

This type of distortion is not touch sensitive. This has nothing to do with output stage distortion. This distortion is passed down the signal chain where it is reproduced and amplified by the output stage of the amp. At some point we can drive some amps so hard in the front end that the tone becomes so compressed and distorted that even I can sound like a decent player! Your mistakes are covered up in the mush and distortion of ti all. Rolling down the master does what? It allows the front end to be driven harder and thus we hear our front end distort. These work differently but for this piece of writing I will put them in the same master volume category. In master volume amps we have pre and post phase inverter master volume controls. There are three basic amp topologies looking at things from one viewpoint.

The phase inverter is generally the preamp tube that is the most close to your output tubes in most amps.

V1 (usually the preamp tube closest to the input jack) has the largest impact on your tone and gain but has less impact on your output distortion touch dynamics and output stage distortion than the phase inverter. This is true in some cases but not in all cases. Many people think that V1 (the first gain stage) is the most important tube in an amp. "The most important tube in your amp? The Phase inverter!
