cliping LEDs?

[nero1985]

can i add LEDs in parallel to ground on the signal path to get more distortion???, kida like this


T
U
O
^
|------>|------|Ground
|------|<------|Ground
^
N
I

[smoguzbenjamin]

They'll work just like ordinary clipping diodes. They will, however, sound different because they have a different forward voltage, and need a higher voltage before they conduct (and therefore clip the signal).

[Mike Burgundy]

sure you can. LEDs are just diodes, with a twist. You can use them in any situiation you use diodes in (as long as you satisfy voltage and current issues)
The trick is that LEDs have a higher forward conduction voltage than regular Si diodes. Germanium goes even lower.
The distortion is caused by this -> for any part of the sinal, one diode is reversed (non-conducting) and one is in the right direction to conduct, BUT it won't do that until the signal reaches a certain voltage (say 0.7V for Si diodes). Anything below that gets left alone, but above that the signal level is clamped to ground: anything above 0.7V gets clipped.
The difference in position of this threshold means clipping at different points (so LEDs are cleaner but LOUD) but there are also differences in the shape of the knee: LEDs clip rather hard. There are also differences between different LED colours, too - it's somewehre in the archives.
So: if the signallevel is high enough, yes, you can get more distortion. Keep in mind that distortion means the signal is clipped at a lower peak-level, so you might want to boost the signal slightly afterwards.