How Does A Drive, Gain, Or Distortion Knob Work?
September 17, 2024I’ve touched on this subject a lot, but I want to approach it differently now. Namely, from the perspective of the potentiometer that is controlling the gain in an overdrive, distortion, or fuzz pedal. When talking about this before, I’ve mostly gone through how clipping diodes work in guitar pedals and how they cause clipping […]
How Do Guitar Pedal (And Guitar) Volume Knobs Work?
August 21, 2024Hopefully this article is going to be short and sweet, as the concept of volume knobs in guitar pedals (and guitars for that matter) is quite simple. This explanation should hold for volume control on analogue devices, however, I’m not sure if it holds for digital volume control; it probably does in a general sense, […]
What’s The Difference Between Symmetrical And Asymmetrical Clipping?
July 17, 2024When it comes to clipping sound signals, typically in guitar pedals, you’ll often hear about symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping. Although clipping guitar signals (and any audio signal for that matter) can be done through a variety of ways, when talking about symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping, people are specifically talking about clipping diodes in guitar pedals. […]
What Is A Voltage Divider?
May 23, 2024Most guitar pedals use a 9 volt direct current. There are pedals out there that use something else, but 9 volts is the most common, especially when it comes to DIY guitar pedals. However, what do you do if you need something lower than 9 volts? What if your pedal needs both 9 volts and […]
Understanding Mid-Scoops And The Big Muff Tone Circuit
February 27, 2024The Big Muff by Electro-Harmonix is another one of those super famous guitar pedals. It has a classic fuzz sound to it with a schematic that’s relatively easy to understand. Sure, it’s quite a bit more complicated that a Fuzz Face, but there’s also a lot more that you can do with it, including tone […]
How High Pass And Low Pass Filters Work In Guitar Pedals
January 27, 2024If you look at any schematic for a guitar pedal, you’ll see high and low pass filters throughout the circuitry. Sometimes they’re not so obvious, but once you learn how to spot them you’ll see them everywhere! High and low pass filters, sometimes called low cut and high cut filters, are used to shape the […]
