Tube Screamer Style Overdrive Pedals

Introduced in the late 70s, the mean green Ibanez Tube Screamer has become an icon. Adored as a solo boost, the Tube Screamer is known for shelving the low-end of your guitar tone and boosting the mid-range to give it more cut in a band mix.

It's definitely not a one-trick pony when it comes to how it's used, though. For example, the late and great Steve Ray Vaughan ran his through clean high-wattage Fender amps, to push them into break-up while retaining a clear and articulate sound.

Modern metal players use overdrive pedals differently however. By putting one in front of a high-gain amplifier, a Tube Screamer generally tightens your sound because of its EQ characteristics, while adding more gain to give you a saturated distortion tone.

There are many different iterations of the Ibanez Tube Screamer, with the TS9 and the TS-808 models perhaps the most recognisable. However, many guitar pedal companies have taken Ibanez's Tube Screamer circuits and modded them in order to offer something different.

Keeley started out as a company that tweaked Tube Screamers, and they've gone on to establish themselves as a full-fledged pedal company in their own right. Tone City and Mooer produce affordable mini versions of the Tube Screamer circuit, while the likes of T-Rex and Mad Professor offer hand-wired boutique-style Tube Screamer clones.