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Tube Screamer Op Amp comparison clips


Stratotone

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Crossposted from the amps forum, thought there might be some guys here and there both who might find this interesting.

 

Well, one of the first things you hear about when messing with effects and especially tube screamers is how different the chips sound. So... I modded a TS9 with some different diode selections and a few other minor tweaks. Nothing amazing, just wanted a little more drive to use it as an overdrive moreso than a boost.

 

Here's a clip:

 

http://members.cox.net/vht50/mixdown.mp3

 

There are 5 different chips - each time the part repeats, it's a different chip. I recorded it with a Johnson J-station - not for the stellar tone, but so it would be repeatable. All clips were recorded within about 1/2 an hour. I could have used a tube amp, but then everything from tube bias to mic placement to changes in speaker humidity to whatever would apply. This was the best way I could think of keeping the playing field as level as possible. I wasn't listening so much for which one sounds best as much as how DIFFERENT they would sound to each other.

 

After a bit I'll post a screen grab from Adobe Audition that shows each chip in order. Here's what the chips were (not in order as they appear in the audio track!)

 

Burr Brown OPsomething or other ($4 'hi fi' Tube Screamer replacement)

JRC072 (TL072 basically)

JRC4558 (new manufacture)

TI4559

5532

 

Comments?

 

Pete

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Ok seriously, I am very interested in these kind of things

 

Have you seen that french site where a guy tested various ICs and published Spectral analysis of each output.

 

He found minor changes in the amount of harmonics generated.

 

But I felt that very minor changes in input level can change the amount of harmonics much more than change in chips

 

and change in clipper configuration can lead to even more drastic changes than change in chip.

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It's hard to tell, by the time I get to the third clip my ear has forgotten the first one. Also, some of the performances are better than others.

 

Those are all pretty common audio chips. I have a few of each of them.

Back in the 80's when I worked on pro audio gear, the 5532 and 5534 were the premium op amp. Some gear not only specified the 5532, but also specified manufacturer.

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I think there are very small differences between those samples so theres no need to give a damn about which chip your Tube Screamer has. I believe that 2nd sample had nice mids and third has more agressive bass response but I wont be shocked if you recorded all samples with one chip. Anyway- those differences are NOTHING when you play or record with a band.

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I ended up using the Burr Brown chip in my modded TS.....but to tell the truth, the differences are very minor between chips to my ears....

 

now the fatboost mod is essential .... and playing with clipping options can be fun.....but the chips I really don't hear enough difference in.

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I'm gonna do two modifications with mine

 

1) more gain.

* replacement of IC. my mate says 4558 is too noisy so i'll use 5532.

* replacement of one resistor, its capacitor and the drive pot. Now i'm waiting for my order. I'll tell you more when i'll be sure that it works fine.

 

2) symmetrical/asymmetrical drive

* switch and a diode. I'm using tonepad TS with jumper instead of third diode so mod will be very simple.

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