Build Your Own Clone Screamer

This is an all inclusive kit to build a clone of the Ibanez Tube screamer pedal. The kit comes with everything you need to build a copy of the stock model without the buffer. It also has parts to do many of the common mods that people pay good money for.

UTILIZATION

This was the first full pedal I built but I had previous soldering experience and had built my own cables, tap tempo boxes, and other little projects. The instructions are written perfectly and should allow anyone with moderate soldering skills and patience to build this kit with no problems. All of the parts are labeled and packaged is very easy to understand manor. You do not need knowledge of resistors, diodes, or any of that stuff to get through this build.

SOUND QUALITY

Once built this pedal sounds great. It is exactly what you would expect from a tube screamer but has true bypass instead of the terrible ibanez buffer. I am not completely against buffers but the one in Ibanez pedals is pretty bad and can really suck some tone. I have used this pedal as a standalone overdrive on my clean channel and it gets that blues sound perfectly for me. I do not see any reason to spend hundreds of dollars on an overdrive. If you have owned any expensive overdrive you may have unknowingly bought a tube screamer clone with a few simple mods and paid a premium for a name. I would guess somewhere around 80% of the overdrives on the market are just a modified screamer circuit.

Aside from the overdrive of this pedal it works great as a boost in front of a high gain amp. I use a Framus Cobra tube amp in my metal band and this little box really helps to get a modern metal sound. I don't always go for that sound but it's there when I need it. By turning the gain to 0, keeping the tone somewhere around noon, and cranking the volume you can really hit the front end of a cooking tube amp. All tube screamers I have played accentuate the mid range and cut a little bit of bass. This added to the slight grit and massive volume boost really tightens up the sound of a good distortion channel.

OVERALL OPINION

If you were ever curious about pedal building this is a great place to start. Not only is it easy to build but the end product is a very useable tool. There are many builders making their money off this circuit but you can save the money and learn something by building it yourself.