Tube Screamer or EQ

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Tube Screamer or EQ

Not asking for purchase advice, just trying to wrap my head around something. Seems to me most people recommend using TS style pedals with the gain bottomed out, level up and tone to taste. So basically, a clean-ish boost with a mid-hump for cutting through a loud band and/or mix.

Is there any reason not to just use an EQ with a gain knob (like say, the MXR 10-band or equivalent)? Wouldn't it give you the same effect, with the added option of being able to further dial in mid boosting and bass cutting?

How about a TS9 into a 10band EQ ?

 

[Coma]

Re: Tube Screamer or EQ

Just picked up an MXR 10-band today. Sounds good in the FX loop. It does the TS thing, but without sounding like a TS. I like it. Gain slider doesn't really seem to do much though, unless hooked up in front of the amp.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Tube Screamer or EQ

I always felt that having the gain on a TS boost pedal set to zero thinned out the sound too much. I always set the pedal's gain to 1/10. That retained some warmth and girth without clouding up the input signal.

 

[El Dunco]

Re: Tube Screamer or EQ

It's good enough for Dime and Slayer. Do it.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Tube Screamer or EQ

Also note that some EQ pedals also have their own voice and add it to your tone. The DOD FX45 or the Boss GE-7 for example that I'm using with one of my rigs. I really like the way it smooths and clears up all the frequencies. It adds almost a hi-fi element to my sound.
The DOD I had before did the same. I used it to boost the front end of my Marshall 8100. I did this when I was in my late teens and didn't really know much about gear or that boosting amps was even a thing. I did it, and it sounded great, so I that was it...

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Tube Screamer or EQ

I use both....

I run a TS-9ish pedal (Wampler Clarksdale) with lots of volume & not much gain at the beginning of my pedal chain, then a MXR 6 Band EQ shaped into a mid bump after my Fuzz but before any modulation or time based effects...

Unless I’m playing a amplifier that’s got a effects loop that is. Then the EQ, modulation, & time based effects are pushed through the loop & all my dirt boxes sit out front of the amp..

 

[BlakeC27]

Re: Tube Screamer or EQ

Just picked up an MXR 10-band today. Sounds good in the FX loop. It does the TS thing, but without sounding like a TS. I like it. Gain slider doesn't really seem to do much though, unless hooked up in front of the amp.

One of the first tone tricks somebody taught me when I first started playing and was looking to tweak things was exactly that; an EQ pedal in the Effects Loops. Works wonders.