Generally: Overdrive: Soft clipping normally by using diodes in a feedback loop to soften the knee. Distortion, hard clipping, diodes after massive gain increase. Fuzz: internal transistor saturation created by driving one transistor into others.
@@Lantertronics I used to have a service job for a while. I heard many a child complain about going to college and my response was, I have said to the parent " If you need a tax break I'll take your kids classes". LOL
I am absolutely fascinated by this series and your explanations on these topics regarding audio applications in electronics. I’m currently finishing my 3rd year studying electrical engineering in college and I’m developing a strong interest in audio electronics. I have been watching your series as a supplement for absence of any audio related classes at my college since there are very few signal processing classes here, let alone classes on audio circuitry. I’m even designing my own guitar effect pedals from scratch and getting them fabricated on custom PCBs in the lab. I even have my own synthesizer design in the works inspired by your previous series on analog music synthesis as my senior project. I deeply appreciate the work you do and I look forward to each upload you make. Keep up the good work!
A very good tutorial. Would it be possible to do an installment on the problems faced when a Cry-Baby is employed before the fuzz-face and an analysis or improvement on the FoxRox wah-buffer (or as I think of it the FoxRox single-opamp-fullrange-booster that allows to recover the signal-losses caused by a 22k or higher series resistance which is needed/employed to raise the impedance right before the input of the fuzz to make it work)? That would be golden! 😊
Damn, now you're getting me interested in this study I like anything related to guitars or drums, so making and maintaining such creations would be great
I have started building my own clones of alot of vintage analog circuits and am happy to have found your channel, so i can gain a better understanding of how this all works. I would like to eventually get t a point where i understand how changing values of different components will change the tone. Thank you for the information. : )
For a good history, search for Loud 'n' Dirty. There are several parts and the guy needs to be encouraged to continue the series. It's really informative.
Please do an analysis of the Pro-co Rat. It's a bit of a strange one, hard-clipping distortion with filtering stuff in the feedback and a unique tone stack. And was designed about 20 minutes from where I'm posting this.
Did you see the video I did on distortion & overdrive pedals? (Admittedly I didn't go into any particular pedal in any detail). Also, have you seen the Rat analysis on Electrosmash? (I love Electrosmash).
@@Lantertronics I have and I did and I do too :) The filtering on the op-amp feedback is odd and the whole thing isn't like anything else I've seen. The analysis on the site doesn't address the filtering stuff and the tone stack and why it's still a bit of a weird beast in the world of distortion. Looking at their analysis they ignore C5 and C6.
@@cerrem1 I've personally not heard a very convincing demo of the LM308 superiority. Both the rats I've modded have NE5534s which do not have a bad slew rate but have more gain. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Kinda curious how that biasing and feedback scheme can be exploited in other electronics realms. Might play around in LTSpice later and see if I can make anything using it at RF frequencies.
Hello! I’m a beginner when it comes to pedals and electronics but I’m eager to learn. Can you simply explain why fuzz sounds generally horrible with a bass guitar?
Think about a choir arrangement -- base and tenor parts are generally spread out compared to what you can do with an alto and soprano part working together. Similarly, a string quartet will have two violins and a viola and bass, and not say on violin and a viola and two basses. When you play a note with a fundamental of 100 Hz, you get the harmonics at 200 Hz, 300 Hz, 400 Hz, etc. But we perceive pitch on a logarithmic scale, so while the octave above 100 Hz is 200 Hz, the octave above that is 400 Hz, and above that is 800 Hz, etc. So harmonic content at a lower end of human hearing is going to sound denser than harmonic content at the upper end of human hearing. A fuzz will add harmonics in a way that's going to be perceived as denser and more cluttered at low frequencies.
@@stijnkuipers4251 Nope, I'm not making drums, not even trying making any music anymore. Just making a silly joke about the student quiz :) Anyway, glad to see you're watching the right UA-cam channel(s) :)
Nope. You just swap negative and positive. Germanium transistors were more common in PNP and the fuzz face just ran on batteries so it didn't matter. You could make a PNP version with silicon the same way.
From the interested bystander's perspective, you missed one important option: "I watch them whenever they pop up in my YT feed."
Me too! :-)
Get notification from subscription, brew coffee and watch lecture. 👌
I know the quiz was for the students, but George is my answer.
Generally:
Overdrive: Soft clipping normally by using diodes in a feedback loop to soften the knee.
Distortion, hard clipping, diodes after massive gain increase.
Fuzz: internal transistor saturation created by driving one transistor into others.
These kind of discrete transistor circuits are kinda mysterious for a beginner, so this analysis is really helpful
Glad to help!
Wow.
Thanks! :)
you are such a legend.
Thank you for your kind words!
I loved the video. I wish I lived closer to your university to take your class. You're an engaging teacher.
Thank you for your kind words!
@@Lantertronics I used to have a service job for a while. I heard many a child complain about going to college and my response was, I have said to the parent " If you need a tax break I'll take your kids classes". LOL
I am absolutely fascinated by this series and your explanations on these topics regarding audio applications in electronics. I’m currently finishing my 3rd year studying electrical engineering in college and I’m developing a strong interest in audio electronics. I have been watching your series as a supplement for absence of any audio related classes at my college since there are very few signal processing classes here, let alone classes on audio circuitry.
I’m even designing my own guitar effect pedals from scratch and getting them fabricated on custom PCBs in the lab. I even have my own synthesizer design in the works inspired by your previous series on analog music synthesis as my senior project.
I deeply appreciate the work you do and I look forward to each upload you make. Keep up the good work!
I had one of those original Fuzz Face pedals around 1970. I don't remember why I got rid of it.
I've been reading that RG Keen article regularly since the 90s.
A very good tutorial. Would it be possible to do an installment on the problems faced when a Cry-Baby is employed before the fuzz-face and an analysis or improvement on the FoxRox wah-buffer (or as I think of it the FoxRox single-opamp-fullrange-booster that allows to recover the signal-losses caused by a 22k or higher series resistance which is needed/employed to raise the impedance right before the input of the fuzz to make it work)? That would be golden! 😊
13:14 The capacitor at the input may be to shunt unwanted RF pickup.
Damn, now you're getting me interested in this study
I like anything related to guitars or drums, so making and maintaining such creations would be great
I have started building my own clones of alot of vintage analog circuits and am happy to have found your channel, so i can gain a better understanding of how this all works. I would like to eventually get t a point where i understand how changing values of different components will change the tone. Thank you for the information. : )
Glad it helped!
Personally, i would maybe define diode hardclippers as distortion, diode softclippers as overdrive and clipping transistors and opamps as fuzz
That is generally how the naming has worked out? Then you can combine those...
For a good history, search for Loud 'n' Dirty. There are several parts and the guy needs to be encouraged to continue the series. It's really informative.
谢谢你
Ive been more of a Paul person, but I will also tend to go back and rewatch some of the ones I have more interest in. Can we call that a Pete (Best)?
Please do an analysis of the Pro-co Rat. It's a bit of a strange one, hard-clipping distortion with filtering stuff in the feedback and a unique tone stack. And was designed about 20 minutes from where I'm posting this.
Did you see the video I did on distortion & overdrive pedals? (Admittedly I didn't go into any particular pedal in any detail).
Also, have you seen the Rat analysis on Electrosmash? (I love Electrosmash).
@@Lantertronics I have and I did and I do too :) The filtering on the op-amp feedback is odd and the whole thing isn't like anything else I've seen. The analysis on the site doesn't address the filtering stuff and the tone stack and why it's still a bit of a weird beast in the world of distortion. Looking at their analysis they ignore C5 and C6.
Two parallel RC filters on the feedback?
@@justovision One of the main considerations with that pedal is the Slew-Rate of that particular OpAmp ...
@@cerrem1 I've personally not heard a very convincing demo of the LM308 superiority. Both the rats I've modded have NE5534s which do not have a bad slew rate but have more gain. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This fuzz video puts things into perspective! I am planning to build one and this is very helpful.
Any plans to go over Octave Fuzz in the future?
Shunt-Series-Feedback-Pair..... Remember your Sedra-Smith book from Undergrad :) ??
Kinda curious how that biasing and feedback scheme can be exploited in other electronics realms. Might play around in LTSpice later and see if I can make anything using it at RF frequencies.
Excellent analysis. Wish you were around 35 years ago! Lol.
Who was the first person to ever think of this madness???? Where they a god
Hello! I’m a beginner when it comes to pedals and electronics but I’m eager to learn. Can you simply explain why fuzz sounds generally horrible with a bass guitar?
Think about a choir arrangement -- base and tenor parts are generally spread out compared to what you can do with an alto and soprano part working together. Similarly, a string quartet will have two violins and a viola and bass, and not say on violin and a viola and two basses. When you play a note with a fundamental of 100 Hz, you get the harmonics at 200 Hz, 300 Hz, 400 Hz, etc. But we perceive pitch on a logarithmic scale, so while the octave above 100 Hz is 200 Hz, the octave above that is 400 Hz, and above that is 800 Hz, etc. So harmonic content at a lower end of human hearing is going to sound denser than harmonic content at the upper end of human hearing. A fuzz will add harmonics in a way that's going to be perceived as denser and more cluttered at low frequencies.
@@Lantertronics thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my question!! I never knew that about the choir but now I understand!
I’m not even in your school just curious. Thank you.
Glad you found it helpful!
I think I can safely guess you're not planning a series of lectures about e-drum technology any time soon? ;-)
hah! still making drums? We are about to launch a series of drum-oriented eurorack modules :-)
also: HI! awesome finding you in the comments again somewhere :-D
@@stijnkuipers4251 Nope, I'm not making drums, not even trying making any music anymore. Just making a silly joke about the student quiz :)
Anyway, glad to see you're watching the right UA-cam channel(s) :)
@@kfoltman did you see the Fenix IV yet? We've gone places since we were exploring all this stuff in china!
Is there a harmonic difference when using pnp vs npn transistors?
Nope. You just swap negative and positive. Germanium transistors were more common in PNP and the fuzz face just ran on batteries so it didn't matter. You could make a PNP version with silicon the same way.