To re-initiate my project after the new year I have created another circuit which aims to distort the signal using MOSFET’s (Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor). Symmetrical clipping can be produced by using the upper MOSFET’s gate-source junction to clip positive signals and the lower inverted MOSFET gate-source juntion to clip the negative signals, simultaneously the body diodes with 0.7V reverse bias will also clip the opposing voltage on each one and therefore creating a different level of harmonics. The switch can be altered to provide asymmetrical clipping, using only one MOSFET to provide a different clipping threshold for +ve and -ve signals.
This circuit is very similar to that of the diode clipping but, in theory, it will produce an entirely different sound due to features such as the silicon oxide insulated gate and large body substrate. The resultant circuit diagram is shown below:
The resultant waveforms for the asymmetrical clipping can be found on the ‘Images’ tab, for some reason the symmetrical clipping screenshot appeared to be identical but I doubt very much that this would be the case when carried out practically. Fairly soon I will begin testing this circuit and the similar diode clipper to find out whether they will be viable for my final project, although as a result of these investigations I have very few doubts.
stompboxproject 