Tube Screamer vs. Boss Blues Driver?

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 4 Jul 2003 11:07 pm

I use to use a Ibanez Tube Screamer for years in a regular guitar setup and I am familiar with that sound, but I am wondering if anyone has tried the Boss Blues Driver for steel. I would probably be running a MXR Dyna-Comp into the overdrive box, then through the volume pedal.

Chris Bauer · Post by **Chris Bauer** » 5 Jul 2003 5:29 am

No reason not to. It's a good sounding pedal. As to differences between the Blues Driver and the Tube Screamer? They're more close than different. More like the difference between (not very) different types of apples rather than apples vs. oranges.

On the other hand - as with all things tonal - 'better' and 'worse sounding' are so subjective as to make anyone's opinion but your own pretty much useless.

(And we'll all need to run for cover if anyone starts trying to discuss how a blue pedal can only sound better than a green one or vice versa.)

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Chris Bauer on 05 July 2003 at 06:30 AM.]</p></FONT>

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 5 Jul 2003 5:47 am

I agree with Chris that the Blues Driver sounds similar to the Tube Screamer. But, the Blues Driver has more bass girth as well as a more cutting top end. The Blues Driver will cut thru a little more and has overtones that almost make me think it's like a classic fuzztone subtly blended into a Tube Screamer. Both pedals do a great job of maintaining the original tone of the guitar.

Also to comment on the use of a compressor before an overdrive pedal. If you do that, you will get a smoother more consistent overdrive sound because the volume level hitting the overdrive has been smoothed out by the comp. If you reverse that (my favorite for guitar) then you can use your own dynamic control to decide how much overdrive is taking place and the compressor after that will smooth out the output level. Either way is valid but the second way lets you be more expressive with the overdrive.

Look into the VooDoo Labs Sparkle Drive. It's an excellent remake of the classic Tube Screamer, but it has a blend knob that mixes in a sparkly clean signal too.

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Brad Sarno
Blue Jade Audio Mastering
St. Louis

Michael Brebes · Post by **Michael Brebes** » 7 Jul 2003 6:18 am

I have a Blues Driver on my pedal board for regular guitar. Great sounding box. I have a Dyna Comp as well, but found that the Blues Driver seems to work better without it. I use the Dyna Comp in front of other distortion boxes but found the Blues Driver, atleast to me, sounds better without it. A nice amp-style overdrive.

Shaan Shirazi · Post by **Shaan Shirazi** » 7 Jul 2003 8:21 am

Not to mention the Blues Driver is about 1/3 the cost of a Tube Screamer. I like them both though and switch them out from gig to gig just for fun.

Shaan

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 10 Jul 2003 8:07 am

I liked the Blues Driver for lap steel. It's a nice crunch that you get out of it... I did find that for pedal steel it was hard to find a spot where it had nice tone on single strings, and wasn't completely swamped in filth on grips with several strings at once. I guess maybe that's just part of the total package with distortion, tho.

Gino Iorfida · Post by **Gino Iorfida** » 10 Jul 2003 11:19 am

... or you could look at the Boss OD-3 overdrive. IT's the same basic layout of a tubescreamer/blues driver (the schematics for the TS and the BD are almost IDENTICAL!), with a few minor changes:
1) a more natural bass response (won't thin out as much!)
2) uses discreet transistors (fet's if I recall!) as opposed to an op-amp for the gain stages (still the same diode clipping), allow for a smoother, more natural, usable overdrive.
3) less 'clean' signal mixed with the overdrive signal -- again more natural as to how a tube amp clips
4) more apparent gain (you can bridge the gap between overdrive and fuzztone type sounds easier).

If however, you don't like the OD-3, also look into the old Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal, again VERY similar to a tubescreamer, but wiht a differnt flavor altogether. Another option to try would be the Rt.66 pedal, basically an exact tubescreamer clone, with a switchable compressor built in, so you have 4 choices -- no effect, compressor only, overdrive only, or both compressor and overdrive on..

Personally, though, I spent an afternoon trying all the different pedals a local store hand, and settled on the OD-3. It just sounded more amp-like and natural to me

Buck Dilly · Post by **Buck Dilly** » 10 Jul 2003 1:09 pm

I have not used the Tube screamer, but have tried the Boss Super Overdrive, which is great for lap or reg. guitar. The Fulldrive II is really nice, but I have gotten a wide variety of amazing clean and distorted tones from a POD XT. (D-10 PP into a Vibrosonic).