Understanding Tube Amps: The Distortion Chain

Categories: Understanding Tube Amps

In the 4th video of this series, I spend some time illustrating with sound and graphics, what happens when you vary the different volume levels in your signal chain. It’s a very simple look at a 3 part signal chain: guitar -> preamp tube -> power tube, and you should understand after watching this video how those 3 things work together to create different kinds of distortion.

10 Comments

  1. JK Says:
    November 9th, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    Great lesson! I can sort of guess, but it would be helpful to understand how this works on a tube amp (i.e. Twin Reverb) that doesn’t have pre/post volume controls.

    Anthony Stauffer reply on November 11th, 2010 3:52 pm:

    Hi JK,

    On an amp like the Fender Twin, there is no master volume, the only volume control is the preamp or input volume.

  2. Noel Says:
    November 1st, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Hi Anthony,
    I am just about to purchase a blues junior and I was wondering if you can get that power tube distortion at apartment/tiny-living-room-friendly volume?

    Thanks for the video by the way!
    -Noel

    Anthony Stauffer reply on November 1st, 2010 8:22 pm:

    Not really, you can get good preamp distortion by keep the master volume low and cranking the input volume, but turning up the master volume will make it quite loud. Granted, less offensive than a Super Reverb, or even a Deluxe Reverb, but still loud :-)

  3. Paul Says:
    July 23rd, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    It’s starting to make sense now. Now throw in an OD pedal before the amp and how does this all work?

    nowtaps reply on October 25th, 2010 2:41 am:

    Same here. I’m curious about what happens with OD pedals thrown in.

    Does the pedal itself clips the signal before it goes in the amp?

    cheers

    Anthony Stauffer reply on October 25th, 2010 2:40 pm:

    Yes. And OD or distortion pedal will clip the signal before it ever hits the preamp tubes. If the tubes are being pushed hard, they will further distort the already distorted signal.

  4. Art Says:
    February 16th, 2010 at 11:13 pm

    Excellent lesson! The graphics went a long way in helping me understand the distortion chain. I have a Blues Jr NOS myself so all these lessons have been quite helpful.

    Thanks.
    –Art

  5. Adam Says:
    February 2nd, 2010 at 10:23 pm

    Anthony

    I though that I had a good idea of how my amp worked until I saw this lesson. Everything just clicked in my head as I was watching it. It all makes perfect sense now.

    I have gotten a lot of really useful information out of your lessons here and on StevieSnacks. Keep them coming.

    Thanks.
    -Adam

  6. Anthony B Says:
    January 16th, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    Anthony
    Thank you for the lessons on tube amps. I have a blues jr and could get the sound I wanted until now. Great website I am glad I found it.

    Anthony B