TWA Source Code

A collaboration with the architect of the Tube Screamer to create an overdrive masterpiece

- BY PAUL RIARIO

WE CAN HEAR many of you cry out, “Please, God – not another Tube Screamer!” And yes, while we understand these pleas, the Source Code by TWA (Totally Wycked Audio) is one of the finest TS808-style overdrives we’ve heard for many notable reasons.

You could say that the Tube Screamer – or any other similar overdrive iterations – is essentially a “hammer” in a guitarist’s toolbox, to pound the front end of your amp for an enriching boosted tone. So, for the sake of argument, “How many times do we need to improve a hammer?” Well, that’s where Susumu Tamura enters the chat. No, he didn’t invent the hammer, but Tamura is the creator and designer of the original Japanese Tube Screamer, and now, after an unrelenting examination into, yet again, overhauling his classic TS808 soft-clip circuit, Tamura, along with TWA, has introduced the Source Code overdrive. Simply put, the Source Code is a reimagined Screamer with a host of optimized improvements like a newly developed “Magic IC” OpAmp, an added “Bite” control for more articulated sizzle, a multi-transistor input buffer circuit to preserve tone, and a few other enhancements that expand its sonic capabilities. So is this Tamura’s masterpiece?