L
Lewguitar
Guest
Got my music room set up real nice and plugged in all of my overdrive and distortion pedals and compared them to each other through my blackface Princeton Reverb and Deluxe Reverb. The PR has a Celestion G1265, the DR has a Celestion G12H30 and I also used a Matchless one 12 cab with an 8 ohm Celestion Alnico Silver from the 60's - the AC30 speaker.
I used my Strat with the EMG David Gilmore set, my '54 Tele with the Joe Bardens, my Strat with a single Duncan 78 and my Strat with the Duncan Surfer/Surfer/CS Tele Hot set.
Guess which pedal I liked best? The green channel of the Jemini! Sounded like Eric Clapton with Cream when I plugged in a humbucker and sounded just awesome with Strat single coils too!
The red channel of the Jemini is really cool too and it sounds even better with humbuckers than it does with single coils, IMO, and was a little brighter and more modern. With the 78, I got instant Steve Vai sort of tone, the way when I plug a Strat into the '69 it gives me instant Jimi Hendrix tone and the TS-808 gives me instant SRV overdrive.
But it was the green channel of the Jemini that was the stand out in this shoot out.
The Jemini has such a big deep full sound that it made all of my other pedals sound a little bright, thin and lacking in bass - even though I was totally happy with the tone of those pedals before getting the Jemini.
I could goose the level of the DS-1 and cut back on the tone/treble to get me into more of the huge Jemini tone, and I could get the TS-808 into that territory too, by setting it for much more overdrive than I normally use - but the DS-1 and TS-808 never sounded quite as full and deep as the Jemini.
The '69 pedal has always sounded like the best Fuzzface I've ever heard - but it sounded fizzy and spitty compared to the Jemini. The '69 did sound the most like Jimi Hendrix though.
This was very interesting to me. That Jemini pedal is something else and IMO, it was simply the most fun to play and the one I kept coming back to.
I did compare the DS-1 and TS-808 and TS-9 to each channel of the Jemini. The rumor is that the Jemini is based on Steve's modded DS-1 and TS-9.
Neither Jemini channel really sounds like a stock Tubescreamer or stock DS-1to me. Maybe a heavily modded TS-9 or DS-1, but not stock ones like I have.
The DS-1 with the level and drive set much higher than I normally use and the tone backed off sounded the most like the Jemini green channel of all the pedals - but not exact.
I'm going to guess that the Jemini green channel is loosely based on the tone of a modded
DS-1 one with more bass and more overdrive. But that's just a guess.
With the Jemini, I could not clean up my guitar tone to my satisfaction by lowering the guitar's volume control though. The stock DS-1 is the only pedal that allowed me to turn my guitar volume control down to 5 and clean it up to almost sparkling clean. None of the other pedals allowed me to do that, including the green channel of the Jemini.
Oh: which speaker sounded the best? Of the three, my old Celestion G12 Alnico Silver in the big single 12 Matchless cabinet sounded best of all. #2 was the G12H30. #3 was the G12-65 - it's a little to smooth and the G12H30 has more bite and crunch.
The Matchless cab is pretty deep and big and the Celestion Alnico really sounds deep and full -
much better than it sounds in my Deluxe Reverb cab which is much smaller than the Matchless.
I've been thinking all along that the Celestion Alnicos were to bright for blackface Fender amps - I was wrong. If the cab is big enough, I guess they sound just fine!
I liked the TS-808 better than my stock MIJ TS-9. The tone is a little more open and spacious - just a little.
I also have a Spina modified TS-9 that John made into a TS-808. Sounds exactly like my TS-808.
Wish I'd thought to plug in my old big box Ratt and Duncan Pickup Booster. I forgot to try them.
Lew
I used my Strat with the EMG David Gilmore set, my '54 Tele with the Joe Bardens, my Strat with a single Duncan 78 and my Strat with the Duncan Surfer/Surfer/CS Tele Hot set.
Guess which pedal I liked best? The green channel of the Jemini! Sounded like Eric Clapton with Cream when I plugged in a humbucker and sounded just awesome with Strat single coils too!
The red channel of the Jemini is really cool too and it sounds even better with humbuckers than it does with single coils, IMO, and was a little brighter and more modern. With the 78, I got instant Steve Vai sort of tone, the way when I plug a Strat into the '69 it gives me instant Jimi Hendrix tone and the TS-808 gives me instant SRV overdrive.
But it was the green channel of the Jemini that was the stand out in this shoot out.
The Jemini has such a big deep full sound that it made all of my other pedals sound a little bright, thin and lacking in bass - even though I was totally happy with the tone of those pedals before getting the Jemini.
I could goose the level of the DS-1 and cut back on the tone/treble to get me into more of the huge Jemini tone, and I could get the TS-808 into that territory too, by setting it for much more overdrive than I normally use - but the DS-1 and TS-808 never sounded quite as full and deep as the Jemini.
The '69 pedal has always sounded like the best Fuzzface I've ever heard - but it sounded fizzy and spitty compared to the Jemini. The '69 did sound the most like Jimi Hendrix though.
This was very interesting to me. That Jemini pedal is something else and IMO, it was simply the most fun to play and the one I kept coming back to.
I did compare the DS-1 and TS-808 and TS-9 to each channel of the Jemini. The rumor is that the Jemini is based on Steve's modded DS-1 and TS-9.
Neither Jemini channel really sounds like a stock Tubescreamer or stock DS-1to me. Maybe a heavily modded TS-9 or DS-1, but not stock ones like I have.
The DS-1 with the level and drive set much higher than I normally use and the tone backed off sounded the most like the Jemini green channel of all the pedals - but not exact.
I'm going to guess that the Jemini green channel is loosely based on the tone of a modded
DS-1 one with more bass and more overdrive. But that's just a guess.
With the Jemini, I could not clean up my guitar tone to my satisfaction by lowering the guitar's volume control though. The stock DS-1 is the only pedal that allowed me to turn my guitar volume control down to 5 and clean it up to almost sparkling clean. None of the other pedals allowed me to do that, including the green channel of the Jemini.
Oh: which speaker sounded the best? Of the three, my old Celestion G12 Alnico Silver in the big single 12 Matchless cabinet sounded best of all. #2 was the G12H30. #3 was the G12-65 - it's a little to smooth and the G12H30 has more bite and crunch.
The Matchless cab is pretty deep and big and the Celestion Alnico really sounds deep and full -
much better than it sounds in my Deluxe Reverb cab which is much smaller than the Matchless.
I've been thinking all along that the Celestion Alnicos were to bright for blackface Fender amps - I was wrong. If the cab is big enough, I guess they sound just fine!
I liked the TS-808 better than my stock MIJ TS-9. The tone is a little more open and spacious - just a little.
I also have a Spina modified TS-9 that John made into a TS-808. Sounds exactly like my TS-808.
Wish I'd thought to plug in my old big box Ratt and Duncan Pickup Booster. I forgot to try them.
Lew
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No offense, I love your reviews on them. Keep em coming!
