What prompts you to look for another fuzz/overdrive?

[Mark Hammer]

We've easily seen well over 500 different tweaks, variations, "designs" for things that add harmonic content here over the years.  And certainly, based on the weekly e-mails received from effectsdatabase, there are at least 150 new commercial products in that vein added, annually.  Some are likely identical, but since no one in your area carries them, it's handy that a comparable product IS available for you to try out or hear in person.

I will assume that some of the pedal-turnover fever (PTF?) that possesses people is an expression of GAS, fad-ism, indiscriminately glowing reviews from magazines or social-media influencers.  But I will also assume that some of the motivation to look for another distorting pedal is prompted by one's current  unit/s NOT being able to do something, or doing too much of something you're not crazy about.

So, when you opt for a different pedal, what is it that motivates YOU to do so?  What do you set out in search of?  This includes not only commercial pedals, but builds of DIY designs or magazine construction projects, or simply mods.  Or did you not have any complaints until you heard something and went "Where has this BEEN all my life?".

All motives are valid.  I'm just curious.

[patrick398]

I've been breadboarding a lot of distortion and OD circuits recently and have built a lot, each time i think it's 'the one', the thing i've been searching for and have finally found, but each time it seems to end up as 'close, but not quite'. Maybe it's a case of getting bored with it or it losing that initial excitement, or you hear something else and think 'mine can't do that'. I think the fact that there are so many different ways to generate distortion/overdrive and they all sound different, and then within the ways that sound the same there are a million minor adjustments and tweaks that can be made it's difficult to settle on just one

[vigilante397]

I don't look for overdrives, they just find me

My change in drives went along with my change in tastes. Started with just a Rat, then when I got less into metal and more into blues I needed something a little lighter so I added a Zendrive for variety.

But I also change pedals a lot when my building abilities change. My first Rat was built on vero with about 10' of wire crammed into the box. Now that I know my way around CAD software I use fabricated PCBs, which allow me to do more complicated things, so my Rat and Zendrive were replaced with a Supercharger GTO and a Hotbox.

[jubal81]

Not sure about the psychology behind the assumption of monogamy when it comes to distortion pedals.

I think of it more in terms of food or beer. Why do I buy a northwest IPA one week, love it, buy a hazy New England IPA the next week, like it OK, then buy something I've never heard of because of the can art, then go back and buy the hazy IPA I thought was just OK and it's my new favorite for two whole weeks?

De gustibus non est disputandem.

I think there are a few factors that you generally look for, like low noise, reliability and that the pedal doesn't cause a bad reaction with other pedals. But the same is true for food. You expect those BBQ wings to be free of parasites. But as long as it meets some basic requirements, chow down try the menu and enjoy yourself.

[EBK]

I think I'm more or less the same as Nathan in this regard. I don't actively look for new fuzzes or new overdrives to build, but instead of rebuilding old stuff to make it better, I build new stuff just to do something different from what I've already done. 

Sometimes I will have a nugget of an idea for a build (maybe an aesthetic choice or a part of a control aspect) and just happen to spot something that fits or completes the idea.  Or maybe someone shows off something that has a component I've never used before, and I build it out of idle curiosity.  Opportunistic building, I guess.

I'm definitely not on any kind of quest to find that one perfect sound.  I'm actually often guilty of building pedals that I have no actual use for! 

[mth5044]

I've found that my need for new fuzz/OD is inversely related to song writing/recording music (not playing music). The less time I'm putting into writing and recording (or perhaps the more I'm practicing/noodling/not having an end goal when I pick up the guitar), the more I find I feel the need to try out new pedals and sounds.

[Mark Hammer]

I'll elaborate the question, following up on some comments already posted: what attributes may you view another fuzz/distortion/overdrive as sufficiently "different" as to have an intriguing character that appeals to you?  Is it the sort of thing you can't achieve by simple EQ before and/or after the pedal?

[vigilante397]

I'll elaborate the question, following up on some comments already posted: what attributes may you view another fuzz/distortion/overdrive as sufficiently "different" as to have an intriguing character that appeals to you?  Is it the sort of thing you can't achieve by simple EQ before and/or after the pedal?

I'll bite on this one as well: my recent changes have been obvious, tube overdrive as opposed to solid-state. But even switching from one solid-state drive to another, I personally feel like there are enough things that can't be mimicked with EQ. Different drive sources (BJT/FET/op-amp), different clipping sources (FET/silicon/Ge), clipping configurations (none/sym/asym), placement of things (clippers and/or EQ in the feeback loop vs in the signal path).

I'm still stuck on my tubes for now, but I still have a solid-state drive on my breadboard where I played with bi-polar ±15V rails and I liked the tones I was getting, so I guess power supply configuration can be an important factor as well.

[jubal81]

I see where you're going with this. EQ is indeed huge. Amount of bass on the input can be the difference between an OD and a fuzz.

Putting that to the side, the characteristics I think about are dynamic response and clipping shape.

I listen for how the distortion transitions as input amplitude varies. If it's an OD, I want it to sound smooth and natural with minimal noise and artifacts. For fuzz and heavy distortion, compression is key, because you're looking for that singing sustain sound.

For clipping shape, I characterize them into two categories in my head that I can distinctly hear. The first is the rounded, compressed clipping like you hear from tubes and germanium/shottkey diodes and FETs in certain configurations. It's a little 'fuzzier,' softer and vintage sounding. The other is the sharp edges you get from silicon diodes. There's a 'bite' to the distortion that sounds more aggressive.

[paul.creedy]

I'm not that interested in fuzz on its own, but most of my (eight) builds so far have had some element of fuzz in them.

I chose them for their simplicity more than their fuzziness, as I do my best to absorb knowledge as I go.

The next two I'm planning are more about making weird noises than fuzzy noises, but one of them does have a switch which adds or removes fuzz from the circuit, so there's still fuzz involved.

[Mark Hammer]

Doesn't have to be fuzz, proper, Paul.  It's just that one doesn't see nearly as much "pedal promiscuity" for things like EQ, phase-shifter, tremolo, clean boost, and sometimes compressors, as we see for anything that adds harmonic content, whatever it's intensity might be.  People get a phaser, and they stick with it for a couple years, but if it's anything that clips to any degree, it seems like there's a good chance it won't last more than a season on the board, before being superceded by another clipping pedal.  The preceding one may not necessarily be sold, traded, or even taken off the board and stored away again; just not in the spotlight anymore, and not your new favorite.

I'm a fine one to talk, because I probably have easily 50 different distorting/clipping pedals or patches/subcircuits.  I even made one recently that has 6 different switch-selectable clipping circuits, from bare coloration to heavy fuzz (12 knobs and a rotary switch...sigh).  So I'm not a one-overdrive kind of fella.  It's the nature of what people grow tired of in a clipping pedal, and prompts them to look for or build another, that fascinates me.  Is it just a question of losing interest in the tone?

Maybe it's just a pedal version of "the Coolidge effect" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolidge_effect ).

[amptramp]

The one that I designed, built and lies languishing has eight knobs to give some variability.  It is basically a fuzz with diodes from the signal to ground but the diodes are actually clamps with variable voltage and variable resistance and the controls are for gap (the voltage between the high and low clamp values) and offset (so you can vary the even-odd harmonic balance) and a level control that varies with the gap control so as the gap narrows, the gain increases to keep the signal level constant.  It has drive and tone controls but the new idea is a coupling switch the allows coupling of the signal directly, through capacitors or a series LRC that reduces harmonic addition at the low and high ends of the audio band.  It runs off ±12 VCD.

What I was trying to come up with was a universal fuzz (which I call "Here Come the Fuzz") that would allow greater control over all of the parameters and would be suitable as a studio fuzz that could take anything they throw at it and put out any variety of fuzz sound you could imagine.

[Rixen]

When you play through a distortion pedal, you are effectively playing two instruments. The guitar, and then the pedal which adds intermodulation products as well as harmonics to what you play on the guitar. You control what the pedal produces in real time by means of the guitar. To think of distortion as simply harmonic generation does not do justice to the effect, it's a whole lot more interactive than that.

Not so much other effects, where the notes put in are the same as the notes that come out, with effect added.

[Frank_NH]

Very interesting question, Mark.

I'm guilty as charged!  I've probably built about 50 - 100 overdrives, distortions, fuzzes, amp-in-box pedal circuits.  And I'm still going...

For me it all started about eight years ago.  I had a big collection of components I inherited from my Dad (who was an avid electronics hobbyist and HAM radio operator), and I vowed to built a guitar effect with them someday.  So, I came across a vero layout for a superfuzz.  I carefully built it and.....it worked!!  Of course, then the die was cast, and I started building one thing after another (tube screamers, OCDs, boosts, amp sims, Runoffgroove circuits gallore, etc. etc.).  And I haven't stopped...yet. 

But to answer your question - why another fuzz/distortion/overdrive?  Well, to me it's like cooking.  Why do we need another chili recipe?  I mean it's just beans, meat, vegetables, sauce, right?  Well...what if I add some banana slices, maybe a little cinnamon, how about an avocado?  (Well, maybe not that...).

So with overdrives (my main interest), I've been fascinated by their inner workings, much like a cook is fascinated with chili recipes.  What if I use an inverting op amp stage with diodes to ground or a non-inverting stage with diodes in the feedback loop.  Can you use something other than diodes?  Can I use a more complicated feedback loop.  What if I add tone filters before/after?  What types of filters?  What about BJT (PNP? NPN?) and/or JFET gain stages combined in new ways?  You get the picture.

I do have a success story.  I was playing around with the Cornish buffer and decided to see what would happen when I placed it in front of an overdrive.  Hmmm - sounded better!  More crisp.  So, then I thought, well, what if I replaced the Klon buffer with the Cornish buffer in the Klon circuit?  So out came the breadboard and... Wow - sounds great!  Again, a little crisper, more refined.  And by the way, what if I replaced the complicated biasing scheme with a simpler bipolar +/-9V power supply.  Hey, that works too.  So, after working things out on the breadboard, I put together a vero layout and built it.  It now resides on my pedalboard as overdrive #1.  I posted the vero to the link below if you want to build one yourself.  I gig with it regularly and don't plan to replace it anytime soon.

So after all that, why am I still building these things?  Curiosity, I guess...helps keep me young.   

Link to the Unicorn Drive vero layout: http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/Uni-corn-Overdrive-td44433.html

[idy]

Like Tolstoy said: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." To the extent an amplifier is perfect it is like every other... the higher the fi, the less character. So many wonderful ways things can go wrong.

And it's like going to a restaurant and reading "Chicken Vindaloo, what's in that?" Or seeing ice cream that claims its like caramel wrestling with pistachio while a giant mango referees.

Some times you just build to give a try. You could spend all day driving to the city and sitting in a Guitar Center noodling for a few minutes, or for a half days labor have a rough and ready unit to have and hold.

And of course once you find a style you like, you need at least three. Or six... or.... Well one set up for rhythm and one for lead. On your fancy board. And at least one for your gig rig. And the grab and go set up. And the battery powered rig in the bathroom. All need your favorite fuzz.

And then it simply is a habit. "It is the meat it feeds upon. " F.Mathias Alexander said that. And used it to refer both to habits that degrade a person and habits that open new vistas and avenues for exploration and creative achievement.

[thetragichero]

for me it's just trying something new
sometimes I jump off the deep end and try two new things in one box and hope that it works

[Fancy Lime]

Interesting question, indeed.

What frequently peaks my interest into building a new fuzz/distortion/drive is hearing an interesting sound and wondering how to recreate that on a breadboard. Most of these circuits never make it off the breadboard because I am really more interested in finding out HOW it's done rather than have a device the does it at the end. The triggering sound experience may come from listening to music or something else entirely. Industrial machinery has been a source of inspiration in the past, so have cars with the tailpipes fallen off. In fact, one of my earliest fuzz experiments was after my own tailpipe had developed a rust whole and I started to wonder "How can I make a guitar sound like that?" The result ended up sounding completely different but that was the initial trigger.

What makes distortion devices more versatile and more interesting than most other effects, at least to me, and what may explain the much larger variety in, say, fuzzes than in clean boosters, is the cornucopia of possibilities brought about by different combinations of manipulation of three main factors: 1) harmonic content, 2) dynamic response, and 3) frequency response. No other effect category gives you quite so many audibly distinct combinations. An (ideal) equalizer, for example, only manipulates the frequency response, leaving harmonic content and dynamic response alone. A compressor may only affect the dynamic response or the dynamic and frequency response, but not the harmonic content (unless it distorts but that is kind of the point, isn't it). To me, dynamic response and frequency response are btw the most useful parameters to distinguish between fuzz, distortion and overdrive. Fuzz is least dynamic, overdrive is most dynamic. Fuzz is bass heavy pre-clipping, the others are treble heavy; this also influences the dynamic response. So the three factors are, on top of all else, highly interdependent. Tweak one, and the other two change as well. Decades of fun, I (don't have to) tell you.

Andy

[deadastronaut]

what prompts me is my ever changing musical tastes, and styles...

some weeks i have a thrash binge, other weeks i'll go on a c synthy/bluesy/funky/metal/jazz  binge...

so distortion, and overdrives ....not so much fuzz, pushes me to tweak to taste according to my latest

musical binge fad........next week i might be on a non genre specific fad taste, then out comes the breadboard...again..

[GibsonGM]

I hear something in a song and realize I can't make quite that sound/tone with my rig.    Then I want a new fuzz    Or distortion, trem, whatever...

[Mark Hammer]

Like Tolstoy said: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." To the extent an amplifier is perfect it is like every other... the higher the fi, the less character. So many wonderful ways things can go wrong.

My favorite grandmother story.  Sometime in the mid-'1980s, I am at my grandmother's bedside chatting.  At this point she is in her mid-90s, bedridden with a broken hip, and blind from glaucoma for the past 40-some years.  Somehow, the topic comes around to the virtues of knowing more than one language.  Knowing her geographic roots, I say "If I knew Russian, I could read Tolstoy in Russian.  Do you know who Tolstoy was?".  As a Lithuanian farmer's wife who raised 8 children, and had spent half her life blind, I had not expected her to be particularly literate, so I prepared my response.  "Sure", she says.  "WhenI was young, we lived near him in St. Petersberg.  He was a bah-ROHN.  He had a big beard like so (she gestures with her hands), and he worked in the fields with everyone else, with his shirt-tails out, even though he didn't have to, because he was a bah-ROHN.  And when he died, everyone was so sad.  They came from everywhere for the funeral."  Here I am, about to wag a finger at an old blind woman and pronounce "He was a very famous Russian writer", and the sonuvabitch was her neighbour.  I'm glad her blindness prevented her from seeing the shame on my face.

Some twenty-five years later, the film The Last Station, with Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer comes out, depicting Tolstoy's final days, and damned if everything my grandmother told me wasn't in the movie.  It was both vindicating, and annoying.  Vindicating because it validated what she had told me, and the accuracy of her recollection.  Annoying because now it looks like I made up the story, using the film as my source.

The moral is: ask your parents and grandparents everything about their lives.  What's "history" to us, is just "their life" to them.

Carry on.  Back to the thread, already in progress.