Overdrives for Different Goals

[AudioEcstasy]

Couldn't really think of a fitting title 

I was just thinking today how people use OD for different things: pushing the preamp tubes a little harder, as a main channel of distortion, etc. This made me start wondering, regarding circuit design, how this effects the different blocks. For example, I've heard that Tubescreamers only play well with amps that have EL84 power tubes (Fender types), whether or not this is "true" you really only see TS with players that use Fender amps (SRV...)

Surely the circuit has to be designed differently to be able to drive tubes vs. a main channel of distortion. Am I totally incorrect, or is it really just in the hands of the end user?

[Quackzed]

i think its down to different overdrives having different intentions, wheather to push an already on the edge tube amp or to provide the final sound all alone and just rely on the amp for amplification rather than to contribute its own distorton...
for me the problem is in the umbrella term 'overdrive' which gets used for both types of design intentions...
but i think some circuits are intended to provide an 'overdrive' sound to a clean amp,
and some are designed to hit an almost distorting tube amp and push it to overdrive the amp into distortion...
the tube screamer has a big mid hump and fender amps have a big mid scoop so together they are a good pair up.
i'd still categorize a tube screamer as the former type, designed to make its own 'overdrive' sound, rather than push a tube amp,
even though many who use them run them drive down viol up and they function to push a tube amp harder...
where a boost pedal is only going to push the amp harder without distorting itself...

[jkokura]

Couldn't really think of a fitting title 

I was just thinking today how people use OD for different things: pushing the preamp tubes a little harder, as a main channel of distortion, etc. This made me start wondering, regarding circuit design, how this effects the different blocks. For example, I've heard that Tubescreamers only play well with amps that have EL84 power tubes (Fender types), whether or not this is "true" you really only see TS with players that use Fender amps (SRV...)

Surely the circuit has to be designed differently to be able to drive tubes vs. a main channel of distortion. Am I totally incorrect, or is it really just in the hands of the end user?

I don't think you're incorrect persay, but perhaps misinformed. I wouldn't say the TS9 circuit only works with EL84 amps, because I've used one, or a variation of one, for more than a decade with any amp but an EL84 amp. I would hazard a guess that more amps than just Fender have been used very successfully with that pedal, and you wouldn't even know it.

But to your question, I don't think that too many drive pedals really get pegged into as small a hole as 'boosting the amp only' or 'distortion machine.' Perhaps they get marketed that way, however, I've seen TS9's and Bluesdrivers and SHO pedals all used to pretty much exactly the same effect on the end result of sound, and nobody would argue that those three pedals are very different from each other on a schematic level.

Jacob

[rockhorst]

You'll be amazed how different amps with EL84 tubes can sound too. I've heard some that I really like...and some that were awful (to my ears).

[Pollinator95]

Plenty of people use Tube Screamers with Marshalls, Blackstars, Engls, and other metal amps.