Tubescreamers

[boost]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

 

[Schaf]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

My TS 9 sounds great into my JCM 800. Of course, I love the mid hump!

Schaf

 

[boost]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

My TS 9 sounds great into my JCM 800. Of course, I love the mid hump!

Schaf

I could see diggin' the mid hump for solos, but how do you get past the removal of all your low end?

 

[droptrd]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

My TS 9 sounds great into my JCM 800. Of course, I love the mid hump!

Schaf

I could see diggin' the mid hump for solos, but how do you get past the removal of all your low end?

I love the hump also. As far as the lowend, very simple to mod. You handy with a soldering iron?

 

[dstroud]

I love Tubescreamer's with Marshall type amps that are just starting to break up. The TS gives a good smooth lead sound that has a quick attack and tight sound.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I like 808's better than 9's, less emphasis on the highs. Have you tried raising the bass knob on the amp? Have you tried raising the volume on the amp? If all you do is play with the master vol on .5 then no doubt you will only see the destructive qualities of such a boost. It isn't until you get into stage volume regions that you realize its function and necessity. They're supposed to EQ the signal going in, so you dial your amp around that and presto, you have your metal approved rhythm tone. For more classic rock applications, you can click them in during solos, but for metal they make a better base rhythm tone IMO.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Sounds like somebody here is a candidate for the bad monkey! Low and High control makes it versatile. Slightly less hump as well. Personally, I dig the bass cut.. one man's bass cut is another man's tight low end. To me it tightens the flubbies out of an amp. As mentioned, they sound great with anything built/based off of a JCM circuit. I keep going back..

 

['63-Strat]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

My TS 9 sounds great into my JCM 800. Of course, I love the mid hump!

Schaf

I could see diggin' the mid hump for solos, but how do you get past the removal of all your low end?

that's for the bass player

Yeah I *like* that TS type boosts cut low end, that's how you get a tighter response in the lows and leave room for the bass and kick drum. I hate hearing guitar players that screw up the whole band mix by trying to have huge low end, sounds like crap IMO.

 

[droptrd]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

My TS 9 sounds great into my JCM 800. Of course, I love the mid hump!

Schaf

I could see diggin' the mid hump for solos, but how do you get past the removal of all your low end?

that's for the bass player

Yeah I *like* that TS type boosts cut low end, that's how you get a tighter response in the lows and leave room for the bass and kick drum. I hate hearing guitar players that screw up the whole band mix by trying to have huge low end, sounds like crap IMO.

Like most noob-recto-doods do. Thats where a TS really improves the sound

 

[rupe]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

My TS 9 sounds great into my JCM 800. Of course, I love the mid hump!

Schaf

I could see diggin' the mid hump for solos, but how do you get past the removal of all your low end?

that's for the bass player

Yeah I *like* that TS type boosts cut low end, that's how you get a tighter response in the lows and leave room for the bass and kick drum. I hate hearing guitar players that screw up the whole band mix by trying to have huge low end, sounds like crap IMO.

Words of wisdom

 

[thiswaythatway]

If you can't get a good sound out of a Tube Screamer into a JCM800 then hang it up, time to find another hobby.

 

['63-Strat]

So what exactly are these good for?

I've got a TS-9 that I had for quite some time. I have tried to plug it into every amp I have ever owned and could not get this thing to sound remotely good. All it does is bump up the mid and suck ALL the low end out of your signal. I thought it must just sound good into a Fender, but I plugged it into my Champ and that blew that theory. Why do people like these things so much? There's tons of clones and mods to change the mid bump and so on, but I just don't get it. The TS has managed to change every tube amp into a SS sounding amp for me.

What the hell are people hearing that I am not?

My TS 9 sounds great into my JCM 800. Of course, I love the mid hump!

Schaf

I could see diggin' the mid hump for solos, but how do you get past the removal of all your low end?

that's for the bass player

Yeah I *like* that TS type boosts cut low end, that's how you get a tighter response in the lows and leave room for the bass and kick drum. I hate hearing guitar players that screw up the whole band mix by trying to have huge low end, sounds like crap IMO.

Like most noob-recto-doods do. Thats where a TS really improves the sound

Yep, the irony being the sound they think they're emulating is 100% the result of their ears not recognizing that all that high gain guitar sound is usually high passed to eliminate it fighting the clean low end of the bass and kick drum in the first place. It combines into the illusion that the guitars have this huge low end but they don't, or it would probably sound like crap.

 

[Ayrton]

If you can't get a good sound out of a Tube Screamer into a JCM800 then hang it up, time to find another hobby.

Harsh...but truth.

 

[boost]

Never owned a 800. Seems like that's the good combination.

 

[srinivassa]

I don't know why you are hating on the TS9. Do you play metal or nu-metal or some such thing with drop tunings, baritone/7-string guitars? That might be more of a taste preference. I like the TS9, but it is a more old school midrangey sound. It sounds like an EL34 screaming lead to me. It's a great solo booster for just about anything though. It will pull all the thunk and grind out of your rythm sound though, if you are keyed toward playing bassy rythm. I could be full of it though. There are probably a LOT of much better metal players than me here.

 

[Badronald]

I only use them for solo's, never a main crunch sound. They cut through a band like a knife.

 

[reverymike]

Turn the tone control on the pedal all the way down, or almost all the way off. This will help you out. What you're hearing is more of a boost of high frequencies and if you turn that knob down, it will be much better. Put the gain at about half, and the level all the way up.

 

[boost]

Not hating on the TS-9, I just wanted to know what they were used on that worked. For the record I had an original big box Rat I bought new in '83-'84 that I never really bonded with either. Some people view those as one of the greatest distortion pedals ever. I geuss I'm just not a Distortion/OD pedal type of guy. Or more likely I need something that is more transparent and lets more of the amp shine through.

I'm currently trying to use this on a AC30 type of circuit that is a 2 X 10 combo. I don't play metal or with a ton of bass. The 2 X10 doesn't have much bass to begin with so adding this pedal bumps up the mids and decreases the bass which just makes the amp sound smaller and boxier. Maybe it's not such a big deal with larger tubes and 4 X 12 cabs.

Maybe the question should have been has anyone had luck running a TS-9 through a small combo amp. I know SRV used them, but he was going into 6L6 or 6V6 tubes with the Fenders. Maybe a TS-9 isn't a good match for a EL84 combo amp?

I probably could get by with the mid hump if I could get back the bass. Maybe I should look into that mod.

 

[Vrad]

I love my OD808...
I like that nasally mid-bump. I don't need a ton of low-end.

 

['63-Strat]

Not hating on the TS-9, I just wanted to know what they were used on that worked. For the record I had an original big box Rat I bought new in '83-'84 that I never really bonded with either. Some people view those as one of the greatest distortion pedals ever. I geuss I'm just not a Distortion/OD pedal type of guy. Or more likely I need something that is more transparent and lets more of the amp shine through.

I'm currently trying to use this on a AC30 type of circuit that is a 2 X 10 combo. I don't play metal or with a ton of bass. The 2 X10 doesn't have much bass to begin with so adding this pedal bumps up the mids and decreases the bass which just makes the amp sound smaller and boxier. Maybe it's not such a big deal with larger tubes and 4 X 12 cabs.

Maybe the question should have been has anyone had luck running a TS-9 through a small combo amp. I know SRV used them, but he was going into 6L6 or 6V6 tubes with the Fenders. Maybe a TS-9 isn't a good match for a EL84 combo amp?

I probably could get by with the mid hump if I could get back the bass. Maybe I should look into that mod.

Yeah AC30s are a different deal for sure. There's always a treble booster a la Brian May, but lots of guys seem to like Rats too with AC30s. I really liked the Red Snapper, I don't know what tones you're going for but the SD-1 is cheap and also a good alternative to a TS9, it's not quite as middy which the AC30 has plenty of anyways. You're using a tele?