Help me decide on a TS overdrive/trans. boost pedal

armanHammer

I love my tube amp's dirty channel, but it's more distortion than overdrive, so I want an overdrive pedal, that can also funciton as a boost to push my tone over the top for solos and stuff..

I love the tubescreamer sound, but there's the ts9, 808, ts9dx, BBE Green Screamer, Maxon... there are just so many. What do you guys recommend (I don't want to spend more than $200, and thats pushing it)

thanks

seanw1010

armanHammer wrote:

I love my tube amp's dirty channel, but it's more distortion than overdrive, so I want an overdrive pedal, that can also funciton as a boost to push my tone over the top for solos and stuff..

I love the tubescreamer sound, but there's the ts9, 808, ts9dx, BBE Green Screamer, Maxon... there are just so many. What do you guys recommend (I don't want to spend more than $200, and thats pushing it)

thanks

Ts9. they are the best

Novawind

I have a ts9dx and I'm pleased with it.

ianvomsaal

I really like my TS9, but for a fuller richer deeper sounding pedal also look into the Boss Blues Driver BD2 (from the looks of it Mike McCready likes both of these pedals as well).
I also like the Radial "Tone Bone" pedals (Classic and Hot British - I have both) - These sound really really good, and they even have a 12AX7 preamp tube in them.
Lately I've also been turned on to a newer version overdrive put out by Roger Mayer called Voodoo Blues http://www.roger-mayer.co.uk/voodoo_blues.htm.
This pedal sounds amazing, and he really thinks that it's better than the TS9.

But remember, you can always just go with the standard TS9 or Blues Driver (and like McCready and myself you can even get them Keeley or Analogman modified).

Cheers . . .

- Ian C.T. vom Saal

moster78

BD-2 or TS-9, both Keeley modded.

Or a Greedtone.

xtremehardy388

TS-5, TS-9, Blues Driver, OR Super Overdrive(BOSS SD-1)

Pacomc79

it depends on your amp. the BD-2 is a very transparent sounding OD with a lot of crunch on hand if that's what you want. The TS9 is a lot fatter with a significant bump in the mids. TS9's work exceptionally well with fender voiced amps.

Personally for just over 100 bucks, The Barber Electronics Direct Drive is one of the best I've used, and it's got some nice internal trimmers to dial in with your amp. It does the TS thing very well clean boost, dirt boost, heavy Overdrive etc. check it out.


http://www.barberelectronics.com/directdrive.htm when you consider it's hand built in the US and not Taiwan and the customer service is awesome. $120 is a great price for this very versatile box.

You can also get a mod board for it, that allows further customization. I don't have one of those yet so I can't really tell you about it much though.

TheLuckyOnes

+1 on the Barber Direct Drive. I'm a fan of all his pedals that i have tried, or owned.

I prefered the one Maxon i tried over most Ibanez Ts pedals. Give it a try if you can find one.

also, maybe consider something from Pedalworx. A Tejas or Cactus Crunch.

Last and Least, there's always a Fulltone FDII, or OCD. Own the FDII, OCD will probably be my next purchase. FdII = ts9 sound, with some options. OCD might be closer to what you want tonally, as a lot of guys set the gain low for a boost.

There are endless options out there, for sure.

exhausted

i don't like the TS9 sound so i have an OCD and a keeley BD-2. both of which i use with low gain settings for some crunch.

for more gain i just run them together or run my compressor into one or the other.

neither's "better". they're just different flavours. the BD-2 is fuller and bluesier. the OCD is more classic rock. marshally and biting.

Pacomc79

The tejas sounds awesome, I want to see what the spice control is all about.

TheLuckyOnes

yeah, they keep refering to the spice control as "taking the blanket off your speakers".....

which would be great, especially if i can toss the blanket over onto the bass players speakers.

exhausted

pedalbuilding has worse cliches than sports.

Pacomc79

ha ha, it does get a bit ridiculous trying to describe sound and make it appealing.

The only blanket off the speakers kind of thing I've ever experienced was with a BBE 482i and a Mesa and it just added a bunch of presense and treble that previously wasn't there.... then I thought, wait, who puts blankets on speakers....that's silly.

exhausted

if i hear "boxy" or "plays like a dream" one more time....

Novawind

"cut through the rest of the band!!"

exhausted

"tone for days!!!"

and then what? it sounds like shit?

ianvomsaal

yeah I hate seeing stuff like "this pedal will make you dinner and give you a blowjob"

armanHammer

Thanks for the help guys but come on.. you all basically just listed every OD pedal on the market. I'm even more confused now!

keeponrockin

armanHammer wrote:

Thanks for the help guys but come on.. you all basically just listed every OD pedal on the market. I'm even more confused now!

That's what this place is all about!

Dirty_Frank

armanHammer wrote:

Thanks for the help guys but come on.. you all basically just listed every OD pedal on the market. I'm even more confused now!

Basically, in the list of the Tubescremer clones you gave....


they're all pretty much the same thing. Sure, there are some differences in the electronics, but hearing the subtle differences generally takes an extremely trained ear, and the MOST important part is, none will probably sound bad. In fact, they'll all probably sound good. Essentially, it will come down to preference. A TS9 or a clone will generally have the same characteristic of slightly thicker, less transparent sounds with a defined midrange regardless of make. AT loud volumes with the pedals you outlined, they'll probably sound pretty similar just by the nature of the pedal. The audience won't be able to tell, most of the time, the musician can't tell the differences anyways.

Now in terms of offering an opinion.... I'd just try out the TS9 clones, and see which one you like the best. The TS9DX just has a couple extra gain stages that are switchable. Cool pedal. The TS808 will sound different than the TS9. All of these will sound best through a loud tube amp (like most Od pedals).

At lower volumes, the Radial Tonebone stuff does a great job of emulating the tube overdrive sound, harmonics and dynamics at a low volume.

Now for my opinion, since cost is a factor, I'd suggest the Barber Direct Drive that was previously mentioned. Probably the best sounding, most versitile bang-for-your buck OD pedal on the market.

Novawind

If it helps, my next OD (whenever I take care of a new guitar, delay, compressor, attenuator, etc.) will probably be an OCD. Check out the clips for it:

http://fulltone.com/stpframe.html

samquigley

Yeah, the Tubescreamer variants are all well and good (and, for what it's worth, my Analogman one hasn't been touched since I got the Keeley version) but what you're looking for is a Greedtone. End of story.

armanHammer

biffhardon wrote:

Yeah, the Tubescreamer variants are all well and good (and, for what it's worth, my Analogman one hasn't been touched since I got the Keeley version) but what you're looking for is a Greedtone. End of story.

Have you tried one? weren't there only like 20 made?

lil bunny fufu

Maybe just a boost pedal? You, only a bit louder, or you can give it the spurs for some good overdrive, or anywhere in between.





They also make a version that's got tone & gain, etc controls, might be a bit more versatile.



All the CAE stuff I've been around has been top-shelf stuff - sounds great and its durable.[/quote]

moster78

armanHammer wrote:

Have you tried one? weren't there only like 20 made?

He makes them in batches. I have one and can wholeheartedly agree. It goes from a very subtle OD to some pretty distortion and everywhere in-between. I can't remember the link to it, but search around, you'll find it.

Novawind

Do you have to get on a list for the Greedtone? I know Fulltone makes their pedals commercially on about the same scale as Keeley so finding one of those is quite a bit easier.

moster78

http://myspace.com/greedtone