Amp what is headroom

We always strive in our articles to be thorough without bombarding you with too much scientific jargon. After all, it's our hope that when you are done reading you will better understand the topic. In the spirit of keeping it simple, the best way to understand headroom is to think of it as "clean volume. As most of you are aware, one of the great things about tube amps is that they do begin to naturally compress or warm-up as you turn them up, and when they are really cranked they produce that harmonically rich overdrive that only a tube amp can deliver.

The problem is that the rate at which the amp begins to overdrive is going to be different for each amp. Different amps are going to have different levels of clean headroom. There are a number of contributing factors, however, here are a few things that contribute significantly: Wattage - As a general rule, there is a correlation between wattage and clean headroom.

Overall, the higher the wattage, the higher the potential for clean headroom, at least as it relates to power tube overdrive. The reason for this is pretty simple. The harder you drive a tube, the more it is going to overdrive. Normally, as an amp increases in wattage, it also increases in the number of power tubes that it has, meaning that the "load" will be divided into smaller parts and each tube will not be driven as hard.

Voicing - Some amps are purposely voiced to yield more overdrive or more clean headroom, depending on the design. This can be done in a number of ways.

One example of voicing an amp for more overdrive is when a designer purposefully makes the preamp section of the amplifier easy to overdrive by cascading the gain from one tube to the next in order to generate massive amounts of overdrive. On the other hand, a designer may also choose to maximize clean headroom by either using lower-gain preamp components or even decreasing the amount of plate voltage on the power section of the amp. Input - One of the reasons that headroom is such a difficult thing to quantify is that it's so highly dependent on the level of the signal going into the amp.

Along with our intensely dedicated team, my ardent vision since taking the helm has been to create a new HeadRoom Audio headphone amp that could recapture our uniquely robust, transparent and musical signature sound while pushing forward the world-class audio performance that classic HeadRoom products became famous for delivering to audiophiles. So began the long tumultuous process of conception, design, re-design, engineering and prototyping iterations to offer you a product we felt correctly carried the HeadRoom name into the future.

Long-time HeadRoom historians will note the connection of the Standard nameplate to one of our very first amplifiers we built back in the mids. Not only does the name hearken back to our earliest roots, but it also pays tribute to our original founder Mr.

Rest assured, the new Standard Amp carries no holdover internal parts or design features from the old Standard unit, so the throwback name is a well-deserved historical homage to who and what got us here today. Thank you, Tyll! Joe Wojciechowski.

So no complex crossfeed stages get in the way of pure unadulterated clarity, lightning-fast dynamics and seamless extension out to the very edges of the audible frequency range. The HeadRoom Standard Amp is an AC-powered headphone amp with perfectly controlled horsepower to drive tough planar magnetic headphones along with enough quiet grace to power highly sensitive in-ears. The Standard's hard extruded black aluminum amp chassis keeps the internals safe from road travel rash and shields the electronics from potential external noise intrusion.

Dual headphone outputs allow use of two headphones simultaneously and a front panel gain switch permits perfect dovetailing with any headphone impedance. Inside the Standard Amp is a unique mixed integrated and discrete design that employs the best sound quality traits of modern op amp technology to deliver an effortlessly tailored performance with either demanding high-impedance loads or with ultra efficient in-ear headphones. The topology features a hot-rodded JFET front-end with fully discrete Diamond Buffer output stages using low-noise, high Ft transistors.

Total R-C decoupling on all op amps localize the current loops and keeps any potential hash completely off the rails. Some bass amps even have an onboard distortion effect. Solid-state guitar amps are in somewhat of the same boat as bass amps. You need plenty of power for your situation. It is important to realize that the distortion effect available in the "dirty" channel of many guitar amps is not the same as harsh solid-state clipping.

Tube amps do sound good when pushed into overdrive, and many rock guitar players choose moderate-wattage tube amps because they break up at lower volumes. If you play rock or metal this is probably the case, and one of the reasons many players prefer tube amps in the watt range rather than watt monsters. But some guitar players do want a loud, pristine sound, especially in jazz or other genres where a clean signal is desired. So, when it comes to tube guitar amps the amount of headroom you need is very much dependant on your genre and situation.

If you want to push your amp into overdrive you may choose an amp with less headroom. If you want a clean sound, more is better. And, there are often differences in two comparable guitar amps with the same power rating. Even better, get out there and try it yourself. Hopefully, this article helped you to better understand headroom and how it relates to your playing.

Learning to Play. Playing in a Band. Musical Instruments. Sound Equipment. Studio Equipment. The author is a guitarist and bassist with over 35 years of experience as a musician. Related Articles. By Keith Abt. Singing Lessons. By Audrey Hunt.