Tech Tips & Tutorials

If you have spent any amount of time looking at delay pedal, chances are you've bumped into the term "bucket brigade." A bucket brigade chip, also known as bucket-brigade device (BBD), refers to a distinct time analog delay chip that was developed by Sangster and K Teer in 1969. This chip provided signal delay that moved charge packets from one capacitor cell to the other. The signal was then split into two on entering the analog delay unit in a way that half of the signal was taken directly into the output while the other half passed through the chip. While Bucket Brigade chips can be found in a wide range of applications, they are best-known for their use in analog delay pedals.     Continue reading →

Speaker breakup refers to a tonal feature that happens when they are pushed past a certain limit. While many believe that a speaker's power rating is a contributing factor to speaker breakup, that's simply not true. True speaker breakup depends on the cone density and the interaction between the top plate thickness and the winding height of the voice coil. It also depends on a speaker's Xmax rating (also known as a speaker's Maximum Linear Excursion), which is essentially the height of the voice coil overhang below and above the top plate and magnetic gap.   Continue reading →

Using an overdrive pedal is mostly seen with guitar players who want to attain a gain boost that will take a tube amp into the domain of distortion or those who want to color their tone when an amp that is overdriven. Mostly, the majority of players want to have a little bit of both so here are some tips how the overdrive effects pedal can give its maximum to its users.     Continue reading →

Limiters and compressors are power tools used to control signal and mold it to your liking. While there are a lot of similarities between the two, they are in fact different. In today's article, we will be taking a look at both of these tools along with a bit on how they actually work.     Continue reading →

Guitar effects electronically alter, sometimes in very drastic ways, the sound of your instrument. They can be housed in guitar amplifiers, guitar amplifier simulation programs, effects pedals, or effects processors. Although there are plenty of options available to guitar players, it can be quite challenging to distinguish some of those, especially the echo and delay effects.   Continue reading →