Add Diode-Clipping Distortion to your Guitar Amp

Step 6 But how does it sound?

Well, IMO, pretty good...

It definitely gives a harder-edge to the natural distortion of my amp. But it's a small amp, and the attenuation is fairly significant in the "full-on" setting.

At least one thing must be noted:

A simple mod like this isn't going to give you an over-the-top metal-chorus-delay-flange-mega-distortion effect. You're better off using a stompbox or fancy rack-mount fx unit. But if you like the sound of your amp clean, you probably will like it even better with a little "dirt."

To be honest, a good tube amp with some flexibility really brings out the character of different guitars better than the external FX. And you can always use the stompboxs with the mod anyway...

Comments

[Calligraphy]

So I have a cheap-o First Act bass amp in combination with a Peavey 126 and I want to have my first act act as a dirty channel.(since the volume is lower) Would I have to make any changes in these plans to accommodate bass freq.? This is probably a stupid question but oh well.

[ski4jesus]

Btw, first act guitars are not all that too baad, i refinished one and it came out pretty nice. and im pretty sure that the bass would not have a difference with that schematic.

[gmoon]

The most important consideration is the peak voltage of the signal--where ever you decide to install the clipping diodes. The diodes shouldn't change the frequency.

Find a point along the signal path after a coupling capacitor and before an amplifying component (transistor, opamp, tube, etc.)

Look at step five for ideas to control the amount of clipping.

[Koil_1]

This is one of those things where you say, "why the heck didn't I think of that?" Seriously this is a sweet mod that I'm probably going to put into my old Marshal mark IV as a temporary thing using 2 1/4 inch phono jacks. I'm going to mount them in the back of the amp so I can just swap out a short patch cord for this mod. I think with some velcro I could put a lot more different FX boxes like this together. Nothing like expanding in a great idea to brighten the day!

[gmoon]

Hey, run with it... Lemme know how it works out.

[Koil_1]

OMG, just when I thought it was great I set it into my bass head. With an added trim pot as you suggested to adjust the effect it went from crystal clean to a guttural grunge that rivals the best stomp boxes. This is quite possibly one of the best things I've picked up on the internet. Eventually I plan to play around with a triode tube as well as some JFETs and MOSFETs in solid state. Should be fun though I don't see how this could sound much better.