“The TS-10 has three knobs for overdrive, tone and level control. Drive controls the level of distortion, tone adjusts the amount of treble in your sound, and the level knob controls the output volume of the pedal.”
“The pedal can be used with a solid-state amp to mimic the sound of a vintage tube amp. Many guitarists prefer to use it to push a tube amp’s pre-amp into an overdriven state. The classic Tube Screamer sound includes a “mid-hump,” which means that the circuit accentuates frequencies between the bass and treble ranges (mid-frequencies).”
“Many guitarists prefer this sort of equalization, as it helps to keep their sound from getting lost in the overall mix of the band. When used with a tube amplifier the Tube Screamer increases the gain of the input signal overloading the preamp and further distorting the signal.”
“When used with a cranked master-volume type tube amplifier, this can result in much higher volumes than before the pedal is engaged if the preamp is not already turned up fairly high. Provided the preamp gain is already turned up, the Tube Screamer will saturate the signal, creating a thickly overdriven tone.”
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