What is overdrive and why do guitarists like it?
Overdrive (also known as distortion there’s actually a technical difference between the two effects, but guitarists typically use the terms interchangeably) is the effect created by a guitar amplifier whose preamp section is being pushed beyond its limits. The resulting harmonic distortion of the original guitar signal generates a sound that’s fat, crunchy or fuzzy and sustains much longer than a clean guitar sound, and many guitarists love it because it exponentially increases the expressive possibilities of the instrument. The effect of an overdriven preamp can also be simulated by any of a large number of “stomp-box” devices designed for this purpose.
