The Tube Screamer
I am going to get lambasted for this one,
I just know it. A few years before the
boutique thing really kicked off, I lived
down the street from Music Room Guitars
in Knoxville, Tennessee—still the greatest
guitar shop in the world in my opinion.
The owner—my dear friend and early
gear mentor Brad Gibson—used to let
me take home any pedal I wanted to try
out, because not only was he a trusting
generous friend, he also knew that I would
blow virtually all my income from delivering
pizzas on gear. At some point, he had three
Tube Screamers in stock simultaneously.
One highly coveted late-‘70s TS-808 with
JRC4558 chip, an early-‘80s TS-9 with the
same and a bone-stock, then-current ‘90s
TS-9 with the less desirable TA75558 under
the hood.
I hooked them all up and whacked them
through my old Marshall 100-watt JMP
stack. Predictably, the 808 was warmer and
smoother sounding, perhaps slightly better
for buttery leads, but I have always leaned
toward the extra bit of sparkle from the TS-9
so I eliminated the 808, which was hundreds
of dollars out of my budget anyway. I
remember switching between the old TS-9
and reissue with the different chips and
hearing virtually no difference between the
two; certainly not a $100 dollar difference.
That was a real ear-opener; lesson learned,
money saved. One thing is certain though;
Susumu Tamura created one of the most
influential circuits of all time.
12
TONE TALK //
Do Components Matter? A Case-By-Case Study