A Brief History of Electric Guitar Distortion

Rabs

robgilmo

Interesting stuff. Never knew that.

terada

Ii enjoyed that, thanks for posting

robgilmo

I ended up on eBay looking at face fuzz thingys, then I read that The Black Crows just turned their amps up really really loud, so I might try that instead.

Rabs

robgilmo said:

I ended up on eBay looking at face fuzz thingys, then I read that The Black Crows just turned their amps up really really loud, so I might try that instead.

From what I know that's what Angus does too...   All the way up to 11

robgilmo

Mine only go up to ten, they might reach 11 if I elevate them up off the floor, like up on a stool or something.

terada

There are loads of interesting vids on that channel - you've sent me n a bit of a youtube journey! 

Currently watching one on the Yamaha DX7

Rabs

terada said:

There are loads of interesting vids on that channel - you've sent me n a bit of a youtube journey! 

Currently watching one on the Yamaha DX7

  yeah, as much as theres  a tonne of crap on Youtube theres also some really good stuff too...

The stuff in this vid is quite well known but I like the way he put things and theres always people yet to learn this stuff which I think if you play guitar is interesting to know and can lead to some further understanding of the craft.

EricTheWeary

Rabs said:

robgilmo said:

I ended up on eBay looking at face fuzz thingys, then I read that The Black Crows just turned their amps up really really loud, so I might try that instead.

From what I know that's what Angus does too...   All the way up to 11

He’s used either a Schaffer wireless or a Schaffer boost pedal since 1977 that gives some boost and compression, always on. Subtle but it’s there.

NelsonP

Great watch, thanks for posting.

Its not complete though. No mention at all of the arion metal master with its innovative soft distortion function. Seems like a glaring omission ;-)

Luckily youtube comes up trumps once again. 

57Deluxe

lots of errors in this - or has been over-simplified for sake of timing. BUT The Maestro Fuzz Unit was originally marketed to emulate Brass and woodwind sections/instruments in the studio cheaply.

original promo record from 1962

mr-mac

Probs missed out another of the distortion pioneers.

Snooky prior (blues harp) was in air force 1940-45 and did the bugle calls over a PA.  He experimented with cupping a small mic and amplifying the harp through one of the air force PA amps which produced a low fi distorted tone.  He acquired his own amp on leaving the air force in 45 (although he didn't use the technique on his earliest recording in 47).

However people would have heard him play blues harp with the distortion in the 40's and can only assume this will have fed into the genre of music and possibly get guitarists wondering how it would work if did the same.

WeZ84

Thought you might find this one interesting too. It's about 90 mins long but worth a watch

EricTheWeary

mr-mac said:

Probs missed out another of the distortion pioneers.

Snooky prior (blues harp) was in air force 1940-45 and did the bugle calls over a PA.  He experimented with cupping a small mic and amplifying the harp through one of the air force PA amps which produced a low fi distorted tone.  He acquired his own amp on leaving the air force in 45 (although he didn't use the technique on his earliest recording in 47).

However people would have heard him play blues harp with the distortion in the 40's and can only assume this will have fed into the genre of music and possibly get guitarists wondering how it would work if did the same.

I'm sure I read that Charlie Christian had a distorted tone live because if you had a small valve amp and turned it up that's what happened. However, his recorded tone was clean. 

mudslide73

Rabs said:

robgilmo said:

I ended up on eBay looking at face fuzz thingys, then I read that The Black Crows just turned their amps up really really loud, so I might try that instead.

From what I know that's what Angus does too...   All the way up to 11

Why don't they just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

mli3

nice post - thanks

JamieWakeham

mudslide73 said:

Rabs said:

robgilmo said:

I ended up on eBay looking at face fuzz thingys, then I read that The Black Crows just turned their amps up really really loud, so I might try that instead.

From what I know that's what Angus does too...   All the way up to 11

Why don't they just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?

Apologies if this has been posted before:

http://xkcd.com/670

Grunfeld

terada said:

There are loads of interesting vids on that channel - you've sent me n a bit of a youtube journey! 

Currently watching one on the Yamaha DX7

I liked the distortion one and I like that DX7 one too.  Thanks @terada

The first half of the video was saying about how the synth's selling point was that it was programmable but as some of the comments mention, the DX7 was notoriously difficult to program and that's why the 80s sound like the 80s -- because nearly everyone stuck to its presets. 

What I didn't know is that Brian Eno was one of the relative few who did master the DX7's mysteries and it is all over "Apollo:  atmospheres and soundtracks" -- fabulous album which I had no idea was made with a DX7.

DannyP

terada said:

There are loads of interesting vids on that channel - you've sent me n a bit of a youtube journey! 

Currently watching one on the Yamaha DX7

I didn't know you could view YouTube on the DX7! So ahead of it's time...

terada

DannyP said:

terada said:

There are loads of interesting vids on that channel - you've sent me n a bit of a youtube journey! 

Currently watching one on the Yamaha DX7

I didn't know you could view YouTube on the DX7! So ahead of it's time...

The resolutions not great but it sounds phenomenal 

AlexC

Good watch. Thanks for posting.