Ibanez Tube Screamer

  • Thread starter Thread starter hixmix
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hixmix

hixmix

Halibut, North Dakota
I've got the fourty dollar one and it "screams" like a bitch. How does it compare with the hundred seventy dollar "retro" one?

Does it "scream" 130$$$ better? :confused:

I guess if I was playing to stadiums full of Clear Channel ticket buyers this wouldn't be an issue, but I'm not, so I ask.
 
I wouldn't buy either one. There are hoards of Tube Sceamer clones out there that are better built, with switches that don't crap out in a year. Pick the flavor you like.

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
What are some clones?

Anyone have anything to say about the Analogman mods?
 
Analogman is great and his Silver Mod is considered on of the best. It still uses the same old crappy switch though. Some good clones would be:

T-Rex Alberta
Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive
Homebrew Power Screamer
Aramat Effects Green Machine
Pedalworxx SRV808 or Texas Two Step
Fulltone Fulldrive

And IMO the best: Foxrox ZIM

There are tons of others. Just do a little research on the internet and you will find tons more.

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
I can't speak for the other pedals Aaron mentioned, but I can tell you the Fulldrive2 is my favorite OD pedal. It sounds good with most amps, unlike other pedals I've tried, and sounds really good when you do the clean boost thing with it.

IIRC, Banzai makes a clone of the FD2.
 
Well in this month's Guitarist magazine they gave the Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer 4 1/2 out of 5 stars and gave it their Guitarist Choice award. So I guess they think it's pretty good.

Is it different from other Ibanez Tube Screamer models?
Yes, except the original.

Does it sound different?
Yes.

A lot different?
That depends on exactly which Tube Screamer pedal you own.

Is it worth $130 more?
If you like the sound of yours then probably not to you.

It really depends what amp you've got. The Tube Screamer is designed to push a valve amp into distortion whilst retaining the tone. If you've got a 1970's Marshall stack it'll work its magic and give you a classic 1980s rock tone a la Randy Rhoads. If you've got a solid state amp then a Tube Screamer is probably not a great pedal to use, unless you like the sound of it driving your transistors nice and hard.

Personally I chose to buy a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive. This sounds very similar to a TS-808, but has the added benefit of being able to add some clean signal back into the sound. I use it with a Carvin Bel Air which has been revalved with JJ valves. It sounds awesome.

Another great overdrive pedal is the Crowther Hot Cake. Just check out the opinions on Harmony Central http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Data/Crowther_Audio/Hotcake-01.html Neil Finn's been using one since about 1981 and most of the New Zealand bands I've heard of use them. They are made in New Zealand, by the way.

Pete.
 
iv actually got an original, and if the new ones are anything like the original then there pretty good for rock not metal or anything like that, more of a blues hard rock sound, and if there built anything like the originals then they will last, the one iv got i can see it lasting forever , not one knob has fallen off or anything i can still use the 9volt battery, dam good peice of equipment.
 
I had one of the original lime green colored tube screamers....it was cheap and sounded good. Now....it is expensive and sounds good (thanks to stevie ray vaughn using one). I traded that tube screamer several years ago. I now have a boss blues driver and it sounds just as good as the original tube sreamer IMO. There is a difference though, the tube screamer tends to rob you guitar tome of bottom end. You can compensate for that, on your amp settings, and get a great tone, but, when you click off the tube screamer and go back to a clean sound...there is too much bass in your tone. The blues driver dosn't do that. both units overdrive your amp nicely, but the blues driver doesn't take as much tweaking on your amps tone controls.
my 2 cents.
 
jimistone said:
the tube screamer tends to rob you guitar tome of bottom end. You can compensate for that, on your amp settings,
Click to expand...

And you can compensate for it by changing the TS's clipping stage feedback loop shunt resistor and cap...
 
Peter Lancaster said:
Well in this month's Guitarist magazine they gave the Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer 4 1/2 out of 5 stars and gave it their Guitarist Choice award. So I guess they think it's pretty good.
Click to expand...

Or could it be they don't want to endanger any potential advertising dollars?? :)
Magazine reviews are worthless, IMO. I'll tell you a little secret...shhhh....some magazines charge manufacturers for those "reviews". :eek:

IMO, there are a lot of clones out now that sound better than the Ibanez. The Sparkle Drive would be a much better choice and costs less. I'm tellin' you though.... nothing's as great as the Foxrox ZIM. It seems a little spendy, but you have to compare it to the price of two pedals instead of one, which is what it really is.

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
Aaron,
In the case of Guitarist as far as I am aware they do not charge for reviews and don't give certain advertisers preferential reviews so that they don't lose advertising revenue. Unless you can prove otherwise.

I agree with you about the Sparkle Drive. That's why I've got one. Guitarist gave that an exceptionally good review and rated it above the Marshall GV2, Danelectro DaddyO, Carl Martin Rock Drive, Digitech Tone Driver and Ibanez TS9 when directly compared to them. Considering that of those manufacturers only Carl Martin and Voodoo Lab don't advertise in Guitarist I think it's unlikely that they were giving a biased review to please their advertisers.

Pete.
 
I wasn't implying that Guitar specifically did it, but I know first hand that some do.

Regardless, I would never put a lot of stock in a reviewer that had something at stake, if you know what I mean. I still read them though...:)

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
I had bought a Ts9 reissue years ago and sometime last year I had done a mod to it by replacing the crap chip that they put in it and a couple of resistors. When hooking it up and playing through it my jaw hit the floor! What a sound.
 
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