Effected: Clipping

It’s all about the clip

Fuzz, Gain, Distortion, Overdrive, Grit, Dirt, Warmth: These and many are are terms that guitarists and other musicians use to describe one thing...Clipping.  In the guitar world, “distortion” is usually a blanket term for all of the above mentioned but distortion is specific unto itself.  It’s merely flavor of clipping.  I’ll attempt to demystify these terms in this article and familiarize you with the how and why of clipping.

Clipping have become such a fundamental ingredient for electric guitarists that it’s not always seen as an effect but rather a basic structural building block of tone.  This differentiation is no doubt present due to the many ways that guitarists clip their tone.

Dave Davies

History
The initial uses of distortion were quite accidental.  Link Wray incorrectly reinstalled a tube on his amp creating a desirable warm fuzz.  Grady Martin intentionally plugged into a faulty channel of a studio sound board giving him a thicker sound.  And in maybe the most “Rock n’ Roll” example, Kinks guitarist Dave Davies took to slashing his speaker cones to create the gritty, broken-up ton that became part of his signature power chord based riffs.

How To Get it!

Your Fingers
Playing dynamics have a significant role in clipping.  The harder you play, the louder the signal to the overall sound chain.  This pushing of the signal cause the wave to widen which can push it to clip.  Playing softer will usually produce a cleaner tone.
This is one of the reasons why many players prefer tube amps due to their higher sensitivity to playing dynamics over their digital counterparts of the past.

Pick ups
After your hands coax out the notes, the pick-ups amplify and color the signal.  Pick-up construction, wiring and position all play a role in the tone but in terms of clipping the output.  The higher the output the more the chain clips.

EMG Active Pick Up Harness

Active pickups can also produce strong clipping.  Although their output is rather low.  They usually feature a battery powered on-board preamp which can raise EQ levels that will produce a different flavor of clipping.  These are very popular for metal players.  Some players shy away from these due to an often lack of clean tone.

Volume Knob
Cranking or cutting back on your volume has a very direct effect on the output to the chain and is commonly employed in this way.

The Stack

Frankenstein himself.  Eddie Van Halen

The most common way to get a clipped effect is with your amp.  When guitar amps were first produced a clean tone was what was desired.  Amps had no “master” volume.  Just a single volume to the power tubes.  In order to clip these you would have to simply crank your amp which can obviously have it’s drawbacks.  Eddie Van Halen famously used a Variac to lower the incoming voltage so that he could crank his head and keep volume down.
The majority of amps today have a preamp amp power amp section.  A player can turn the low wattage preamp to their desired level of grit and then adjust volume with the power amp section.  Some manufacturers take this a step further with multiple gain stages to allow for a more detailed voice.  Amp-based gain can be quite varied from a warm overdrive to an enormous screaming distortion.
Speakers are also manufactured with different materials, methods and wattage ratings which all have an effect on clipping and overall tone.

The Box
In the mid sixties manufacturers started  producing individual “Fuzz” boxes that produced an intentional clipping and the rest is history.  Clipping pedals are without question the most commonly produced variety of stomp-box.  You can spend as little as $29 or over $500 for that perfect ingredient to your sound.  These effects are often hard to wade through as they are often confusingly named.  Almost all fall into one of the following three categories.

Overdrive
Overdrive pedals are generally made to work with your amp to create a softer, warmer clipping.  These are desired for letting the color of the amp come through more than with heavier effects.  Some popular overdrive pedals include the Ibanez Tube Screamer and the Boss OD-1.

Ibanez Tube Screamer

Pro Co Rat

Distortion
Distortion pedals com into your amp clipping.  They have much more of a voice of their own and can produce enormous sustain, thickness and harmonics.  Some common distortion pedals are the Boss Metal Zone and the Pro Co Rat.

Clipping Chart

Fuzz

Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff

Fuzz pedals are unique in that they have a very direct effect at “squaring-up” the sine wave.  They also have heavy low mids which give them their often “buzzy” tone.  Fuzz is great to put in front of filter effects and certain modulations. Their very thick signal can result in deepspace-filling sounds.

It’s up to you
Just like everything you do in music, it’s subjective.  Some players will only plug into a vintage non-master and some players run a laptop into to board.  The important thing to remember is to explore the clipping sources I mentioned to zero in on your own voice.  

Keep making it yours,
-Jay Bois