Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer vs Tru-Fi Colordriver 18V Version
The Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer and the Tru-Fi Colordriver 18V Version are both pedals sharing lush. The Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer leans sustaining. The Tru-Fi Colordriver 18V Version leans fuzzy and saturated.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.44% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- lush
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$209.95via Reverb
The Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer is among the most influential overdrive pedals ever built, a 1982 evolution of the TS808 using the same mid-focused circuit with a slightly brighter, more aggressive output stage. It produces a smooth, compressed overdrive with a pronounced midrange hump that helps single-coil and humbucker guitars cut through a band, and a gentle low-end rolloff that keeps the sound tight. Most players use it not for heavy gain but as a low-gain drive or as a boost stacked into an already driven tube amp, the classic way to fatten and focus a lead tone. Closely associated with Stevie Ray Vaughan and a huge range of blues and rock players, it remains one of the most cloned circuits in existence and a benchmark for mid-rich overdrive.
The Tru-Fi Colordriver is a USA-made overdrive and fuzz pedal inspired by the vintage Colorsound Power Boost and Overdriver, the pedal used by David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, and Marc Bolan in the 1970s. It adds a master volume control the vintage originals lacked, taming their notoriously massive output, and this 18V version internally boosts a standard 9V supply for extra headroom. Below halfway on the drive knob it produces lower-gain overdrive tones; past halfway it moves into classic British fuzz territory with huge, Fuzz Face-like saturation. Reviewers describe it as gigantic-sounding in the vintage fuzz tradition but in a far more pedalboard-friendly size than the original Colorsound units. Suited to classic rock and blues-rock players chasing Gilmour or Beck style overdrive-into-fuzz tones.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Blues
- Metal
- Alternative Rock
- Rock
- Classic Rock
- Blues Rock
- sustaining
- fuzzy
- saturated
- full
- crunchy