Whats your favorite Tube Screamer OpAmp and why?

[sevenisthenumber]

I know this is a hornets nest but I just want to pick the brains of people who have tried more than myself. If you dont mind, let me know your favorite and why it is............   Thanks!

[m-theory]

I'm really liking the TL072 lately.  I've gotta try TL082 as well, as I've heard that they're the same chip, but were "rejected" as 072s, due to "noise," which can translate into more frequency response for guitar.   

I also like both the 4558 and 4559, though they're not my favs.  They work well, and I've used them in some builds. 

I tend to prefer an "open" sound in a pedal, not a compressed sound.  All other things being the same in a given circuit, I've found these three chips to be more "open" than others. 

[R.G.]

Actually, it's more like a tempest in a teapot. 

[petemoore]

  4558
  HAnds down even with;
  TL072
  Even tho they're different.
  Hard to tell much difference [ok Burr Brown sounded 'different..] worthy of note in this post, beyond that.
  Alter the circuit radically by removing the diodes [or use LED's] to hear the opamp better.
  Then see Valvecaster and consider wiring up a tube socket.

[brett]

Why not look up the many many many previous threads about this?

Lots of people don't do blind tests, so you can ignore about 99% of the comments out there.

My 2c is that the NE5332 is quieter than everything else I've tried.  Other than hiss, the differences are very small.
Sorry, I bet it seems more exciting than that.

cheers

[petemoore]

  It is more exciting, but the excitement just doesn't seem logical to me after studying it to the point where I got bored.

[GREEN FUZ]

I have no interest in the great Tube screamer op-amp debate but here`s someone who did and went the extra mile to find out for himself.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=56542.0

It`s probably my cloth ears but I can tell little or no substantial difference between them. Not enough to worry about in any case. My understanding is that swapping out other components makes for a more qualitative difference in output.

[drewl]

I have a bunch of the 5532's we use at work, but the coveted jrc4558 seems to work best in the stuff I've built.
Not because of internet hype, but because we also have a ton of those at work.

[R.G.]

We did an honest blind taste test of opamps in a tube screamer circuit, using JRC4558s and an assortment of other opamps. The testees were an audience of professional guitarists who had no knowledge of what was being tested, and were listening only for differences.

The results were that most of the audience could not tell much difference between JRC4558s and other opamps. We threw in a Harris video opamp just for grins, not designed for audio at all. Much the same result.

[sevenisthenumber]

rg. thats funny!   ive built several ts circuits and just dont see the difference really....  Im very interested to see people opinions instead of sifting through 900,000 threads....

i would have loved being at your blind taste test..