Thursday, October 20, 2022

OVERDRIVE- TUBE SCREAMER ___ Are all Tube Screamers alike ????

TUBE SCREAMER

WHAT'S THE BEST ??? |

I have noticed that some 95% of guys still using a Peavey 5150 or a MESA Dual Rectifier or indeed one of their off shoots have a bog standard new Ibanez TS9. 
I use a 50 watt Marshall. When I want a modern sound I put a Mesa Dual/Rec-in-Box style pedal into it. Go figure ...it only nails 'that sound' with a TS9 sound going stacked on the pedal, LOL. So I bought the $30 Caline Emerald night and 'bingo' 
dead perfect!

So is the TS9 the best for anyone.. 
         or maybe they are all the best? For someone, LOL.
But maybe we need another opinion???

9 comments:

  1. Have you compared to the Demon FX Tube screamer (green) and Tube screamer II (red)?

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  2. No I haven't. I expect it is hotter and has more gain. Budget pedals can only stay budget by using cheaper parts. There is no such thing as parts made for pedals. Parts are made for audio and the biggest customers want clarity to amplify recorded music with as little dirt as possible. The best contemporary pricey OD's use the supper clean parts to maintain transparency. In short with budget parts one can make more dirt in a pedal as a feature but not more clean. In short my guess is the 'red' Demon FX has more gain. Buying a Tube Screamer that is meant to be a Tube Screamer on-line is like buying the a green Granny Smith apple but choosing which orchard it was grown at, LOL. There was a video that is no longer online where a guy owned a current model TS9 and used it to compare budget ts models and the Caline Emerald Night sounded identical.
    Most guys playing modern Metal use this same current TS9 pedals as a boost pedal as it cuts lows and puts some poke in the upper mids. It is why I bought one. I stack it on MESA Dual/Rec and Peavey 5150 pedals to give me the 2 most popular modern Metal sounds.
    I never use a ts going straight to the amp. I simply do not like the sound. It uses symmetrical distortion. A tube amp is asymmetrical distortion. If I want that from this kind of circuit I use the BOSS SD-1 because it too is a ts circuit with just the diodes changed to create the asymmetrical distortion.

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  3. Thanks! So your advice is to buy the Caline Emerald night instead as it is using better parts ?

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  4. Check out the first part of this video--it shows a sound test between the cheapest TS clone on
    Amazon and a handwired TS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK5H0e9Ejmc&t=410s

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  5. The Caline is a bullet proof choice on a budget. In Europe just like the Mooer pedals you can find them in many stores.
    When they introduce new pedals they never discontinue the old pedals that were popular. They now make about 60 pedals.
    The bottom line is they are becoming a brand in the same way MXR and E-H are. If you kept the Caline just a few years I would be surprised if you couldn't get what you paid for it. I just checked AliExpress they want $30.00 USD which includes shipping at the Skyline Music Store. Same deal got.

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  6. they sound really close in the video!

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  7. I have no Caline pedals, but I've read that their Pure Sky and their Orange burst have a very good reputation on forums. Which pedals of their line would you recommend ? I was wondering if the new tiger eye distortion is the same as the action replay. Or are there better parts in the tiger eye?

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  8. The $30.00 USD Pure Sky is a dead on clone of the Veruram Jan Rey which is a $375.00 USD pedal. The Orange Burst is a just as dead on of the Xotic BB Preamp which is $215.00 USD which makes the Caline 70% cheaper :-) The Tiger Eye is a clone of the Bjorn Juhl's ...Dyna Red ..the current one is made by One Control for $265.00 USD. This pedal has had about 5 revisions according to Bjorn in a very recent interview. The Caline sounds like the original which is warmer but not as cutting. I find it sounds great thru my bright sounding Bugera 5 watt tube practice amp but not my Plexi.

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  9. Very interesting! So the Tiger eye should be quite the same as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yiy60n-6RA ? Should sound good on 5 watt Vox tube amp!

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