Aggressive Tubescreamers?

[HeavyXIII]

So this might be an odd question, and may even need to be moved, but I'm trying to figure out how to get more out of TS style pedals. I'm actually using a BB Preamp, but have read they share many similarities.

I'm already running my amp a little dirty, but have got the pedal just about maxed out on gain and volume, so I'm already bludgeoning my amp. I'm not sure if I should be looking for more gain, or a different setup as far as clipping diodes go. Is there anything else I'm missing that might get me just a bit more saturation out of the pedal, or am I barking up the wrong tree? I've tried looking into the old Keeley baked mods, but cannot figure out what they did to achieve "3 times the amount of gain". I checked out the Palisades as well, but there's so many additional boosts and shit that I don't know how much of their circuit variations would even apply.

Really just looking for suggestions more than anything!

[BoatRich]

I’ve been having the exact same issues with Tubescreamers in general lately. I haven’t really found a solution yet. The OCD was a bit too much gain and too dark, all of the metal oriented tube screamers just didn’t do much for me, and I messed with a Klone today and it wasn’t quite there. I feel like the Elements on low gain might be my next step, the EQ is really helpful in this situation?

[Chankgeez]

Try stacking two Tube Screamers?

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

i usually just slam a dirty boost or another dirt into the next dirt pedal usually works wonders for this sort of thing.
also recently swapped clipping diodes on a different distortion/od pedal to LEDs and it gave me more volume and just sounds a lot better to my ears.
i also swapped some of the resistors, caps and op amp and it really rips now

[jrfox92]

I don't have the parts to test it out IRL, but I bet that changing the clipping diodes around (maybe something asymmetrical) and modifying the bax tone control section might get you closer to what you want.

[ck3]

Maybe slam the front end with a Way Huge Angry Troll or try a Black Arts Toneworks Witch Burner? The Monoprice Tube Overdrive (mini pedal) is a Tubescreamer variant with as much gain/saturation as a Big Muff.

[AZX309]

Aggressive Tubescreamer? isn't that just a rat?

I can second the Angry Troll. Made myself one and it sounds great slamming my traynor.

if you want to stick closer to the TS front I would look into the EQD Dunes or the haymaker.

ooooorrrrr skip op-amps altogether and hunt down a Mu-blaster

[chromandre]

Have you ever tried a common boss SD-1? it is a tubescreamer with some extra hair.

[The Eristic]

Cusack Screamer Fuzz. The Screamer part has around twice the gain of a regular TS on its own and once you start blending in the fuzz, it gets pretty ridiculous and nasty. The v2 has different clipping options to make the TS part more/less smooth and compressed, too. Can get them for ~$100 used.

[goroth]

The answer is to get a McSpunckle ...And Aardvarks!

It is loud as fuck and can slam everything.

[JonnyAngle]

Mini, barbershop, super hard on. Any of those will power boost you into dirty euphoria

[frigid midget]

I've been trough a bunch of tubescreamer-esque pedals, and when I think of it, the low gain od's I liked the most probably aren't very tubescreamery at all.
Micro-amp: super clean, with a slight mids boos. Hotcake: awesome with the gain below 12 o'clock. Not tubescreamery at all either I guess, but a carefully dialed in Ruetz'd Rat will do a similar job as well. In a completely different way Another good TS alternative imo: Boss OD-1.

Haven't messed with any of the Way Huge offerings. If the EQD Dunes weren't so pricey, I'd give that one a try too.

Come to think of it, nothing I mensioned is really that aggressive

[Chankgeez]

Also, this stacked into a normal Tube Screamer: https://buildyourownclone.com/products/parametricod

[HeavyXIII]

I've already got some stacking options, and they can get me into the territory I need; I just find it tends to make chords less clear. I guess what I was hoping to figure out was if there was anything worth modding on the BB Preamp, since at its core it sounds like I want. Clipping diodes seem like an easy option if I can figure out what's what on the inside. Increasing the gain of the pedal seems like it might be a bit trickier to accomplish.

The diodes I can see look germanium to me, and I thought TS typically used silicon diodes (I guess they could look the same, I'm not super knowledgeable). If they are in fact germanium, wouldn't I be pretty limited for options with a lower clipping threshold? I've found that I do like asymmetrical clipping in other pedals I've used before.

Appreciate all the suggestions, giving me things to comb through for ideas!

[jrfox92]

AFAIK, the BB Pre uses 1N4148's (standard silicon diodes), which is the typical diode arrangement for TS's.
Like this:

If you want to try modding the clipping section you could do something like this to change the clipping character (asymmetrical w/silicon didoes or parallel with one silicon and one LED):


The only thing is that it won't be as drastic a change as changing the clipping diodes on, say, a Rat, because the TS circuit uses soft clipping rather than hard clipping.

For modding, I'd suggest focusing your attention to this area rather than the clipping section (again, I haven't messed with the circuit myself, so I can't really specify what you should do in this region since I'm not sure how it'll affect the circuit as whole):