MartyGrass Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 When the amp is overdriven, what happens to the frequency spectrum? How do pedals achieve this effect without pushing the output? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoNameBand Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Is this a trick (or treat) question? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HRB853370 Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Wrong forum MG. And NNB Mark is just messin with ya he knows the answer to this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 It sounds good and, it sounds good at lower volume. Ok what did I win?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars_hall Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 How's your math? Distortion and overdrive can be variants of the same topic. Take a sine wave of a given frequency, mathematically add sine waves of higher frequencies and the resultant peaks will start to flatten out or square off (distort). The higher the frequencies are added, the squarer it gets. An amp does this naturally when you try to drive it passed the highest and lowest voltages it can produce (overdrive) or are present as its rails which are being supplied by the power supply of the stage. If you drive the input to try to get it to amplify harder/more it just reaches its +/- extremes of the supplied voltage and flattens producing the squared wave. Gain is just a ratio of the output to the input of an amp stage measured in volts, current, or power. The frequency spectrum the amp is capable of producing remains the same. The frequency content changes. The individual stages can only change frequency as quick as their parts, which amounts to the signal changing direction (plus to minus to plus...). FETs can change quicker than tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectrum13 Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 When the amp is overdriven, what happens to the frequency spectrum? Thanks. Are you asking me? I'm the only Spectrum here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoslate Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Are you asking me? I'm the only Spectrum here. When the amp is overdriven, what happens to the frequency, spectrum? Now, I feel better.... You can answer now, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genericmusic Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 How's your math? Distortion and overdrive can be variants of the same topic. Take a sine wave of a given frequency, mathematically add sine waves of higher frequencies and the resultant peaks will start to flatten out or square off (distort). The higher the frequencies are added, the squarer it gets. An amp does this naturally when you try to drive it passed the highest and lowest voltages it can produce (overdrive) or are present as its rails which are being supplied by the power supply of the stage. If you drive the input to try to get it to amplify harder/more it just reaches its +/- extremes of the supplied voltage and flattens producing the squared wave. Gain is just a ratio of the output to the input of an amp stage measured in volts, current, or power. The frequency spectrum the amp is capable of producing remains the same. The frequency content changes. The individual stages can only change frequency as quick as their parts, which amounts to the signal changing direction (plus to minus to plus...). FETs can change quicker than tubes. Believe it or not I followed this. Quite simply it squares the sound wave. I bet this could be graphed quite easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Its all a bunch of little gremlins working away inside those little stomp boxes. As long as it sounds good, I don't care how it works, just that it works and I can get some nice rock tones at a lower volume.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 When the amp is overdriven, what happens to the frequency spectrum? How do pedals achieve this effect without pushing the output? Thanks. Don't the pedals feed a hotter input to the amp? Without a pedal overdriven tubes provide the breakup I believe ...little help Brian. FwIw, I just read a long winded deal on distortion pedals and the OCD seems to have a big following especially with a Fender amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koula901 Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I thought that the pedal push the pre-amp tubes, hence, the overdrive/or distortion sounds at lower volumes. It's all on the same spectrum, a matter of degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurph1 Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 It sounds good and, it sounds good at lower volume. Ok what did I win?! WAIT!! You stole my answer!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars_hall Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Don't the pedals feed a hotter input to the amp? Without a pedal overdriven tubes provide the breakup I believe ...little help Brian. FwIw, I just read a long winded deal on distortion pedals and the OCD seems to have a big following especially with a Fender amp. I thought that the pedal push the pre-amp tubes, hence, the overdrive/or distortion sounds at lower volumes. It's all on the same spectrum, a matter of degree. A pedal can, but doesn't necessarily have to push the preamp stage into saturation (overdrive). Pedals have amp stages in them as well and It is possible to reduce the output (volume etc) of the pedal before it enters the amp. Conversely, it is possible to increase the output of the pedal to saturate the preamp tubes. If the pedal output is increased, there is a chance. but not a given, that the signal will be sufficient to push the preamp tubes into overdrive. Similarly, if the pedal output signal is reduced, the pedal amp stages can be pushed internally to create the squaring and then reduced at the overall level into a clean channel of the tube amp. In this case, the tube amp does not saturate (peaks reached and flattened) but the internal pedal stages do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 WAIT!! You stole my answer!! I'm pretty quick on my feet when I'm drunk on the couch! Heh heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 A pedal can, but doesn't necessarily have to push the preamp stage into saturation (overdrive). Pedals have amp stages in them as well and It is possible to reduce the output (volume etc) of the pedal before it enters the amp. Conversely, it is possible to increase the output of the pedal to saturate the preamp tubes. If the pedal output is increased, there is a chance. but not a given, that the signal will be sufficient to push the preamp tubes into overdrive. Similarly, if the pedal output signal is reduced, the pedal amp stages can be pushed internally to create the squaring and then reduced at the overall level into a clean channel of the tube amp. In this case, the tube amp does not saturate (peaks reached and flattened) but the internal pedal stages do. That's exactly what I said! Honestly music and sounds are a truly amazing thing. None of us percieve things exactly the same, even though we are hearing the same thing. (Excluding hearing loss I guess and different degrees of hearing loss) Kind of a tree falling in the forest thing I guess, but if we all percieved things the same way, there would only be one guitar, one amp, one overdrive pedal...so on and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 That's exactly what I said! Honestly music and sounds are a truly amazing thing. None of us percieve things exactly the same, even though we are hearing the same thing. (Excluding hearing loss I guess and different degrees of hearing loss) Kind of a tree falling in the forest thing I guess, but if we all percieved things the same way, there would only be one guitar, one amp, one overdrive pedal...so on and so on. Profound shit huh, I'm drunk on the couch again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars_hall Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Well, you know you could have slid to the floor ;p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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