I have tried TOO many Tube Screamer and variants of which. These include vintage, modern and spins from other brands...
What can I say after that? I learned that I am not typically a Tube Screamer person, I have a vintage unit from the first year they released as well as the newest iteration, the "mini" Tube Screamer which both sit on a shelf unused. BUT there are 3 Tube Screamer types that I REALLY love and have earned permanent spots on boards.
The
Wampler Paisley Drive - TS8008 Variant that fixes basic Tube Screamer cons (Works well with volume knob, more gain on tap, keeps treble and bass of your base tone, can emulate Zwreck sound). This is perfect for any country Tele/Strat or Country guitarist. It has a switch for EQ shapes and a switch to boost or lower the presence as a
Marshall amp type voicing. So you can mix that with the TS circuit of the pedal.
The
Wampler Moxie - A TS10 circuit that enables you to make switch from the JRC455D to Mosfet for a boost or you can flatten the EQ and got more of a Timmy or Klon mixed with a Tube Screamer. The result is basically 5 pedals in one, it sounds great regardless of what switches ans where the knobs are set. You have tons of volume and gain.
The
Catalinbread Sidearm - A TS9 Variant that has a mids control and a Tilt EQ. The standard TS Mids stays the same in a fixed setting but the mids control messes with different frequencies and the tilt EQ is a much needed, modern changeup. More gain makes the pedal able to go into borderline/almost Metal spaces (Think 90's alt rock- stuff like Creed, Three Doors Down).
Here's my video on the Sidearm:
So yeah, for me it's gotta highly modified version of the Tube Screamer. I just really don't care for a stock Boss SD-1, Blues Driver or Tube Screamer. I don't mind stock Klons, BB circuit, Timmy, etc but I feel stock TS/SD1 circuits need alot of tinkering to be usuable.