Will fuzz kill my amp?

Neill Levine · July 27th, 2008, 04:35 AM

Hi all,

I have a MI Audio GI Fuzz pedal that can make my 6 month old DRRI amp sound like it is about to blow up at a relatively low volume.

I have played with the pedal on-stage at a low setting (which I tend to use) and the speaker sounded very grunge-y, like it had a rip in it.

My query is; am I damaging the speaker by doing that? How does the pedal work basically? Is it emulating that sound or is it really pushing the amp so far that it bends?

Neill

pango_twango · July 27th, 2008, 11:15 PM

Just think: the sound you're getting from your Fender amp is the sound that marshall owners pay big bucks for.

But seriously, fuzz circuits typically amplify and feedback the signal, usually with some harmonics thrown in so that it doesn't sound like just noise. I'm not aware of any pedal that will increase the signal enough (some of the most gnarly have only 1 transistor) to fry anything. They do their magic just because the guitar signal is fairly weak to begin with; it doesn't take much to make a noticeable increase. I've read elsewhere that blasting your guitar through hi-fi speakers can damage the voice coils in those. But even that should probably be taken with a grain of salt. I've done it for years.

As far as "pushing" the amp goes... a fuzz does it's work before getting to the amp, and the preamp and power section just make that signal louder. A booster pedal will send more signal (or more of a particular frequency) the amp's way, and can affect the distortion/saturation threshold of the tubes (making them breakup sooner, or making an SS amp get closer to clipping). Again, though, usually none of that is in the fry-able range.

There are pedal circuits that are sought after because they mimic the sound of a torn speaker, by the way

Neill Levine · July 28th, 2008, 03:03 AM

Yes, the GI fuzz has many settings and it can do that torn speaker thing. It does not get much of an outing in the sort of music I do though.

So the amp circuits won't fry, but will that extreme sort of sound shorten the life of a speaker?

July 27th, 2008, 04:35 AM	#1 (permalink)
Neill Levine TDPRI Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 92	Will fuzz kill my amp? Hi all, I have a MI Audio GI Fuzz pedal that can make my 6 month old DRRI amp sound like it is about to blow up at a relatively low volume. I have played with the pedal on-stage at a low setting (which I tend to use) and the speaker sounded very grunge-y, like it had a rip in it. My query is; am I damaging the speaker by doing that? How does the pedal work basically? Is it emulating that sound or is it really pushing the amp so far that it bends? Neill

July 27th, 2008, 11:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
pango_twango Tele-Meister Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Seattle Posts: 150	Just think: the sound you're getting from your Fender amp is the sound that marshall owners pay big bucks for. But seriously, fuzz circuits typically amplify and feedback the signal, usually with some harmonics thrown in so that it doesn't sound like just noise. I'm not aware of any pedal that will increase the signal enough (some of the most gnarly have only 1 transistor) to fry anything. They do their magic just because the guitar signal is fairly weak to begin with; it doesn't take much to make a noticeable increase. I've read elsewhere that blasting your guitar through hi-fi speakers can damage the voice coils in those. But even that should probably be taken with a grain of salt. I've done it for years. As far as "pushing" the amp goes... a fuzz does it's work before getting to the amp, and the preamp and power section just make that signal louder. A booster pedal will send more signal (or more of a particular frequency) the amp's way, and can affect the distortion/saturation threshold of the tubes (making them breakup sooner, or making an SS amp get closer to clipping). Again, though, usually none of that is in the fry-able range. There are pedal circuits that are sought after because they mimic the sound of a torn speaker, by the way

July 28th, 2008, 03:03 AM	#3 (permalink)
Neill Levine TDPRI Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 92	Yes, the GI fuzz has many settings and it can do that torn speaker thing. It does not get much of an outing in the sort of music I do though. So the amp circuits won't fry, but will that extreme sort of sound shorten the life of a speaker?