what is/are bias?

In what context?

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hah i dont think he means sexism

its something you do to your tubes to even out wattage i think

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with tubes cuz i've heard of it but what is it?

With guitar amps it generally refers to the balance between two tubes in a push-pull configuration amplifier stage. One tube is handling the positive voltage swing and the other is handling the negative swing. The transition point needs to be adjusted for a smooth handoff to avoid non-harmonic distortion of the signal. A clean sine wave is injected in the input of the amp and an oscilloscope is used to observe the output while the bias adjustment is tweaked until the output looks the same as the input. The commonly used push-pull configuration in guitar amps is a compromise to get more linear power out of standard tubes in order to save on manufacturing costs. The only good thing about it is that the compression characteristics will be the same on the positive and negative swing which is why people like the sound of tube distortion in this kind of setup.

Technically, bias refers to the control line dc component on any transistor or tube.

this is why i pay people to fix my amp if something breaks :P

you have to be pretty gutsy to play around with it

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Wrong froum, try this one http://metaltabs.com/forum/search.php?

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