I'm 57 and I've never owned a Tube Screamer!

I never had one till a few yrs ago and Im in my 50's. Someone gave me a reissue and I now leave it on most of the time. My favorite pedal of all time. There is a reason why some of my favorite guitarist use them. Try one for about a month and see if you can live with or without it.
 
I had a TS9 that broke. Have played a ton of ODs since then. People swear by the horizon precision drive, it is hands down the worst sounding ice pick sound I've ever heard lol.

Right now I have two Lichtlaerm ODs, an aesahaetter and a klon clone called the Aquaria. I really like the Aquaria a lot but the TS9 just works so I'll probably go back to that.
 
skoora said:
50+ not a TS fan. I’ve had a sparkle Drive for a long time but it’s the clean blend that keeps that pedal around. Without it, I don’t care for it.
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A regular Tube Screamer blends the clean and distorted signal as well. The downside is you can't control how much of either.

Honestly, I think that's part of the reason why it sounds so terrible into a clean amp. The other part is it made your guitar sound like it got Covid like 40 years before Covid was a thing, LOL.
 
retrorack said:
On the other hand, a Tube Screamer was the first pedal I bought. Thought I could be SRV with my Blues Jr. I was not. Sold it and haven’t owned a TS in the 25yrs since. 😆
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Big surprise was for me, but SRV played big headroom clean amps at high volumes. His guitar tech Rene Martinez wrote the story about this. The second key component of SRV sound where the extra thick strings, (13s I think). The pickups where 50s Fenders, not hotter 60s.
 
Greazygeo said:
TS-5 is my favorite one. But in reality, all od’s sound the same. Level up drive off and tone in he middle anyything works.
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You are absolute right, the philisophy of all OD pedals is the same. The positivum of TS808 is the neutral effect on amp base tone. Dont color the base tone, if you are using them with lower gain amp.
Whit high gain amp the Ts808 effect is not drastical.
 
I own an old 1981 Ibanez Tube Screamer, it's a great tone machine , but it's great for what it does.
I used it exclusively, until I got a cheap headphone amp, called the Arion Hot Watt 2 and it hit my Marshall JCM 800 and Carvin X-100 B much better than the Tube Screamer , so it was sidelinedand and been in a box since 1988 .

The Digitech Bad Monkey is a more versatile version of a Tube Screamer .

There is a lot of nostalgia towards old gear and it is sometimes ridiculous about claims, on how older gear is better than new gear .... a real head scratcher !!!

I also have a collection of old 1960's Univox Univibes and Vibro- Chorus's that are great, but when you use the expression pedals of those old classics .... you lose 3 to 5dB's in volume .... and the newer footpedals don't have that flaw .
 
The Digitech Bad Moneky was fine at the time.

Nowadays, I much prefer the Duncan 805 if you want a TS with EQ capabilities. The gain knob has more range, the EQ is more powerful, and the overall voicing is slightly clearer and less ratty while still being unmistakably TS-ish.
 
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Andor006 said:
Whit high gain amp the Ts808 effect is not drastical.
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I feel like that's a statement people who don't usually play high-gain make. Not a bash against you, so please don't take it that way. And maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I, for one, couldn't play a Recto or an OG 5150 without a boost of sorts. And there are different kinds of boost that fit different amps better too.

Granted, like I argued earlier, the difference between an OD808 and a TS808 (just to name an example) isn't drastic. I am the kind of jackass who obsess about the details between boosts, and I admit that. But I do find different boost pedals that are further apart like a Klon, a TS808, and maybe a TC Integrated Preamp do sound very different even if you're using Death Metal levels of gain.
 
Rex Rocker said:
I feel like that's a statement people who don't usually play high-gain make. Not a bash against you, so please don't take it that way. And maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but I, for one, couldn't play a Recto or an OG 5150 without a boost of sorts. And there are different kinds of boost that fit different amps better too.

Granted, like I argued earlier, the difference between an OD808 and a TS808 (just to name an example) isn't drastic. I am the kind of jackass who obsess about the details between boosts, and I admit that. But I do find different boost pedals that are further apart like a Klon, a TS808, and maybe a TC Integrated Preamp do sound very different even if you're using Death Metal levels of gain.
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You are right, I dont play death metal things now, but I had heavy riffing period in the last years. For me the best working metal tone is thick high gain, but not to much compression. The compression is dynamic killer, and make the sound “mushy” for me.
I understand, why you are using boost pedals with high gain amps, because these pedals thighten the sound, and reducing the “mushyness”. The modern metal is bass heavy, and the bassy high gain amps are not able to “shine” in this enviroment. The boost pedals are one possible solution for this problem.
 
Andor006 said:
You are right, I dont play death metal things now, but I had heavy riffing period in the last years. For me the best working metal tone is thick high gain, but not to much compression. The compression is dynamic killer, and make the sound “mushy” for me.
I understand, why you are using boost pedals with high gain amps, because these pedals thighten the sound, and reducing the “mushyness”. The modern metal is bass heavy, and the bassy high gain amps are not able to “shine” in this enviroment. The boost pedals are one possible solution for this problem.
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Yeah, then we both take a different approach to dialing in metal tones. I like fortissimo dynamics 99% of the time that sound like a mechanic sledgehammer in my rhythm playing. Lead playing is different.

But the average TS is pretty compressed anyway, so I assume you don't like boosts overall?
 
Rex Rocker said:
Yeah, then we both take a different approach to dialing in metal tones. I like fortissimo dynamics 99% of the time that sound like a mechanic sledgehammer in my rhythm playing. Lead playing is different.

But the average TS is pretty compressed anyway, so I assume you don't like boosts overall?
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I am using TS808 with my vintage Gallien Krueger 250ML, and I love this combination.
My strategy is to using amp which dont need boost pedal. My only problem with boost pedals is the noise.
I know, noise gate in the loop kill the unwanted noise, but paralel kill some tone and dynamic too.
 
I even tried the Klon, I wasn't impressed at all ....
The Seymour Duncan SFX-1 Pickup Boosters that I use, did much more than the Klon my friend lent me .
 
Andor006 said:
I am using TS808 with my vintage Gallien Krueger 250ML, and I love this combination.
My strategy is to using amp which dont need boost pedal. My only problem with boost pedals is the noise.
I know, noise gate in the loop kill the unwanted noise, but paralel kill some tone and dynamic too.
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Well, if you wanna preserve dynamics but still get the tightening effect, I recommend you try a clean boost with EQ capabilities. Or at least a more modern tweakable OD variation. Like something where you can adjust the clean/dirty signal blend or choose different clipping diodes like LED's. A straight-up traditional TS squashes dynamics pretty noticeably.

For the style of music I play, I feel the amps where not only do I not need a boost, but actually sound better without one are the EVH 5150III and the ENGL Savage. O a Mesa Mark of sorts. But out of those, the EVH is pretty compressed in itself.
 
Diary of a Axeman said:
I even tried the Klon, I wasn't impressed at all ....
The Seymour Duncan SFX-1 Pickup Boosters that I use, did much more than the Klon my friend lent me .
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Well a Klon doesn't tighten an amp the way a TS does, that's for sure. But some of the more modern amps that almost don't need a boost but still kinda do tend to like Klon-types better than TS's, IMO.
 
Rex Rocker said:
Well, if you wanna preserve dynamics but still get the tightening effect, I recommend you try a clean boost with EQ capabilities. Or at least a more modern tweakable OD variation. Like something where you can adjust the clean/dirty signal blend or choose different clipping diodes like LED's. A straight-up traditional TS squashes dynamics pretty noticeably.

For the style of music I play, I feel the amps where not only do I not need a boost, but actually sound better without one are the EVH 5150 and the ENGL Savage. O a Mesa Mark of sorts. But out of those, the EVH is pretty compressed in itself.
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Rex Rocker said:
Well, if you wanna preserve dynamics but still get the tightening effect, I recommend you try a clean boost with EQ capabilities. Or at least a more modern tweakable OD variation. Like something where you can adjust the clean/dirty signal blend or choose different clipping diodes like LED's. A straight-up traditional TS squashes dynamics pretty noticeably.

For the style of music I play, I feel the amps where not only do I not need a boost, but actually sound better without one are the EVH 5150III and the ENGL Savage. O a Mesa Mark of sorts. But out of those, the EVH is pretty compressed in itself.
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I find this clean boost pedal with EQ:
 

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