So I have a pedal on my board that I really like. It’s not a Tube Screamer. I’ve been told it’s a D-type. If you look at the ad-copy on the company website, it never mentions the word Dumble, but it, also, gives the impression that it was modeled after that type of amp. It’s the Nux Steel Singer. Heck, just the name of it makes you think it’s a D-type.
It’s my always-on pedal. You know the one. Since I primarily play at home, I can’t (or won’t) turn up the amp enough to get any good drive from it, so I have to use a pedal to get that basic grit. And that’s the pedal that I use for that. I like the way it sounds. It definitely would NOT be considered a transparent OD. It puts a definite color on the sound. But I like it. On my home rig (which I may talk about in the next post or so), it sits behind 2 other drive pedals. Weirdly, looking at the title of this post, neither or which are Tube Screamers.
But I have a thing for Tube Screamers. The first OD pedal that I got was a TS808 clone. I didn’t know it at the time. I just knew that I liked it. Then I got a couple of other ODs that were just kind of ok, but not the sound in my head. Then I got a TS9. And I liked it better than the TS808 clone. Then I found out about the same time that there were bunches of TS-type pedals out there and that SRV used one.
Now, being a fan of SRV, I decided I needed to start trying out all the TS-type pedals I could find. I think, at my peak, I had 15 of them. Expensive ones. Cheap ones. Ones that actually said “Tube Screamer” on them. I ended up getting rid of some of them. I’ve even bought others since then. And you know what? They all sound like Tube Screamers at the end of the day.
So back to the Nux Steel Singer. Like I said, I dig it! I like the sound. I can’t say that it sounds like a Dumble because I’ve never had a Dumble so that I could compare. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. I just know that I like the sound of it in the way that I use it.
So I thought it was really interesting when I saw the video below from the chaps at Anderton’s that came out a few weeks ago. Danish Pete has better ears than me. And, in a blind test, about 2:30 into the vid, he says that it has kind of a “Tube Screamery vibe.”
It’s not a Tube Screamer. It doesn’t have that super-pronounced mid-hump thing that they have, but he says it has that vibe. So maybe that’s why I like it. I don’t know. I’m going to have to go back in there and sit down and do a side by side and see. Maybe it’s just close enough to doing the TS-thing without actually doing it that it catches my ear.
Now as for the Tube Screamer love. I’m not sure if I love them or not. The weird thing is, if someone asked me what single OD pedal I would pick if I had to go with just one, I’d probably say either a TS or some TS-type pedal that I like. But both of my boards (the big one and the little one) have the same drives (or types of drives on them), and neither has a Tube Screamer.
Since I’ve been talking about the Nux Steel Singer, I’ll mention the little board first. I have 3 drives on both boards. I have a Tone City Durple (similar to the Lovepedal Kalamazoo), a Wampler Germanium Tumnus (a klone), and the Nux Steel Singer. On the big board, I have a Lovepedal Kalamazoo (the gold one), a Klon KTR (can’t get more klone than that), and a Warm Audio Warmdrive. The patch I use most with my Pod Go isn’t anything like either board. Go figure.
So, love them or hate them, I still have a bunch of TS-type pedals along with a TS9 and a TS-mini. I’ve never owned an actual TS808. But that’s fine because it seems all the clones are derived from that pedal. Maybe some day, if I haven’t already, I’ll talk about some of my favorite TS-types and why I like them.
What’s your favorite OD pedal?