Is a tube screamer too much mids for a tele?

[52BIGSBY]

Boss BD2? Cheap, great pedal that seems to me to fit your bill, and easy to flip if it does not work for you.
Possibly Boss GE7 depending on how driven the amp is.
Richard.

 

[igor5]

Prince of Tone
or Timmy (asymmetric clipping select + bass knob properly adjusted)

 

[Thin white duke]

Is a tube screamer too much mids for a tele?

To my ears is too much mids for a 335 style, for a Tele or Strat is ok.....

 

[beninma]

I’d agree it’s not the guitar it’s the amp and how it’s setup.

If the Supro has strong mids you will need to turn the Supro up till it’s on the edge of breakup and then the TS will start sounding great. If that’s too loud than you probably need a different type of pedal.

My Orange amp is like this with a TS, and it doesn’t matter what guitar I use.

That Pete Thorn video is about this.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

My EHX East River Drive is a TS variant and is my go-to for drive. It sounds like my TC Tube Pilot without the fizz and about 75% less current draw.

 

[4pickupguy]

TS too much mids?
If your using a mid-scooped amp probably not.
If you are disappearing in the mix without it, then no.
If it sounds like transistor radio then even up loud, yes.

 

[dlew919]

Second the amp comment. I have a TS9 that sounded great with a Twin reverb plus Strat or Tele, but not good with my AC15.

There's an element of the discussion we left out but that is important when discussing TS pedals: volume, or more accurately headroom. At what volume are you playing? How close is your amp to the top of its headroom? TS-pedals really only work well with amps that are turned up a fair bit. In a bedroom setting they're usually considered to be a bad choice. This is actually true, in general, of classic OD pedals, but is most true of TS.



If you play a low volume clean amp, other dirt pedals work better. I've found that if I'm going for that "Tubescreamer into a cranked blackface amp", but am playing in a perfectly clean amp, Zendrive-type pedals are the ticket. The Mooer Rumble – not widely appreciated – can be a good option with some careful dealing in.

this. Ts is, to me at least, almost a boost pedal. Get the amp to just about break up, and then kick the ts on, much like Clapton or may or Rory Gallagher used that boost pedal into their amps.

TS is a great pedal, but I prefer the blues driver at lower volumes. It’s a bit more of an amp in a box. But your ears will tell you the truth of the matter. Get a cheap TS and try it.

 

[Twang Deluxe]

I like the sound of my Tele through my Bad Monkey and my TC MojoMojo. IMHO they sound much better than a Tube Screamer

 

[Johny_gtr]

I have jam pedals tubedreamer which is TS clone with high gain switch. It's a bit of cliche sounds but I like it - slightly compressed with boosted mid-upper mids. It works with Fender bf amps but can sound horrible with other amps that I don't have.

All teles sounds quite different. I have one issue with my tele and need to find the same version ('52 AV/AVRI) to compare. I found one that looks the same but one was AVRI and one AV (00 vs late 90s I think). Older guitar sounds like twang machine with a lot of highs, very honky sound. Newer guitar sounds more solid, with a lot more body in sound, low mids and low frequencies. Differences are not subtle for clean sound (in Fender DRRI) and with dirt pedals. I don't know is this a difference because of AV and AVRI eras or just 2 different guitars.

 

[bobio]

I have not found that to be the case, but that may just be me
My current TS is a JHS Bonsai, love the options!

 

[0ct0Pr0n]

IMO some kind of mid-boost is essential for lead tone, especially with a scooped amp sound.
Both of the OD pedals on my board add at least a little mids.

 

[Kungpow!]

Boss SD-1?! I think is supposed to have less mids than a TS

I love Tubescreamers and use them with teles, strats and Les Pauls. It's the tightness and sustain it adds that I love. Addictive to me.

So, if you want less mids , then any OD not based on the Ts circuit should work. So many choices.

 

[johnnylaw]

The last dirt box I think I will ever have purchased is the Gain Changer. Between the three position tone switch and tone knob, I can’t imagine it not working well, regardless of amp and guitar combination. It’s good enough at bedroom levels, and terrific at gig volume. Also, it’s clean enough for recording.
I’ve used it with a PAF 335, a Firebird pickup equipped Midtown, and also a Filtertron Gretsch. Great results.
I mostly play Telecaster though.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

I find my EHX East River Drive to be pretty useful across all levels of dirt with single coil pickups. It is TS-ish.

 

[schmee]

I keep repeating this but: Get yourself a TS9DX tube screamer. It has 4 options of ts's. The Turbo mode give you a big full bottom end and not all mids. It's like having a Marshall stack. Going on 15 years using one now.

 

[tomasz]

I'm finding to sit nicely in the mix with a bd-2, or a klon clone with a tele, and I recently use the Boss GE-7 for solo boosts. It allows me to set whatever range is needed to poke out

Edit: yep, I'm one of those non-TS people, but besides that, a lot depends on other settings in the chain, starting with those volume/tone pots on the guitar, ending with the amp

 

[jhiatt1]

Try a Digitech Tone Driver XL. It is like 3 od pedals in one(a ts-9, ts-808, and I forgot the third one lol). It even has a morph know to blend the sounds together for some really interesting od tones. I have one but haven't used it in a while. Mostly just use the natural od from my Fender HRD when it is cranked.

 

[loopfinding]

idk, i personally have a mooer green mile. on the ts-9dx "hot" mode in there (which is higher voltage LED clipping) i just changed the highpass cap from 1uF to like 47-100n to still get a bass cut but with more oomph than the stock TS. that's the only mode (after the mod) i ever use. something voiced similarly (or with a bass control?) will probably do you right.

 

[Whoa Tele]

I like tubescreamers but find a Nobels ODR pedal works better with teles for me. I use a J Rockett Chicken Soup or a. Wampler Belle

 

[8bitlooper]

Like others have said, your amp has a huge play in this (not familiar with that 5 watt Supro - I need to check it out!). But I’ve never jelled super well with TS pedals. I have however, found the Nordland ODR-C to be a really, really great pedal that does fall somewhere between the gain options of a TS and the amp-like thing that a lot of ‘transparent’ pedals (claim to) have. Just less mush for me (note, I have a lot of mid covered in my amp choices - Tweed deluxe, Tex EF86, Benson Monarch, so I‘m not looking for more mids)

I’m not explaining it super well, but give that ODR-C a look.

Another option could be a Ibanez Mosstortion clone, like the Karma MTN. I believe when Ibanez released the original it was meant to be the ‘next gen’ in their drive line up, and has a lot less of the mid-thing to my ears.