What is distortion, really?
There are many types of distortion, but the type most referred to in “tone creation” is amplitude distortion. This is caused when an amplifying device, such as a tube or transistor, is conducting as much current as it possibly can or if it has gone into cut off with no current. In both cases the intended current is being distorted. This can sound gritty and nasty, or smooth and beautiful depending on the device being used and the level of conduction. Tubes are usually chosen for musicial instrument amplification because of the way they distort. There are solid state devices, called FETs, that distort very similar to tubes and therefore can be designed to sound similar. Distortion is actually used to describe the relationship between the input signal and output signal of a gain stage. The tube itself doesn’t distort, but actually reaches a point called saturation where it is fully conducting. Since the tube or transistor can not conduct anymore, it can not continue reproducing a linear
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