[sdiy] simple nasty clipping?

[TIm Daugard]

 > does anyone know of a really nasty really simple distortion circuit? i
 > tried the two diodes shunted to ground, and it was nice, but not
 > tearing. do i need to somehow boost the level first? i'm trying to
 > build this into a pre-existing device, so small and simple = better.

Try an NPN transistor and a 20K to 100K resistor.  The emitter is tied to
ground, the base to the signal source. That gives rectification. The resistor is
tied to the + power and the transistor collector. Take the signal from the
collector resistor junction. Result, rectification and high gain saturated
transistor distortion with only two components. You can make the resistor
larger, but I don't think you should go smaller than 20K.

Tim Daugard
Who has written a 250+ page book on distortions and effects, and hasn't found a
publisher yet.