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Fuzz vs Overdrive vs Distortion, school me!


ak47dragunov

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All three are essentially "distortions" because they distort the true audio signal. Differences lie in the way they alter the signal and by which means. Transistors, diodes, IC's...there are many ways to get a decent distortion sound. "Fuzz" is just a particular 'flavor' of distoriton and is called fuzz because of the unique sound of the distortion you get with a fuzz circuit.

 

Heres a few samples from a terrific youtube reviewer and pro musician. These should give a decent idea of some of the sounds associated with each category.

 

FUZZ:

[YOUTUBE]i-zGpurjFAo[/YOUTUBE]

 

DISTORTION:

[YOUTUBE]auV6X6gfWdI[/YOUTUBE]

 

OVERDRIVE:

[YOUTUBE]AViMnHAV-lw[/YOUTUBE]

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I'll leave the technical details out of it...because I'd probably get them wrong.

 

Overdrive pedals are designed to emulate the sound of a tube amp that is turned up to a very high volume. This produces a clipping/compression effect on the tone, as well as amplifying some overtones that would normally be too quiet to hear. You typically get a warm, compressed tone with a lot more sustain than usual, but the natural tone of the guitar is still there. Classic rock and blues players (like myself) love overdrive pedals. The tubescreamer is sort of the industry standard for overdrives, but there are a billion pedals out there with different tones to pick from. I'm a fan of Barber, myself.

 

A distortion pedal amplifies those little overtones much more aggressively, which changes the tone to a much greater extent than an OD pedal will. This makes the "fuzziness" of the tone more pronounced. It makes for a more aggressive sound, and is usually used for heavier rock and metal.

 

A fuzz pedal (to my knowledge) is really just a distortion pedal, but the purpose is to give that super-noisy signal. With so many overtones being amped up by the pedal, you get a very fuzzy, buzzy tone. Psychedelic acts in the 60's loved these things, and they got another big boost in the early 90's when grunge bands started using them.

 

 

That's the way I see 'em. I'm sure somebody else can give more details and possibly correct my mistakes. I favor overdrives.

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Overdrive pedals are designed to emulate the sound of a tube amp that is turned up to a very high volume. This produces a clipping/compression effect on the tone, as well as amplifying some overtones that would normally be too quiet to hear. You typically get a warm, compressed tone with a lot more sustain than usual, but the natural tone of the guitar is still there. Classic rock and blues players (like myself) love overdrive pedals. The tubescreamer is sort of the industry standard for overdrives, but there are a billion pedals out there with different tones to pick from. I'm a fan of Barber, myself.

 

 

i always thought overdrive pedals were designed to add volume, pump the mids, and add a slight bit of gain to cut through on leads.

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The line between overdrive and distortion is pretty ambiguous. Overdrive doesn't have as much actual "distortion" on tap. It is best used to push an amp towards the onset of power tube saturation while providing a bit of gain on its own. Literally, to overdrive the amp. I see distortion as something that is better used as a standalone on a clean channel. Generally lower gain units are labeled overdrive while higher gain are distortion.

 

Fuzz is a totally different animal to me in that while OD and distortion try to be "amplike", fuzz doesn't sound like an amp at all. It's a wild, over the top sound, super thick and buzzy. For some stuff it's great, but it's not my thing at all.

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The line between overdrive and distortion is pretty ambiguous. Overdrive doesn't have as much actual "distortion" on tap. It is best used to push an amp towards the onset of power tube saturation while providing a bit of gain on its own. Literally, to overdrive the amp. I see distortion as something that is better used as a standalone on a clean channel. Generally lower gain units are labeled overdrive while higher gain are distortion.


Fuzz is a totally different animal to me in that while OD and distortion try to be "amplike", fuzz doesn't sound like an amp at all. It's a wild, over the top sound, super thick and buzzy. For some stuff it's great, but it's not my thing at all.

 

 

yeah, i'd say it like this

 

Overdrive: Cruising over the speed limit (doing 80 in a 60mph zone)

Distortion: High Speed Chase

Fuzz: Total Wipeout Head On Collision Cars-Flipping-Over Huge Explosion at the End.

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I thought his voice sounded like Jack Black - I'm a big fan - and I even thought to myself that his little comic snippits sounded Jack Blacky... but I never made the connection.

 

That's awesome.

 

metallica_00. I think we're on the same page with most tonalities and I've NEVER considered myself much of a fuzz guy, but that video clip with the fuzz makes me rethink that. I was very impressed with the tone he was getting.

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I thought his voice sounded like Jack Black - I'm a big fan - and I even thought to myself that his little comic snippits sounded Jack Blacky... but I never made the connection.


That's awesome.


metallica_00. I think we're on the same page with most tonalities and I've NEVER considered myself much of a fuzz guy, but that video clip with the fuzz makes me rethink that. I was very impressed with the tone he was getting.

 

 

A product of may things, but the pedal is surely an amazing piece. When compared to a more traditional Fuzz pedal, like say an Electro Harmonix Big Muff, its a much more tone friendly box IMO.

 

Then there are other OD/distortion boxes that can have a bit of fuzz sound to them without getting too crazy. One versatile box that fits that bill is the Crowther Audio Hotcake. Check out this vid: (2:00 mark -3:00)

 

[YOUTUBE]qlrErdBDaoM[/YOUTUBE]

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Unfortunately that's not JB, but it sure sounds like him. There were at least 2 recent threads on here about his identity, but there doesn't appear to be any search results for "gearmanndude."

 

His reviews are excellent and ass-crackingly funny, regardless.

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Unfortunately that's not JB, but it sure sounds like him. There were at least 2 recent threads on here about his identity, but there doesn't appear to be any search results for "gearmanndude."


His reviews are excellent and ass-crackingly funny, regardless.

 

 

oh...?

I'd be SHOCKED if that wasn't actually him. Nevertheless though, fantastic reviews

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Unfortunately that's not JB, but it sure sounds like him. There were at least 2 recent threads on here about his identity, but there doesn't appear to be any search results for "gearmanndude."

 

 

Yeah, the search function here has some issues. I was looking for a recent thread with a very common guitar-related search term and it didn't find anything at all.

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