...afraid to ask!

[Chris K]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Again, this is why the grid needs to be biased at the midway/ idling/ 50% point, to prevent clipping and minimize distortion. So the tube can handle the highest signal amplitude consistent with good linearity (as in an audio stage). The raucious sound of 'heavy metal' music was spawned from deliberately running tube stages into clipping.

OK...since I'm a bioscience guy who needs explanations at the amino acid level, I'm trying to reduce what's going on with the grid to a physical state. Biased at 0%, a tube grid is a grid or screen of fine wires with no voltage, and hence, no free electrons present on it. A tube biased at 100% has a screen saturated with the maximum number of electrons present it can retain. I think I understand the cathode to plate flow part that's regulated by biasing of the grid but now, I'm looking to better understand the grid itself and what's going on with it when the tube is biased.