Overdrive, Distortion... (SuperSaturation anyone???)

[six]

ok, let's see if you can help me with this one:

I really thought - and somehow I still believe - that an overdriven an a distorted sound are the same because you get distortion when overdriving your amp, right?
of course there's digital distortion-pedals which don't overdrive anything... so their distortion is not overdrive.
but overdrive results in distortion... so the "overdrive"-, "distortion-", "supersat"- and "(pre-)gain"- knobs all do the same thing, basically. right?
so when you hear a guitar-part you could either say "aahh... quite a lot distortion" or "aahh... quite overdriven" and both would be correct. or is there a difference?

i'm quite in doubt cause some dude wrote in a guitarbook "... he plays strats thru an overdriven tube-amp. sometimes a little delay and some distortion."
am I nuts or is the writer?

I really tend to say the latter... he also wrote "eddie van halen's sound isn't that distorted."
no? I guess I hear tons of distortion already in "ain't talking bout love".

so is there a difference between distortion and overdrive. or better; is there a difference in their results. do you know examples of distorted/overdriven sounds (if there's a difference).

i mean: I JUST HAVE THAT D*MN GAIN-KNOB!!! ;-)

[UnkleSlam]

I would consider overdrive and distortion basically the same thing. I just think that the terms refer to the variance of the distortion. Overdrive is a mellower, lighter distortion. Distortion would refer to a harder,or more saturated distorted sound.But these are VERY subjective terms.

Hope that helps.

[Tom Hicks]

Think of it like this,A distorted signal may be amplified without any stage of the amp circuit being overdriven or saturated (in the case of tubes)."Overdrive" is deliberately overloading the amp (pre or power stage) which does result is distortion.However the charactor of the distortion will vary greatly depending on the combination of the front end and the amp.
In common usage,if you turn an amp up till it wails,that is distortion.If you use a stomp box like a TS9 to raise the voltage above the nominal guitar level (100 mv?something like that...)at the input jack,that is overdriving.My 2 cents anyway.

Tom

[Krystof01]

Though in the format of a pedal both are synthetic, overdrive generally is more natural. Distortion does what the word distorion implies; it distortes the signal (at any volume). Overdrive on the other side boosts the signal (drives it/lifts/pushes it). Though using an overdrive may distort the signal and to some may seem alike the pedals are very different.

I tend to go for overdrive as IMO the outcome is more 'organic'., Think in terms of a Marshall amp. May take on the difference between a 50 watt and 100 watt. You can overdrive a 50 watt amp and get such a nice tone (overdrive). To do the same with a 100 watt you push the amp far less and stick a distortion pedal/overdrive pedal in (you don't get the same tube sound, it's more synthetic).

I would never (unless I had the extra money to throw around) buy a 100 watt amp because you don't need it. If your gigging in a place that requires you to use a 100 watt, then I'll not play it unless they have a PA system so I can distribute the tone out of my miced 50 watt. If you go ahead with the needed 100 watt, the sound to the audience (standing in different places of course) will most likely be shite. Not that thats got much to do with distortion or overdrive though.

For distorion and overdrive and comparing it to what you hear, think about the style, how synthetic (not realistic) it sounds, at what volume it is played and most importantly how the signal/tone is interpreted to the ear. To many the two sound very much alike and in certain circumstances one will be more suitable to the other, but don't be fooled; use your ears to tell you whcih sounds best.


The above is the opionion of Krystof's (who writes courtesy of Krystof's Music Recording Place for distribution and drunkeness nor has he re-read what he writes as time is money (bullshit))). He will not be happy to receive hate mail as the backlog is building to high.

[pchorman]

Technically, distortion is any alteration of the guitar signal other than linear amplification.

The distortion we like and expect to hear results from signal clipping, or the chopping-off of the peaks of the signal. This happens when you push a tube or transistor too hard into saturation, hence the term overdrive. When and amplifier stage saturates you can keep increasing its input level (voltage) but the output doesn't increase anymore - it is flat. This same type of distortion can result without pushing the tube or transistor amplifier stage hard at all, and that is from the clipping of a stomp box. In a sense, it is faked amplifier stage overdrive!

Do you know what a tube screamer produces for an output signal? Something approximating a square wave. That's what clipping at its worst looks like - a square wave. The peaks are flattened out (by peaks I mean tops and bottoms, or both positive and negative swings. The lower peaks can also get chopped by an operation mode called "cut-off", but let's not get into that.)

So, a distortion box fakes the clipping which gets amplified in the amp. Alternatively, the clipping can happen in an early stage of the amp itself. Some even like the distortion of the speakers being pushed too hard and other effects, but again let's not complicate the matter. When a signal is clipped, it takes a near-infinite number of sinusoides to represent it (Fourier analysis). It is this harmonic-rich combination of sine waves that sounds pleasing in some cases by occupying so much of the audible spectrum.

[Daddy-O]

Yeah, what those guys said......


But think of it this way............remember the Super Friends and how all those circles came out of Aqua Man's head when he was telepathing with the fishies?

Good.

Now picture those circles coming out of your amp while you're playing with a clean sound.

Ok lets add some overdrive aka volume boost and notice how the circles are getting bigger and bigger. All right now lets overdrive the tubes and watch those circle start to deform at the edges and loose shape because they are getting really big. They are distorting and the more we boost the original signal the more they distort until the tubes are full up [saturated] with electrons and can't find room for any more.....a' la eddie's browne sounde

Now, you've turned the volume down and your playing with a clean sound again. Nice easy even Aqua Man circles are emmiting from your amp. Stomp on the stomp box and all at once the circles have turned to triangles and trapazoids with sharp corners and edges thus distorting the circles from there original shape.

I'vr gotta go now, the Bat Phone is ringing........

[BBB]

Cute analogy Daddy-O.

In today's terminology, overdrive and distortion basically mean the same thing, the only difference is the degree. For example:

Overdrive = low amounts of distortion
Distortion = major amounts of overdrive

By using the term "saturation," we can define both terms as:

Overdrive = low/medium saturation
Distortion = high/major saturation

Regarding stomp boxes: A stomp box can be viewed as just another gain stage in an amplifier. It really isn't any different from the stages in the amp. I.e., it clips the same way the amplifier's gain stages clip. Often stomp boxes, such as the Tubescreamer, are used as an additional stage to push the first stage of an amp into saturation.


Along Daddy-O's analogy:

Let's add the tone of my Mesa/Boogie: use the imagery of Wonder Woman showing up and getting it on with Aquaman.