Ibanez gear on the Anagram

Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand whose pedals were built by Maxon. The TS808 Tube Screamer arrived around 1979, and its green box with a JRC4558 chip became the reference for soft-clipping overdrive. Countless pedals since have copied, tweaked or argued with that circuit.

Nembrini Audio says 808 Overdrive Pro is modelled on the TS808 with the JRC4558D chip, and it is free. Mercuriall Audio's Prime Drive packs two TS808 voices and two TS7 variations, plus a Grid Slammer and a Boss SD-1 circuit. Both are confirmed by the developers.

Two more are less certain. Clack Digital calls Amp Squeezer Overdrive a clone of a classic guitar overdrive without naming it, so the Tube Screamer link is our guess. The same goes for Darkglass's built-in Arc Dreamer, which we guess belongs to the same family from its controls.

The Tube Screamer sound is a mid hump. It trims the lows, lifts the middle and adds a smooth, mild drive. Guitarists set the gain low and the level high to push an already driven amp tighter, which is why it shows up in so many metal rigs.

On bass, that low cut is a problem on its own. The fix is to run it in parallel or behind a blend so your clean low end stays under the drive. Used that way, the mid push helps a bass cut through a busy mix.

Try 808 Overdrive Pro first. It is free, it has the classic chip, and it is the simplest way to hear what the rest of these blocks are reacting to.