How does guitar overdrive work?

An overdrive essentially adds grit to your signal, giving you a sound similar to a cranked amplifier at the edge of breakup. Most overdrive pedals therefore produce a “pushed” clean tone that can stretch to a crunch, dependent on how it’s been dialled in and how hard you pick your guitar strings.

How do diodes create distortion?

A very common way to create distortion. Two diodes shunted to ground in opposite directions will cut away the peaks of the signal and thus, create distortion.

Which is better overdrive or distortion?

Overdrive is mild/medium; distortion is spicier — and hotter! Another difference is this: while an overdrive pedal pushes your signal pretty darned hard, it doesn’t change your existing tone much. Distortion pedals, on the other hand, not only add more saturation (or spice), but they also tend to alter your sound.

Should I get overdrive or distortion first?

Go overdrive all the way and forget the distortion pedal all together unless you are in to grunge or really dark metal. Distortion does have it’s place but i would allways go overdrive first for that slightly distorted sound and to increase sustain.

Is a Timmy soft clipping?

Paul Cochrane Timmy – Actually at its core a Symmetrical Soft-Clipping Overdrive utilising 1N4148 Diodes, while it does obviously have an Asymmetrical clipping mode too.

What is soft clipping vs hard clipping?

Clipping is a form of distortion that limits a signal once it exceeds a threshold. Hard clipping results in many high-frequency harmonics; soft clipping results in fewer higher-order harmonics and intermodulation distortion components.

Is the OCD a Tube Screamer?

The OCD differs from the Tube Screamer in that it retains a wider range of bass and higher frequencies, while the famous sound of the Tube Screamer “mid-hump” accentuates the mid frequencies.

What’s so special about Klon Centaur?

The Klon is particularly celebrated for the ‘transparent’ nature of its overdrive. In essence, this means that the pedal causes your signal to overdrive, without ‘colouring’ your tone in any way. It adds warmth and gain to your tone, whilst preserving the natural sound of your guitar and amp.

What goes into creating an overdrive pedal circuit?

So, let’s dive in and learn a bit about what goes into creating a very simple overdrive pedal circuit… The circuit “starts” with the guitar signal – the V1 shown above this indicates it is a simple audio signal. It goes into the area marked “in”, above.

What kind of AMP do you need for overdrive?

Another important part of overdrive character is the op-amp. It amplifies the signal before it gets clipped and then amplifies the signal again for the output. Pretty much any dual op-amp with the standard 8-pin DIL pinout will work here.

What kind of diode do I need for overdrive?

Germanium: clips softly at 300-400mV. I used 1N34A, but bretty much any old germanium diode will work here and produce similar results. Silicon: 1N4148: clips a bit harder at 600-700mV, standard for vast majority of overdrive pedals.

What kind of transistors are used in the BOSS OD-1 overdrive?

Later models used different versions of the 4558 8-pin dual op-amp: NJM4558D, uPC4558C, uPC4558C, TL4558P, JRC4558D, JRC4558DD, JRC4558DC and C4558C. ICs, transistors and diodes used in the OD-1 OverDrive: