Sorry if this sounds dumb....
What generates the cool overdriven sound that I can hear on almost all videos I've looked at? I'm really hoping its nothing to do with FX pedals or similar ;-O (I'm guessing its the pickups?).
I'd like to keep my setup as simple as possible ie. using any old combo amp I have lying around (and 1 cheap lead).
Replies
As others have said, distortion can come from a lot of different sources - basically, it comes from anything that's being driven into a non-linear response to the input signal. That can be the pickups themselves - different pickups are more or less linear than others. It can come from really high-output pickups, that overdrive the input stage of whatever they're plugged into. It can come from an effect in front of the normal pre-amp stage of the amplifier you're using - some of the distortion stomp boxes do that. (Others do things in two stages, i.e. they have their own pre-amp/attenuator circuit that lets you use the effect to add distortion without actually making things louder...). It can come from a linear pre-amp over-driving the power stage of an amplifier. Finally, there's output distortion, like the suggestion to overdrive a cheap, low-fidelity speaker from the headphone output. I probably missed something...
Then - there's how the signal is reproduced non-linearly. Is it a simple clipping of the waveform? Or a more gradual distortion of it? Each of these schemes will give a different sound. A lot of people say that tube amps give the sweetest distortion, and even more specifically, that they give the sweetest distortion when the power amp tubes (valves) are over-driven. (I've heard they only generate even-harmonics when they're over-driven, and that somehow, that sounds sweeter than the odd-harmonics that solid-state amplifiers generate...) There's even a contribution from the old tube-diode rectifiers, where they have a delayed response to a sudden increase in input, followed by an overshoot, which gives that characteristic classic tube amp "crunch". (I love my old Fender Deluxe Reverb for that...)
"Cool sounding" is very subjective. But the bottom line is that, no, it's not just the pickups. (Think about it - the same guitar is going to sound pretty different when it's plugged into different rigs...)
Overdrive is exactly what it says..the signal has too much amplitude (ie it's too big) for the amp to handle cleanly, so it overwhelms the ability of the amp to deal with it, the signal gets clipped, and is driven into that characteristic distorted sound. Some amps react to this better than others, producing a more musical and pleasing sound, and overdrive pedals are designed to bring out the most pleasing harmonics and overall tone. Valves tend to do this simply because that's how they operate, and modern amps and effects emulate that sound.
A lot of people mistake this "cool sound" as being entirely due to the guitar, when what they are actually hearing is the amp or the effects built into the amp, or an external pedal. Also, anything recorded to the computer will be affected and more than likely distorted by the crappy mic and crappy speakers in most computers, so it is very difficult to get a true evaluation of what it will sound like in real life.
To me the best distortion sounds come from when you really start to push tube amps. Nowdays most tube amps have a "gain" knob to push the front end tubes, usually 12AX7 tubes, before you get to the power stage tubes but when you start to push the power tubes too is when it really starts gettin good. By then tho things can get to ear splitting levels. I think most people use pedals as mentioned above or have amps like the Line 6 that "model" amp sounds. These days I'm playin acoustic but still have some electric stuff.
I'm with pick on this. The Danelectro D-1 pedal is a killer, I use one on my hacked tube radio amp & it is nasty!!
Plus cheap.......
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Danelectro-D-1-Fab-Distortion-103375820...
most decent amps these days come with an overdrive switch ,, effect or level knob .
most of the time , this is what you are hearing , .. also , a simple distorton or overdrive pedal can do the trick.
magnetic pickups will handle overdrive and distortion better than a piezo .
if you have a head phone jack on your amp . you can try plugging in a cord with the other end cut and spliced to a much smaller speaker, .. then crank it up .. that will give you a distorted sound .. and is a cheap fix for what you got .
or , you coukld just crank your amp and get volumized distortion .
then again , an overdrive or distortion pedal and extra cord is cheap these days too.
good luk ;-)
I have discovered with my builds
Harsh sound = Piezo stuck directly to box lid.
Smooth sound = Piezo Sandwiched in something like Balsa wood, Felt, Thin foam etc then stuck to lid.