Tubescreamer Shootout....

[Arn C.]

A friend of mine an avid guitar player for 40+ years was at a music store this past weekend and they had all the tubescreamers set up so that you could try each one out.

My friend said the best sound he got out of all of them : TS808. TS9, TS10 and the Turbo
was the Turbo one.  He said there is an extra knob that has 4 different settings.  He said one of the settings was excellent when compared to the other tubescreamers.

He said he also tried out the radial line and "still" found the British Tonebone to be the best.
These are my friends opinions.

Peace!
Arn C.

[Marcos - Munky]

Interesting. This is something I found:

What is the Turbo Tube Screamer?

From Dai Hirokawa:

"TS9"(Normal) mode(for comparison): .047uF mylar w/two small signal Si diodes
"+" mode: 0.22uF polarized electrolytic w/four small signal Si diodes--two for the top of the waveform, two for bottom (these look the same as the ones used for the normal setting)
"Hot" mode: 1uF polarized electrolytic w/pair of LEDs(w/a 470k in parallel w/the LEDs)
"Turbo" mode: 2.2uF polarized electrolytic w/no diodes(seemed odd but it does look open)
-the 4.7k and 51k are unchanged for all modes

[Steben]

It seems the superlatives are related to the amplitude of the output.
I guess it all goes about driving the tube amp.
In Turbo mode, you squash the tubes real hard, but without tubes, the sound is probably load yet dull..

[formerMember1]

the turbo tube screamer i have. I don't like it.  A normal TS9 is better.   The ts9 setting on the TS9DX turbo, doesn't sound like a true ts9, the turbo has less gain at max on ts9 setting compared to a stock ts9.  Perhaps the added tone knob on the turbo, could be used better if the caps are swapped, becuase the settings they have are horrible,..the first one might be ok, but still not great,...it sounds too bassy/nu-metal or something,...

I already modded it with the film caps and keeley mods etc,..i didn't like it,, so changed it back...I should sell it, and get a ts808!!  It just sits in the closet anyway,..

I think a stock ts9 or ts808 reissue is better than modded.  But maybe truebypass it good,...

just my opinion....