Ibanez Tubescreamer and Maxon OD808 Question

[FILTHnFEAR]

I always hear rock and blues players praise these, especially lead players, but what about for a metal rythm tone? I play Ibanez Prestige/Premium guitars thru an H&K Tube 100 and have a pretty clear, articulate tone already, but surely it could be tightened up a bit. Not expecting magic, but a subtle improvement perhaps?

Could one of these be what I'm looking for? If so, which one?

Thoughts/Opinions on both please.

Thx

 

[Mega-Mads]

We, metal players uses them to tighten up tube amps. We do that by putting gain on 0-10% and volume on max.
Check out ola englund's videos. He uses the maxon alot =)

 

[b7string]

I use a maxon with a H&K Trilogy set with tone at half, gain at 0 and volume max, it increases the gain/sustain, and it focuses the tone. I like to leave it on for heavy sounds, but it reduces some of your bass. Has a tendency to make your sound a little more compressed too. Great for tight rhythms or a more modern lead tone. But I tend to leave it off when I want a more open, girthy kind of distortion. Never used the ibanez, but the effect is similar.

 

[Hyacinth]

I used a Maxon 808 for the longest time to tighten the low end and basically just boost the signal. Some amps really don't need it though.

 

[wakjob]

It doesn't necessarily have to be a TS or clone. There are literally dozens of pedals that can be used as a clean boost. Sometimes just a simple EQ pedal works best.

But they all add a little flavor of there own style of tone in conjunction to the clean boosting.

 

[Andii]

I'll just unload some info in here(including Maxon vs. Ibanez):

The reason behind using a TS pedal is the eq curve of the circuit changes the signal that hits the preamp and affects the way it responds. The eq curve makes the amp tighter and clearer. It's miles different than a clean boost or EQ pedal because the way it changes the signal is spot on beneficial.

As for different types of TS pedals, different ones do sound different. The Maxon seems to be the choice of studios. I owned a TS9 first and then the OD808 at the same time and I can confirm that the Maxon is indeed clearer and more powerful sounding. Whatever you get make sure it's of the the basic three knob concept because you want the correct EQ curve to filter the signal properly.

Some sprinkle a slight bit of gain/drive from the pedal to add a smidge of a second texture, but the majority leave the gain/drive completely off. I think the gain from these is just kind of junk in the signal.

As for the level/volume a slight bump past noon usually gets the amp sounding a little hotter without losing clarity, so I go for it. Too much and I've noticed that you get some ill effects, the pedal can only dish out so much before it isn't quite as pristine. I usually set that to about 2 oclock.

It's an awesome trick to getting really hot high gain monstrous tone that is clear.

 

[TheDepthsWillRise]

Andii nails the concept. As for flavor, my favorite is my Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive.

 

[wakjob]

I'll just unload some info in here(including Maxon vs. Ibanez):

The reason behind using a TS pedal is the eq curve of the circuit changes the signal that hits the preamp and affects the way it responds. The eq curve makes the amp tighter and clearer. It's miles different than a clean boost or EQ pedal because the way it changes the signal is spot on beneficial.

Yep, the average Tuberscreamer or clone's R/C filter forms a high pass filter around 725hZ for the clipping stage. So even as a clean boost it's stripping most of the lows outta the guitar/pickup signal feeding the amps input.

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

I'll just unload some info in here(including Maxon vs. Ibanez):

The reason behind using a TS pedal is the eq curve of the circuit changes the signal that hits the preamp and affects the way it responds. The eq curve makes the amp tighter and clearer. It's miles different than a clean boost or EQ pedal because the way it changes the signal is spot on beneficial.

As for different types of TS pedals, different ones do sound different. The Maxon seems to be the choice of studios. I owned a TS9 first and then the OD808 at the same time and I can confirm that the Maxon is indeed clearer and more powerful sounding. Whatever you get make sure it's of the the basic three knob concept because you want the correct EQ curve to filter the signal properly.

Some sprinkle a slight bit of gain/drive from the pedal to add a smidge of a second texture, but the majority leave the gain/drive completely off. I think the gain from these is just kind of junk in the signal.

As for the level/volume a slight bump past noon usually gets the amp sounding a little hotter without losing clarity, so I go for it. Too much and I've noticed that you get some ill effects, the pedal can only dish out so much before it isn't quite as pristine. I usually set that to about 2 oclock.

It's an awesome trick to getting really hot high gain monstrous tone that is clear.

Cleared it up there Andii, right on.

Thanks guys, think it helped me make up my mind, gonna give the Maxon a go. Merry Christmas to me!

 

[Shask]

Yep, the average Tuberscreamer or clone's R/C filter forms a high pass filter around 725hZ for the clipping stage. So even as a clean boost it's stripping most of the lows outta the guitar/pickup signal feeding the amps input.

They also start filtering the highs around the same frequency as well. The lowering of the highs create the "smoothing" effect they have.

Overall, a Tubescreamer is basically a /\ EQ curve centered around 750hz with some gain/grit and compression added in.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

Overall, a Tubescreamer is basically a /\ EQ curve centered around 750hz with some gain/grit and compression added in.

That seems to be my experience - i've started just using an EQ up front with a mid hump for all but the heaviest tones, then i'll hit the OD.

 

[FILTHnFEAR]

Maybe a dumb question, but would putting a Boss Equalizer pedal in the chain before or after the Maxon to bring up the lows cause issues? Anyone tried that before? Or perhaps a different kind of eq?

 

[wakjob]

Maybe a dumb question, but would putting a Boss Equalizer pedal in the chain before or after the Maxon to bring up the lows cause issues? Anyone tried that before? Or perhaps a different kind of eq?

Don't put the EQ in either place. Put it in the FX loop. This is very much like having a Resonance control if your trying to just fatten/thicken up the over all sound.

Any bass added to the input of the amp with cause mud. Especially under high gain conditions.

 

[Krucifixtion]

I prefer the 808 series to the OD9 when it comes to boosting high gain heads. 808's are smooth, but still give a nice pick attack. For amps with tons of gain like ENGL, etc. I like to put the gain on 0 tone around 12:00 or a little higher and Volume I tend to not max out, because I find it sound cleaner to back it off to about 3:00 or 4:00 depending on taste. My ENGL Invader certainly doesn't need a boost, but I like the way it smoothes out the tone and adds a bit of compression for a tighter low end.

 

[MikeSweeney]

green rhino. nuff sed

 

[guitargod2u]

green rhino. nuff sed

agree

 

[xchristopherx]

I just re incorporated my blues driver into my signal chain. I also brought back my compression pedal in too. So I'm running a bd2 after my ts9 and I'm extremely pleased with the compressor adding a pretty significant amount of squish earlier in my chain. I realize it's a lot going on, but it's really pleasing to my ears. I've also dropped the gain on my 5150 to like 2.5. I absolutely agree with the "gain" on the overdrive being completely unusable for the most part. I've got the level on both pedals at about 90%. The tone is almost all the way down on both pedals as well.

 

[Zado]

bass boost inside