Clean / Dirty

[animal control]

When sound clips are posted here or on websites that are examples of clean / dirty, what exactly does that mean? If I were to create such clips, how would I do it?

 

[Cletus]

When sound clips are posted here or on websites that are examples of clean / dirty, what exactly does that mean? If I were to create such clips, how would I do it?

You'll need to get some detergent onto the clean ones, but leave the dirty ones sitting in mud for a while before you post.

 

[elfro89]

what he said.

 

[nexrex]

:icon_scratch: ??? Clean denotes that it is the unaltered sound of the pickup. Dirty denotes usually that there is gain or distortion added to the original signal. This is all done through an amp or effects pedals

 

[animal control]

:icon_scratch: ??? Clean denotes that it is the unaltered sound of the pickup. Dirty denotes usually that there is gain or distortion added to the original signal. This is all done through an amp or effects pedals

Thank you.

So clean is the sound of the pickup through as flat a chain as possible and dirty is the sound of the pickup plus whatever the player can think of to put in the chain? How useful can that be?

 

[B3Guy]

not very. if you want to know what pus sound like, find some actually on a guitar and play it. If you cannot find it, ask on the forum. someone has likely tried the pickup and can attempt to describe its sound.

 

[Steve_Karl]

:icon_scratch: ??? Clean denotes that it is the unaltered sound of the pickup. Dirty denotes usually that there is gain or distortion added to the original signal. This is all done through an amp or effects pedals

Thank you.

So clean is the sound of the pickup through as flat a chain as possible and dirty is the sound of the pickup plus whatever the player can think of to put in the chain? How useful can that be?

Not very ... but it gives you a general idea.

I've always been of the mind that the only way to do pickup demos is direct into a mic pre and that being recorded with nothing else ... NO FX and no amplifiers.

 

[B3Guy]

it can become more useful when compared to a common pickup, but once again, there are so many variables (pickup position, guitar wiring, effects, amp, guitar woods, string gague, pickup/string distance relationship, etc.) that can be slightly or drastically different during a comparison, and can therefore effect the sound as well.

 

[bagman67]

it can become more useful when compared to a common pickup, but once again, there are so many variables (pickup position, guitar wiring, effects, amp, guitar woods, string gague, pickup/string distance relationship, etc.) that can be slightly or drastically different during a comparison, and can therefore effect the sound as well.

...which is why the responsible presenters of sample clips also indicate what other gear was used in the recording, so you have some idea what's happening.  A dirty sample coming from a BOSS Blues Driver into a Princeton Reverb combo  is likely to be quite different from a dirty sample coming out of a wide-open Mesa Stiletto through  a 4x12 (and then there's the miking and so on and so forth).

 

[Strat Avenger]

Clean is without overdrive distortion. Dirty is with overdrive distortion.

 

[Superlizard]

There's "shades of grey" between clean and dirty too; of course.

Also, with a quality t00b amp sans any dist/od stomp box running (some stomps
allow this as well), you can pick lightly and get clean - then pick hard and get clipping ("dirt").  e.g. dynamics

 

[ironeddie]

Lots of times on the pickup website there are a bunch of sound samples on what the pickup sounds like clean / or dirty, but there are so many variables that its tough to say what it will actually sound like with your rig in your guitar... Computer speakers don't really help the situation either.  I think that the best way is to go out and try a bunch of guitars with a bunch of different pickups. 

 

[Jusatele]

I think the sound clips are not with pedals, just the gain control, however that means nothing unless you are using that guitar with that pickup through that amp