1986-1993
Model: Ts10
series: power/10 series
Knob Configuration: overdrive,
Tone, Level
notes: Changed cosmetically to
match the 10 series. John Mayer’s
current Tube screamer of choice.
Country of Origin: Taiwan
1991-1998
Model: Ts5
series: soundtank
Knob Configuration:
overdrive, Tone, Level
notes: Changed cosmetically to
match the soundtank series of
smaller, plastic pedals.
Country of Origin: Taiwan
1992-Present
Model: Ts9 reissue
series: 9 series
Knob Configuration:
overdrive, Tone, Level
notes: faithful reproduction of
the original Ts9.
Country of Origin: Japan
“If you look at the schematic between a
Tube Screamer and a Boss OD- 1, they’re
almost exactly the same thing,” Lomas
says. “The OD- 1, though, is what they call
an asymmetrical clipper. When you put a
signal in it, it does not distort the top and
bottom of the soundwave the same. Instead,
it distorts one differently—the way a tube
would. The original Boss OverDrive was
designed to be a tube simulator, which was
really big back then because, of course,
most amplifiers were starting to get away
from tubes. They were solid-state, and they
really sounded like shit. So there was a
market for tube-simulation pedals. I believe
that’s probably why the Tube Screamer was
named the Tube Screamer.”
The TS808 also differed from the OD- 1
in that it had a Tone control, featured a
common JRC 4558D integrated circuit
(IC) chip, and had a small rectangular
footswitch. “The Tube Screamer was really
the first pedal I saw that had an IC in it,”
says Lomas. “All the overdrives prior to the
Tube Screamer were built around transis-
tors.” Lomas contends that the sweet, vocal
midrange sound the TS808 is known for has
everything to do with that JRC4558D IC
chip—which explains why Lomas and many
other overdrive aficionados prefer the sound
of the original over other permutations of
the pedal that have emerged over the years.
The TS Hits Its Stride
Despite the popularity and Holy Grail
status attained by the original TS808, the
Tube Screamer wasn’t left alone—and
plenty of pedal lovers are glad. Perhaps the
most popular of all Tube Screamers, the
TS9 replaced the TS808 in 1982 with the
introduction of the 9 Series. The TS9 was
slightly brighter and a little less smooth
sounding than the 808. The two were
almost identical internally, apart from the
TS9’s expanded output. The footswitch got
bigger, too. Nine Series pedals had a footswitch that took up approximately a third
of the pedal—a move clearly intended to
compete with the easy-to-stomp design of
Boss pedals. However, one drawback of the
new Tube Screamer, according to Lomas,
was that TS9s were built with a somewhat
random sourcing of parts—basically whatever was readily available at the time of
manufacture. This resulted in TS9s that
varied widely in tone from batch to batch.
“[The introduction of the TS9] was
not a magical moment by any stretch of
the imagination,” Lomas says. “The public
didn’t give a rat’s ass—not for the longest
time. It caught on much later. I would say
guys really started talking about it in the
late ’80s, and by 1990 it was really starting
to roll along.” Since there was little demand
for the TS9 when it came out, it was out of
production by 1985. Ibanez then released
a new series of stompboxes, the Master
Series, without a Tube Screamer in the
lineup. Instead, it included the Super Tube
STL—a 4-knob affair with a Tube Screamer
circuit and a 2-band EQ. According to
“Analog Mike” Piera—a noted stompbox
expert whose company, Analog Man, began
modifying Tube Screamers to original specs
in the mid 1990s—the STL was similar
to the rare (and very valuable) European
ST- 9 Super Tube Screamer that was never
released in the US.
The Master Series only ran for one year,
though—and the Tube Screamer wasn’t
M.I.A. for long. In 1986, Ibanez released
the brightly colored Power Series (aka the
10 Series), which boasted a new, high-fidelity TS10 with quieter circuitry that
