How To Design An Overdrive Pedal Circuit

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For years I’ve had many folks ask me to make dedicated courses on some of these topics that I dive into here on youtube, but have been wanting me to go into way more detail.
I’m proud to announce that we now have two guitar pedal courses available that are deep dive on all of those pedal questions you’ve been wondering, and we are ALSO taking pre-enrollments for a huge “How to design overdrive and distortion pedal circuits” course for beginners and intermediates who are wanting to learn all about the electronics side of guitar pedals.*
All of these courses are ABSOLUTELY RISK FREE - 100% money back guarantee within 30 days of your purchase. If you don’t love the courses, I’ll refund you, no questions asked.
If the thrill of building and tweaking your own equipment ignites your passion, you’ll love it. Swing by my other website, www.guitarpedalcourse.com
For a VERY limited time, you can snag any of our courses at a steal. Just type in the code 25offnow to slash 25% off any course. Don't delay though - this deal ends shortly. What have you got to lose? ;)
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A viewer asked if I would create a video about creating an overdrive circuit part by part, showing the changes as I added each part. It sounded like a very interesting (and fun!!) idea so here we go! Comment below with your thoughts on the tones here, any questions? And, of course, let's hear your suggestions for future video topics!
Links mentioned for the DIY books including the two newest:
modyourownpedal.com/collectio...

[@freddycookjr.2164]

VERY NICE BUT SEEING SHOTS OF BREADBORED AS U BUILD WOULD BE EVEN BETTER

[@wampler_pedals]

why? The schematic tells you everything.

[@Tyetheberious]

That is what the schematic is for.

[@stanislavmigra]

@@wampler_pedals maybe for esthetics? ... but seriously seeing only breadboard could be very misleading ...

[@theruns123]

WHY ARE WE YELLING

[@ImperiusRexFilms]

Rudely put by fred, but I think seeing the breadboard evolve/build as Brian walks through the stages would be really great to see to help those who don't know how to read a schematic very well. I'm still wrapping my head around schematics and trying to learn electronics, so visual learning is a huge part of my ability to learn something new and hopefully make the leap from "complete noob" to "noob". Seeing the breadboard as it relates to the schematic would be super helpful for my personal learning style, especially with a master builder like Brian walking us through it. Great vid! I hope we see more :)

[@softsounds389]

Not exaggerating when I say I have been CRAVING content like this lmao, so happy to see such an educated breakdown presented in an easily understood format, but with the added plus of being edited and filmed well.

[@clipstag6404]

Well Said

[@chazcraik8903]

In a world of self-interest fed by narcissistic social media, here is an expert in his field using the platform to freely share his wisdom and raise us up instead of keep us down. Gives me some faith we might not be extinct in the next ten years. Thank you, Brian!

[@lufiaraujo]

Here's an index to compare sounds in different sections of the video: 0:41 - Input to output (bypass) 1:02 - Input filter only 3:00 - OpAmp 1/3 (gain @ 0%) 3:20 - OpAmp 2/3 (gain @ 50%) 3:45 - OpAmp 3/3 (gain @ 100%) 4:18 - Low pass filter capacitor 5:20 - Clipping diodes 7:46 - Tone improvement via bottom capacitor 1/2 (stock, .22uF) 8:00 - Tone improvement via bottom capacitor 2/2 (1uF) 9:15 - Tone control 1/3 (all treble) 9:40 - Tone control 2/3 (all bass) 10:09 - Tone control 3/3 (sweet spot) 11:02 - Tone control bottom capacitor .047uF 1/4 (somewhere in the middle) 11:19 - Tone control bottom capacitor .047uF 2/4 (all bass) 11:32 - Tone control bottom capacitor .047uF 3/4 (all treble) 12:15 - Tone control bottom capacitor .047uF 4/4 (sweet spot) 13:09 - Tone control bottom capacitor 1uF 1/2 (somewhere in the middle) 13:23 - Tone control bottom capacitor 1uF 2/2 (sweet spot)

[@denismguitar1552]

He didn’t talk much except for useful stuff.

[@leovonfitzy]

Really helpful thank you!

[@swainscheps]

Yes - thank you very much Luis. I don’t not appreciate the effort to walk through the creation of a pedal here…but all the talk of ‘scoop’ and ‘clipping’ and ‘meaty’ and ‘tone control’ and ‘usable/friendly’ and ‘fuzzy’ and ‘fizziness’ and ‘presence’ is utter gibberish. Would love it if he did some direct edits where he was playing ‘before and after’ and ‘compare this capacitor with that capacitor’ rather than just describing the sound. Really working hard to translate that kind of language into actual guitar sounds, but it seems impenetrable sometimes. Thank you for making it easier to match sounds to buzzwords.

[@nickkatz5352]

Brian, as an aspiring pedal builder, your videos are immensely helpful. May I request that you do this format more in the future with other types of circuits? Also, if you do, would it be possible to show shots of your breadboard as you add components to it? Seeing your component placement would be very helpful for someone like me. Thanks for everything you do, both as a builder and an educator in this community, you're really a titan and I just want to say I'm so glad you continued to make these videos and keep this channel going, I know that there was some uncertainty as to whether you would continue for a while and I know I literally just said it, but I, for one, am extremely happy you made the decision you have. edit: i ask this with the purpose of hoping to follow along with your videos and build the circuits myself so I can really hear the stuff you're talking about in the room and develop a better understand of breadboard signalflow decisionmaking etc. Thanks!

[@samuelmildenstein8954]

Let’s see some LFO circuits! Get into trem/vibrato!

[@sethtoy3379]

This was EXACTLY the type of content I think a lot of us rookies were looking for. Phenomenal video. Would love to see something like this done for a DIY Delay or Reverb.

[@tgs2012]

I’m an EE and though I know all the details of how to analyze this circuit, I found it super helpful to hear each change. Thank you for the great teaching session.

[@robertw1871]

Being an EE myself I’ve found classical opamp design approaches less than useful, these circuits are basically broken in any other industry, as long as it’s not fatal for a component, just plugging in parts empirically with a goal in mind is the way to go, knowing circuit topology does help some here, calculating poles of the filters not so much... it’s fun for sure, not having to hit a precise goal with ultra low distortion or super low DC offset that’s actually manufacturable, is a nice break...

[@ncnoman]

went to school got my EE, wanted to design these kinds of things. learned more here than in 4 years lol. not that the degree hasnt paid off... 😀

[@pfree8512]

What are you doing now since you chose ee for a profession but are still interested in Things like These? (and presumably dont build them for a living)

[@rlibby404]

To be fair, you wouldn't be taught things like this video in EE because with amplifier design, distortion is a bug not a feature, and A LOT of consideration is given for how to minimize SNR, not how to adjust SNR to taste lol. The circuit in this video is a basic non-inverted opamp circuit that's probably illustrated near the end of the TL082 datasheet along with the gain equations, plus some diodes in the negative feedback loop, plus some filtering. Plenty of EE courses include filtering and pretty much all electrical applications include filters, and yeah they aren't usually audible but they are usually visible on an oscope or spectrum analyzer.

[@mitchtube3]

jesus just that opamp clipping before the diode sounded absolutely rad

[@Texasbluesalley]

WHERE ARE THE TABS FOR THIS!!????

[@bevo65]

Props to you and to whoever posed the question. Smart stuff.

[@Anode230]

Hi Brian. I built one of these overdrives tonight, from the schematic you displayed. I love it - really versatile for such a low parts count. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

[@thomasdavis5230]

is the upside down triangle a symbol for ground?

[@AdiWasturaka]

@@thomasdavis5230 yes

[@drake.hansen]

I am working on this overdrive rn but I am stuck on the op amp part what are the additional connections that are not shown on the Schematic?

[@HOLYISLANDAUDIO]

@@drake.hansen pin 4 to gnd pin 8 to +9v

[@BrianAndersonPhotography]

Brian - thanks so much for doing these. It's helps everyone demystify gear. I do photography and I learned that I could waste a lot of money up front on it. For years playing the guitar I operated under the assumption that good tone costs money. With yours and others help I've learned that good tone takes research and understanding the technology just as it does with photography. Also, the Terraform is awesome. I've had it for a few months now and it's one of the best pedals I've ever owned. Thanks!

[@Jayhawk720]

Another Brilliant video, Brian. Your videos have made me understand a lot more about how pedals are conceived, built and how and why they sound the way they do. From pedal stacking to in depth looking into tone and pedal building, the best and most informative video site by far. fun too. Thanks.

[@jjrobiso]

I became an electrician for many reasons. One of them is this channel. I love guitar and I love how it takes the basics of electricity and can change it into something beautiful. Thanks so much for explaining so much.

[@markhammer643]

Nice one, Brian. One of the things many people either overlook or don't quite grasp is that the more metal you wiggle over a pickup, the greater the signal produced. So it should not surprise us that wiggling a wound E or A string over a pickup yields a noticeably greater signal than wiggling an unwound B or E. I like to say that most of the guitar signal "lives in the basement", meaning that the lower the note, the hotter (higher amplitude) the signal produced. Now, *nothing* gets clipped until it approaches what is called the "forward voltage" of the diodes - the signal level where they begin to conduct. We use some amplification of the signal to reach that point. But because it's higher amplitude to begin with, the lower notes on the bass strings don't really require as *much* amplification to reach that point or threshold. The genius of the Tube Screamer is that it used a strategy Brian illustrates here. The 1k/220nf pair (R46/C28) provide a modest (6db/octave) bass rolloff, near identical to the Tube Screamer, starting around 723hz. Progressively reducing the amount of bass signal hitting the diodes (by amplifying the bass *less* than everything above it) makes it such that pretty much all notes stand an equal likelihood of clipping. I don't know if one would call this a "smoother" sound, but it is more even-handed and predictable. You will note that when Brian uses the larger-value (1uf) cap instead of 220nf, not only is there more audible bass, but the sound is also more distorted. Some commercial pedals will employ various means to reduce or introduce that bass level to yield more even or bass-heavy overdrive. It's a handy feature for adapting to guitars with greater and lesser bass content, or simply heavier and lighter-gauged strings.

[@GearGasms]

Mark Hammer great synopsis!

[@markhammer643]

@@GearGasms Thanks. Only took me 40 years to figure out! :-)

[@davebutler3905]

@@markhammer643 Ha Ha. 45 years for me!

[@knut-erikkotschmar1675]

I just started building circuts in my own and this video was very cool to build along with. Thank you for sharing it. Talking about the components on the feedbackloop of the op-amp helped me understanding it better.

[@theruns123]

Such a great video. Your videos lately Brian have been amazing. I started building pedals a year ago and your videos have been inspiring and motivating me to do more. Thanks!

[@mattwarren6116]

So much yes!!! I have been very curious about how all of this works for a long time. Thank you for making this video and going through the trouble.

[@ianglencross]

Thanks, this sort of content is really appreciated. I've been spending my lockdown breadboarding and this has helped me organise my design process, tuning and refining my choice of BJT and diodes.

[@bruceshepherdley5270]

Thank you Brian for making this excellent video! Especially with the circuit diagram being shown in between each alteration to the circuiy. I learned more about what specific circuit elements do to the sound from watching this video, than i have done from hours of reading pages and listening to sound clips in the past.

[@iancharles798]

I have come back to this video a few times now, this is one of the most helpful resources to me as a new pedal builder. More videos like this please!!!!

[@ummagumma7826]

Brian, it is really impressive how you educate us on the science behind the electronics. Most youtubers don't get out the breadboard, love it. I'm still learning what any of these things mean

[@m.bennett9656]

I'm an absolute beginner when it comes to DIY electronics and pedals and I found this video extremely useful to understand how circuit design affects the sound. Thank you very much!

[@tomasjones3755]

Greatly appreciated. I'm about to mod my 1st pedal. It's a TS type with 3 diff diode possibilities. I socketed the diode section to jump to the breadboard. I was fine with all of that. Got a good selection of diodes, caps & resistors. My head scratch was altering the caps. Thx much.

[@jonathananderson3897]

After watching many, many, many of your videos I have modded almost every pedal I own, its cost peanuts and I have made some radical advances in tone. I salute you sir, keep up the good work 👍

[@Charlie_Echo]

This was really informative, thank you! I think the step-by-step format is great for understanding the individual part each component is playing.

[@thefactorycollective]

Finally a video that shows you the effect different capacitors and resistors have on tone. I moved up another learning step tonight.

[@dan111195]

thanks a lot Brian, I am a student of electronic engineer, I decided to study this because of music. It gets to me very helpfull this video to know more about the different configurations of the op amp for pedals. greetings from Mexico, I hope more videos like this one.

[@wreckoningday]

Cool video Brian. I learned how to build pedals from the first iteration of your book and I'm forever grateful to you for it. Thanks for all the info you share

[@joerectifier]

Excellent video Brian - sonic alchemy with electronics is a beautiful thing - and it's amazing how useful and good sounding the simple circuit turns out. The Bode plots are a fantastic companion to show us qualitatively what is actually happening. Tone controls and loading is where it is all at....awesome and thank you!!

[@wadeadkins4927]

Excellent demo. seeing and hearing the circuit broken down step by step really helped me under stand its structure better I learned a lot from this video. Thanks!

[@TheJoeOption]

Very helpful for me. I'm a new guitarist (relatively) and it's hard to figure out what all these pedals and effects actually do. I have enough electrical background from my mechanical engr education to know about signals and filters and opamps and diodes... so this is incredible helpful. It explains it in terms that make sense to me hahaha. But also having some objective way of explaining it ALONG with the sound is so good

[@jarek.wasilewski]

This is the best way to understand how different elements work. THANK YOU!

[@monkey_breath]

this is super awesome, thanks for this level of insight!!! and i can't help but think that a generic kind of overdrive like this, with a few rotary switches for different value components and a few extra attenuation pots could be a REALLY fun pedal!!!

[@alexwood8555]

This is one of the most informative pedal videos I’ve watched on here. Brian you’re really on another level when it comes to tweaking drive circuits.

[@nathanmontover1436]

Thank you so much for this!! I won't even try to express how important something like this is at my stage of understanding circuits. Not to be sappy but it almost feels like you read my my mind and figured out what I need to know next in order to get better. This is really great \m/

[@LP-qi8hs]

Great video and details on the basics. The changes in the schematics help us out. Thanks for your time.

[@ewetoobie]

Great stuff, as always. Very well explained, love the frequency plots, love hearing the results too! Picked up an Ego a while back, great compressor!

[@chipabuser419]

This is awesome! Every guitar player that owns a soldering iron should see this!

[@daniellesaux6152]

Aside from how much I learned about pedal design, why hasn't anyone commented on the killer guitar playing happening in this video? Thanks for sharing your knowledge and playing!

[@matttaylor1449]

Awesome vid. Very cool seeing the effect of each part as you go through the circuit.

[@Tomsdrawings]

Thank you Brian. Congratulations with those books! Interesting!

[@ryanb94457]

Great video, really nice explanation of each part. I’ve only ever built valve amps, the solidstate world is a bit new to me and this helped a lot! Thanks for making it

[@johnegginton]

Having only built a couple of clone pedals from pre-designed and printed boards, this has been massively helpful in understanding the effect of different components on the overall output and tone of the guitar. I have a massive amount of components now, just need to get a few more - op amps, pots and some breadboard - before I feel I can start experimenting for myself! Thank you!

[@HugoDeFainia]

Best video on KZbin! Thank you so much for providing this information. You are a gift to humanity!

[@murrrr8288]

I made my first DIY pedal with help of this schematics! Thanks for the video, it's very helpful!!

[@billynojokes]

Thank you for this video I been looking for someone to actually explain circuits and what the components are actually doing. This vid hit the spot! Def gunna geek out and binge watch ur catalog soon! Thank you!!

[@dindin3394]

Thank God there are nerdy people like you who explain things with knowledge and experience in the best way and nerdy people like me who want to learn! Thank you a lot for the info I found on the webpage and this video!

[@thearmeddiyer9343]

I love this. I have always been a hands on electronics nerd so with the cost of many guitar pedals, this content is priceless. Thank you

[@FranciscoBIdo]

One of the most informative pedal videos out there! Thank You!

[@platondr]

Thank you a lot! This seems like a great starter builder circuit, I will probably build a padal using this for a school project next year, but i will have to play around with the capacitors as I wanted to make a bass OD and figure out how to add a footswitch, but this really helps a lot!

[@mattfischer3853]

Awesome video, this was something I was looking for to just understand why certain components are in there. Great job!

[@petedazer3381]

I myself don’t use pedals, but I’ve been delving into more solid state amp mods and repairs, having always been a tube junkie. I’m really enjoying your videos because of the practicality of presentation! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@JonathanGarciaMallen]

Thank you. I''d been wondering where EQ/tone control would go for a drive, and you showed me that there re two places and explained the different results you'd get.

[@Sadlander2]

I knew what the components are (remember from school) but I had no idea what they do to the sound. Thanks to the person who's suggested this and thank you for making this video! This was great!!!

[@lucasgabriellimadeoliveira3670]

do you know whats happens if I raise the tone pot ?

[@bernardobrito1312]

Great video! Very helpful to understand the structure of an o overdrive pedal! Also will help me much in trying some DIY stuff. 😄 thank you very much!

[@burroughs334]

I love the premise of this video. Thanks for doing it!

[@Ben-ur1ku]

This is great, thankyou so much, this is the kind of pracs we require in Uni, so much more than simply running some calcs and reviewing bode plots..

[@10gaugesbelow]

This taught me so much for my pedal building. Id love to see more of this.

[@InspiringTracks]

Absolutely awesome video, it helps a lot to understand the interaction between components inside a pedal. Thanks!

[@BradleyLivestreams]

Mind blown! Thank you for taking the time to present this. Great stuff!

[@Rcdude10tc32]

This was awesome! I'd love to see more of these style videos.

[@bobrg1459]

Thanks. Excellent presentation with interesting discussion and demonstration.

[@MrMetalgods]

Well done such a clean sound and good overdrive

[@denismguitar1552]

I LOVED this video Brian! Do this all you want!

[@AlexisGuitars]

Great video, thank you very much for this! I plan on starting with some DIY pedal kits and when I get the hang of that, I`ll try changing out some values!

[@nicolasrimoldi4857]

You are a genius friend! Thank you very much for this video, this type of information is very useful for us sound enthusiasts. I send you a big greeting from Argentina.

[@opwave79]

This is really cool and giving me ideas on how to customize the circuit to get the tone I want.

[@Resevil]

As I learn more about electronics, more things in this video start to “click” whenever I come back to watch. Thank you Brian, invaluable info here!

[@soundsexciting2256]

Fantastic... thanks so much Brian! Great to see your 'books back in print'! As Oliver might say "Please Sir, can I have some more!?"

[@decomputerleraarable]

Perfect video. Very understandable. Keep doing this with the most common pedals. I will build this one.

[@andreasdavour9973]

Really cool. Thanks for sharing Brian. This is really not found elsewhere so we who like circuits are quite happy new! :)

[@ZetaFuzzMachine]

Amazing Mr Wampler! Thanks for the distorsion 101 lesson!

[@PelDaddy]

Very nice demonstration. This is how I like to work... make small changes and evaluate their effects, either with sound, or a scope (for non-audio projects). Thank you.

[@jaakkolamminpaa7959]

Really awesome. Moreover, I like the testing-out-type of stuff. This got me to typing (also thanks to corona) my first pedal to a breadboard. And after a lot of buzz and interference, I managed to get something going. Now I have been just tweaking the shit out of this (more than I should, but I think that is normal) and perhaps in a few weeks I get something on the stripboard. Love and thanks, from Finland!

[@chriskucholtz6967]

Thanks, man. That was great. Very easy to understand without getting too technical.

[@LEON4PRES]

DAAAYYYUUUMMM!!! This pedal sounds GREAT!!! Awesome playing too!

[@TheElrondo]

Notification pops up... ...instant like! Thank you Mr. Wampler. Stay safe and healthy.

[@oldboymel]

These deep dive vids are really informative and interesting!

[@yurkshirelad]

I'm amazed how such a fantastic sound could come from a circuit that is relatively simple.

[@stonedronin123]

This is amazing, Brian! Thank you for this.

[@Dimo145]

I am just getting started with pedal building. Thank you very much for doing this.

[@ruby2thursday]

enjoyed this one. one of your more informative vids. very helpful! thanks Brian!

[@thefunkynotes8956]

This vid is awesome!!! You are really making me need to get started with pedal building!!! Thanks a lot, one more thing I'll suck at and don't have the money for.

[@anthonyjaas]

I liked how it sounds, and built it. Thanks for the guide

[@josesaldivar655]

Very informative with the sound as function of parameters. Hear the effect of diodes clipping. My idea was that the sound would be without clipping. Many thanks. must build one pedal.

[@Jay0neDE]

wow this is the best video ever. thank you so much for sharing this knowledge.

[@coryburns13]

Really learning a lot here, totally went and bought the book. Thanks man!

[@MixYourWay]

Sweet share Brian. All the best, keep it up!!

[@bill_automated1226]

Well done Brian. Great video.

[@christo4249]

That sums up every information I needed right now ! Thanks a lot !

[@carloslema5400]

Excellent format. Thank you for the great content

[@erlannderrantem6972]

Thanks for this video, i never really managed to get an op amp circuit up and running, i will try it as you did!

[@l1feson]

Excellent stuff! Really helps to understand the schematic

[@yugbe]

Thank You!!! I cannot tell you how much this helped!

[@yagotrillo]

Awesome video Brian. Thanks

[@stephanematis]

Loved it. Learned a nice bit from this real world demo.

[@AdamTrepac]

Fantastic video, please do more of these!

[@serenemachine9110]

This might be the coolest pedal video I have ever seen.

[@CrazedFandango]

Being a fan of the BD2 and never having delved into modifying pedals, I'm going to get your book on this.