100 Words for Fuzz
It is said that the Inuit have over 100
different words to describe snow.
Perhaps they do, they are, after all, exposed to a lot of the stuff. I suspect, however, that guitarists rival the Inuit's vocabularial prowess when it comes to describing various forms of distortion.
Right from the get-go I will confess that at heart I'm a Jazz guitarist and not into distortion as much as I would have been had I come, for instance, from a Texas Blues background. Still, I do know the sensation of turning up an amp until it starts to sing a bit and I can fully understand the usefulness of having that kind of sustain at hand.
Still, when I hear discussions on the subject of the various forms of overdrive, distortion, light chop, fuzz, breakup, phwoar (I'm not making this up), etc. I'm a bit amazed by it all. So as a babe in the woods (or perhaps a voice in the wilderness) I have undertaken a very informal study of distortion and found out a few interesting things along the way.
As in all endeavors that seek truth as their goal it is necessary to adopt at least some degree of standardization with regard to the terms we will use. I'm not suggesting that my understanding of these terms is the only correct one, I'm just working within the limitations of my own experience.
So Just What Is Distortion?
Looking at various definitions of the word distortion I came up with several answers including: Any change in the waveform or harmonic content of an original signal as it passes through a device. If you were going to use this admittedly strict definition then anytime a guitar was plugged into an amplifier there would be some distortion.
Another word I saw commonly among the many definitions I read was clipping. Signals that exceed the amplitude range of the signal path will be cut off on the extremes of amplitude and will appear clipped when viewed on an oscilloscope. This is probably closer to the definition of distortion that suits a discussion of guitars and amps.
The word undesirable also showed up in many definitions. This would make for an interesting, spirited discussion among guitarists because not even the most avid distortion fans can agree on where the line should be drawn regarding desirable and undesirable distortion.
One other definition I saw included the phrase: "the mistake of misrepresenting the facts." I included this as food for thought but its main purpose in this discussion is as a tool for analyzing the advertising of distortion-producing devices.
The Quest for Truth
Armed with a little background knowledge I set out to visit a few guitar stores and try out a number of ways to produce distortion. The first and most obvious is the stomp-box, a small metal circuit enclosure, usually painted a bright color and incorporating a switch of some sort. There are a very wide variety of such devices on the market and they emulate everything from a very lightly overdriven tube amp to a heavy metal amp cranked to 11. In most cases, while I found at least some merit in the sound these devices produced they all seemed to be pretty black & white. The boxes tended towards a sudden transition into distortion instead of the gradual transition the a tube amp has when turned up.
Tube amps with the volume turned up were my next quest and I tried as many as I dared. I raised the blood pressure of more than one music store employee along the way and I also took advantage of the fact that I live in the country and cranked my own amps (even my Twin) all in the name of science. What I discovered was that the most linear transition happened when an amp was turned up. It didn't have to be an amp with lots of extra gain stages in the pre-amp section or a tweed-circuit turned up beyond the wildest imagination of its designers, any amp would do it. It seemed to me that the simpler the amp was the more natural the results.
Some obvious examples come to mind. The 45 watt Bassman amp of the late '50s is renowned for its overdrive and I must concur. If you grab one of these and crank it up it sounds pretty impressive. The 18 watt Marshall is another amp with a well earned reputation for pleasing overdrive. It's about as simple as an amp can get but it sounds great turned up (or even turned down). Another amp that I liked was the Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb, a 40 watt Fender with no negative feedback circuit that overdrives smoothly starting at a fairly low volume. One of these and a Strat makes for a potent Texas Blues sound.
What Would Stevie Do?
When the thought of Texas Blues comes to mind it brings to mind Stevie Ray Vaughan. One of his favorite amps was a Fender Vibroverb, an 45 watt amp that sings nicely when cranked up but does get quite loud in the process. He used a lot of different amps but the Vibroverb and the Super Reverb were two perennial favorites.
One mistake that many distortions seekers make is buying an amp that is too big. People go into stores and try out amps in a noisy environment and they sound great, then they take them home and play them at a neighbor-friendly volume and the same amp sounds harsh because it is being operated well below its optimum level. When Jimi Hendrix played concerts in large arenas or outdoor venues he could crank up a Marshall until it broke up naturally. For most of us the opportunity to use a powerful amp in such a way is the exception and not the rule. Keeping in mind the fact that doubling the wattage of an amp only increases its volume by a mere 3db we can see that a 22 watt Fender Deluxe Reverb is nearly as loud as an 85 watt Twin Reverb. A Deluxe Reverb is capable of filling a fairy large club-venue and never distorting.
Less Can Be More
With that in mind I suggest that a smaller amp is adequate for most players and highly desirable is overdrive is the goal. A 15 watt Princeton Reverb RI is pretty loud when cranked to the point of distortion and amps of 5 watts or less are more than adequate for home use.
Some amps employ a built-in attenuator to allow the amp to be cranked up while remaining at neighbor-friendly volumes. While these devices have their charms every example that I've tried has failed to produce the dynamics of a cranked up amp. The response seems different and I found them less than satisfying to play.
Master Volumes
Another attempt to allow natural distortion at low volumes is the use of master volume controls. These devices allow you to crank up the early stages of the pre-amp and then control the overall volume by throttling the final pre-amp stage. They work pretty well and there is the advantage of a natural-sounding transition in and out of overdrive. The disadvantage is that the power amp is loafing through all of this so the dynamics of power amp distortion never have a chance to occur. This leads me to . . .
The Dilemma
What I really liked best was the behavior of an amp that was cranked up and not any device or special amp circuitry to enhance overdrive. Trying to copy that as an effect is fraught with difficulty. Capturing the overdriven sound is one thing, capturing the response of an amp that's working hard to earn its keep is quite another matter.
For myself, and my distortional needs, the answer is a small amp with the volume knob pointing towards a big number. I'll keep my pedals but they are mere seasoning, the sound of a cranked up amp is the main course. I have done some experiments with using two amps and an A/B/Y switch. Switching to an overdriven amp for solos works pretty well but adding the overdriven amp in parallel to the clean amp works even better in my opinion. You preserve some clarity and still have the thicker tone of an overdriven amp to keep the sound full during a solo.
Try the following only at your own risk:
Another trick I've used is to put a lower gain tube in the first stage of the preamp section. This can actually raise the clean headroom of an amp but it also makes an amp far more tractable at lower volumes. I routinely play a Fender Twin at living room volume and it works well. The only mod is 12AY7s in V1 and V2 instead of 12AX7s.
A Few Amplifier Recommendations
After trying countless amps at volume a few have shown through as particularly nice choices.
The Marshall 2061 stood out among all of the amps I tried. It's a 20 watt, hand-wired amp with a solid-state rectifier and a separate 2x12" speaker cabinet. Unless you crank it very hard the sound is basically clean but filled with character. It can deliver plenty of distortion when it is cranked up but for me the sweet spot just prior to all-out break up was wide and easy to manage.
Another great sounding amp was its sibling, the Marshall 1974, AKA the 18 watt Marshall. The circuits are very similar but the 1974 has a tube rectifier which gives it lower headroom. It's also packaged as a combo amp with a single 12" speakers. The originals are rare and considered highly desirable. The reissues are excellent as well and a mere fraction of the price of an original.
The Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb is a unique amp among Fender's line being a Blackface circuit but without the negative feedback loop. The results are a warm, soft breakup at relatively low volume. It's great for a Texas Blues sound and clean its incredibly warm, a great Jazz amp.
The little Fender Pro Jr. is a pretty decent amp for home, recording or small gigs. They break up early and are on the edge at the higher end of living room volume. Considering the price this amp is great but they do have a buzz/hum/hiss problem. It's not much of a nuisance on a gig but for quiet settings it can getr annoying. Still, overall this is a poor man's '59 Bassman, at least in my opinion.
This, of course, leads us to the Holy Grail of Overdrive, the Fender '59 Bassman amp. If you want overtones and an amp that sounds like it's on the ragged edge all you have to do is plug into one of these and turn it up. This is the circuit that the original Marshall amp was based upon and a lot of people feel that this is the ultimate guitar amp. The originals cost a pretty penny and the reissues are not to everyone's satisfaction but I was quite impressed with the way it sounded.
Only one more amp makes my list, perhaps my own personal Holy Grail amp, the Fender '57 Twin. This is another tweed era amp but it comes with two huge rectifier tubes and the results are impressive. It doesn't go into overdrive as readily as the Bassman but it stays on the edge of overdrive quite well making it a very manageable amp and one that is quite satisfying to play.
