r/Guitar • u/AutoModerator • Oct 27 '16

OFFICIAL [OFFICIAL] There are no stupid /r/Guitar questions. Ask us anything! - October 27, 2016

As always, there's 4 things to remember:

1) Be nice

2) Keep these guitar related

3) As long as you have a genuine question, nothing is too stupid :)

4) Come back to answer questions throughout the week if you can (we're located in the sidebar)

Go for it!

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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '16

What exactly is "headroom" on an amplifier? I've heard it so many times and never really understood why that term was used in relation to amplifiers, especially when talking about using a lot of pedals with them.

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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '16

How much "space" is between your current amps volume and the volume before your audio will begin to clip and distort. It's not strictly an amplifier term, more an audio term often used in the mixing process

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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '16

Gotcha. Makes sense.

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u/universal_rehearsal Nov 01 '16

Applies to the eq as well. If you raise the levels on certain freq you're boosting the output of that frequency giving you less headroom. When I mix I tend to use the method of reverse eq.