Homemade Distortion Box

This simple distortion box creates a very rugged, raw sound.
To make it you need: 2 amplifiers, a guitar, 1/8th to 1/4th adapter, a shoe box, headphones*** and a microphone

***These need to be headphones you won't miss, I broke my pair of skullcandies because I turned the volume too high on my bass. Use cheap ones and don't turn the instrument up too loudly.

Step 1: Setting Up AMP1

To set up amp 1 plug a microphone into it's input
And lay that microphone in the shoebox
Done!

Step 2: Setting Up AMP2

Plug your instrument into amp2's input
Plug a pair of headphones using a 1/8th to 1/4th adapter into amp2's output as shown
Lay the pair of headphones about an inch or two from the microphone in the box

Step 3: Cap It and Play

Place the lid on the box
Make sure the volume on AMP2 is quiet to start off with and slowly raise it (if you raise it too much your headphones will break) it doesn't matter how loud you make AMP1

Strum away, it should be gritty. Play around with the spacing of the headphones.
Enjoy

Comments

[1spartan95]

Wouldnt this be kind of a lofi effect?

[anode505]

A while back i found a site that had schematics for a LOT of amps and pedals. (commercial versions Fender DOD, Boss, etc) A google search should pop up something.

[craig3]

understand it being easy and cheap, providing you have a mic ready at hand, but wouldnt it be eaiser and better in the long run to buy an effects pedal?

[Tibbalz]

Yeah  I agree with you, this is not an "All the time" effect. It's very gritty and is just for when you want a totally distorted, raw sound. This isn't gonna replace a distortion pedal. But it's fun to play with.