This page is under development.

Types of Distortion in Tube Amplifiers

Amplitude

Slew Rate

Non Linear

Pulse Response

Inverse Feedback

Phase

Frequency

Harmonic

Intermodulation

Crossover

Hysterisis

Through my own hard work at the bench, years of studying old vacuum tube electronics books and lots of time talking to guitar players I've come up with a set of sonic values that guide how I build each Bluetron amplifier.  They are:

Clarity (slew rate)-- the ability to be heard in the mix without being loud as well as translate all of the information that the guitar is presenting to the amp.

Clean sustain (one type of amplitude distortion)-- The characteristic of amplifying more as the signal decays (it's really the inverse of that, but who cares..).  This sonic quality competes directly with the objective of clarity.  Building an amp with lots of both is no easy task.  My new Bluedrive has so much more of both than other amps out there, that I believe it qualifies as a leap forward in guitar amplifier design.

Touch sensitivity (tactile response)-- the ability of the amp to change its tone based upon subtle changes in the signal amplitude from the guitar.  There are a few distinct types of distortion that work together to create a smooth transition from clean to overdrive. Knowing which ones to maximize is the task for the amp builder.  I believe my designs have the largest and smoothest transition areas in the industry today. 

Coloration (harmonic distortion)-- the web pages of amp builders are rife with flowery terms that describe how harmonic distortion is perceived by the human soul.  I believe that most guitar players want some odd order and lots of even order harmonic distortion.  Understanding where and how these two different types of harmonic distortion are generated and balancing the two results in a broad and dimensional tone takes up a lot of my time.

Balanced tone (frequency response)-- I voice my amps to sound good with Stratocasters which present the greatest challenge to amp builders.  I believe if an amp sounds balanced with a Strat it's likely to sound nice with other guitars. 

When combined, these primary sonic attributes create secondary attributes such as note bloom, etc...  By emphasizing these five attributes when I design Bluetron circuitry I am able to create an amplifier that does the most of what I want.