Distortion
Amount of raw, barking overdrive.
- Turn up More dirt and midrange bark.
- Turn down Cleaner, with just a light edge.
Pedals / Two-knob germanium fuzz
Hot Plus
Two-knob germanium fuzz · play-tested
seth — fish
seth@ninevolt:~$
Knobs
In the TUI each knob runs from low (left / 0%) to high (right / 100%). Start near noon, then nudge while you play.
Output
How loud the pedal sends signal out.
- Turn up Louder — can act like a boost into the next stage.
- Turn down Softer output.
Inspired by
MXR Distortion+ (1978) — single LM741 non-inverting stage, 1N270 germanium diodes shunt to ground, mild fuzzy “bark.” Ian MacKaye / Fugazi and early Misfits profiles use it as a dirty boost. Two knobs only: Distortion (gain) and Output (level).
Signal path
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Input HPF ~90 Hz | Coupling cap — blocks DC / sub rumble. |
| Pre-clip LP ~4.2 kHz | Op-amp / feedback-path bandwidth limit. |
| Drive 1.5×–213× | Distortion → 3.5–46.5 dB (1 + 1 MΩ / (4.7 kΩ + pot)). |
| Ge diode clip ~350 mV | 1N270 pair to ground — soft, compressed fuzz. |
| Mid emphasis LP ~3.2 kHz | Limited op-amp recovery — mid-forward bark. |
| Output | Level pot. |
How we modeled it
Distortion+ path: input HPF → pre-clip LP → variable op-amp gain → Ge soft clip → mid LP emphasis → Output. High gain hits the diodes early for the classic mild-fuzz bark, not hard silicon grind.
Simplifications
- One-pole filters vs LM741 / RC network detail - No input/output buffer stages - Mono only