Monday, June 18, 2018

OVERDRIVE- GORE Gross Distortion ...can a 'one' transistor dirt box sound good???

 GORE GROSS DISTORTION 

$280.00 USD
So in the 70's a company called Electra Guitar offered
an LP style guitar made in Japan that came with a slot to clip in a series of sound modules.
Their distortion module was a single transistor model that used a diode to create the distortion.
This arrangement was no doubt fostered as a way to keep the modules both cheap and small.
It was simple but effective as it produced a dynamically responsive circuit. In short it responded to your touch very well. It was also less compressed with lots of headroom.

The Gore pedal has simply put 2 sets of 12 diodes.
Each set is on a rotary switch. This gives you 144 combinations or 144 different sounds. Add active tone controls and you have a lot of choice.

The diodes are germanium, silicon and LED.
I am not so sure it just doesn't have 3 basic sounds all the others being just a shade different.
So with even just 3 different kinds I am sure that there are a hell of a lot of usable settings.
The general tone is very mid range intense with a nice big harsh growl and metallic resonance like the body on a National Steel guitar.
Cool!


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