Clipping LED’s

[Legend289]

Hey newbie here!

I've been looking into using LEDs as clipping diodes, as many people do, but i've noticed that they always seem to specify Red LEDs. Is there a reason for this? Do other colours sound different? Has anyone done a video test on them? A quick Google/YouTube search didn't find anything....

[anotherjim]

There is a lot of info if you search this forum. With Google and other "popular" places, the main uses of some components are so vast, the tiny number of oddball facts don't get a look in.
I think RED is best because the forward voltage is usually lower than the other shades, but hi-bright or hi-efficiency types can be different again. With only 9v supply circuits, the ordinary Red ones give a good balance of tone and sustain.

[PRR]

An LED takes "a couple Volts". We want to clip both sides, that's near 4V. We start from 9V but the opamp has maybe 2V loss each side. Let the battery drop (or filter wall-crap from a wart), the opamp clips before the LEDs.

Classically, IR LEDs are lowest. You can find them (any IR remote). Red LEDs are next lowest and super common. Green a hair higher. White very high. IR ~~ 1.5V, Red ~~ 1.6V, Green ~~ 1.8V, White 3V-4V.