I have mocked the word, but some people believe it to be a real thing. So okay, what does "transparent" mean when talking about drive pedals. You see, every drive pedal I've tried have always distorted the guitars signal. To me, that goes with the territory, it's what those pedals do. The signal is being clipped. How can something be transparent when it is being distorted? How does one realise the pedal is transparent? What are people listening for?
To me, transparent means "clear", or "see-through", so in the context of a drive pedal it would, to me, mean that some of the undistorted clean signal is passed through with the clipped. Which, in any case, would make it "partially opaque". At best a compressor, which shouldn't distort the signal, but simply increase the sustain of the clean tone, could be called transparent, and the more distortion a compressor introduces, the less transparent it could be called.
Is that what people mean, that some of the clean signal is passed through to the output?
Or is it a word that has been given a post-modern makeover and means whatever anyone wishes it to mean? In which case, I will reserve the right to continue mocking it when used, as it means nothing and everything and I get to play as well.
Comments
So the opposite of some shitty fuzz box where it doesn't matter what guitar you plug into it, the output will sound exactly the same because the effect totally replaces the sound of the guitar.
But yeah, it's clearly (hah!) not a literal descriptive term.
Okay, but most pedals do that. Even something like a Fuzz Face does that to my ears.
E.g. A tubescreamer would not be described as transparent because it adds a distinctive mid-hump to the output signal.
A Tube Screamer is less transparent because it changes the EQ as well as clipping the signal, even when the gain is fairly low. Some other overdrives don't change the EQ as much (eg Timmy).
A Big Muff isn't really transparent at all because it has so much distortion and EQ that it more or less obliterates the sound of the guitar. There are other pedals even more drastic, where you can't even tell which pickup is being used.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Transparency is defined as how much or how little EQ change takes place. Okay, so not a post-modern redefinition (well, a little bit; just saying "doesn't change the EQ" would work!).
https://www.breakthemachine.co.uk connect@breakthemachine.co.uk
Sorry, back to transparent knickers, err, overdrives...
For me, a transparent overdrive does increase the gain level of your amp/latter OD pedal, without adding any kind of other "flavour".
For example, a MIAB pedal into a Fender amp is not transparent, as it will attempt to make your amp sound more like a Marshall than a Fender.
However, a Timmy into a Fender will allow you alter the gain, volume, bass and treble of your signal to affect the amp without adding any other "flavour"
So basically, exactly what your amp would sound like if you turned the gain, volume, bass or treble up, in stead of using an OD pedal.
I'd probably say a transparent OD is just a fancier clean boost