's yer budget? I've tried a ton of different TSs, TS-style pedals and clones and I think the one that SLAYS all of them is the Analogman TS9 Silver Mod. I've gone through the Keeley Baked Mod, Keeley Mod Plus, Stock Ibanez TS9, Stock Ibanez TS9dx, Stock Ibanez TS808, Digitech Bad Monkey, and Xotic AC Booster (sorta TSish, to me it acts a little differently but that is much debated I think).

Haven't tried the Ibanez TS7, the MXR or the BBE though. There are half a million TS clones out there.

I don't think you can beat the Analogman for this sorta sound. Get the Brown mod if you want the typical vintage TS808 mannerisms (midhump etc), but if you want something slightly more transparent, go with Silver. If you can spring for the extra cash - HIGHLY recommended.