Distortion (music)
Distortion and overdrive are ""gain"" effects used in amplified music, originally derived from the sound of a saturated vacuum-tube guitar amplifier, though they are produced in a variety of ways in the 2010s. The effects add harmonic and inharmonic overtones to a signal leading to a compressed sound that is often described as ""warm"" and ""dirty"" depending on the type and intensity of distortion used. The effects are notably popular with electric guitar players in the blues, rock, heavy metal and punk rock genres. The terms distortion and overdrive are often used interchangeably: where a distinction is made, ""distortion"" is used to denote a more extreme version of the effect than ""overdrive"".Fuzz is a term used to describe a particular form of distortion, originally created by guitarists using faulty equipment (such as a misaligned valve tube, see below), which has since been emulated by a number of ""Fuzzbox"" effects pedals.Distortion, overdrive, and fuzz, can be produced by effects pedals, rackmounts, pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers, speakers and more recently, digital amplifier modeling devices. These effects are used with electric guitars, electric basses (fuzz bass), electronic keyboards, and in some cases with vocals.