I can see why people go nuts over TS9 Variants

[6Tones]

Just A/Bing a few low budget TS type pedals again with a strat ..each one excels in a different area and its frustrating! I wish I could combine the best parts of all of em ! lol
Some had nice round notes on the GBE strings and some had that
" Juicy " ? low EAD string attack if that word describes the ,compressed "SRV" neckpick tone where the notes get a spongy feel the more your dig into the notes...but none seems to posses alot of both
Short impressions where...

Cmatmods Signa drive- Nice woody tone ,musical highs n lows but didn't have as much of the "juicy"neck pick SRV tone on the low strings.. somewhat transparent ,gobs of output.Flat eq for the most part.

MXR classic OD-Roundhigh notes ,colors your sound more .Some what nice neckpickup lows,Gets a good SRV tone going despite the neck pickup on the EAD strings not having much of that compressed attack when digging in.Inspiring to play though for some reason.More mid hump EQ style than the Cmat



VisualSound DriveTrain- Great low end attack with the neckpick up the SRV "juice" is there when you want to dig in... Highnotes are brighter ,thinner than the MXR n CMats. Not much midhump.Treble n Bass EQ make for a very concave EQ curve.
A great pedal for more rock/country stuff .. but something about the notes lacked some midrange that makes the other pedals alittle more pleasing to play ..

Vox Ice9-Unique animal, like a TS-9 with some woofyness,Round fat and never bright even with the tone knob maxed out. Good sounding but not first choice for strict SRV style stuff.

So I was thinking why do people hate "mid hump " so much ?
I like mid hump for soloing on a strat The lower gainer pedals I can see being transparent but not TS types

 

[whackystrings]

On it's own, the midrange hype sounds odd. It is a flavour that many people don't settle with and end up discarding. To me, the tube screamer is one of the most useless pedals...

...that is, until I stomp it on and then people can actually hear me cutting through the band mix during the solo without having to crank my amp levels.

IMHO, I think there are a lot of folks that buy a tube screamer because it the yadda yadda industry standard blah blah all-the-pros-have-one, etc. ...yet not realizing that much of its reputation is based on its usefulness as an intermittent effect rather than the basis of their overall tone (i.e. an 'always-on' pedal). I think this is the cause for so many "I want a *transparent* tube screamer - what do you suggest?" threads. This is the reason why I will never mod a TS variant to reduce the mid-hump. Much cheaper to buy a Barber OD pedal and having the two on the pedalboard to stack rather than using one OD pedal that is an expensively modified TS.
Of course, I may have it all wrong...

 

[Voodoo Blues]

I think it's funny that people hate the Tubescreamers because of the mid hump but still go nuts for a Klon.

 

[66Park]

I think it's funny that people hate the Tubescreamers because of the mid hump but still go nuts for a Klon.

Yeah, I made that point myself in a Klon thread a couple days ago. The answer I got that made the most sense (and I haven't played a Klon myself, so I don't know) is that it gets very midrange heavy when used as an od, but is very big and clear sounding without much mid hump when the gain is turned down and used as a clean boost, which would explain why that's how most people seem to use them.

The TS mid hump can be both a good and bad thing for me. With a strat and a blackface amp and a bit of volume, a TS or TS variant can sound fantastic. The mid hump fills out the mid scoop of the amp. There are other guitar and amp combinations it doesn't work so well with. I tend to not like TS variants with Gibsons, but find them useful with Fenders. YMMV.

 

[rhythmrocker]

There may be more to why people like the mid-hump. Back in the 60's - when I was learning every Hendrix, Lee (Ten Years After), Jerry Miller (Moby Grape) and Bloomfield (Electric Flag) lick I could get my hands on, the mid-heavy leads were the best to cop. Listen to early Neil Schon with Buddy Miles; Jerry Miller wailing with his ES175 through a tweed Bassman cranked . . .; Harvey Mandel sitting in with Bloomfield at the Family Dog . . all mid heavy and cutting.

Those sounds are the ones I like now, probably because of that particular influence.
Love TS

 

[killer blues]

Just A/Bing a few low budget TS type pedals again with a strat ..each one excels in a different area and its frustrating! I wish I could combine the best parts of all of em ! lol
Some had nice round notes on the GBE strings and some had that
" Juicy " ? low EAD string attack if that word describes the ,compressed "SRV" neckpick tone where the notes get a spongy feel the more your dig into the notes...but none seems to posses alot of both
Short impressions where...

Cmatmods Signa drive- Nice woody tone ,musical highs n lows but didn't have as much of the "juicy"neck pick SRV tone on the low strings.. somewhat transparent ,gobs of output.Flat eq for the most part.

MXR classic OD-Roundhigh notes ,colors your sound more .Some what nice neckpickup lows,Gets a good SRV tone going despite the neck pickup on the EAD strings not having much of that compressed attack when digging in.Inspiring to play though for some reason.More mid hump EQ style than the Cmat



VisualSound DriveTrain- Great low end attack with the neckpick up the SRV "juice" is there when you want to dig in... Highnotes are brighter ,thinner than the MXR n CMats. Not much midhump.Treble n Bass EQ make for a very concave EQ curve.
A great pedal for more rock/country stuff .. but something about the notes lacked some midrange that makes the other pedals alittle more pleasing to play ..

Vox Ice9-Unique animal, like a TS-9 with some woofyness,Round fat and never bright even with the tone knob maxed out. Good sounding but not first choice for strict SRV style stuff.

So I was thinking why do people hate "mid hump " so much ?
I like mid hump for soloing on a strat The lower gainer pedals I can see being transparent but not TS types

Hi. I don't think people hate the mid hump so much as the lower mids that can muddy up the tone. The mid hump of a TS is what cuts through the mix when you are taking a solo in a band that may have a loud drummer, horns, etc.

As for the different varieties of TS variants, that is why a lot of players have more than one type on their pedal boards.

Always remember that what works for someone else and their rig may not necessarily work for you so seek out willing players who have pedals you would like to try with your guitar and rig before purchasing.

 

[6Tones]

I agree. Im currently running a Barber LTD and Direct Drive only on my board but the Midhump style Ts-9 stuff does has it own thing going on in cutting through. You explained it better than I could lol.

 

[YETI]

I'm a TS addict... There are a LOT of great TS style pedals out there... I think the biggest difference is where their mid-range "voice" is... Most of them sound good somewhere as the OP stated..they just vary a lot on what mid range frequencies they emphasize. Very rig dependant. Long live the Tube Screamer!

 

[JoeyHarley]

I've always wanted to get one of my TS9's modded for MORE mid hump

 

[vintage66]

I guess I must like tube screamers since I have a bunch of variants and can't bring myself to sell any of them. It's not a jangly rhythm pedal, it's made for lead playing and cutting through so everyone's not going to like'em. Stock, modded, I like all of them for different but similar sounds. I have a Keeley Ts9dx 4x2 that does a lot of different sounds but I could just use my Od808 and be happy too-it's the most mid-rangey one I have and it's not going anywhere.

 

[drbob1]

I think there are two problems with the TS circuit. The hump, which is kinda weird sounding on it's own, and not great thru a Vox or Marshall, but absolutely KILLS thru a BF Fender. There isn't a better way to make a BF overdrive than with a mid heavy pedal. The other is that they do take over the guitar/amp a bit-they sound like a TS. Some other ODs, like the Klon or the Tim, let your guitar and amp sound like themselves, just bigger...

 

[gatordoc]

I think a lot of the reason some people don't like TSs is the old issue of some things sounding good at home but not live and vice-versa. In a band at stage volumes the people who use them know that the mid hump is what makes it such a great tool but at home it can sound muddy, especially if you crank up the gain into a low volume clean amp.

 

[jguitarnash]

Dont forget the Bad Monkey. I personally like the SD-1 a ton too. Zendrive is really cool too, but it is pretty pricy.