OVERDRIVE- CUSACK MUSIC Screamer v.2 ...Killer 'SRV' tones at bedroom levels ???

 CUSACK MUSIC SCREAMER v.2 

$185.00 USD

I hate Tube Screamers. Everyone has one because every company either makes one or makes one with a few mods and calls it something else. The original ts. started off as a Boss OD-1 but before it was finished it had to be modded because of patent issues. The Boss used an OpAmps that gave it asymmetrical distortion. Ibanez reluctantly had to use  symmetrical clipping. Tubes create asymmetrical  distortion so the Boss is amp like. A tube amp has a mixture of even order ...sweet harmonics and uneven order ones that are nasty tube ones. The ts. is even order. 

A ts. has a mid boost that gives it a honk in the upper mids. I find it too honky and the symmetrical distortion sounds artificial. The ts is a bit muddy too.

The Screamer was designed by Jon Cusack a founding father of Gourmet pedals designed the Screamer 13 years ago.

So ol' Jon gives you a switch to let you choose which distortion you prefer. In layman's terms you switch from real Tube Screamer to a tube sound and then a Schottky diode which for our purpose means higher headroom and less saturation.The overall voicing has flatter mids much like a infamous AnalogMan Tone King. There is a very generous amount of gain.

Pedal mods are like a cake recipe. Even when the ingredients are the same some cakes just taste better. This one of those cakes.

ANOTHER CUP CAKE?

I find that when it comes with humbucking PU's there an infinity of good dirt pedals that give you a great sound. But if you prefer the Tube Screamer thing then a good choice is the Caline CP-75 Emerald Night OD @ $35.00 USD. It is a dead clone of the Ibanez TS9 ...it is more than close!

CONCLUSION

With Strat PU's if you want to keep the Strat tone coming thru and have some dirt it is a delicate balance of a Tube Screamer and the amp itself.

The SRV tone is dependent on a Tube Screamer with an amp dialed intro a crunch with some feedback coming back from amp. Hendrix leaves a germanium Fuzz Face on even for cleans and then backs off his guitar volume.

The Screamer seems to have solved the problem by first giving you the SRV thing of the Tube Screamer circuit ..then adding asymmetrical distortion and a very high gain to imitate most of what is coming back from an amp... dare I say a Fender ...maybe even the Super Reverb?

If you go to 6:20 on the video where the switch is set to asymmetrical distortion and the gain dime you get the most in your face Strat sound I have ever heard that does not obscure one bit of the 'Strat sound' 

In fact I will be dead specific my favourite Strat sound is full gain on a Strat neck PU So check at 7:00 on the video! That is the sound I have never heard on any pedal!!!! 

HANDS ON

So I ordered the Screamer and it did indeed give me the faux SRV sound. Killer!

But ... at really low volumes I found it has pleasant usable tone but like all of us I wanted it fatter than what I was not getting. I stacked it on other

drives to fatten it and a couple helped a lot.

BIG, BIG but  I discovered the ...Diamond Cornerstone OD.

Checkout the Post!  The combination of the two pedals is a 'to die for'  :-)