Newbie Question: Creating Distortion

[bluetone]

Howdy,

I'm just starting to learn about dirtboxes. Correct me if wrong, but the two basic ways to generate distortion are to:

A)Amplify a signal and then use diodes to clip the waveform. (Tubescreamer, Rat, Muff, D+)
B)Amplify a signal and use it to overdrive a transistor of some sort (Fuzzface, Tonebender, FET-based Amps-in-a-Can)

Would anyone care to elaborate or add anything? All this is new to me, but could quickly become an obsession 

[darron]

this is an informative read, but it might not go into the further depths that you seem to be looking for:
http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/index.html

[R.G.]

Read GEO. Perhaps in this case especially the Guitar Effects FAQ, but sooner or later all of it.