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132-579: The earliest Boss product was called B-100 The Boss , released in 1974. This came with a clip-on pre-amp and a pickup to amplify acoustic guitars. At this point the Boss company had not been formed and it was still a Beckmen Musical Instruments product (as seen on the B-100 box). The first proper Boss foot pedal effect, the CE-1 Chorus Ensemble, was released June 1976, which was a stand-alone unit of

264-403: A Fernandes The Revival RST-50 Stratocaster that he named "Blue", when he was ten years old in 1982, the same year his father died. His mother got "Blue" from George Cole , who taught Armstrong to play guitar for 10 years. Armstrong says in a 1995 MTV interview, "Basically, it wasn't like guitar lessons because I never really learned how to read music. So he just taught me how to put my hands on

396-579: A Rolling Stone article about the Green Day album Dookie , which he described as "touch[ing] on bisexuality a lot". Armstrong met his first serious girlfriend, Arica Pelino, at 924 Gilman Street on his 16th birthday. She became known as the "first official Green Day fan," listening to the first four-track recordings by Armstrong and Sean Hughes, encouraging the band, touring with them and acting as an occasional photographer for them. She inspired many of Green Day's songs, including "Christie Road", which

528-660: A jukebox musical featuring several of Green Day's songs, Armstrong portrayed the role of St. Jimmy in the show for several weeks during its run on Broadway . Armstrong's business ventures include founding Adeline Records to help support other bands in 1997, coinciding with the release of Nimrod . Adeline signed acts such as the Frustrators , AFI , and Dillinger Four . The record company shut down two decades later in August 2017. Armstrong also co-founded Punk Bunny Coffee (formerly Oakland Coffee Works) in 2015. Armstrong

660-454: A supergroup with Tim Armstrong of Rancid , named The Armstrongs. In April 2018, Armstrong formed the rock band The Longshot , and on April 20, the band released their debut studio album Love Is for Losers . Shortly after, Armstrong announced that he and The Longshot would embark on a summer tour. Aside from Armstrong, the band's lineup consists of Kevin Preston and David S. Field of

792-496: A "dirty" or "gritty" tone. When asymmetrical, it produces both even and odd harmonics. Electronically, this is usually achieved by either amplifying the signal to a point where it is clipped by the DC voltage limitation of the power supply rail, or by clipping the signal with diodes. Many solid-state distortion devices attempt to emulate the sound of overdriven vacuum valves using additional solid-state circuitry. Some amplifiers (notably

924-400: A "fuzzy", "growling", or "gritty" tone. Distortion is most commonly used with the electric guitar , but may also be used with other electric instruments such as electric bass , electric piano , synthesizer and Hammond organ . Guitarists playing electric blues originally obtained an overdriven sound by turning up their vacuum tube -powered guitar amplifiers to high volumes, which caused

1056-447: A 1995 interview with The Advocate , "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of, 'Oh, I can't.' They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing." In February 2014, he again discussed his bisexuality in

1188-418: A 40th anniversary edition of the pedal, with the original circuit having remained unchanged since its introduction. Guitar dubbed the pedal one of only a handful to ever achieve "truly iconic status." Overdrive (music) Distortion and overdrive are forms of audio signal processing used to alter the sound of amplified electric musical instruments, usually by increasing their gain , producing

1320-531: A DI jack on the guitar amp, or from the Line Out jack of a power attenuator. The output transformer sits between the power valves and the speaker, serving to match impedance . When a transformer's ferromagnetic core becomes electromagnetically saturated a loss of inductance takes place, since the back E.M.F. is reliant on a change in flux in the core. As the core reaches saturation, the flux levels off and cannot increase any further. With no change in flux there

1452-509: A band called Rodeo Queens , along with members of Green Day and NYC punk rocker Jesse Malin . They released one song, along with a video, called "Depression Times". In 2009, American Idiot was adapted into a Broadway musical , also called American Idiot . The musical won two Tony Awards . Armstrong appeared in American Idiot in the role of St. Jimmy for two stints in late 2010 and early 2011. In 2012, Green Day released

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1584-438: A clear, undistorted bass sound, professional bass players in these genres use high-powered amplifiers with a lot of " headroom " and they may also use audio compressors to prevent sudden volume peaks from causing distortion. In many cases, musicians playing stage pianos or synthesizers use keyboard amplifiers that are designed to reproduce the audio signal with as little distortion as possible. The exceptions with keyboards are

1716-401: A clipping "overdriven" condition; as such, the musician will get the distortion from the fuzz which is then distorted further by the amp. During the 1990s, some Seattle grunge guitarists chained together as many as four fuzz pedals to create a thick " wall of sound " of distortion. In some modern valve effects, the "dirty" or "gritty" tone is actually achieved not by high voltage, but by running

1848-536: A completely clean amplifier to generate the whole overdrive/distortion effect. With care—and with appropriately chosen pedals—it is possible to "stack" multiple overdrive/distortion pedals together, allowing one pedal to act as a 'boost' for another. Fuzz boxes and other heavy distortions can produce unwanted dissonances when playing chords. To get around this, guitar players (and keyboard players) using these effects may restrict their playing to single notes and simple " power chords " (root, fifth, and octave). Indeed, with

1980-478: A different way. Power amplifier distortion may damage speakers. A Direct Inject signal can capture the power-tube distortion sound without the direct coloration of a guitar speaker and microphone. This DI signal can be blended with a miked guitar speaker, with the DI providing a more present, immediate, bright sound, and the miked guitar speaker providing a colored, remote, darker sound. The DI signal can be obtained from

2112-496: A distorted or "dirty" tone. Later, around 1945, Western swing guitarist and member of the Bob Wills band, Junior Barnard , began experimenting with a rudimentary humbucker pick-up and a small amplifier to obtain his signature "low-down and dirty" bluesy sound which allowed for more "fluid and funky" chords. Many electric blues guitarists, including Chicago bluesmen such as Elmore James and Buddy Guy , experimented to get

2244-458: A folk or bluegrass style. Billie Joe Armstrong Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician and actor. He is best known for being the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day , which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder , and provides lead vocals for Green Day's side projects Foxboro Hot Tubs ,

2376-401: A fuzzy and somewhat distorted sound gained widespread popularity after guitarist Dave Davies of The Kinks used a razor blade to slash his speaker cones for the band's single " You Really Got Me ". In May 1965 Keith Richards used a Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone to record " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction ". The song's success greatly boosted sales of the device, and all available stock sold out by

2508-534: A guitar shop in Oakland, California with fellow Pinhead Gunpowder member and longtime Green Day associate, Bill Schneider . In December 2015, Armstrong and Mike Dirnt launched a coffee company, Oakland Coffee Works . The company sells organic coffee beans and is said to be the first company to use mass-produced compostable bags and pods. Armstrong has been noted for his punk fashion style, which influenced his followers of previous and current generations to

2640-400: A guitar solo with warm overtones created by his small valve amplifier . Pat Hare produced heavily distorted power chords on his electric guitar for records such as James Cotton 's " Cotton Crop Blues " (1954) as well as his "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby" (1954), creating "a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound," accomplished by turning the volume knob on his amplifier "all

2772-453: A guitar sound that paralleled the rawness of blues singers such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf , replacing often their originals with the powerful Valco "Chicagoan" pick-ups, originally created for lap-steel, to obtain a louder and fatter tone. In early rock music , Goree Carter 's "Rock Awhile" (1949) featured an over-driven electric guitar style similar to that of Chuck Berry several years later, as well as Joe Hill Louis ' " Boogie in

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2904-445: A metal screw securing the battery compartment; later models retained the metal screw, adding a plastic knob for tool-less battery removal. The labels on the bottom of the pedals come in several different colours including black, silver, green, pink and blue. Apart from this the basic external design has remained unchanged for almost half a century. The DS-1 Distortion circuit design has changed significantly twice throughout its lifetime;

3036-423: A musical career. In 1987, aged 15, Armstrong formed a band called Sweet Children with his childhood friend Mike Dirnt . In the beginning, Armstrong and Dirnt both played guitar, with Raj Punjabi on drums and Sean Hughes on bass. Punjabi was later replaced on drums by John Kiffmeyer , also known as Al Sobrante. After a few performances, Hughes left the band in 1988; Dirnt then began playing bass and they became

3168-461: A musical effect, there are some musical styles and musical applications where as little distortion as possible is sought. When DJs are playing recorded music in a nightclub , they typically seek to reproduce the recordings with little or no distortion. In many musical styles, including pop music , country music and even genres where the electric guitars are almost always distorted, such as heavy metal, punk and hard rock, sound engineers usually take

3300-422: A number of "fuzzbox" effects pedals. Distortion, overdrive, and fuzz can be produced by effects pedals , rackmounts , pre-amplifiers , power amplifiers (a potentially speaker-blowing approach), speakers and (since the 2000s) by digital amplifier modeling devices and audio software . These effects are used with electric guitars , electric basses ( fuzz bass ), electronic keyboards , and more rarely as

3432-583: A number of Green Day music videos such as " Longview ", " Welcome to Paradise ", " Basket Case ", " Geek Stink Breath ", " Stuck with Me ", " Brain Stew/Jaded ", " Hitchin' a Ride ", and " Minority ". "Blue" also appears on the album cover of Insomniac . The "BJ" on Blue stands for Billie Joe, inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan , whose Stratocaster has his own initials ("SRV") on the pickguard. Today, Armstrong mainly uses Gibson and Fender guitars. Twenty of his Gibson guitars are Les Paul Junior models from

3564-677: A number of shows beginning on April 19 at Coachella . Frontman Paul Westerberg had been suffering with back problems and spent the majority of the gig lying on a sofa while Armstrong helped play his parts. Westerberg referred to Billie Joe as an "expansion of the band". Armstrong joined The Replacements on stage again at the Shaky Knees Music Festival in Atlanta in May. In November 2014, Armstrong moved with his son Joseph to New York and began working on another acting role, in

3696-411: A number of steps to ensure that the vocals sounding through the sound reinforcement system are undistorted (the exception is the rare cases where distortion is purposely added to vocals in a song as a special effect, mainly in industrial music genres). Sound engineers prevent unwanted, unintended distortion and clipping using a number of methods. They may reduce the gain on microphone preamplifiers on

3828-431: A pair of Marshall 100-watt 1959 Super Lead reissues he acquired sometime before Green Day's Woodstock '94 performance and had modified for increased distortion . Nicknamed "Meat" and "Pete," the two amps are run in conjunction for a fuller sound, with a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver used for solos. For clean tones, Armstrong uses a rackmount Custom Audio Electronics 3+ SE tube preamp, and all three amplifiers are run through

3960-830: A pair of Marshall 1960B cabinets with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. In 2019, MXR released Armstrong's signature overdrive pedal , the Dookie Drive, which aimed to reproduce his dual-Marshall setup and was decorated with the cover art from the Dookie album. MXR later rebranded the pedal as the FOD Drive. Armstrong plays several other instruments as well as guitar. He recorded harmonica and mandolin parts on Nimrod and Warning , piano parts on 21st Century Breakdown , American Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording (2010), ¡Tré! , and Revolution Radio , and plays drums and bass occasionally. In June 2018, Armstrong

4092-568: A power-valve distortion pedal. Such effects units can use a preamp valve such as the 12AX7 in a power-valve circuit configuration (as in the Stephenson's Stage Hog), or use a conventional power valve, such as the EL84 (as in the H&;K Crunch Master compact tabletop unit). However, because these are usually placed before the pre-amplifier in the signal chain, they contribute to the overall tone in

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4224-453: A semi-parametric three-band EQ section. The pedal's thick, saturated, tight tone and the extreme sounds the pedal was able to produce thanks to its powerful EQ controls made the MT-2 divisive both upon its release and throughout its ongoing production. Guitar World characterized the general reaction to the pedal as "inspiring or confusing," and the pedal is often lampooned on the internet as

4356-542: A small recording or rehearsal space, many solutions have emerged that in some way divert some of this power valve output from the speakers, and allow the player to generate power valve distortion without excessive volume. These include built-in or separate power attenuators and power-supply-based power attenuation, such as a VVR, or Variable Voltage Regulator to drop the voltage on the valves' plates, to increase distortion whilst lowering volume. Guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen have been known to use variacs before VVR technology

4488-532: A song titled "Look for Love" at the age of five on the Bay Area label Fiat Records. After his father died, his mother married a man whom her children disliked, which resulted in Armstrong's further retreat into music. At the age of 10, he met future bandmate Mike Dirnt in the school cafeteria, and they immediately bonded over their love of music. He became interested in punk rock after being introduced to

4620-418: A sound quality and Van Halen-worthy fluidity he couldn't get from his little red Hohner. He prized it mostly, however, because of his relationship with Cole, another father figure after the death of Andy." Both middle and neck pickups are disconnected and the pickup selector is locked in the bridge position. This also applies to his backup guitar and "Blue" copies, mainly Fender Stratocasters. "Blue" appears in

4752-540: A special effect with vocals. While distortion is often created intentionally as a musical effect, musicians and sound engineers sometimes take steps to avoid distortion , particularly when using PA systems to amplify vocals or when playing back prerecorded music. The first guitar amplifiers were relatively low-fidelity , and would often produce distortion when their volume ( gain ) was increased beyond their design limit or if they sustained minor damage. From 1935, Western swing guitarist Bob Dunn began experimenting with

4884-546: A statement apologizing for the incident and clarifying that their set had not actually been cut short. The incident occurred just four days prior to the release of Green Day's ninth studio album, ¡Uno! Two days after the incident at the iHeartRadio Music Festival , Green Day announced that Armstrong was seeking treatment for an unspecified substance abuse problem. As a result, scheduled appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Ellen DeGeneres Show were canceled. According to Claudia Suarez Wright, Tre Cool's ex-wife and

5016-418: A strong influence on the distortion created by that stage. The output level of the guitar's pickups, the setting of the guitar's volume knob, how hard the strings are plucked, and the use of volume-boosting effects pedals can drive this stage harder and create more distortion. During the 1980s and 1990s, most valve amps featured a "master volume" control, an adjustable attenuator between the preamp section and

5148-809: A three-piece band. They changed their name to Green Day in April 1989, choosing the name because of their fondness for marijuana . In 1989, Green Day released their debut EP 1,000 Hours through Lookout! Records . They recorded their debut studio album 39/Smooth and the extended play Slappy in 1990, which were later combined with 1,000 Hours into the compilation 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours in 1991. In 1990, Armstrong provided lead guitar and backing vocals on three songs for The Lookouts ' final EP IV , which featured Tré Cool on drums. Tré became Green Day's drummer in late 1990 after Sobrante left to go to college. Cool made his debut on Green Day's second album, Kerplunk (1991). In 1991, Armstrong joined

5280-560: A tone control, Boss began including a "Tone" knob on its pedals with the 1981 SD-1 and the OD-1 was discontinued in 1985. Boss continued the OverDrive line with the four-knob OD-2 Turbo OverDrive, produced from 1985 to 1995, and subsequently the three-knob OD-3, which is still in production. The Super OverDrive was released in 1981 as Boss's second overdrive pedal, adding a tone control to the earlier OD-1 design, while continuing to replicate

5412-418: A tone input progressively begins to resemble a square wave which has odd number harmonics. This is generally described as sounding "harsh". Distortion and overdrive circuits each 'clip' the signal before it reaches the main amplifier (clean boost circuits do not necessarily create 'clipping') as well as boost signals to levels that cause distortion to occur at the main amplifier's front end stage (by exceeding

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5544-411: A trio of albums: ¡Uno! , ¡Dos! , and ¡Tré! . In 2013, Armstrong appeared on Season 3 of NBC's The Voice as an assistant mentor for Christina Aguilera 's team. In 2013, Armstrong and singer-songwriter Norah Jones released the album Foreverly , consisting of covers of songs from The Everly Brothers ' album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us . The first single from the album, "Long Time Gone",

5676-572: A waitress at Rod's Hickory Pit in El Cerrito, California , where he and Mike Dirnt later played their first gig in 1987. His great-great-grandparents Pietro Marsicano and Teresa Nigro were Italian immigrants from Viggiano , who settled in Boston prior to relocating to Berkeley, California , in 1869. Armstrong attended Hillcrest Elementary School in Rodeo, where a teacher encouraged him to record

5808-409: A weak instrument signal to a level that can drive the power amplifier. It often also contains circuitry to shape the tone of the instrument, including equalization and gain controls. Often multiple cascading gain/clipping stages are employed to generate distortion. Because the first component in a valve amplifier is a valve gain stage, the output level of the preceding elements of the signal chain has

5940-482: A white Yamaha Pacifica humbucker at Woodstock '94 . Armstrong later reinstalled the Bill Lawrence L500XL pickup before recording Insomniac , although he switched to a black Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB in 1995. He toured with this guitar from the band's early days and still uses it to this day. Marc Spitz writes that, "Armstrong fetishized his teacher's guitar, partly because the blue instrument had

6072-432: Is a non-linear process that produces frequencies not originally present in the audio signal . These frequencies can be harmonic overtones, meaning they are whole number multiples of one of the signal's original frequencies, or "inharmonic", resulting from general intermodulation distortion . The same nonlinear device will produce both types of distortion, depending on the input signal. Intermodulation occurs whenever

6204-401: Is a distortion process known as "volume adjustment", which involves distorting the amplitude of a sound wave in a proportional (or 'linear') way in order to increase or decrease the volume of the sound without affecting the tone quality. In the context of music, the most common source of (nonlinear) distortion is clipping in amplifier circuits and is most commonly known as overdrive. Clipping

6336-706: Is impractical; instead, most pedals use solid-state transistors, op-amps and diodes. Classic examples of overdrive/distortion pedals include the Boss OD series (overdrives), the Ibanez Tube Screamer (an overdrive), the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi (a fuzz box) and the Pro Co RAT (a distortion). Typically, "overdrive" pedals are designed to produce sounds associated with classic rock or blues, with "distortion" pedals producing

6468-445: Is known as "sag", and is sought-after by some electric guitarists. Sag only occurs in class-AB amplifiers . This is because, technically, sag results from more current being drawn from the power supply, causing a greater voltage drop over the rectifier valve. Class AB amplifiers draw the most power at both the maximum and minimum point of the signal, putting more stress on the power supply than class A, which only draws maximum power at

6600-413: Is known for his frequent use of palm-muted, power chord-driven guitar riffs, and melodic guitar solos. His strumming style makes use of techniques such as stubbing and fret hand muting, which allows him to strum power chords harder while attacking all six strings on the guitar. Armstrong's first guitar was a Cherry Red Hohner acoustic, which his father bought for him. He received his first electric guitar,

6732-418: Is no back E.M.F. and hence no reflected impedance. The transformer and valve combination then generate large 3rd order harmonics. So long as the core does not go into saturation, the valves will clip naturally as they drop the available voltage across them. In single ended systems the output harmonics will be largely even ordered due to the valve's relatively non linear characteristics at large signal swings. This

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6864-487: Is only true however if the magnetic core does NOT saturate. Early valve amplifiers used unregulated power supplies. This was due to the high cost associated with high-quality high-voltage power supplies. The typical anode (plate) supply was simply a rectifier , an inductor and a capacitor . When the valve amplifier was operated at high volume , the power supply voltage would dip, reducing power output and causing signal attenuation and compression. This dipping effect

6996-404: Is pushing the tubes beyond their normal rated maximum. Valve amplifiers—particularly those using class-A triodes —tend to produce asymmetric soft clipping that creates both even and odd harmonics. The increase in even harmonics is considered to create "warm"-sounding overdrive effects. A basic triode valve (tube) contains a cathode , a plate and a grid. When a positive voltage is applied to

7128-450: Is still weaving his queerness into his songwriting. The newspaper asked him about Green Day's opinions on the moral panic surrounding transgender youth , to which the singer responded, "I just think they're fucking close-minded." "It's like people are afraid of their children," he told the newspaper. "Why would you be afraid? Why don't you let your kid just be the kid that they are?" Armstrong has identified himself as bisexual , saying in

7260-455: The 2020 presidential election , later endorsing Joe Biden after Sanders lost the primary. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , Armstrong announced his plans to renounce his United States citizenship . Armstrong has spoken out in support of transgender people. In a 2024 interview with the Times , Armstrong spoke to the ways that he

7392-540: The Hammond organ as used in blues and the Fender Rhodes as used in rock music; with these instruments and genres, keyboardists often purposely overdrive a tube amplifier to get a natural overdrive sound. Another example of instrument amplification where as little distortion as possible is sought is with acoustic instrument amplifiers, designed for musicians playing instruments such as the mandolin or fiddle in

7524-628: The Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone in 1962, one of the first commercially-successful mass-produced guitar pedals. Shortly thereafter, the American instrumental rock band The Ventures asked their friend, session musician and electronics enthusiast Orville "Red" Rhodes for help recreating the Grady Martin "fuzz" sound. Rhodes offered The Ventures a fuzzbox he had made, which they used to record "2000 Pound Bee" in 1962. In 1964,

7656-537: The audio console ; use attenuation "pads" (a button on audio console channel strips, DI unit and some bass amplifiers ); and use electronic audio compressor effects and limiters to prevent sudden volume peaks from vocal mics from causing unwanted distortion. Though some bass guitar players in metal and punk bands intentionally use fuzz bass to distort their bass sound, in other genres of music, such as pop, big band jazz and traditional country music , bass players typically seek an undistorted bass sound. To obtain

7788-440: The heavy metal sound through a combined use of high volumes and heavy distortion. The word distortion refers to any modification of wave form of a signal , but in music it is used to refer to nonlinear distortion (excluding filters) and particularly to the introduction of new frequencies by memoryless nonlinearities. In music the different forms of linear distortion have specific names describing them. The simplest of these

7920-536: The "chorus" effect proved popular among guitarists with its use in the JC-120 and JC-60 Jazz Chorus amplifiers, released by Boss's parent company Roland Corporation . The pedal was housed in a large enclosure, typical for effects at the time, and featured two footswitches for on/off and to toggle between the unit's vibrato and chorus effects. The pedal worked in mono and stereo, and its "thick, spatial, and multidimensional" quality inspired numerous other companies to copy

8052-522: The "high gain, scooped mids" sounds associated with heavy metal; fuzz boxes are designed to emulate the distinctive sound of the earliest overdrive pedals such as the Big Muff and the Fuzz Face . Most overdrive/distortion pedals can be used in two ways: a pedal can be used as a "boost" with an already overdriven amplifier to drive it further into saturation and "color" the tone, or it can be used with

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8184-475: The CE-1 Chorus Ensemble. The DS-1 uses two hard-clipping diodes for an aggressive edge, similar to the ProCo Rat , released the same year. This type of circuit became known as "distortion," as opposed to the soft-clipping "overdrive" of Boss's later overdrive pedals. The DS-1 uses a preamplifier instead of the conventional op-amp for a gritty, warm tone. When the original Toshiba TA7136AP preamp became scarce,

8316-614: The DD-2 digital delay. A subsequent drop in component costs allowed the pedal to be sold for a lower price in 1986 as the rebranded DD-3, which has gone through three distinct versions, with latest still in production. Music Radar dubbed the DD-3 the "gold standard" in compact digital delays and fans include Radiohead , Blur , and The Cult . Introduced in 1978, the DS-1 was Boss's first distortion pedal, and second pedal release overall, following

8448-550: The DM-2W Analog Delay, CE-2W Analog Chorus and DC-2W Dimension C. "Waza" means "art" and "technique" in Japanese. In 2017 Boss released the 500 series pedals as their flagship design, complete with digital display and preset banks, similar to the design of Strymon pedals featuring presets, programmable algorithms and customizable midi options. In 2019, Boss discontinued the twin format 20 series pedals and replaced

8580-535: The DS-1. In 2021, Boss released a grey-on-black variant, the MT-2-3A, celebrating the pedal's 30 years in production. With the 1977 release of the OD-1 OverDrive, Boss coined the term "overdrive," a reference to the pedal's asymmetrical-clipping, tube-like distortion in comparison to the brash sound of "fuzz" pedals available. The OD-1's layout was simple—with only "Level" and "OverDrive" controls. The OD-1

8712-785: The FBM-1 '59 Fender Bassman pedal and FDR-1 '65 Fender Deluxe Reverb pedal, introduced at the Winter NAMM show in January 2007. All Boss compact pedals use a "buffered bypass" type of silent foot switching utilizing Field Effect Transistors (FETs) to avoid clicks and pops. While not "true" bypass, the buffered bypass has the advantage of preventing signal loss due to long runs of cable, while keeping original guitar tone intact. Boss compact pedals were originally produced in Japan, until circa 1990 when production moved to Taiwan. Earlier units came with

8844-513: The Go-Go's 2001 song " Unforgiven ". He has also co-written songs with Penelope Houston ("The Angel and The Jerk" and "New Day"), and sung backing vocals with Melissa Auf der Maur on Ryan Adams ' "Do Miss America" (where they acted as the backing band for Iggy Pop on his album Skull Ring ("Private Hell" and "Supermarket"). Armstrong produced an album for the Riverdales . He was part of

8976-601: The Green Day side project the Network from 2003 to 2005, which became active again in 2020. The Network released two albums: 2003's Money Money 2020 and 2020's Money Money 2020 Part II: We Told Ya So! . Hoping to clear his head and develop new ideas for songs, Armstrong traveled to New York City alone for a few weeks in 2003, renting a small apartment in the East Village of Manhattan . He spent much of this time taking long walks and participating in jam sessions in

9108-461: The Marshall JCM 900) utilize hybrid designs that employ both valve and solid-state components. Guitar distortion can be produced by many components of the guitar's signal path, including effects pedals, the pre-amplifier, power amplifier, and speakers. Many players use a combination of these to obtain their "signature" tone. The pre-amplifier section of a guitar amplifier serves to amplify

9240-519: The Network , the Longshot and the Coverups . Armstrong has been considered by critics as one of the greatest punk rock guitarists of all time. Armstrong developed an interest in music at a young age, and recorded his first song at the age of five. He met Dirnt while attending elementary school, and the two instantly bonded over their mutual interest in music, forming the band Sweet Children when

9372-964: The Park " (1950). In the early 1950s, guitar distortion sounds started to evolve based on sounds created earlier in the decade by accidental damage to amps, such as in the popular early recording of the 1951 Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm song " Rocket 88 ", where guitarist Willie Kizart used a vacuum tube amplifier that had a speaker cone slightly damaged in transport. Electric guitarists began "doctoring" amplifiers and speakers to emulate this form of distortion. Electric blues guitarist Willie Johnson of Howlin' Wolf ′s band began deliberately increasing gain beyond its intended levels to produce "warm" distorted sounds. Guitar Slim also experimented with distorted overtones, which can be heard in his hit electric blues song " The Things That I Used to Do " (1953). Chuck Berry 's 1955 classic " Maybellene " features

9504-532: The Spectrum (SP-1), a 6-band graphic equalizer (GE-6), a compressor pedal (CS-1) and an automatic wah pedal (TW-1). The Boss DS-1 was released the next year, in 1978. Their first compact chorus pedal (CE-2) came in 1979, and their first flanger pedal (BF-2) in 1980. In 1983 Boss released the DD-2 Digital Delay, the first mass-produced digital delay in a compact pedal format. The Metal Zone (MT-2)

9636-507: The West Side Highway, laying in a little park." Green Day canceled all remaining concert dates for 2012 and early 2013 as Armstrong continued dealing with his personal problems. In late December 2012, the band announced they would return to touring at the end of March 2013. Armstrong later said that the substances he had been abusing were alcohol and prescription pills for anxiety and insomnia. Armstrong also collaborated with

9768-557: The album Warning . Armstrong also has three of his own Les Paul Junior signature models from Gibson. The first has been in production since 2006 and is modeled closely after "Floyd". The second began production in 2012 and is a TV Yellow double-cutaway Junior. Both models include a Gibson "H-90" pickup, exclusive to Armstrong's models. Gibson has also released an extremely limited run of acoustic signature guitars. Epiphone has release lower-priced version of his signature Gibson Les Paul Junior in 2022. Armstrong's amplifiers consist of

9900-404: The amplified signal are proportional to the input signal—so long as the voltage of the input signal does not exceed the valve's "linear region of operation". The linear region falls between Multiple stages of valve gain/clipping can be "cascaded" to produce a thicker and more complex distortion sound. In layperson's terms, a musician will plug a fuzz pedal into a tube amp that is being "cranked" to

10032-587: The band Pinhead Gunpowder , consisting of bassist Bill Schneider , drummer Aaron Cometbus , and fellow vocalist/guitarist Sarah Kirsch. Kirsch left the group in 1992, and was replaced by Jason White . The group has released several extended plays and albums from 1991 to the present, and performs live shows on an intermittent basis. In 1993, Armstrong played live several times with California punk band Rancid . Rancid's lead singer, Tim Armstrong , asked Billie Joe Armstrong to join his band, but he refused due to his progress with Green Day. However, Billie Joe Armstrong

10164-436: The band Prima Donna on lead guitar and drums, respectively, and longtime Green Day live member Jeff Matika on bass. In 2019, Armstrong co-wrote and performed the track "Strangers & Thieves" on the album Sunset Kids by Jesse Malin . In February 2020, Green Day released their thirteenth album, Father of All Motherfuckers . Green Day's fourteenth album, Saviors , was released on January 19, 2024. Armstrong

10296-513: The basement of Hi-Fi, a bar in Manhattan. However, the friends he made during this time drank too much for his liking, which was the catalyst for Armstrong's return to the Bay Area . After returning home, Armstrong was arrested for driving under the influence on January 5, 2003, and released on $ 1,200 bail. In 2004, Green Day debuted American Idiot , their first rock opera . The album has sold more than 15,000,000 copies worldwide, fueled by

10428-415: The centre midrange (750 Hz) results in what is popularly known as a "scooped" sound (since the midrange frequencies are "scooped" out). Conversely, decreasing the bass while increasing the midrange and treble creates a punchy, harsher sound. Rolling off all of the treble produces a dark, heavy sound. While musicians intentionally create or add distortion to electric instrument signals or vocals to create

10560-637: The chorus/vibrato circuit found in the Roland JC-120 amplifier. It was a fairly large, AC-powered unit. Other foot pedals of that year are the GE-10 (a graphic equalizer), the BF-1 (a flanger unit) and the DB-5 (a distortion unit). Boss's line of compact pedals began in 1977 with the release of six pedals, all of them discontinued: an overdrive pedal (OD-1), a phaser pedal (PH-1), a parametric equalizer called

10692-409: The circuit at voltages that are too low for the circuit components, resulting in greater non-linearity and distortion. These designs are referred to as "starved plate" configurations, and result in an "amp death" sound. Solid-state amplifiers incorporating transistors and/or op amps can be made to produce hard clipping. When symmetrical, this adds additional high-amplitude odd harmonics, creating

10824-458: The circuit was redesigned in 1994, introducing several "quirks"—lower volume levels, noise at higher gain levels, and a "waspy" edge due to higher frequencies not being filtered out. These issues led to the pedal being popular among modifiers. The DS-1 is Boss's bestselling pedal of all time. The Metal Zone was released in 1991, following the discontinuation of the earlier HM-2 Heavy Metal , which failed to sell well during its production run, but

10956-566: The city as a "shithole" following the relocation of the Oakland Athletics to the city. Armstrong is a fan of soccer and is one of the co-owners of Oakland Roots SC . In 1997, Armstrong co-founded Adeline Records , a rock and punk rock record label which had, in recent years, been managed by Pat Magnarella, Green Day's manager. Adeline Records closed in August 2017 following Magnarella's split from Green Day. In April 2015, Armstrong opened Broken Guitars (now Oakland Guitars),

11088-675: The comedy hip hop group Lonely Island in their song "I Run NY" from The Wack Album released on June 7, 2013. He starred alongside Leighton Meester in the 2014 film Like Sunday, Like Rain . For his work in the film, Bilie Joe won the Breakout Performance Award at the 2014 Williamsburg Independent Film Festival. Armstrong wrote songs for These Paper Bullets , a rock musical adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing , which premiered at Yale Repertory Theater in March 2014. In 2014, Armstrong joined The Replacements for

11220-557: The electronic circuitry of his amplifiers so as to achieve a "brighter, louder" sound and fuller distortion capabilities. Also in 1966, Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd created the song Interstellar Overdrive , a song made entirely in electric distortion. It was released a year later in modified form on their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn . In the late 1960s and early 1970s hard rock bands such as Deep Purple , Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath forged what would eventually become

11352-684: The end of 1965. Other early fuzzboxes include the Mosrite FuzzRITE and Arbiter Group Fuzz Face used by Jimi Hendrix , the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi used by Hendrix and Carlos Santana , and the Vox Tone Bender used by Paul McCartney to play fuzz bass on " Think for Yourself " and other Beatles recordings. In 1966, Jim Marshall of the British company Marshall Amplification began modifying

11484-604: The film Ordinary World . It was Armstrong's first lead acting role. The film centers on the mid-life crisis of a husband and father who attempts to revisit his punk past, and was released in 2016. It included new songs written and performed by Armstrong. The film got mixed reviews, although Armstrong's own performance was generally praised, with The Village Voice writing that he had "a low-key charm suggesting that, if he desired it, he could get more onscreen gigs in between albums." In October 2016, Green Day released their album Revolution Radio . In July 2017, Armstrong formed

11616-735: The first time was around 1994 when the Toshiba TA7136AP op-amp was replaced with a Rohm BA728N. In 2000 the op-amp was again changed. This time it was replaced with the Mitsubishi M5223AL. The latest op-amp change occurred in 2007, when new DS-1 pedals began shipping with the NJM3404AL op-amp. In 2014, Boss released the Japanese-made "Waza-Craft" line of premium pedals, built with higher-end components featuring reissues of highly sought after vintage Boss effects such as

11748-546: The genre by his brothers. He has cited Van Halen , Ramones , The Replacements , and Hüsker Dü as musical influences. The first concert he ever attended was Van Halen in 1984. After Hillcrest Elementary, Armstrong attended Carquinez Middle School and John Swett High School , both in Crockett, California , and later transferred to Pinole Valley High School in Pinole, California . On his 18th birthday, he dropped out to pursue

11880-519: The hit singles " American Idiot ", " Boulevard of Broken Dreams " and " Wake Me Up When September Ends ". In 2009, Green Day released 21st Century Breakdown , the band's second rock opera, which was another commercial success. Between these two projects, Armstrong was the lead vocalist of the Green Day side project Foxboro Hot Tubs , who formed in 2007 and have performed intermittent live shows ever since. Foxboro Hot Tubs released one album, Stop Drop and Roll!!! , in 2008. In 2009, Armstrong formed

12012-453: The input frequencies are not already harmonically related. For instance, playing a power chord through distortion results in intermodulation that produces new subharmonics . "Soft clipping" gradually flattens the peaks of a signal which creates a number of higher harmonics which share a harmonic relationship with the original tone. "Hard clipping" flattens peaks abruptly, resulting in higher power in higher harmonics. As clipping increases,

12144-415: The keys; however, the performer can still control the volume with drawbars and the expression pedal). Heavy metal music has evolved around these restrictions, using complex rhythms and timing for expression and excitement. Lighter distortions and overdrives can be used with triadic chords and seventh chords; as well, lighter overdrive allows more control of dynamics. Power valves (tubes) can be overdriven in

12276-545: The line with the 200 series. As of 2019 around the launch of the DD3T and DD8 Digital Delays, Boss moved production from Taiwan to Malaysia. The Malaysian black label on the bottom looks similar to the modern era Taiwan label, verifying the new location of manufacturing. In 1995, Boss released the BD-2, an overdrive pedal aimed at blues players who sought to add distortion while maintaining their amp's signal clarity and dynamics. At

12408-484: The mid- to late-1950s. His Fender collection includes Stratocasters , Jazzmasters , Telecasters , a Gretsch hollowbody, Rickenbacker 360 and his copies of "Blue" from Fender Custom Shop . Recently he has begun giving away guitars to audience members invited to play on stage with Green Day, usually during the songs "Knowledge" or "Longview". He states that his favorite guitar is a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior he calls "Floyd", which he bought in 2000 just before recording

12540-600: The months prior to the release of the ¡Uno! , ¡Dos! , and ¡Tre! albums and the performance at iHeartRadio, stating that during the band's 2011 summer tour of Europe, "I was at my pill-taking height at that time, medicating the shit out of myself". Armstrong gave details of a gig at Irving Plaza in New York just over a week before the iHeartRadio incident, in which he "Threw back four or five beers before we went on and probably had four or five when we played. Then I drank my body weight in alcohol after that. I ended up hungover on

12672-412: The most extreme fuzz pedals, players may choose to play mostly single notes, because the fuzz can make even single notes sound very thick and heavy. Heavy distortion also tends to limit the player's control of dynamics (loudness and softness)—similar to the limitations imposed on a Hammond organ player (Hammond organ does not produce louder or softer sounds depending on how hard or soft the performer plays

12804-583: The mother of Armstrong's godson, Armstrong had been drinking heavily in Las Vegas prior to the iHeartRadio Music Festival , following approximately one year of sobriety. Armstrong gave an interview to Rolling Stone in March 2013 in which he said that he had "been trying to get sober since 1997, right around Nimrod ". He discussed how, during the 21st Century Breakdown tour of 2009–2010, "There were meltdowns on that tour that were huge". Armstrong detailed his addiction, in particular how it had escalated in

12936-422: The ordinary input signal amplitude, thus overdriving the amplifier) Note : product names may not accurately reflect type of circuit involved - see above. A fuzz box alters an audio signal until it is nearly a square wave and adds complex overtones by way of a frequency multiplier . Vacuum tube or "valve" distortion is achieved by "overdriving" the valves in an amplifier. In layman's terms, overdriving

13068-698: The peak of the signal. As this effect is more pronounced with higher input signals, the harder "attack" of a note will be compressed more heavily than the lower-voltage "decay", making the latter seem louder and thereby improving sustain . Additionally, because the level of compression is affected by input volume, the player can control it via their playing intensity: playing harder results in more compression or "sag". In contrast, modern amplifiers often use high-quality, well-regulated power supplies. Guitar loudspeakers are designed differently from high fidelity stereo speakers or public address system speakers. While hi-fi and public address speakers are designed to reproduce

13200-522: The pedal. With the introduction of Boss's compact pedal format in 1977, the CE-1 was replaced by the CE-2 in 1979. Andy Summers of The Police was a notable fan, using the pedal on songs like " Message in a Bottle " and " Don't Stand So Close To Me ." In the early '80s, Boss was able to fit the circuitry of its best-selling SDE-3000 digital rack delay into the form factor of its analog DM-2 delay, branded as

13332-437: The plate, a current of negatively charged electrons flows to it from the heated cathode through the grid. This increases the voltage of the audio signal , amplifying its volume. The grid regulates the extent to which plate voltage is increased. A small negative voltage applied to the grid causes a large decrease in plate voltage. Valve amplification is more or less linear—meaning the parameters (amplitude, frequency, phase) of

13464-531: The point of being known as a "style icon". He also launched an eye liner with Kat Von D named "Basket Case", which is a cosmetic that he implemented as part of his singing character since his beginnings. Armstrong supported Barack Obama during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections , and Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election . Following Sanders' defeat in the Democratic primaries, Armstrong declared his support for Hillary Clinton . He

13596-416: The power amp. When the preamp volume is set high to generate high distortion levels, the master volume lowered, keeping the output volume at manageable levels. Demo of a Big Muff Analog overdrive/distortion pedals work on similar principles to preamplifier distortion. Because most effects pedals are designed to operate from battery voltages, using vacuum tubes to generate distortion and overdrive

13728-404: The power section hard. Many valve-based amplifiers in common use have a push-pull output configuration in their power section, with matched pairs of tubes driving the output transformer . Power amplifier distortion is normally entirely symmetric, generating predominantly odd-order harmonics. Because driving the power valves this hard also means maximum volume, which can be difficult to manage in

13860-516: The recent powerful and "fat" Gibson humbucker pickups, and controlled "feedback" ( Larsen effect ). The resultant sound can be heard on his highly influential 1958 instrumental , " Rumble " and Rawhide. In 1961, Grady Martin scored a hit with a fuzzy tone caused by a faulty preamplifier that distorted his guitar playing on the Marty Robbins song " Don't Worry ". Later that year Martin recorded an instrumental tune under his own name, using

13992-487: The same faulty preamp. The song, on the Decca label, was called "The Fuzz." Martin is generally credited as the discoverer of the "fuzz effect." The recording engineer from Martin's sessions, Glenn Snoddy , partnered with fellow WSM radio engineer Revis V. Hobbs to design and build a stand-alone device that would intentionally create the fuzzy effect. The two engineers sold their circuit to Gibson , who introduced it as

14124-439: The same way that pre-amplifier valves can, but because these valves are designed to output more power, the distortion and character they add to the guitar's tone is unique. During the 1960s to early 1970s, distortion was primarily created by overdriving the power valves. Because they have become accustomed to this sound , many guitar players favour this type of distortion, and thus set their amps to maximum levels in order to drive

14256-408: The sessions, arguing that "that guitar sounds like a nice horn section". In the late 1950s, Guitarist Link Wray began manipulating his amplifiers' vacuum tubes to create a "noisy" and "dirty" sound for his solos after a similarly accidental discovery. Wray also poked holes in his speaker cones with pencils to further distort his tone, used electronic echo chambers (then usually employed by singers),

14388-413: The signal processing chain, including multiple stages of preamp distortion, power valve distortion, output and power transformer distortion, and guitar speaker distortion. Much of the distortion character or voicing is controlled by the frequency response before and after each distortion stage. This dependency of distortion voicing on frequency response can be heard in the effect that a wah pedal has on

14520-484: The signal to distort . While overdriven tube amps are still used to obtain overdrive, especially in genres like blues and rockabilly , a number of other ways to produce distortion have been developed since the 1960s, such as distortion effect pedals . The growling tone of a distorted electric guitar is a key part of many genres, including blues and many rock music genres, notably hard rock , punk rock , hardcore punk , acid rock , grunge and heavy metal music , while

14652-509: The signal. Some speakers are designed to have much clean headroom , while others are designed to break up early to deliver grit and growl. Guitar amp modeling devices and software can reproduce various guitar-specific distortion qualities that are associated with a range of popular "stomp box" pedals and amplifiers. Amp modeling devices typically use digital signal processing to recreate the sound of plugging into analogue pedals and overdriven valve amplifiers. The most sophisticated devices allow

14784-791: The sound of tube amp-style overdrive via an asymmetrical clipping circuit and an inherent midrange-focus, but with less bass roll-off. The asymmetrical clipping lent the pedal a more aggressive character compared to the rival Tube Screamer, and it became popular in the growing hard rock and heavy metal subgenres with guitarists frequently using it to boost already-overdriven amplifiers like the Marshall JCM800 into higher-gain sounds. The SD-1 has long been popular as an affordable pedal for new players, as well as professionals. Notable fans include Jimmy Page , John Frusciante , Josh Homme , Jonny Greenwood , David Gilmour , Joe Satriani , Zakk Wylde , The Edge , and Prince . In 2021, Boss released

14916-416: The sound with as little distortion as possible, guitar speakers are usually designed so that they will shape or color the tone of the guitar, either by enhancing some frequencies or attenuating unwanted frequencies. When the power delivered to a guitar speaker approaches its maximum rated power, the speaker's performance degrades, causing the speaker to "break up", adding further distortion and colouration to

15048-422: The subsequent distortion stage, or by using tone controls built into the guitar, the preamp or an EQ pedal to favor the bass or treble components of the guitar pickup signal prior to the first distortion stage. Some guitarists place an equalizer pedal after the distortion effect, to emphasize or de-emphasize different frequencies in the distorted signal. Increasing the bass and treble while reducing or eliminating

15180-538: The thing." Cole bought the guitar new from David Margen of the band Santana . Cole installed the Bill Lawrence L500XL Humbucker pickup in the bridge position at an angle, similar to Eddie Van Halen 's guitar Frankenstrat , which caused Armstrong to be very influenced by Van Halen. The L500XL is the same pickup that was used by Dimebag Darrell of Pantera , Armstrong replaced the L500XL with

15312-477: The time, blues was experiencing a resurgence thanks to Eric Clapton and Gary Moore . The pedal has a clear, punchy tone and features a flatter EQ-curve for a more amp-like tone than similar pedals, like the Ibanez Tube Screamer . Notable players who use the BD-2 include Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day . Boss released its first pedal, the CE-1, in 1975 after

15444-463: The two were 14 years old. The band later changed its name to Green Day. Armstrong has also pursued musical projects including numerous collaborations with other musicians. Armstrong has acted in several films and TV series, including Like Sunday, Like Rain , Ordinary World , King of the Hill , Haunted , and Drunk History . In addition to co-writing the book and lyrics for American Idiot ,

15576-409: The type and intensity of distortion used. The terms distortion and overdrive are often used interchangeably; where a distinction is made, distortion is a more extreme version of the effect than overdrive . Fuzz is a particular form of extreme distortion originally created by guitarists using faulty equipment (such as a misaligned valve (tube); see below), which has been emulated since the 1960s by

15708-438: The use of distorted bass has been essential in a genre of hip hop music and alternative hip hop known as " SoundCloud rap ". The effects alter the instrument sound by clipping the signal (pushing it past its maximum, which shears off the peaks and troughs of the signal waves), adding sustain and harmonic and inharmonic overtones and leading to a compressed sound that is often described as "warm" and "dirty", depending on

15840-417: The user to customize the simulated results of using different preamp, power-tube, speaker distortion, speaker cabinet, and microphone placement combinations. For example, a guitarist using a small amp modeling pedal could simulate the sound of plugging their electric guitar into a heavy vintage valve amplifier and a stack of 8 X 10" speaker cabinets. Guitar distortion is obtained and shaped at various points in

15972-698: The way to the right until the speaker was screaming." In 1956, guitarist Paul Burlison of the Johnny Burnette Trio deliberately dislodged a vacuum tube in his amplifier to record " The Train Kept A-Rollin " after a reviewer raved about the sound Burlison's damaged amplifier produced during a live performance. According to other sources Burlison's amp had a partially broken loudspeaker cone. Pop-oriented producers were horrified by that eerie "two-tone" sound, quite clean on trebles but strongly distorted on basses, but Burnette insisted on releasing

16104-481: The worst distortion ever made. Many in the metal community embraced the sound, however, with Nathan Weaver of Wolves in the Throne Room favorably describing the MT-2 as a "fucked-up, corpse-grinding type sound." Despite this, the pedal has found fans like Prince when used on lower gain settings or as a boost. The Metal Zone has sold over a million units, making it the company's best-selling pedal behind only

16236-492: Was an immediate success, as the pedal afforded players more amp-like distortion at lower volume levels no matter what amp was being used. Within a few years, however, the pedal's voicing was considered overly "sweet" as rock music became more aggressive and the fixed frequency limited its versatility. With the surging popularity of the OD-1-influenced Ibanez Tube Screamer and its addition of

16368-669: Was born in Oakland, California , on February 17, 1972, the youngest of six children of Ollie Jackson (born 1932) and Andrew Marsicano Armstrong (1928–1982). He was raised in Rodeo, California . His father, a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway , died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982, when Armstrong was 10 years old. The song " Wake Me Up When September Ends " is a memorial to his father. Armstrong has five siblings, including three older sisters, Marci, Hollie, and Anna, and two older brothers, David and Alan. His mother worked as

16500-415: Was credited as a co-writer on Rancid's 1993 song, Radio . With their third LP, Dookie (1994), Green Day broke through into the mainstream, and have remained one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s and 2000s with over 60 million records sold worldwide. The album was followed by Insomniac (1995), Nimrod (1997), and Warning (2000). Armstrong collaborated with many artists. He co-wrote

16632-497: Was critical of Donald Trump during the election and throughout Trump's presidency, calling him a " fascist " and a "puppet of the Illuminati ", comparing him to Adolf Hitler , and blaming "uneducated white working-class people" for his rise to power. In a 2017 Rolling Stone interview, he stated that he does not align himself with any political party and described himself as an independent . He again supported Sanders during

16764-621: Was given honorary citizenship of Viggiano , the Italian commune from where his paternal great-great-grandparents hailed, by Viggiano's mayor Amedeo Cicala. Armstrong is a member of the board of directors of Project Chimps , a sanctuary for former research chimpanzees funded in large part by the Humane Society of the United States . In 2024, Green Day saw several Las Vegas radio stations pull their songs after Armstrong described

16896-537: Was invented. Lower-power valve amps (such as a quarter-watt or less) , speaker isolation cabinets , and low-efficiency guitar speakers are also used to tame the volume. Power-valve distortion can also be produced in a dedicated rackmount valve power amp. A modular rackmount setup often involves a rackmount preamp, a rackmount valve power amp, and a rackmount dummy load to attenuate the output to desired volume levels. Some effects pedals internally produce power-valve distortion, including an optional dummy load for use as

17028-421: Was popular among death metal players, since amplifiers of the time were not capable of the amount of distortion players wanted without being boosted with a pedal. With the MT-2, Boss sought to appeal to that market with an improved pedal as death metal's popularity surged. The MT-2 sported a complex design for a distortion pedal, with a dual-stage gain circuit, seven filters for both pre- and post-distortion, and

17160-610: Was released in 1991. In 1992 Boss released nine new pedals, including the Turbo Distortion (DS-2). The Heavy Metal (HM-2) distortion pedal was an integral part of the guitar sound of many styles of heavy metal music ever since. The pedals all share the same 'footprint', for compatibility with pedal boards. Boss introduced COSM (Composite Object Sound Modeling), Roland's proprietary version of digital modeling technology, into their AC-3 Acoustic Simulator pedal in 2006. Boss has since released several pedals using COSM, including

17292-457: Was released on October 23. On September 21, 2012, during a Green Day performance at Las Vegas' iHeartRadio Music Festival , Armstrong became agitated onstage and stopped the band's set midway through their performance of the 1994 hit song " Basket Case ". In an expletive-filled rant, Armstrong criticized the event's promoters for allegedly cutting short the band's performance, before smashing his guitar and storming off stage. The band later issued

17424-449: Was written about the local railroad tracks where she and Armstrong would sneak out to meet. When Armstrong began living in punk houses and warehouses at the age of seventeen, including the warehouse above a West Oakland brothel which ultimately inspired the song "Welcome to Paradise", she would often stay with him, later saying, "I would stay with him sometimes in these warehouses full of crusty punks ." The couple split in late 1991. Arica

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