Pedals & power tube distortion.

[tot_Ou_tard]

This has been mentioned on many forums including here, but I am still a bit confused. Can an overdrive pedal push a tube amph into power tube distortion at volumes that are lower than it would have sans pedal? Or does it cause the preamph to clip?

[Tone2TheBone]

The only way to get true power amp tube distortion is to run the amp hot and loud on the master volumes. All pedals only affect the input on the amp and will produce preamp clipping. You can compromise and crank up the amp's master volume while keeping your pedal's level output and gain at a minimal level but it's still not quite the same.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Thanks `bone!