Pedal

ibanez tubescreamers are great for all sorts of bluesy and classic rock sounds

i have one and i love it

The Boss BD-2 Blues Overdrive pedal is pretty awesome. I tried it out in teh store, love it's sound. Listen to the audio clips of the internet too. Really great.

I'll be getting it eventually down the road. I'm content with what I have now though. You might want to look at getting a wah too.

ibanez tubescreamers are great for all sorts of bluesy and classic rock sounds

i have one and i love it

Except the reason it is called "Tubescreamer" is because its primary function is to boost the signal level enough (gain) to cause input overdrive in amps with tube input stages. So the primary change to the sound actually occurs in the amplifier. They will work with some solid state amps -- especially some modeling amps that simulate tube preamp overdrive characteristics. But this is definitely a case of YMMV. From its name, a Boss Blues Overdrive operates very similarly to a Tubescreamer.

A distortion pedal -Boss or otherwise -- might be a better choice for use with a solid state amp. In this type of pedal the distortion is created entirely within the pedal itself, and a clean solid state amp will simply increase the loudness of the already distorted signal. There are also hybrid versions of pedals that provide both straightforward gain (overdrive function), as well as a distortion section. A friend of mine has a Marshall "Guvnor" GV2 distortion pedal that he uses with his solid state amp. I've always been very impressed by the smooth saturated tones that pedal produces. I have a Voodoo lab Sparkle Drive which also does the dual function of gain and distortion in one pedal. The Sparkle Drive produces crunchier tones. Got to try a few and see what does it for you.

any ts based pedal works completely fine with any amps. Will it perform better with a tube amp? sure, but what pedal doesn't? But the BD-2 is a really good pedal and regardless I enjoy it more than any other TS based pedal. distortion and overdrive=2 different worlds

gnease. you have posted several times about Tubescreamer working only with tube amps.
perhaps so.
as you also say, they do work with some SS amps.
I am no electronic whiz but any tubescreamer I have used and my friend uses works with an SS amp. he has been playing with a TS and a Fender SS amp for ten years. swears by the coolness of the pedal.

to my ears, since I am a tube amp freak, the TS sounds better through a tube amp.
SS amps sound dry and tight to my ears.
but the TS9 does the same thing with tube or SS amp to my ears.

I like the tubescreamer over the Boss OD's because the TS compresses a bit .

I like the tubescreamer over the Boss OD's because the TS compresses a bit .

Maybe it's me but doesn't every overdrive/booster pedal do that?

I think the TS9 is the standard and others follow.

Well, some go way over it as well. Which is why a TS9 is pretty cheap compared with the competition.

How is it possible that a solid state overdrive pedal into an ss amp is going to sound any better than just using more gain on the ss amp?

The Behringer TO800 sounds every bit as good as the Ibanez Tubescreamers, maybe even better. And only $30. :wink:

Here's two clips, hear for yourself.

An example with the gain turned low:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZnUtmfw5Ys

An example with gain turned up about 2/3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62WWki3gIE

This is an excellent sounding pedal, you almost can't get a bad tone out of it if you tried. You will not believe the harmonics you can get with it. It always sounds super-smooth.

Sure, it's not built as rugged as the TS-9 or TS-808 but so what??, it sounds just as good. Mine still works perfect and I use it everyday. If it broke I would buy another and a spare and still only have spent 1/2 what the TS-808 costs. It is generally true you get what you pay for, but there are exceptions. This pedal is truly an exception to that rule.

gnease. you have posted several times about Tubescreamer working only with tube amps.
perhaps so.
as you also say, they do work with some SS amps.
I am no electronic whiz but any tubescreamer I have used and my friend uses works with an SS amp. he has been playing with a TS and a Fender SS amp for ten years. swears by the coolness of the pedal.

to my ears, since I am a tube amp freak, the TS sounds better through a tube amp.
SS amps sound dry and tight to my ears.
but the TS9 does the same thing with tube or SS amp to my ears.

I like the tubescreamer over the Boss OD's because the TS compresses a bit .

Huh? First you say I claim the TS will only work with tube amps, then note that I say they do work with some SS. Pretty sure the latter (which I did say) is the correct representation. The TS will overdrive both tube and SS amps, but the goodness of the result is mainly dependent upon the amp and its input saturation characteristics, and -- I'll add this -- what the player wants. Some SS amps do sound better in some way when overdriven. One example is the Roland Cube 30, which becomes thicker and smoother sounding with input OD. Some will sound terrible with input OD ... that is, unless the player wants nasty, non-musical input saturation - sometimes that's what's called for. As I say above: Gotta try the SS amp to find out.

Also, what mode are you using your TS? Self-generated distortion or simple gain. These produce two, very different results.

How is it possible that a solid state overdrive pedal into an ss amp is going to sound any better than just using more gain on the ss amp?

It's the difference between saturating (overdriving) the first stage of the amp, versus a subsequent, intermediate stages. The various stages are not always designed the same, and so may exhibit very different saturation characteristics. IIRC, the first stage of many better solid state amps probably is a single-ended, class A FET -- maybe the only one in the entire amp's stage line-up. (someone correct me, if wrong). That particular type amp stage could have a very interesting overdrive sound.