It's probably been asked a dozen times but..

conventional_dogma

What are the major differences between overdrive, distortion, and fuzz pedals? I want to be sure since some of these pedals sound so close (or are named wrong). Thanks in advance guys. 😀

Robbmonster

Not sure, but I'm curious to know the answer.

I think OD pedals are gain pedals, while distortion works differently, and fuzz is something else entirely.

gilmourish

forgive me, the certain ppl on here who are going to correct me like crazy,

but to sum it up in the henry way . . .

Od pedals are low gain.. push your tube amp kinda pedals, don't always affect your tone too much, good for a boost

distortion pedals are more higher gain/take over your tone

fuzz pedals are well. . fuzzy. . .and the best imo. .

distortion pedals and fuzz can be very similar...

harrison

from my understanding OD's push the level of the guitar signal without having to crank the amp and they drive the tubes hotter with gives that bluesy break up even at lower volumes

distortion is the next step and is driving the gain as if the amp was totally cranked and the signal was "distorting" but it allows us not to kill small children with this signal. it causes the signal to clip and distort.

and as far as i can see, fuzz is a little bit in between and usually has a more octavey sound to it, usually attributed to hendrix and the likes. its more of a wooly type sound and not so screeching like distortion.

at least thats my personal take on it could be totally off base

StevieK

You're all correct. I'm not 100% sure if what I'm about to say is accurate, trav can probably give you more accurate info, but overdrive is a lower gain, but often higher output, pedal used to push the preamp into natural breakup. They usually have their own gain circuit but it's very minimal.

Distortions vary widely, but they clip the sound wave of the guitar hard making the waves square before they even hit the pre-amp, this plus their output can push the pre-amp like an overdrive so they can make even more distortion.

Fuzz makes triangle and saw tooth waves I believe that sound distorted, they were originally meant to sound like torn speaker cones.