WHAT IS DISTORTION, ANYWAY?

First, let’s talk about harmonics. When you play a note on your guitar, the sound you hear is made up of a fundamental frequency—the pure note—along with multiples of that frequency, which are called harmonics. If you feed your instrument’s signal into any device that changes the signal’s harmonic content in a certain fashion, you get the sound that we call distortion. There are numerous ways to change the harmonic content of your signal, but for our purposes we only need to look at three of them. Each changes harmonic content by generating additional frequencies.

The first and most basic way to generate harmonic content is to push your instrument’s signal, which is the voltage generated by your guitar’s pickups, beyond an amp or pedal’s headroom.

As a sound wave, your instrument signal sits between two boundaries called rails. Headroom is the space between the rails. If you crank your amp so that your signal’s peaks push against the rails, those peaks start to get clipped off of your signal. This is how tube amp distortion is created.

Pedal distortion is usually achieved by the other two methods: using the circuit to clip your signal before it runs out of headroom or using transistors, which generate extra harmonics because of their nature as imperfect amplifiers.

Each of these methods creates distortion, an umbrella that covers overdrive, distortion and fuzz. The difference is a matter of degree—how much are you clipping your signal?

OVERDRIVE

Overdrive is the sound you get when you crank a tube amp to that rich, gritty sweet spot. This clips your signal some, but not too much. Overdrive pedals are designed to both emulate and complement the sound of an overdriven tube amplifier.

For example—running an OD pedal through a clean amp will provide smooth, mellow grit while running it through a slightly overdriven tube amp will stack the gain from both and produce a very thick and saturated sound that’s closer to distortion but still retains the tubey warmth of your amp.

Overdrive pedals typically use a two-step process. First, hi-fidelity amplifiers called op-amps are used to boost to your signal. At a certain point, diodes are triggered to soft-clip the boosted signal, generating harmonic content. The type of diode used can have a dramatic effect on the pedal’s tone—LED—which has a wide open, transparent sound—and silicon—which is more biting with a bit of compression—are the most common.

The MXR^® Double-Double^™ Overdrive is the perfect example of an overdrive circuit—and it’s got Lo and Hi Gain modes for extra versatility. Let’s see how the signal for each looks on the oscilloscope.

The Lo Gain signal has fairly round peaks, which indicates fairly soft clipping and a smoother sounding overdrive.

With a bump in gain, the peaks get sharper, and the overdrive has a more aggressive sound. Notice, however, that the peaks are still intact. We haven’t completely slammed our signal against the rails—yet.

DISTORTION

Distortion is the technical term for all the different sounds you get from clipping a signal, but in common parlance it refers to the middle ground—a signal that’s clipped harder than overdrive, and is therefore much more aggressive, while retaining more articulation than fuzz.

Distortion pedals produce much more gain than most overdrive pedals, so players generally use them with a clean amp. As with overdrive pedals, distortion pedals tend to use op-amps and diodes to clip your signal. The MXR Super Badass® Distortion is one such pedal.

Notice that the peaks are just starting to get shaved off. But we’re still not smashing into the rails yet—we’ve got one more type of dirt to cover.

FUZZ

Fuzz was the first type of distortion to appear in pedal form, originally designed to sound like your amp was faulty or your speaker was damaged. Amp settings don’t matter much at this point—your signal is getting totally clipped.

Unlike overdrive and distortion pedals, fuzz pedals use transistors to instead of op-amps to add gain to your signal. Where op-amps are hi-fi, transistors are by nature very lo-fi—they add a ton of harmonic content to your signal as soon as they start to amplify it. The type of transistor a fuzz circuit uses can drastically affect fuzz tone. Generally speaking, germanium transistors produce a warmer and smoother fuzz while silicon transistors produce a brighter, more aggressive fuzz.

The MXR Super Badass Variac Fuzz uses silicon transistors, so it has a nice cutting tone. What makes this pedal unique among other Dunlop fuzzes, though, is its Variac control, which allows you to adjust the amount of voltage—and therefore headroom—available.

You can adjust the Variac control from 5v to 15v. This image shows what the signal looks like at the 5v setting. As you can see, the peaks are totally clipped off. There isn’t a lot of room to move around before your signal smacks into the rails, creating a gnarly, splatty sound.

Increasing the voltage to the default ±9v smooths out the edges a bit, but the peaks are still flattened up against the rails. At this level, the Super Badass Variac Fuzz sounds like a chainsaw in a lightning storm.

At 15v, this pedal has a lot more headroom than most fuzzes. This produces a super smooth and transparent signal that’s more akin to overdrive, but it’s more like a transistor’s interpretation of what the op-amp + diode combination produces in a pedal such as the Double Double Overdrive.

The harmonic content generated by transistors removes the need for a diode to clip the signal but that doesn’t mean you can’t combine transistors with diodes for a whole ’nother level of super hard-clipped saturation. The Way Huge® Russian-Pickle™ Fuzz, for example, combines silicon transistors with silicon diode clipping to create a thick and groovy sound with a pronounced midrange.

THE WRAP

The science of distortion can seem pretty esoteric, but in simple terms we can see that the differences between overdrive, distortion and fuzz have to do with how hard you clip your signal. Depending on the shade of distortion you’re looking for, you’ll find amps and pedals using various methods to throw your signal into dirt mode.

Equalizer

When playing out, one of the first issues you’re going to have to deal with is adapting your tone to various physical spaces or unfamiliar backline equipment. Your most basic line of defense in these situations is an EQ pedal, which allows you to fine-tune your sound by cutting or boosting specific frequencies.

MXR^® has two great options: the Six Band EQ and the Ten Band EQ. Modern classics, both have been upgraded with noise-reduction circuitry, true bypass switching, brighter LEDs for increased visibility, and a lightweight aluminum housing.

The Six Band covers all the essential guitar frequencies, from 100Hz to 3.kHz, and each can be boosted or cut by 18dB. If you’re in a mind to save space, this is the EQ for you, as it comes in at the same size as the Phase 90.

The Ten Band EQ gives you control over a wider range of frequencies, from 31.25Hz to 16kHz, which you can cut or boost by 12dB. This extended range makes it perfect for bass players as well as guitar players. For further fine-tuning, you can also cut or boost your signal at both the input and output stages. Finally, there’s a second output so you can run two separate signal chains.

Having either EQ on your board allows you to tune your guitar or bass rig to any venue in short order. Just remember to tune with your ears, not your eyes.

If you want a simpler, less transparent and more “sauced up” tone-shaper, the Micro Amp+ is another great option to consider for both guitar players and bass players. It builds on the classic Micro Amp circuit with EQ controls, low-noise op amps, and true bypass switching. This is a pretty versatile pedal—it can be used as a boost, if you have enough headroom; an OD, if your headroom is lower; and as a line driver/ buffer.

Compressor

Some players consider compression to just be a studio thing—unless you’re using a more “effect” style pedal such as the Dyna Comp^® Compressor—but compression can also serve you well on stage. It helps even out your signal, ensuring that nothing gets too loud or too soft by limiting the dynamic range.

The MXR^® Studio Compressor and Bass Compressor are perfect for this application. Their Attack, Release, Ratio, Input, and Output controls make it easy to dial in the desired threshold, from subtle peak limiting to hard squashed compression. Use the ten gain-reduction status LEDs to check reaction speed in real time. Equipped with CHT^™ Constant Headroom Technology, these compressors also provide a ton of headroom for clear and transparent performance.

Buffer

When you run your signal from your instrument to your amp though long cables and/or through a large array of effects with varying impedance, players often experience line level or treble loss. A buffer such as the MXR^® CAE MC406 addresses this problem quite nicely.

It comes in a small, rugged housing and can add up to +6dB of gain to your signal with its front-facing slider, making up for signal loss that can occur when combining effects with different impedance levels. Hi and Lo cut switches help you to fine-tune signal recovery. The CAE Buffer also comes with a convenient 9VDC power output jack, for powering another pedal, along with an extra output for a tuner, separate effects chain or amp. On the inside, you can set whether to receive a buffered or unbuffered signal.

The CAE Buffer can be placed before, after, and sometimes in the middle of the effects chains to help drive things along.

Direct Input Box

This one’s a no-brainer for bass players. Chances are, the venue’s sound tech will want to run your signal to the FOH. If you don’t have your own DI box, you’ll have to use theirs, leaving your tone in their hands. Having a DI box such as the MXR^® Bass DI+ or the Bass Preamp allows you to go direct while retaining control over your own sound.

The Bass Preamp features separate Input and Output level controls and a 3-band EQ section with sweepable midrange—from 250hz to 1khz—for extensive tonal flexibility. It’s all delivered super clean with high headroom thanks to our own Constant Headroom Technology^™, and you can use the Pre/Post EQ switch to set whether or not your Direct Out signal is affected by the Bass Preamp’s EQ section. And of course, the Bass Preamp features a Ground Lift switch in case you encounter ground loop hum.

The Bass DI+ combines a three-band EQ with a switchable distortion channel, including a noise gate, a Phantom/Ground switch, an unaffected parallel output for a tuner or separate signal chain, and of course an XLR direct out.

Volume Pedal

Putting a volume pedal on your board allows you to change your output level quickly and without having to stop playing. It also allows you choose where in your signal chain to adjust volume—relying on only on your instrument’s volume control for output dynamics can result in a weaker signal being fed to your pedalboard.

The Volume (X)^™ Mini Pedal is a great pedalboard-friendly option—it’s durable and solidly built with a lightweight aluminum chassis, aggressive non-slip tread, and our patented Low Friction Band-Drive for a smooth range of motion and consistent, reliable performance. For maximum comfort and precision, the DVP4’s rocker tension is fully adjustable. This pedal can also be used for expression purposes, but that’s an entirely different function.

Two common placements for volume pedals are pre-gain, before distortion pedals, and post-gain, after distortion pedals. A volume pedal placed pre-gain is used much like a volume knob on a guitar. When the volume pedal is placed post-gain, a lot of players prefer to use it to adjust the overall volume of your signal without effecting the gain structure of any overdrive, distortion, or fuzz pedal in your chain.

A/B Box

An A/B box allows you to route your instrument’s signal to two separate output paths. With the MXR^® A/B Box, you can switch between amps or run them both at the same time with different effect configurations, which opens you up to a whole range of tonal options. You can also use this pedal to create separate chains within your main signal chain.

Noise Gate

A noise gate automatically mutes your signal below a certain output threshold. This comes in handy if you’ve got any noise—often caused by super high gain pedal or amp settings or a venue’s faulty wiring—interfering with your signal. Dial in the right setting, and your signal will be totally silent until you start playing. Noise gates are usually placed at the end of the signal chain or after any gain pedals in an FX loop.

The MXR^® Smart Gate^® Noise Gate is equipped with three selectable types of noise reduction, covering just about every noisy signal situation you’re likely to face.

It bites down on sizzle and hum but lets the smallest detail of your playing through, sensing precisely when and how fast to engage without getting in your way. It lets you can wring every last bit of sustain out of chords without being cut off, reacting gradually to long, sustained notes and quickly to short, syncopated notes while preserving picking dynamics and harmonic overtones.

Power Supply

Maybe this one is too obvious, but hey—it’s good to be thorough. Why worry about a bunch of batteries when you can power all of your pedals with a single source?

The MXR^® Iso-Brick^™ Power Supply is just such a source, and a very convenient one at that: its compact and lightweight, making it vert pedalboard-friendly, with 10 fully isolated outputs that accommodate a variety of voltage and current requirements: two 9V outputs at 100mA, two 9V outputs at 300mA, two 9V outputs at 450mA, two 18V outputs at 250mA, and two variable outputs adjustable from 6V to 15V at 250mA. The two variable outputs can be used to emulate voltage “sag,” a drained battery effect sought by many vintage tonechasers. The Iso-Brick Power Supply also features power on/off and connection status LEDs so that you can quickly troubleshoot any pedal or connection issues.

For a simpler power solution, the DC Brick^™ Power Supply is also a great choice. With eight 9V outputs and two 18V outputs, it will power just about any analog pedal, and each 9v output has a red LED that illuminates if there is a short.

Obviously, if you used all these pedals at once, you could take up an entire world-tour sized pedalboard. You still need room for your Fuzz Face^® Distortions, Carbon Copy^® Delays, and Cry Baby^® Wahs, so use this list to address your particular needs as a gigging musician. Which of these pedals might make your life easier when you step onto the stage?

The MXR Reverb offers players the history of these methods and then some in a standard MXR box, featuring six distinct high end styles exquisitely crafted and tuned by the award-winning MXR design team. It’s got a simple three-knob setup, a hi-fi analog dry path, and a massive 20 volts of headroom thanks to our Constant Headroom Technology™ so that it plays exceptionally well with distortion, modulation, and other effects.

Musicians have a number of utilitarian and creative needs that the MXR Reverb handily addresses. If your recorded signal sounds dull and flat, for example, the MXR Reverb can give it a sense of place and atmosphere, making it sound more natural and alive. The same goes for an acoustically dead venue—adding some reverb can open up a room and breathe some life back into your signal. The MXR Reverb also adds a whole new range of tone-shaping options, whether binding the different elements of your sound together or creating atmospheric, otherworldly environments for your compositions to move and breathe within.

The MXR Reverb’s six different styles can help with all of these uses and more. We encourage you to experiment with all of them, but here’s a quick explanation of what each can bring to your sound.

Nowadays, the EP-3 is difficult to get your hands on—a fully intact, working model could set you back more than $500. If you do get your hands on one, you will be presented with a few potential issues. First, they require a bit of maintenance. Second, their sound and behavior—from model to model and even from use to use with an individual unit—can be inconsistent. Finally, these things are the size of a small amplifier head. Eric Johnson has been known to put one right on his pedalboard—not everyone wants to sacrifice the real estate or lug another 15 lbs. of gear.

The EP101: Secret Sauce at Your Feet

But have no fear—the Echoplex Preamp gives you the sound of that prized box with none of its complications. Dunlop’s Director of New Electronics Jeorge Tripps designed this pedal with the exact same signal path as the EP-3, and to get the secret sauce just right, he used two of the finest EP-3 specimens to ensure that the EP101 nails that classic sound across its range. Now, you can get the EP-3’s sonic mojo in a small stompbox and gig with confidence that it will do what you need it to do to every time you kick the switch.

While the EP101 can boost your signal by up to 11dB, that’s not its main purpose, nor is it a clean and transparent. The EP101 is all about conditioning and sweetening up your tone—use it as a lead boost and crank the Gain control for increased output and some light asymmetrical clipping, use it as a second channel to change up your tone mid-set, or leave it on all the time. However you use it, the Echoplex Preamp will breathe new life into the sound of your whole rig.

Where should you put the EP101 in your signal chain?

As with any pedal, experiment with the Echoplex Preamp’s position in your signal chain. We do have our own suggestions, of course. For a great lead sound, try placing it after your overdrive and distortion pedals to add girth and a bit of volume boost. If you want the pedal’s active all the time or you want to use it as a second channel tone, try placing it either at the beginning or end of your signal chain. Also, got a Way Huge Supa-Puss Delay? Placing the Echoplex Preamp in front of that box will get you close to the EP-3’s tape echo sound. But again, we emphasize, experiment! Find your own sound. The EP101 will add a whole new dimension to your tonal palette.

Want to see the Echoplex Preamp in action? Check out our own demo below. After that, check out Sonic State’s discussion with Adrian Utley from Portishead, featuring a comparison of the EP101 and the EP-3.

We sat down with Marcus to talk with him about where his new signature strings fit into the evolution of his musical voice as well as a number of topics, including the importance of tone and finding your own sound. This guy’s a true master, with insights that are valuable to any musician, whether or you play bass or not. Check out the video below for some of the highlights from our conversation—soundtracked by the legend himself. The full interview is packed with even more of Marcus’ masterful insights, so be sure to read that after you watch the video.

How important is tone for a musician?

Marcus: When I started playing bass—I was probably 13 years old, something like that—I wasn’t really at the point where I could tell the difference between the important elements of music: technique, intonation, tone. So I was just going by instinct, just playing the bass. I had a Fender Jazz Bass, and whatever sounded good, even if it was accidentally arrived at, I stuck with it. Later on, I realized that tone is the first thing that impresses people about your sound. That’s the first thing that people are struck by.

All the bass players I admired had a signature sound.

That first note, it makes an impression. I know a lot of great musicians who play some amazing music, but their tone isn’t that great, and you have to get past that as a listener. You have to go, “Ok, my first impression wasn’t that great, but man, he’s playing some great stuff.” But the really, truly great musicians who really make a full impact, to me they have the whole package, and the first element is tone. You hear a guy play that first note and you go, whoa! That’s everything, man. First impressions, right?

All the bass players I admired had a signature sound. Yes, they all had great technique, but you heard one note, two notes, and you knew it was Stanley Clarke, you knew it was Jaco Pastorius, you knew it was James Jamerson. And I really wanted to see if I could find something, maybe not on that level, but something that was easily identifiable as me. Once I got a sound that I liked, I didn’t fool around too much with it. Same bass, same settings, and I just changed the notes, I just changed what I’m playing. But I didn’t really fool around with the sound too much because I felt like I had something that was really identifiable, and that’s so hard to find as a musician. So tone is everything.

When did you first realize you’d found your sound?

Marcus: I was talking to a mentor of mine, a fantastic drummer named Lenny White from my neighborhood in Jamaica, Queens in New York, and I said to him, “Man, I want my own sound, how do I get my own sound?” I was probably 17 at the time, and we had these amazing musicians in the neighborhood who I admired. When we went to these jam sessions, I’d be walking to the club from my car parked two blocks away, and I already knew who was in there because the sounds were so identifiable, even from down the street.

So I’m saying to Lenny White, “Man I really want my own sound, how do you do it?” And he says, “You can’t worry about it, you just keep playing, and keep playing, and then one day, you’re going to hear a recording of yourself and go, ‘Oh that’s me.’” So he gave me some real abstract Karate Kid kind of instructions on how to get your own sound.

Later on, when I’m 21, I get a call from Miles Davis, and he says, “Come to the studio, I’m going to record.” I ran to the studio, and we played, and I’m like, “This is Miles Davis, man, I got to play something good.” And then we heard the playback in the control room, and I remember saying to myself, “Oh wow, that’s me.” I recognized that sound as me. And once you find your own sound, you got to hold on to that, man. You got to hold on tight, because that’s something that a lot of people don’t ever get.

So, I said to myself, now that I have a sound, now I can go to the next level, now I can start to be creative, now I can start to try different techniques, improve my technique, improve my creativity, because I got the first element, the most important element. Sound was really the launching pad for the rest of my playing.

How important is style for a musician?

Marcus: Once when I was talking to Boz Scaggs, he said something that I’ll never forget: “People don’t buy technique. They don’t buy anything but style.” That’s what draws people to an artist—your style, your view of the world, the way you present yourself, but more importantly, the way you see things. You got a lot of great musicians, and then you got artists, and not all great musicians are artists.

I get demos from musicians, and they say, “Check out my demo, I want to make a record.” And the first song is a funk song, the second song is a salsa, and the third song is a bossanova. I say, “Each one is like a completely different player.” And they say, “Well, I want people to know I’m well rounded, that I can do it all.”

You got a lot of great musicians, and then you got artists, and not all great musicians are artists.

That’s really important, but what people want to know is, do you have a unique point of view? And I know the problem, because I was a studio musician for like 25 years. People think they know all the stuff I played on, but I played on hundreds of records that you don’t even know I played on. I’m on Mariah Carey records, Whitney Houston records, where I’m just playing what’s necessary. As a studio musician, you became who you needed to become for each record.

But eventually, I started moving more to an artist mentality where I found my own sound, my own style, and I decided I was going to try to make that sound and that style work in whatever situation I’m in. So, the difference between me 30 years ago and me now is that I have a much clearer point of view about how I want to play and what I think music should sound like. And that’s me really trying to become an artist.

Why work with Dunlop?

Marcus: So the thing about having your own identifiable sound, your own identifiable music, your own identifiable style, is that you still have to grow. You still have to figure out a way, particularly if you’re playing jazz music or any kind of improvisational music to maintain your identity. And it’s a very tricky thing. Because if you stay in the same place, then you’re staying in the same place. And if you change too quickly, you might lose who you are.

You still have to figure out a way to maintain your identity.

Now, everybody has their own version of how to deal with this, but for me, I wanted to continue to evolve. So I’m looking at these Dunlop strings, man, and I’m going, whoa, this maintains what everybody’s known me for, but it has a little bit of my old 17-year-old sound when I was playing more raw, you know what I mean? And I’m already feeling myself wanting to get back to that. This has the best of both worlds.

So it’s a way to grow, by finding this new string. And this is the whole thing: trying to evolve but maintaining who you are at the same time.

Why is it so important to evolve your sound?

Marcus: I always feel like I want to continue to evolve, like I want to push forward. And people ask me, why? Why do you feel like you need to change when you have such a good thing going? But it’s boring otherwise. You know what I mean? I really think that if you’re an artist, your responsibility is to show people the world as it exists today through your eyes. That’s what all artists do. It doesn’t even have to be music, it can be writers, photographers, comedians, they all do the same thing, they all present us with the world as it exists now, but through their own filter, and that’s what makes them interesting.

In the ’8os, everything was really, like, techno, and everything was clean, and everything was very exact because we had just discovered these machines that we could make music with, so we were playing really, like almost in a robotic fashion a lot of times. Because that was where the world was. We had just been introduced to these computers—how do we learn to live with them?

And for a while, computers were dominating. Everything sounded like this, and we found cool ways to do that, but now people are a lot more comfortable with the technology, people are a lot more comfortable with computers. And now things are starting to sound a little bit more natural, at least in a lot of areas of the world and a lot of areas of music.

So for me, I want my sound to sound less high tech. I want to still have a full range of bass and treble, but I want to get a little bit more growl, I want to get a little bit more urgency in my sound. And that’s how I used to play back when I was first starting. In New York, everything was always aggressive, and people didn’t want to hear jazz, so if you were going to play jazz, you had to play with an attitude. We were like 16, 17 years old, and people were like, I don’t know what they’re doing, but they’re really into it, I guess I got to respect them. That’s how we used to hit it. So now, I’m wanting to get back to that.

And in my band, I got like 21, 22, 25 year olds who are feeling like they want to prove themselves, like they want to make a statement, and that’s inspiring me. I want to make sure my sound is in there pushing them.

What is the role of the bass player?

Marcus: A lot of bass players who are solo artists are just sitting there waiting for their solos. But for me, I’m doing just as much work when I’m playing behind you—sometimes more work. It’s a shame that a lot of young bass players don’t recognize how important driving a band is. But that’s what a bass player does, man. You drive the band.

I’m really into that role.—it’s as important to me as playing a great solo. And with these strings, man, with this sound I’m going for, I want to make sure that I’m driving you, that I’m pushing everybody, that I’m pushing the musicians to be creative and reach new heights.

What are you trying to accomplish as an artist?

Marcus: When I first started playing music, I just wanted to be a good musician. My father’s a musician, his father’s a musician—I come from a musical family—so I just wanted to step into the shoes that were laid out for me. And then I’m in my neighborhood in New York, everybody had a band, and I just wanted to be in a good band and just be known as a good musician.

At each step, I just looked to see what else is available from that new step.

And what happens is that, as you get older, you start realizing the possibilities with music. So first, I just wanted to play the bass, I just wanted to be good. Then I saw somebody who had just written a song, he said, “Hey man, here’s a song I wrote.” And I said, “Wow, I would love to write a song on my own.” And that became a goal. And then I saw arrangers making sure that everybody’s part worked together, and I got into that. And then producing. At each step, I just looked to see what else is available from that new step. I’d reach a certain level and go, okay, now what?

And so, for me, at this point, I’m still going, okay, now what? I’m recognizing how powerful music is, how it can communicate things that people have difficulty communicating with words. So we’re playing in Africa, we’re playing in Russia, we’re playing in China, we’re playing all over the world, and we’re able to bring people together who normally wouldn’t come together like that.

So now, what I’m feeling, is how effective, how powerful music can be. That’s my next goal, to take advantage of that, to communicate, try to establish goodwill around the world. It sounds really kind of corny, but when you’re on the stage, man, and you can’t say hello in the audience’s language, but you got like, six, seven thousand people all moving together, all sharing the same emotions, you begin to realize that we all have a lot in common. We just need to establish that first, and then work out the details.

Let’s at least establish that we have a universal commonality, and music is the best example of that.