Re: Treble boosters and tube screamers?
Clapton and Richards used a treble booster with Fender amps and sounded just fine. I use one (A BBE FREQ BOOST) with my Fender Quad and get a great tone. I am starting with a very dark tone so I don't find it to be harsh in any way. Page is another treble booster fanatic and is known to use Fender amps in the studio. If something doesn't work for you that is cool, it doesn't mean it is horrible.
you missed the "clean" part of the bit that says "thru a clean fender amp they sound pretty awful."
I'm prepared to put money on the fact that you don't boost your quad running clean without any overdrive from either the amp or the pedals. Clapton and richards are both known to crank their amps, so keef's tweed deluxe is already dirty, and clapton too winds his amps up into overdrive. Page might use fender amps in the studio, but again, not CLEAN fender amps in combination with a treble booster.
I use a treble booster (analogman) right now as the only pedal in my chain with a blues band. We do 2-3 gigs a week on average and i really enjoy using the simple setup. I also own a bunch of fender amps which i love. However, having tried using the treble booster to boost my fenders, i am pretty comfortable to feel qualified in saying it sounds horrible. Perhaps if i had the luxury of cranking my twin reverb into overdrive (which it can do at ear splitting volume) then things might be different, but i am a working musician and that kind of stuff is just not possible at the majority of gigs i play at. Even in big settings such as an outdoor festival, there is really no point in playing so loud that you drown out the drummer and the singer onstage. Its not a good thing for anyone. In the case of a clean fender amp then and at most gig volumes, an overdrive pedal is definitely superior. Run a treble booster into an overdrive pedal by all means, but into a clean amp? hell no.
I also have a sweet sounding JTM marshall type amp which i use at gigs because it has a master volume. The treble boost through that is amazing - but only because the amp is already dirty.
I would really like to hear how your treble booster sounds through you clean quad. no overdrive, no other pedals. I hope you can prove me wrong, but until then ill stand by my original statement in the interests of helping the op choose the pedal that suits his needs the best.
Here is some amp porn for those who like amps and want to see what kind of amps i've tried the treble booster with:
from left: valvetone JTM/bassman clone with master volume and a few other tweaks. Superb with a treble booster.
1969 NMV twin reverb. beautiful cleans and surprisingly raunchy overdrive at high volumes. horrible with treble booster.
1981 princeton reverb II. 22 watts of 6v6 power. PTP wiring, solid cab etc. Its a fat, warm clean machine. Again, not much fun with a treble booster.
Tweed bassman reissue with 1950s 15 inch JBL speaker. I have to admit, i've not tried this with the treble booster cos the amp is loud and clean as hell and im afraid to blow out my ears.
So, to cut an long story short, whether to choose an overdrive or treble booster depends on the amp. There is this to consider tho: a treble booster can sound amazing through certain amps, but not so good with others, whereas an overdrive will sound good through pretty much any amp. The common consensus tho is that TB's need to either go into a cranked amp, or into some other kind of overdrive.
