With all due respect to Steve Vasil you can send fx to the phones and record dry. Best of both worlds...saves a good performance recording going to waste because too much or the wrong fx are applied during record. That is the way pros do it. You can add fx after but you cannot take them away.

Good advice about EQ I rarely have any mixer EQ settings above 0 (12oclock) and avoid clipping by using the correct balance and GAIN levels. Green light good...... red light bad.