what kind of distortion diode do you prefer?

[WGTP]

In most circuits, I like the LED's (of the 3 choices in the pole) because they seem more dynamic and less overly compressed.

If your intersted in Mosfet clipping, here is the discussion.   

http://www.elixant.com/~stompbox/smfforum/index.php?topic=38581.0

[Austin73]

If you can squeeze one in try a 1N5401 gives the same kinda gain as an LED

[phaeton]

If you can squeeze one in try a 1N5401 gives the same kinda gain as an LED

I like the 1N400x series... they've all got a forward voltage resembling ~1.1v

Btw, does the standard OHM's law stuff work for computing diode forward voltages in parallel?

[$uperpuma]

OK, you have forced me to be the serious one???  GE's clip at "around" .3v SI at .7v and LED at 1.7v.  The GE's have a softer "knee" and sound sort of "fuzzy" to me, the SI's sound typical and the LED's are reputed to "chunk" more.  I typically mix them and use 2 of 1 and 1 of another.  IMHO the different clipping levels force the op amp to work more or less which also effects the tone.

Diodes in the feedback loop sound different than diodes going to ground.  Also the feedback loop set up as non-inverting sounds different than inverting.  Bass and treble roll off also effect the "smoothness" of the distortion.   

I'm currently using Mosfets and they have a sort of organic sound to them that I like.   

I like the Ge's in my Distortion plus..the seperation and pick gain is great..

[WGTP]

Mark Hammer is really the CLIP MASTER around here.  Check out his posts on clipping diodes.  Also check out the Rosey Ray for an example of how to use several clipping variations in one Distortion.

It's funny, with the Mosfet clippers, I keep jacking up the gain for more distortion, but it just seems to sustain more and the noise level increases.  I'm using BS170's

A discussion from a while back pointed out how non-inverting op amps like the Tube Screamer and SD-1 inject some direct undistorted sound into the output of the op amp that does not go thru the clipping diodes in the feedback loop.  This is part ot the TS type tone so many folks like.  Use of the inverting op amp set up, has different characteristics that I don't fully understand, and does not have the direct sound thing going on.  I prefer this one myself.  This is typically characterized as soft clipping

Hard clipping usually is associated with diodes goiing to ground after the op amp and produces a sharper clip.  This is used in the MXR Dist+, Boss Ds-1, Rat, etc.  A feature of this that I think is often overlooked, is that it is actually 2 stages of distortion.  At max drive, the op amp is melting down before the signal gets to the diodes.  In the TS type circuit, the diodes in the feedback loop somewhat limit this (another area I don't understand much about).