Recommend alternatives to T.S. for blues

[Nick C.]

I've been a fan of the Tube Screamer for years and am looking to build something different. Looking for a fat, warm, blues sound. Not a lot of distortion, not crunchy. Considering building Shaka 3, Blue Magic, Blues Breaker. Proff Tweed? (but I pay through a Fender amp) Prefere a DIY over clone. Any suggestions? Please point me down the right road as I already got too many projects going.

Thanks

Nick

[snoof]

my personal vote for a TS alternative is the bluesbreaker, it's always on my pedalboard.  I've heard in person, but not built the blue magic, it was pretty good for low gain stuff.  I've built the prof tweed, didn't care for it.  Mine was too farty(kinda like the amp it's modeled after).

[tskullt]

+1 on the bluesbreaker, pretty good alternative.
m.

[Krinor]

My favourite TS "replacement" is the ROG Supreaux.
Pro. Tweed is nice too if you want a nice wide sweep of increasing overdrive as you turn up the gain. It never get's too intrusive.

[aron]

Blue Magic or Shaka HV with mods.

[Nick C.]

Blue Magic or Shaka HV with mods.

Why HV over Shaka 3? Can you point me to the mods? Will it work with a 12v wall wort?

Also, where does the clipping occur in the HV?

[b_rogers]

i like the hwy89...its one of my all time faves. cleans up really well with the vol knob with single coils. use low noise transistors. it loves my peavy classic clean channel but if it doesnt seem to like your setup, change tone control to one that compliments your amp, or stupidly wonderful tone control.  big props to Doug H. for that one!



Brent

[slideman82]

Well, IMHO, that's the problem: using an OD for blues... wasn't that idea promoted by the great SRV? I really don't know much 'bout that. The sound of blues should be clean or slightly dirty, like some John Lee Hooker songs (well, I like that kind of blues). A properly tube amp will do it fine, maybe with reverb (anyone have tried the Mesa Boogie Subway Blues?). If you don't have something like that (me neither!) some transistor based pedals are great, like the famous H89 or a Rangemaster booster (could sound similar...) or... why not both? Try a Colorsound Overdriver too, maybe you can obtain some fuzzy tones and you could play some Jimmi or Eric 60's blues...

[greigoroth]

Hotcake. Woeful distortion/fuzz sound, awesome clean to slightly dirty boost/OD (ie blues heaven!) Mmmm!

I think Ulysses is the go to man for DIY hotcakes.

[mnordbye]

For something simple, try the AMZ Mini-booster. It adds a bit of sweet grit to your sound.

Magnus Nordbye

[suprleed]

I'm currently building a ROG Odie.  It's supposed to be a TS alternative using FETs.  I'm still building so I can't give you a complete review, but the sound clips on ROG were nice.  Just thought I'd throw that out there and report back later when I finish.

[Gus]

Not enough information to help in the first post.

What amp and speaker(s)

What guitar and pickups?

How loud do you play?

What do you want to change add?

An EQ to boost the signal to 'push" the amp at certain frequencies?  Some added circuit "grit" to the amp tone or a combination of both?

This site being on the web people will post all kind of effects but what might work well on one setup might not with another.

[km-r]

id go for 18
but the tone control aint that flexible

[Ben N]

Not enough information to help in the first post.

+1 on that.

There is no one size fits all. I find that mid-humpers work great with some guitars, miserable with others. Similarly, some amps like a true overdrive, others like a boost.

And as for blues--that hardly narrows it down much. It could be a jazzy clean, like T-Bone Walker, or a fat, round, warm, basically cleanish sound with a bit of sustain and grit on the double stops, like BB King or John Lee Hooker... or aggressive articulation, like Freddie King or Hubert Sumlin... or cheap guitar/overtaxed amp with sustain strictly from the fingers, like Elmore James... or various fat Strat blues variants, from Buddy Guy to EC to Robert Cray... or Rory Gallagher or Gary Moore raving it up with Brit stacks at full volume. I dare say most electric blues, especially by the masters, has been played without any pedals, just guitar-cord-(cranked) amp.

So what do YOU mean by blues, and what other gear do you plan to use this thing with?

[blanik]

the best blues i've heard "live" was a guy in a music store playing slide on a single coil guitar in a cranked 5W amp... no effect but the 5W was being pushed hard.... to sound more blues than that you need to loose your family in a house fire and have your wife leave with your boss....   

[zombiwoof]

As a recent convert to using a six-band eq pedal (I just got a vintage MXR from Ebay), I'd say try one.  Into a somewhat cranked clean tube amp, with the eq boosting the mids in an upward "V" shape, I can get a great overdriven bluesy sound.  Don't know why I never checked this out before!

Al

[Nick C.]

Not enough information to help in the first post.

What amp and speaker(s)

What guitar and pickups?

How loud do you play?

What do you want to change add?

I play a Fender hot rod deluxe usually just at home and often use a solid state Marshall lead 12 at coffee shop gigs. My main guitar is a homebuilt similar to a LP Special with P90s and also favor dual humbuckers especially my Guild M80 (like a double cut LP). I don't play loud enough to overdrive any power tubes. I do like the sound of a slightly dirty booster into the Fender, but what I'm looking for is a little more soft grit out of the effect than that. Something smooth fat warm that would work with solid state amps as well as tube. I think that the T.S. does a decent job at that, but I'm looking for something less boxy sounding.

I was thinking about the Shaka since I'd like to try fets as clippers.

The sound clips I heard of the Odie don't sound like what I'm going after. I would like to build a ROG design maybe the Peppermill, or Matchbox after I get more experience. I keep hearing good things about Highway 89. I'm trying to avoid building everything to find what I like.

[snoof]

my unsolicited opinions on those you just listed...

hw89- way too much gain for what it seems that you are after.
peppermill- might be what you're looking for, low gain grit.  nice easy build.

one other thought, you could also build a Dist+ (fairly easy build) and add a switch for lifting the diodes.  then you would have a boost in one position, overdrive in the other...

[Ben N]

As already mentioned, sounds like Peppermill, Minibooster or Hotcake would fill the bill, or if you are looking for more of a challenge, maybe a Blues Driver. I use my stock BD-2 this way, gain at about 8-9 o'clock, level at just a smidgen above unity, tone at 12, and it gives me great control from the guitar vol knob from clean to slight OD, without overbearing compression, with a nice tone that is very close to bypass, but a tad "livelier", like adding a presence control to my amp--sounds great with P90s on my goldtop clone, which I find just don't like the TS.

Or, you could start with a simplified TS topology like ROG Tube Reamer or AMZ Son of Screamer, change the appropriate cap values to flatten out the frequency response (see AMZ) and use a smaller value gain pot to reduce overall gain--hey, come to think of it, that sounds like a pretty good idea for a light OD. 

[Gus]

check the eq and gain

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/gusOverdrive.gif