Rectifier diodes as clipping diodes?

[Andy]

I have a small stock of 1n4004's are these ok to use as clipping diodes?  Will the distortion box sound better with other diodes?

[Peter Snowberg]

Just about any diode is fair game for a clipper.

Everything depends on your taste. You might find the 1N4004s a bit "harder" than 1N4148s, and quite a bit "harder" than 1N34s, but I suspect the matching (or mismatching) has just about as much to do with the final tone as the semiconductor they're made from.

You might want to look at the forward voltage drop of those 4004s, and compare the values with 1N4001s and 1N4007s to get the full range of forward voltage variety in that "part".

Uneven clippers will result in more even-order harmonics.

A common substitution is to use two silicon diodes with a germanium in series with one of them. Sounds good to me.

Try it out and post your results!

-Peter