Tonefiend Forum

Hammering your preamp with a boost pedal with the amp's volume knob set on the low side will give you an idea of what preamp distortion sounds like, whilst running it wide open will give you the power amp's grind. Your preamp volume is preset at a fairly nominal level, so you'll need outside help to get it clipping. You'll probably find the "pre-amp only" distortion to be more splattery and less dynamic than running the whole amp hot.

There are many reasons why pwr amp distortion is desirable. By the time the pwr amp distorts the pwr supply is also sagging which gives a nice musical compression to the sound (assuming standard guitar amp design). Also the pwr amp usually has negative feedback derived from the output transformer secondary this causes the amp to have an additional effect in that the neg feedback because the amp is now a non-linear device. Beyond this the spkr in most cases is also being overdriven causing even more non-linearity in the negative feedback loop. In the case of an alnico spkr the alnico magnets field is often bent temporarily causing more compression (alnico magnets have a hysterisis loop that is less tight than other most other magnets). In other words the power amp has many more interactive elements than a preamp which is a much simpler circuit. This complexity is why it is so difficult to model completely.

It is interesting in that it is actually a single ended amp like a Fender Champ but has 2 6V6 output tubes in parallel rather than 1 6V6 like the Champ. Beyond that it is pretty standard fare.

IDK I have a Fender Prosonic and I will take the preamp distorion in it over pretty much anything ever made.That and the fact it doesn't require ear bleeding volume to achieve.

Once you hit about 5 or 6 my amp starts to open up and generally the tubes are getting hot and bothered , but watts doesn't really mean volume.The only thing that matters is what YOU hear and like really .