5 Power amplifiers
5.6 Distortion
Distortion comes mainly in two forms, when it comes to power amplifiers. First there's amplitude distortion, which mostly occurs due to clipping (solid state 
) or saturation (tube ): this is distortion of the instantaneous signal level (=amplitude). Secondly, there's crossover distortion which occurs at the zero crossing point of the signal, which usually relates to a bias problem in class AB amps. Crossover distortion has no connection to frequency crossovers .
Amplitude distortion increases with increasing signal levels, while crossover distortion decreases with increasing signal levels.
When it comes to bass guitar, distortion is a mixed bag. Amplitude distortion from a power amplifier is usually unwanted, but tube saturation is sought after by many bass guitar players. It puts a bit of "growl" into the sound. Crossover distortion is never favoured.
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© Joris van den Heuvel 2001-2009