What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

[Gamera]

On my way home tonight if I pick one up without trying it out in the store. I'll bring it home and put it in front of my El Diablo. The Diablo is a very dark, thick sounding amp with a great rhythm sound but is challenging to get some spank, harmonics, liquid leads, and other Stratty mojo happening. My hope is to use it as a clean boost on the drive channel to push it into the mojo zone and bring back some mids and other missing Strat-like qualities. And I want to do this without adding any more gain.

What will my experience be? Noisy? Fuzzy? Will artificial harmonics leap from the fretboard? Will I find it as a useful lead boost? Will I be disappointed and bring it back tomorrow? I've never actually used one before but just based on what I've read it sounds like it'll do what I want. Thoughts?

 

[kjrocks]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

It should get you in the ballpark if not exactly where you want to be.

 

[ModestCargo]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

Try it with it's distortion knob at 0 first.

 

[StrangeSound]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

Liquid lead tone?

http://www.miaudio.com/TZ1.htm

 

[subanots]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

you will like it.
and then you will want more, and you will have john mod it for you.
then you will like it again.
then you will realize that your keeley modded blues driver is fun too.
then you will buy a mohomodded black big muff and you will like all three on at the same time.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

you will like it.
and then you will want more, and you will have john mod it for you.
then you will like it again.
then you will realize that your keeley modded blues driver is fun too.
then you will buy a mohomodded black big muff and you will like all three on at the same time.

+1 , and then you will want a vintage Rat, a FDII and a OCD. They all have diffrent tones and work soo well in different apllications. Then you will want to broaden your horizens and try a keeley modified DS-1, and an Dod-250 Clone. So my advice then , is dont get the Tubescreamer or your in for a lot of expense!!

 

[subanots]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

+1 , and then you will want a vintage Rat, a FDII and a OCD. They all have diffrent tones and work soo well in different apllications. Then you will want to broaden your horizens and try a keeley modified DS-1, and an Dod-250 Clone. So my advice then , is dont get the Tubescreamer or your in for a lot of expense!!

jer, do you have a modded ds-1? how are they?

 

[jerryjg]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

jer, do you have a modded ds-1? how are they?

i do have one..but i havent heard it yet. Judging from the reviews, its a very good distortion.

 

[jony]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

I don't believe a TS will help you out there.

Try a DS-1 instead. The TS has a mid hump and filters off the treble whereas the DS-1 is the opposite. Should complement it better.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

I don't believe a TS will help you out there.

Try a DS-1 instead. The TS has a mid hump and filters off the treble whereas the DS-1 is the opposite. Should complement it better.

Mid hump aside, the TS doesn't filter off treble (unless you turn down the tone knob of course). It seems to have more treble due to the mid-hump and when running through an already distorted amp it seems to fit that distortion quite well. It could indeed be just the ticket for his amp. Of course, it all rides on what his tastes are, but most people love what a tubescreamer does for their amp. There is a reason that it's one of the most ubiquitous pedals in the history of electric guitar.

 

[Gamera]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

Thanks for the advice guys. For the record I wasn't able to stop off after work yesterday like I had wanted but hopefully I'll find some time between raking leaves this weekend to buy some toys. I have heard of the "mid hump" delivered by the tubescreamer and while it may not be balanced and ideal for some I'm hoping it is just the ticket for this particular amp. I'll report back later if I can get it.

 

[Kostas]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

If you need just a boost, try the three Xotic pedals. All of them are very transparent with true bypass and no noise. They need zero modification!

 

[Gamera]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

So I got myself a TS-9DX Turbo Tube Screamer. Evidently it contains the same "slightly warmer" chip as the sought-after reissue TS-808 but throws in a few more overdrive settings that deliver more low-end crunch.

This is a really cool pedal. It doesn't really add any noise which was a concern of mine. It's just a really nice, natural sounding overdrive that works well with my El Diablo's clean channel and adds an extra dimension of "oomph." Thanks to this pedal I foresee myself spending a lot more time on the clean channel which is where my Strat seems to sound its Strattiest.

However it still doesn't seem to solve my original issue with this particular amp. The more I live with the El Diablo the more I realize it's a strange beast. When listening to the amp I absolutely love its tone. But playing the amp is somewhat less enjoyable at times. It really seems as if you have to wrestle with it to open it up and get some fluid, dynamic tones sometimes. I've read reviews that described it as "compressed" and "tight" but I never really understood what they meant until now. As a rhythm amp the El Diablo is an unbeatable beast with a great, aggressive, thick tone. Unfortunately this "thickness" doesn't lend itself well to the smooth, fluid subtleties of a good lead tone IMHO. Prior to the Genz Benz I played primarily Fender amps which seemed to offer flat, unexciting rhythm tones but excelled at leads. I won't be getting rid of the El Diablo but I have a feeling that I'll be keeping an eye out, and an ear open, to other amps.

 

[ModestCargo]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

Put it on standard TS9 mode and put the drive at 0 and the level at 10. Try it, trust me.

 

[Gamera]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

That's what I've done. Trust me, the El Diablo doesn't need any more gain. I was just looking for a clean boost and the TS9 excels at this. But it still doesn't solve my issue.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

As a rhythm amp the El Diablo is an unbeatable beast with a great, aggressive, thick tone. Unfortunately this "thickness" doesn't lend itself well to the smooth, fluid subtleties of a good lead tone IMHO. Prior to the Genz Benz I played primarily Fender amps which seemed to offer flat, unexciting rhythm tones but excelled at leads. I won't be getting rid of the El Diablo but I have a feeling that I'll be keeping an eye out, and an ear open, to other amps.

That's how I would describe Engl, Mesa and other high gain stuff, I admit Engl is better at leads than Mesa but still lacks a bit to my ears, but Blackmore model I think is perfect on the other hand. My friend played a gig with Genz Benz half stack and I loved his tone, he is a lead player in a semi hard rock band .... i dont know, I think for you it might be in the right tubes/speakers combo which is very time/money consuming to find a right one.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

So I got myself a TS-9DX Turbo Tube Screamer. Evidently it contains the same "slightly warmer" chip as the sought-after reissue TS-808 but throws in a few more overdrive settings that deliver more low-end crunch.

When you first posted this thread I was going to say- "I've got a TS-9DX you can play with, and if you like it, you can buy it cuz I never use it."

But then I thought, 'the DX, even in the TS-9 mode, doesn't sound much like a real TS-9, so that probably wouldn't help him much.'

 

[Gamera]

Re: What'll happen if I get a tubescreamer...

Just got done jamming with the guys again tonight. I never even hooked up the pedal, it just seemed like it would be too much hassle and I was feeling lazy. I have a feeling there are now two lonely TS-9DX's in the Milwaukee area.

This amp is weird. Tonight it sounded great. I sucked. Sucked hard. Just wasn't really getting into it and it showed which was too bad because the amp was really in rare form tonight. Everything was right where it should be and performed as I had hoped it would.

I think it's possessed.