The Serenity is an overdrive pedal from Stomp Under Foot, reviewed by Premier Guitar in 2021. On the surface it follows the familiar Tube Screamer formula: the control set is the same as a TS-808 or TS-9, save for the reversed placement of the gain and level knobs, and it runs the same Texas Instruments RC4558P op amp that powers many better TS-808 clones1.
The departure is in the clipping. Sharp-eyed circuit spotters will notice LED clipping diodes where a Tube Screamer conventionally uses silicon diodes, and Premier Guitar's reviewer wrote that this deviation from TS convention makes the Serenity a very different sonic animal1. If you know the Tube Screamer family, expect the familiar layout but a noticeably different character from the clipping stage.
What it does
The LED clipping widens the pedal's range well past the usual Tube Screamer territory. Premier Guitar's reviewer found it sounds great as a clean boost, a treble boost, a low-to-medium-gain overdrive, and even a near fuzz1. That span covers a lot of ground usually split across separate pedals, from a boost role into fuzz territory at the top of the gain range.
"It's without question one of the more versatile overdrives I've played in the past few years."
For players weighing it against other Stomp Under Foot drives, the Serenity sits apart from the company's other overdrive designs such as the Mean Green Machine and the Overdrive 8-Fifty, and it belongs to the broader family of overdrive pedals built on the TS template1.
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Questions
How is the Serenity different from a Tube Screamer?
The control set is the same as a TS-808 or TS-9, apart from the reversed placement of the gain and level knobs, and it uses the same Texas Instruments RC4558P op amp found in many TS-808 clones. The difference is the LED clipping diodes, a deviation from TS convention that Premier Guitar's reviewer said makes the Serenity a very different sonic animal.
What can the Serenity be used for?
Premier Guitar's reviewer found it worked well as a clean boost, a treble boost, a low-to-medium-gain overdrive, and even a near fuzz, and concluded it was without question one of the more versatile overdrives he had played in the past few years.
Sources (1)
- Stomp Under Foot Serenity Overdrive Review, Premier Guitar, 2014-09-13
