do all amps break up at volume?

Most guitar amps will at some point. Although some have so much clean headroom that you might go deaf before you notice it. Like a Fender Twin.

 

My 69 vintage Princeton non reverb is clean all the way up. It's beautiful.

 

I have a Sansui monster stereo receiver that doesn't break up at high volume which is its main selling point being a hifi amp.

 

Your speaker selection also adds quantum levels to the statement.

 

^speakers are a component.

Also, the strength of the input signal - pick ups, etc. overdriving the preamp.

 

It really depends on the amp, so no, not all amps break up at volume. The clean channel on my Boogie will sterilize a water buffalo from 50 yards without breaking up. Marshalls, on the other hand, are designed to get into dirty territory rather quickly.

 

I suppose if you out a hot enough signal into the front, you can get most any amp to crack.

At the same time, it is certainly possible to design an amp where, with a normal level input signal, the amp is clean with the volume all the way up.

 

Any amp will break up when pushed past it’s power limit. Whether that sounds good or not is entirely a different matter.


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Solid state and tubes are different stories...

 

I have one of the Steve Vai Carvin Legacy 3's...channels two and three will melt your face off but channel one won't break no matter how hard you turn the dials to the right.

 

Nope.....

 

Even a Twin at 3 or 4 on the dial (especially with chords) breaks up to some extent. If it didn't I'd be sounding like a banjo.

 

Sometimes I play guitar through my solid state Peavey TKO 1 x 15” bass amp, because even when the “bright” switch is on and the upper mids are boosted for a snappy guitar tone, it stays pretty clean almost all the way up...even to the point of activating the speaker-protecting DDT limiter.

It’s fun because it sustains about forever, but with a clean, cutting tone AND a natural feel, like a cranked amp. 15” Scorpions are apparently bright enough to carry this off.

 

I’ve never heard an Ampeg VT22 break up...or a Sunn Coliseum...

But i don’t think decibel measurements go high enough to tell

 

if amps won't ; speakers will

so yeah; stuff happens at volume - whatever you wanna call it

 

Some sooner than others....My 65' Vibro-Champ Amp yeah, early on to the point where its just sounding like a stirred up hornets nest..but my 64' Super Reverb..you'll just end up punishing your ears to point of bleeding..

 

Some amps won't really break up even when dimed, if tubes are biased cold enough, or if a solid state amp has an internal limiter that stops clipping before it starts. I'm sure there are other design choices or set ups that would prevent distortion.

 

Don't hifis avoid break up by (1) having beaucoup Watts and (2) basically not letting you crank past the clean headroom on their volume knob?

 

My Reeves Custom 50 is like that as well. Massive headroom. Glorious tone.