II. Fizz

The Pod tends to get a lot of complaints about "fizz", which is high-frequency noise, taking its name from the sound you get after pouring a carbonated soda into a glass. It also sounds similar to saying, "shhh" or the background noise you hear while flying on an airplane. It becomes prominent from around 3kHZ and up. Fizz is not limited to the Pod, but appears in some form in all modelers, and many analog devices such as microphones. There is no surefire way to eliminate it in the Pod, but I find the best benefits are from careful cab/mic choices and narrow Parametric EQ reductions. It tends to effect high-gain tones more than others due to their extended emphasis on higher frequencies.

III. Buzz

If fizz is "sshhh", buzz is "zzzzz". It is lower frequency than fizz, but still a feature of the upper end of the frequency spectrum. It's most common representation is a sawtooth wave, also called a buzzsaw. While a triangle, sine, or square wave could be considered "smooth", a sawtooth or similar wave featuring buzz is "rough" or grinding, like there's a little distortion in the tone.

IV. Grinding

This gets its name because it sounds similar to stones or metal being grinded. Somewhere in between crunch and buzz - a characteristic of a rather raucous distortion. Can sound kind of "throaty", like a sustained hardcore/metalcore yell.

V. Crunchy

Similar to buzz but lower in frequency, like trying to say, "kkkkkk". Most distorted guitar tones tend to have at least a little crunch to them. This becomes confusing because amplifiers often label their channels as "clean", "crunch", and "lead". Clean and Lead channels can have crunchy aspects to them. A crunch channel is often marked a mild distortion that is focused on being crunchy in nature, as opposed to fuzzy or grinding. Similarly, sometimes a crunchy tone is assisted by being dry, so that the crunch sound is more easily heard. While squishy and crunchy are somewhat in contention, a tone can be both squishy and crunchy at the same time. Generally, however, getting the maximum amount of squish means sacrificing some crunch and vice versa. Crunch tones are often acheived by using very balanced or slightly scooped tones into a distortion stage.

VI. Chunky/Punchy

Refers to the amount of low-end in the tone. I associate chunk with the ultra-low-end around 100 HZ and punch more around 240 HZ, but many people use the terms interchangeably. Depending on the genre of music and the target guitar tone, it may refer to slightly different things. For example, in heavy metal, chunk is often in reference to how much squishy low end a palm mute generated, whereas for genres that have only mild distortion on guitars, punch might refer low-end percussiveness on the attack of a note or chord.

VII. Fuzzy

A fuzzy tone is a distorted tone where most of the break-up is occurring in the lower frequencies. Fuzzy tones are known for an unfocused or loose bottom end and a buzzy high end. This can leave it difficult to discern the pitch of fast passages in lower registers, and thus fuzz is often avoided in metal. Additionally, simultaneous notes on different strings tend to "fight" each other for audible dominance. Chords tend to get extremely distorted and difficult to discern. Fuzz is often used in small amounts or in lead settings, although some alternative, indie, and post-rock musicians tend to enjoy the out-of-control tone it can generate at high gain levels.