> CD4049 is an inverter. If you do the trick above then you indeed get an amplifier, nonlinear and with poorly-controlled gain but an amplifier nonetheless. Th

> CD4049 is an inverter. If you do the trick above then you indeed get an amplifier, nonlinear and with poorly-controlled gain but an amplifier nonetheless. The CD4049 hex inverter chip is a popular amplifier chip in some guitar distortion pedals due to all the reasons you mentioned (non-linear and poorly controlled gain). There were a few designs based on connecting several of the inverter stages in series. The wiring of the MOSFETs inside has superficial similarity to an AB class dual pentode push-pull tube power amplifier and has similar qualities in the sound it produces. Here's one article on such a design: http://pedalprojects.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-does-red-llama-work.html http://pedalprojects.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-does-red-llama...