so a friend of mine asked for the worst distortion pedal i could come up with. i want to first acquire a set of features that are bad to incorporate them all in a pedal.
some features i was thinking about:
- heavy scoop
- NO dynamics
- low volume, less than clean guitar
- badly gated
- hiss and hum BOOST
i thought you guys would know a few ways to make a distortion sound awful!
cheers, Iain
Lol give me some time to think about this
- crackling sound
- inverted pots
- led on when in bypass, led off when circuit on
- oscillating
- germanium + peltier plate
- buzzing
- crosstalk
- poorly working stompswitch (not everytime you hit it)
- poping sound
You're welcome ;)
so i was thinking about power supply noise and how to boost it! i know he uses daisy chains so i want to inject a bunch of noise in to the power line to freak up the other pedals.
yes, inverted pots, all pots have some DC for crackle when turning, popping bypass, inverted LED, whining/motorboating, even whining when in bypass. i think i know a good way to make the bypass switch more random, it drives a shift register randomiser which determines if it goes on or off with each flick of a small toggle switch.
reversed jacks
LED brighter than a nuclear blast.
remember that it should be the worst pedal, not a 'so bad its good' pedal
cheers, Iain
I think a fuzz with a voltage starve pot (just a pot between v+ and the circuit, to simulate a dead battery) and a feedback loop (conect the output of the circuit to the input of the circuit) will sounds bad and with lots of oscillation. If the fuzz is something like 3 or 4 Bazz Fuss in series, or 2 Big Muff in series, you'll get more noise and a oversaturated sound.
It can sound worse, but that's a good start.
Opamp distortion like Guvnor. 680R bias resistors >>mid hump >> boost >> mis-biased bjt stage > 220n cap to ground > output :)
If you can make a distortion that sounds worse than the DS-1, you should call it Rocktek.
Oh, too late, already been done.
Attach a long wire without ground to the input.
Plastic enclosure.
Quote from: mozz on October 29, 2020, 06:05:49 PM
Attach a long wire without ground to the input.
the chassis should not be grounded, the chassis should be directly connected to the input
Quote from: blackieNYC on October 29, 2020, 06:22:32 PM
Plastic enclosure.
with aluminium foil over it to do the trick described above.
Quote from: GibsonGM on October 29, 2020, 05:29:42 PM
Op amp distortion like Guvnor. 680R bias resistors >>mid hump >> boost >> mis-biased bjt stage > 220n cap to ground > output :)
schematic?
i am fully going to use op amps for everything because its easier to design in my opinion. i'd like to keep it to max 2 op amps.
i also have an exciting surprise coming later for the bypass switching ill apply. i have a few plans brewing in my head.
cheers, Iain
Cuts out and recovers briefly under heavy overdrive. But not in a consistent, predictable way. :icon_lol:
Can't wait to hear this thing!
its not going to be a distortion in the traditional sense, it doesn't have more or less overdrive, but always the same. no volume control needed, only a tone control, from bright to brighter with a very narrow frequency band being boosted. and its always whining because the opamp doesn't like capacitive load, hihi
if one of you has an extremely good memory, i talked about the bypass system i envision before, i found it on a flea market on some weird old man's stand. for those who haven't seen it or have bad memory, it's still a surprise for later!
cheers, Iain
It should catch BBC !
It should heat up !
It should give electric shocks when you press the footswitch
Use an lm386 to play radio :icon_lol:
those "passive fuzz" add-ons for guitar that're just a couple clipping diodes check a lot of those boxes
My humble suggestions:
- Emphasizes discordant harmonics
- Out of tune with single notes, unintelligible noise with chords
- Hides characteristics of the instrument and all dynamics of phrasing and basically makes every guitar sound like 1$ Casio synthesizer with no key sensitivity
- Ear fatigue after one minute
;D
Misbiased octave fuzz.
Mixing in a 60Hz drone oscillator could be useful.
so my friend told me he didn't expect me to go through with it and that he doesn't want the pedal, guess ill keep it when its finished.
Quote from: Vivek on October 29, 2020, 10:36:28 PM
It should catch BBC !
yes, there's nothing worse than the bbc, worst news ever, more biased than a super hot fuzz face
Quote from: teemuk on October 30, 2020, 02:10:10 AM
My humble suggestions:
- Emphasizes discordant harmonics
- Out of tune with single notes, unintelligible noise with chords
- Hides characteristics of the instrument and all dynamics of phrasing and basically makes every guitar sound like 1$ Casio synthesizer with no key sensitivity
- Ear fatigue after one minute
;D
so to sum it up, you want me to add a ring modulator to the distortion :icon_lol: :icon_lol:
Quote from: 11-90-an on October 29, 2020, 11:03:41 PM
Use an lm386 to play radio :icon_lol:
and use a piezo disc to pick it up from the speaker for a lofi/feedback effect, hmmm, yes
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:07:05 AM
Mixing in a 60Hz drone oscillator could be useful.
i think you mean 50 Hz, i live in europe
il design it to require 3 different types of battery, a 9V, AAA and A
and my plan to make it use only one chip is also out the window, im going full in with 3 chips, 7 or 8 BJT's a bunch of diodes,
cheers, Iain
Quote from: iainpunk on October 30, 2020, 09:25:07 AM
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:07:05 AM
Mixing in a 60Hz drone oscillator could be useful.
i think you mean 50 Hz, i live in europe
Add a toggle to switch between 50 and 60 Hz. Label it Marshall/Fender. :icon_wink:
Add a jumper from +9v to gnd. Easy unplayable pedal.
am I too late? I've got my 2 cents here. the worst distortion ever? build the cleanest clean boost you can possibly make, and then label it "distortion".
or build the sickest fuzz you can, and label it distortion. on the boost, the distortion knob won't go high enough, and on the fuzz, it won't go low enough.
old school layout with no enclosure
(https://i.postimg.cc/Pvk7GWgf/moto.png) (https://postimg.cc/Pvk7GWgf)
Some more ideas:
- no power supply filter caps
- Y5V capacitors
- carbon composition resistors
- old op amps with popcorn (burst) noise
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:36:37 AM
Quote from: iainpunk on October 30, 2020, 09:25:07 AM
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:07:05 AM
Mixing in a 60Hz drone oscillator could be useful.
i think you mean 50 Hz, i live in europe
Add a toggle to switch between 50 and 60 Hz. Label it Marshall/Fender. :icon_wink:
Even better: make it auto-detect the line frequency from the wall wart (a noisy crappy power supply is a given, right?), and then modulate the
wrong one into your signal. Could be interesting when it interacts with pickup hum... :icon_twisted:
Quote from: GibsonGM on October 29, 2020, 05:29:42 PM
Opamp distortion like Guvnor. 680R bias resistors >>mid hump >> boost >> mis-biased bjt stage > 220n cap to ground > output :)
what about tiny output cap with low resistor to ground, aka let the highs and hiss go through?
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:36:37 AM
Quote from: iainpunk on October 30, 2020, 09:25:07 AM
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:07:05 AM
Mixing in a 60Hz drone oscillator could be useful.
i think you mean 50 Hz, i live in europe
Add a toggle to switch between 50 and 60 Hz. Label it Marshall/Fender. :icon_wink:
You are really upping the mojo here. I see profit!
wire input jack to output jack directly, no footswitch, and label it as always on transparent distortion
Boost 2khz to make ears bleed
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:36:37 AM
Quote from: iainpunk on October 30, 2020, 09:25:07 AM
Quote from: EBK on October 30, 2020, 09:07:05 AM
Mixing in a 60Hz drone oscillator could be useful.
i think you mean 50 Hz, i live in europe
Add a toggle to switch between 50 and 60 Hz. Label it Marshall/Fender. :icon_wink:
Or generate 60Hz internally, and let that mix with 50Hz from power supply and guitar pickups. Lovely!
Quote from: dschwartz on October 30, 2020, 05:11:30 PM
Boost 2khz to make ears bleed
i have a low gain fuzz that has a 30-ish dB 1kHz boost to tear your head off, like an HM-2 but on steroids. its one of my favourites tho, it really pushes amps into pure grinding bliss.
i think that a boost like that is more a "so bad its good" kind of idea.
cheers, Iain
Weirdly enough not so long ago I was pondering adapting the "useless box" into stompbox form as a prank Xmas present for a mate of mines. Never made it past the "hey that the best stupid idea I've had for a while" stage into any sort planning though and I really don't think I could really be arsed with the ammount of work involved.
> arsed with the amount of work involved.
25 bucks (to get free shipping) and done. (*)
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01K4UYZ56/
And you can see in the Amazon pictures that the actual gizmo is a mass produced unit, probably wholesales 2/$ in caseload lots. There's more cost and work in the wood box.
(https://i.postimg.cc/Lhm6s411/Useless-Finger-42.gif) (https://postimg.cc/Lhm6s411)
(*) offer may differ elsewhere
Quote from: slashandburn on October 31, 2020, 04:12:06 PM
Weirdly enough not so long ago I was pondering adapting the "useless box" into stompbox form as a prank Xmas present for a mate of mines. Never made it past the "hey that the best stupid idea I've had for a while" stage into any sort planning though and I really don't think I could really be arsed with the ammount of work involved.[/youtube]
Maybe the pedal could switch to a bad-sounding clean tone some time after it's been activated? Or it could randomly switch from one bad-sounding distortion to another?
I'm really keen on the idea of this thing not only sounding terrible, but not behaving in a consistent way at all. :icon_lol:
I have been pondering a fuzz with a built in AM radio receiver a few years ago but never went through with it. Add an LFO that sweeps the carrier frequency or just set it fixed to Radio Yerevan.
Andy
Totally Paul. Its doable in a wooden box with a toggle switch. Im sure similar kits probably inspired the idea. I think seeing it as "too much work" stemmed from imagining having the lid and hinge somewhat invisible, using a standard footswitch and having the "response" somewhat randomised so that you might not even notice the mechanical arm if you weren't watching closely!
"Pedal sounds great but for some reason it keeps turning itself off just as I'm really getting into something, I can't see any pattern to it, sometimes 30 seconds sometimes 4 minutes"
only clean output!
Maybe try plugging into a brick. If it doesn't work, you can always hit yourself with the brick.
> having the "response" somewhat randomised so that you might not even notice the mechanical arm if you weren't watching closely!
Motorized pots, motor hidden from user. Turn the knob to your exact-best setting "7.6", start playing, a little demon then randomly turns to 3, 11, etc.
Quote from: slashandburn on October 31, 2020, 04:12:06 PM
Weirdly enough not so long ago I was pondering adapting the "useless box" into stompbox form as a prank Xmas present for a mate of mines. Never made it past the "hey that the best stupid idea I've had for a while" stage into any sort planning though and I really don't think I could really be arsed with the ammount of work involved.
I received something similar as a gift a while ago. I would take a suggestion from it: 26 or 28 gauge power connection wires with no strain relief that move every time you need to change the battery.
Make it capable of creating the most singularly transcendent ineffably perfect distortion sound precisely once and then allow for no way to ever recreate said grail tone.
^ Exactly what happens when you blow a speaker.
Not my project or idea, but I submit this one for your consideration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ_g-Q2O5SM