Is there any genuine difference between boosts, ODs and dist

[repoman]

Do these pedals do more or less the same thing? Cause distortion?

Are they the same thing but just in different amounts?

Or is there a fundamental difference in what is actually going on with them?

[friendship]

boost = jab
od = strong
dist = fierce
fuzz - hadouken

[neonblack]

/thread

[rfurtkamp]

Depends on the pedal. The descriptions mean *nothing* in the market, there's no real standard.

Some boosts are clean, like turning up the slider on a mixer or a solid state power amp.

Some are dirty in and of themselves, and boost both signal level and distortion, as well as emphasize particular frequencies.

OD is generally (but not always) lower gain distortion. You can use some OD as an effective cleanish boost, but others are simply distortion pedals with a different label.

Distortion..well...it probably won't ever get polite. And can go to Swedish chainsaw territory.

And fuzz, well....anything from boring Hendrix knockoff to "this thing plays itself" noises.

[HighDeaf1080p]

Those four effects (Boost, Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz) are very distinctly different things done to the waveform of your guitar signal...each dirt box will fall into one of those catergories, regardless of what they are called.

[HighDeaf1080p]

Ok, I will give my understanding of the differences, since no scientists are piping up on this one...if anything I say here is patently false, please let me know so I can both learn, and edit my post appropriately to stop any spread of misinformation on the interweb.

1. Boost takes the entire signal, or a combination of frequencies, and boosts them upward exactly as they are. Whether or not they start to clip depends a lot on what you may have further down the line. In fact the main purpose of a treble booster (which sounds like it would be horrible and shrill) is to boost the treble frequencies up to the point of clipping and compression in your amp, so they will be more controllable and palatable...and indeed less shrill once those sharp peaks have been rounded off by soft clipping.

2. Overdrive pushes the entire signal or a select portion up until the point of soft clipping...this rounds off the sharp points of the waveform, creating the motorboaty growl that we recognize as overdrive.

3. Distortion slams the whole signal so far up into hard clipping that you get a waveform that looks like someone came along with a chainsaw, and shaved off the tops of the peaks. These "mesas" have hard corners, and its those squared off corners that create the distinct sound we recognize as distortion when a speaker tries to reproduce that waveform.

4. Fuzz...well, hell. Nobody knows what fuzz is.

I suppose to figure out what a given pedal really is, viewing what its doing to the waveform with an oscilloscope would be the correct way, regardless of what marketing guys named the pedal.

If I'm full of it, let me know, so I can stop acting like I know what I'm talking about.

[D.o.S.]

No, that's accurate, but I think friendship's brevity is probably the best way to describe it.

[HighDeaf1080p]

Agreed...he nailed it for all intents and purposes. The rest is pure academia.

[waltdogg]

Another way to think of it is distortion is that it's just excess volume. The higher gain you get, from boost to OD to distortion to fuzz the more volume you're adding to the signal, eventually that volume hits a threshold and clips a little, or a lot. Depending on the type of circuit.

[ThurberMingus]

It all depends on the context.

If you're in a band, no.

If you're home alone, yes.

[Iommic Pope]

boost = jab
od = strong
dist = fierce
fuzz - hadouken

This is the best thing ever.

[HighDeaf1080p]

boost = jab
od = strong
dist = fierce
fuzz - hadouken

This is the best thing ever.

I peed my pants a lil' when I read it. That's how I know its true.

[HighDeaf1080p]

4. Fuzz...well, hell. Nobody knows what fuzz is.

Your mom knows what fuzz is.