


The electrons go to the plate and become moving current. The plate carries a positive charge and so attracts the electrons. At this point, the hot cathode is producing a bunch of electrons that repel one another in the vacuum. The cathode is responsible for the emission of electrons when it is heated. Vacuum tubes are also called electron tubes for a reason! Every tube has a few parts: the cathode, the plate (anode), and the grid. What is the problem? Let's start with some basics on how a vacuum tube operates. These are two different approaches to the same problem. We will be addressing the two main types of biasing used in guitar tube amplifiers: Cathode bias and Fixed bias. While there are many in depth and thorough explanations out there, I figured we would strip it back to its simplest form and give an idea of why this is such an important part of a tube amplifier's health and tone. Over the years, a very common question that comes up in regards to tube amps is bias.
