Typically, when guitarists talk about whether an amp model “sounds real,” we describe it in tonal terms—gain, EQ, distortion character. But great tone is the successful solution to a complex, essentially time-based problem. What then reaches the amp input is already the result of a complex upstream system, and inside the amplifier, that history continues to develop. Effects loops interrupt the signal path at predetermined stages, altering how time-based effects are compressed and re-energized. As gain stages are pushed, harmonic content doesn’t simply increase—it redistributes.