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The overdriven sound of a valve power amplifier is highly desirable, with many different output
stage designs to produce the variety of trademark sounds heard on modern recordings. The only
problem is that a valve power amplifier is only capable of producing this sound at one volume
(usually, fairly loud!).
Dummy speaker loads (the good ones are not just resistive, they need to simulate the reactive load
of a speaker) allow a player to use one amplifier in a variety of playing situations and styles by
running the amplifier at the desired level, and using the dummy load to regulate the volume level.
Another option for the playing musician is to use a variety of amplifiers, however, this approach
appeals only to rare wealthy musicians.
There are probably 3 distinctly identifiable types of valve power amplifiers used:
Leo Fender's classic early designs used 6V6 tubes, and later, the higher powered 6L6's. This
gave a characteristic full and punchy sound, suitable for many styles of the day, and later.
Steel and country players like the chime‐like clean sounds, and blues players were quick to
discover the classic way it breaks up when pushed hard. At really high overdrive, though, the
sound becomes quite dirty, with bass in particular sounding flabby.
Marshall designs started as Fender copies, but soon switched to EL34 output tubes, possibly
for local supply reasons. Anyway, the rest is history. These tubes exhibit a softer overdrive
transition, and maintain clarity even at high overdrive levels. They also have a limited middle
response, giving rise to the famous Marshall crunch sound. The lower powered EL84 tubes
have similar characteristics.
Vox AC30 (and the more popular top boost model) uses a Class AB power amplifier design,
with the valves biased "hot", so while this operates in class A at lower levels, it is really a
class AB design. There's no negative feedback in the power amp either, so this gives a
different sound, often described as a sweeter overdrive. Listen to Brian May's sounds for
plenty of good examples.
The Fender and Marshall designs use class AB for their output designs, biased with the valves almost
off with no signal. This is more efficient (more watts per tube), and better for tube life. When you
play, tubes take turns handling each half of the signal. This leads to some minor distortion as the
tubes cross over which is all but eliminated with the negative feedback. Class A designs are rare in
medium to high power guitar amps, but true class A has the tubes operating at half power with no
signal applied. When you play, the tube fluctuates between full and no power, so there is no
switching to add unwanted distortion. This is a very superficial explanation; please read elsewhere
on the Internet for more detailed descriptions.
Boutique amplifier builders offer composite designs, offering characteristics of all designs. This can
be done dynamically (by responding to picking strength and volume settings), or with various
switching schemes. Mesa Boogie has built it excellent reputation for tube preamp overdrive and
tone shaaping designs, used in co
onjunction with high quallity tube pow
wer amplifierrs. For most of us,
we can uuse a wide raange of effecctive stomp b
boxes for ou
ur overdrive aand distortio
on sounds.
Soft Clip
pping: This iss usually marrketed as "ovverdrive", wh here the gain
n is inverselyy proportionaal to the
input siggnal level. Th
his is typicallyy produced eeither with b
back to back silicon signal diodes in th
he
negativee feedback p path of an opp‐amp, or witth germanium m diodes or LEDs back to o back in a sh
hunt to
ground.
Hard CClipping: Usu ually marketeed as "distorttion", wheree the signal le
evel is restriccted within aa range.
This is typically pro
oduced with silicon diodees back to baack in a shun nt to ground. This is the ssame as
the circcuit above, u
using silicon instead of geermanium/LED diodes. H Here's a pictuure of what ssoft and
hard clippingg do to your guitar signal:
There are some other criteria which players will notice (not necessarily immediately) when using
these designs:
The ability to retain timbre: Different guitar pickup combinations produce recognisable signature
sounds of the instrument used. By its nature, overdrive will mask this timbre to some extent,
however, many musical styles prefer to retain as much of the original character as possible.
Inter‐modulation distortion: Again, by its nature, overdrive will produce inter‐modulation distortion
when two or more notes are played together. For just two notes played, inter‐modulation distortion
produces an additional note with a frequency of the difference between the original two notes. For
chords, where up to 6 notes are played, the combinations of note pairs can produce an
unrecognisable mess of distortion.
On the other hand, this is actually desirable in musical styles which use mainly power chords,
because in this case, the inter‐modulation distortion adds a note which is tune with the chord. For
other styles, where a player may want to hold one note and bend (change the pitch of) another, a
slurring bass note occurs which is generally quite undesirable. This can be minimised to some extent
by limiting bass response.
Sustain v/s Dynamics: One of the key desirable features of overdrive is the sustain produced,
however, too much sustain will destroy the dynamics. Players will also want to use the overdrive
sound for single note solo work, and be able to turn down their guitar volume (effectively reducing
the gain of the overdrive preamplifier) to clean up the sound for chord work. Some designs are
better than others in this ability to compromise sustain and dynamics. Designs that give the
impression of 'switching' from overdrive to clean as a note fades are usually perceived as sounding
unnatural.
Frequency compensation: Because preamplifiers are generally connected between the guitar and
the amplifier tone circuit, there is no pickup equalisation to compensate for reduced treble
response. Consequently, it is usual to limit the bass response before the overdrive section. While it
would be logical to boost it after the circuit, this makes the inter‐modulation distortion more
noticeable, so this is often not done.
The overdrive circuit itself adds higher frequency components to the sound simply because the
overdrive circuit is non‐linear. These must be cut to preserve some tone similarity with the
unprocessed sound, and to also remove unwanted high frequency components. Most players prefer
this to be adjustable, to suit their own tastes.
CLASSSIC DESIG
GNS
nd opinions
Facts an
In writin
ng these pagees, I have trieed hard to avoid giving m
my opinions; instead I've tried to givee you
just the facts so you can draw yo our own concclusions. I'll let you decid
de how succe essful I've beeen. In
talking aabout some cclassic overddrive pedals, though, I think I can addd some valuee by giving yo ou my
impressions of how these pedalss sound to m me. I've also sshown portioons of the schematics of these
pedals to explain theeir unique feeatures. Thesse schematiccs are not complete; theyy show only tthe
effect signal path, an
nd not all component values are show wn. Please d
don't email mme asking forr these
values, bbecause I don't know wh hat they are. Of course, iff you do know and want to tell me ....
ProCo RRat Distortion n: Not necesssarily the neext pedal chronologicallyy, but look att how similarr this
design iss. It uses 2 silicon diodes for symmettrical hard cliipping. I wou
uld also expeect that at higgh gain
settings,, the IC also clips to the ssupply rails
Ibanez TTube Scream mer : No discu ussion on ovverdrive pedaals is compleete without loooking at thee Ibanez
Tube Scrreamer. There have been n several minnor variationns of the peddal released b
by Ibanez, annd a
larger nuumber of varriations sold by boutiquee pedal manu As our guitar heroes die, it seems
ufacturers. A
the equiipment they used sometimes takes o on a mythical status. In mmy opinion, this is the casse with
the genuuinely legend dary Stevie RRay Vaughann and the Tub be Screamer. This resultss in some silly prices
for original pedals, aand a lively m
market to connvert differeent pedals to Stevie's model.
Neverth box is a very smooth sounding pedal that retains the guitar tiimbre
heless, the grreen Ibanez b
well with single coil guitaars. There is not an enorm
d for that reaason works w
well, and mous amoun nt of
drive available, and the tone conntrol is subtlee. Like manyy overdrive p
pedals, there is some mid
ddle
boost, caused by thee bass cut beefore overdriive, and trebble cut afterwwards.
Anotherr common usse for these p pedals is as aa middle boo
oster to drivee a valve amplifier hardeer. This is
done byy setting littlee or no drive, but with th
he level set high.
In the scchematic, you can see tw
wo silicon dio
odes, back to
o back, in the
e negative feedback path
h of an
op‐amp. This arrangement givess symmetricaal soft‐clippinng.
Boss Sup per Overdrivve SD‐1 : Theese were origginally sold w
without the ttone control. The design is nearly
identical to the Ibanez Tube Screeamer with 2 ore boost is aavailable, but is
2 important cchanges. Mo
partly offfset by usingg 2 diodes in on and only one in the otther. This produces
n one directio
asymmeetrical soft clipping, mean ning that onee side of the waveform iss clipped moore severely tthan the
other. A
A more comm mon implemeentation of aasymmetrical clipping is tto use 2 silicoon diodes, w
with a
germaniium diode in series with one of them m.
whether thiss sounds more natural, and whether it better
There is lively debate on the Inteernet about w
emulatees some asym mmetric valve phase splittter designs. In any case, I think it does add a little
characteer, and there
efore suits huumbucker guuitars well.
Marshalll Pedals: Bluues Breaker,, Drive Maste Master Thesee three pedaals were released in
er & Shred M
the earlyy 90's, and u
use different clipping and ng techniquees to deliver different sou
d tone shapin unds.
The Bluues Breaker u uses silicon ddiodes in serries with a reesistor, in the
e op‐amp fee edback path for very
soft clipping. It's th
herefore a veery subtle pedal, with warm sounds aat low to med dium overdrrive, but
can sound a litttle fuzzy at h high gain. Reetention of gguitar timbre and dynamiics is good, aand
inteermodulation n (read abovve) is acceptaable.
The Drivve Master usses LEDs shunting to grou und for symm metrical softt clipping. I like this pedal for its
howling Marshall staack‐like qualities with sinngle note solos and powe er chords. Dyynamics are ggood at
high drivve levels, rettention of tim
mbre is excelllent, but intermodulatioon is a probleem for anything but
simple cchord work.
he animal its name impliees. It uses silicon diodes shunting thee signal
The Shreed Master iss not quite th
to groun
nd, for symmmetrical hard clipping. Bass and treblee controls, annd a contourr control offeering
middle bboost and cuut sounds givve a wide ran
nge of usablee sounds, although I'm no ot convinced d shred is
one of them. Retenttion of dynam mics is good,, intermodulation is OK, aand retentio
on of timbre is good
at low drive settingss.
Do It Yourself!
Here's a circuit that combines many desirable features. Feel free to experiment with the component
values. For example, using lower value capacitors around the tone control will give a brighter sound,
and vice versa. The capacitor on the left sets the tone at fully clockwise, while the one on the right
sets the minimum tone sound.
This circuit has been updated for 2002. A buffer mode switch has been added ‐ see the notes below
(normally you would just wire this permanently the way you want to use it. Also, thanks to Todd
Modjeski who pointed a correction required for the input over‐voltage protection.
The circuit features are:
Battery power is connected by inserting a mono guitar plug into the input socket This power
supply uses a voltage divider to provide half‐supply voltage bias to the circuit
Input over‐voltage protection (the 1K resistor and 2 x rectifier diodes)
High impedance unity‐gain buffer (the BC549 transistor) to interface the high output
impedance of a guitar with the following circuitry
High pass filter (the 2.2K resistor and 0.15uF capacitor) to compensate for the natural low‐
middle emphasis of guitar pickups
Soft‐clipping non‐linear amplifier (the 1st half of the TL072 and the 4 diodes in the feedback
path) with variable gain control
A switch to use soft‐clipping (overdrive), or apply hard clipping (distortion, with the 2 diodes
to ground)
Low pass filter to compensate for the high harmonics added in the clipping stages (the 6.8nF
capacitor)
The Tone control is a variable low pass filter (50K pot and a second capacitor) to allow you to
customise the amount of treble cut
An output buffer with 6dB of gain to provide a low impedance output
A Level control to allow you to use the pedal to boost or match normal guitar levels (or use
as a middle booster with low gain and high level settings)
A footswitch to use or bypass the circuit
When bypassed, the overdrive effect is shorted, so no background "fizz" bleeds into the
clean signal
LED indication to show when the effect is on, used with a Zener diode to restrict available
voltage to the LED to give early indication of battery failure
Bypass mode switch ‐ use hard bypass to preserve original tone (and for bypass to work even
if the battery is dead), or use buffer mode to drive long leads without treble loss, or to drive
other effects such as volume pedals without tone loss.
Notes:
The top left portion of this circuiit supplies 9V
V power andd 4.5V bias too the rest of the circuit. C
Connect
all the 9V points together, and connect all th he 4.5V pointts together.