Passive Saturation Box is a Cheap Way To Distort Your Sound
1 min read
Summary
Distortion pedals and overdrive effects usually use transistors or op-amps to create a fuzzy tone for guitar and other instruments.
However, it is possible to get a crunchy tone using only a pair of diodes and a couple of resistors, as noted by Hackaday.
Blogger Simon Hutchinson has created a “digital saturation box” using two diodes connected in opposte orientation – or “anti-parallel” – to create a distorted signal when a signal exceeds the diodes’ forward voltage.
The hack is therefore a cheap and simple way for musicians or audio technicians to create a distorted sound, depending on the type of diode used.
Silicon diodes clip at around 0.7V, while germanium versions clip at 0.3V.
