What does a fuzz box do to the guitar sound?

I don't know the technical stuff to it, but I know a lot of famous guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour have used fuzz boxes. I'm just wondering what they do exactly as far as sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN6iOVIWp...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEZPvFU8y...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6uM-f5PI...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWRRzd4hf...

its a different type of distorton

Distortion

Well , Fuzzbox , distortion pedal (or circuit) are pretty similar. basically , it takes a straight guitar signal and makes it a sort of sqare wave tone. I'm not exactly up on my electronic circuits and components , but i think...by using certain values of resistors, diodes , etc. , and by configuring them all to actually "overdrive" a signal is the general idea. It used to be that turning up an old tube amp would result in some "breakup" of the signal, and although sound purists say THAT's bad, for the guitarist it's pleasing.

A fuzzbox (or fuzz box) is a type of effects pedal comprising an amplifier and a clipping circuit, which generates a distorted version of the input signal. As opposed to other distortion guitar effects pedals, a fuzzbox boosts and clips the signal sufficiently to turn a standard sine wave input into what is effectively a square wave output. This gives a much more distorted and synthetic sound than a standard distortion or overdrive. The term "fuzz box" is often used generically to refer to any effect pedal that produces a distorted sound.

As clipping is a non-linear process, intermodulation will occur, leading to the generation of an output signal rich in extra harmonics of the input signal. Intermodulation distortion also produces frequency components at the various sums and differences of the frequency components of the input signal. In general, these components will be not be harmonically related to the input signal, leading to dissonance. For this reason, power chords are often used when using fuzzboxes to reduce dissonance.

You can buy " retro" style fuzz boxes at various music stores on-line. The are made using the same circuitry that was used in the 60's .One used by Hendrix was the " FUZZ FACE " . Fender is also making the " FENDER-BLENDER " again, I think. Theyse boxes will be better for playing psychedelic songs from the 60's.

it is more of a wirey raspy distortion. radiohead (rat), smashing pumkins (big muff), hendrix, gilmour...

I have heard of that on in a long time
A fuzz box gives your gutiar a fuzzy buzzing distortion sound
they are used much any more
If you have one Keep it

Basically, it ruins and disguises the actual sound of the guitar......which otherwise is a lovely sounding instrument when played correctly.

They add noise. There is a lot of difference between them - I have one made by Keeley that is the most "musical" one I have ever heard. I usually do NOT like fuzz boxes, but this one sounds cool. Its not cheap, but the good stuff never is.