Tubescreamer History from www.analogman.com
Pacomc79
Posts: 9,404
A little HISTORY
An Ibanez Tube Screamer is an overdrive/distortion pedal that is mild compared to many, but allows the true sound of the guitar and player's technique to come through. The most popular use of a tube screamer is to push a tube amp to make it overdrive more, but they sound good through almost anything.
The first Tube Screamer was the green TS-808 overdrive pro in the late '70s. It was preceded by the Orange "Overdrive" and green "Overdrive-II" which came in narrower boxes without the battery cover, and the reddish "Overdrive-II" which had a box very similar to the TS-808. The lighter green OD-855 Overdrive-II is also in the TS-808 style box and has a circuit which is similar to the 808 - the board part numbers only differ by one digit. The overdrive and OD-II had a different, much more distorted, fuzzy circuit. The TS-808 and its generation have small square chrome on/off touch-buttons. Almost all TS-808's sound great. There were some TS-808s made in the 1979 period, mostly for other than USA markets, that came in a narrower box. These have a bottom plate that unscrews to change the battery like an MXR pedal, no plastic battery cover. This narrow TS-808 had a different circuit with more distortion. It uses two 1458 chips which are the 1st version of the low-tech dual op-amp. Also the LEVEL knob on these is labeled BALANCE and the external 9V power jack is next to the input jack. It used the same case as the earlier OVERDRIVE and OVERDRIVE-II pedals which used stomp switches. Ibanez probably had many left over and remade them as "TS-808" pedals to sell off the remaining cases.
Early TS-808's have the Ibanez (R) "trademark" logo which some people seek. There is really no difference, although some of these that sound awesome have a Malaysian Texas Instruments RC4558P chip instead of the normal Japanese JRC4558 chip. I can use this chip in the mod if you would like, or can send both the JRC4558D and the RC4558P chips. Some of these early TS-808s also have a nut holding the power adaptor jack on, while later ones have no nut and a flush adaptor jack. It is not unusual for a TS-808 to have an undercoat of a different color (which can be seen in the ever-present corner chips).
An Ibanez Tube Screamer is an overdrive/distortion pedal that is mild compared to many, but allows the true sound of the guitar and player's technique to come through. The most popular use of a tube screamer is to push a tube amp to make it overdrive more, but they sound good through almost anything.
The first Tube Screamer was the green TS-808 overdrive pro in the late '70s. It was preceded by the Orange "Overdrive" and green "Overdrive-II" which came in narrower boxes without the battery cover, and the reddish "Overdrive-II" which had a box very similar to the TS-808. The lighter green OD-855 Overdrive-II is also in the TS-808 style box and has a circuit which is similar to the 808 - the board part numbers only differ by one digit. The overdrive and OD-II had a different, much more distorted, fuzzy circuit. The TS-808 and its generation have small square chrome on/off touch-buttons. Almost all TS-808's sound great. There were some TS-808s made in the 1979 period, mostly for other than USA markets, that came in a narrower box. These have a bottom plate that unscrews to change the battery like an MXR pedal, no plastic battery cover. This narrow TS-808 had a different circuit with more distortion. It uses two 1458 chips which are the 1st version of the low-tech dual op-amp. Also the LEVEL knob on these is labeled BALANCE and the external 9V power jack is next to the input jack. It used the same case as the earlier OVERDRIVE and OVERDRIVE-II pedals which used stomp switches. Ibanez probably had many left over and remade them as "TS-808" pedals to sell off the remaining cases.
Early TS-808's have the Ibanez (R) "trademark" logo which some people seek. There is really no difference, although some of these that sound awesome have a Malaysian Texas Instruments RC4558P chip instead of the normal Japanese JRC4558 chip. I can use this chip in the mod if you would like, or can send both the JRC4558D and the RC4558P chips. Some of these early TS-808s also have a nut holding the power adaptor jack on, while later ones have no nut and a flush adaptor jack. It is not unusual for a TS-808 to have an undercoat of a different color (which can be seen in the ever-present corner chips).
My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
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Comments
we have tube amps of varying degrees of quality and "purebreed-ness (sic)"......
and we put transistors and shit in front of them anyway..... so what's real?
so all in all, if it sounds good, do it.
wow, that's prophetic life is about perception. Sound even more so. If it looks good and sounds good to you it is.
There's not really a right or wrong just marketing. But there is something to be said for build quality and good components.
Thus a Keeley tubescreamer sounds better than a standard tubescreamer.
the pick.
the string
the jacks
the dude who made the tubes
the wood of the cabinet
the bad solder joint in the tremolo circuit.
george L's suck
george L's rule
planet waves cables suck
planel waves cables rule.
the mic in front of the speaker
the speaker itself
the mic cable
the preamp
ad infinitum.
sound is nothing and everything all at once.
sure, there are rules of thumb so start off. but it's a wide open game trying to find a sound you like.
and then they go and paint all the boxes pretty colours. the scoundrels. it's like toys for grown-ups. what else are you doing to do, at the age of 28 sitting crosslegged on the floor, but arranging and rearranging pedals trying to find something. you're not even sure what you're looking for. or maybe you do but in the process of searching you find something else.
uhhhh. or something.