Why You're Not Getting the Most Out of Your Pedals

[@jonaszdabrowski]

I always found that I can have more of myself in the mix, with a darker tone. It simply doesn't bother the ears as much, so you can go louder and still be pleasant to hear. It definitely makes sense!

[@SamWittek]

100%! Its also nice to give the sound guy a really full sound so they can EQ however needed from there. Definitely a much better starting point!

[@musicman4christjesus]

I usually do all my eq on the board and politely ask the sound guy to not apply any eq, etc to my sound as it will throw off all my hard work in setting up my tone. I only ask him to intervene if there truly is an offending frequency I might have missed.❤

[@CornerstoneWorshipTutorials]

Dude this is crazy good! Thank you for your explanation step-by-step, and I love how you put in all the effort into every little detail. The end result is epic.

[@SamWittek]

Thanks man! So glad it was helpful 🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@pinstripe_pedals]

Great video with excellent, helpful advice! Nice board with solid choices, man. Thanks for including us!

[@SamWittek]

Thanks so much Charlie! And thanks for all you do, you've got a customer for life! 💪🏼

[@allenhafner151]

This is an awesome explanation!!! I love your videos. I’m looking forward to when you do a new pedal chain walkthrough! You’ve been super insightful and it’s helped me learn so much so quickly. Keep up the awesome work

[@SamWittek]

Man thanks so much for the kind words Allen! Means a lot! I'm definitely planning on making that pedalboard walkthrough soon, so definitely keep an eye out for that!

[@jms5587]

Hey Sam, this is super insightful! Regarding your base clean/edge of breakup tone on the Iridium - could you by chance share your go-to D. Hislop IR's? I purchased the DH everything IR pack along with the Iridium, and i'm trying to avoid IR paralysis since there are so many combinations. I've also got a tele for my main axe. Thx again!

[@SamWittek]

Thanks for the kind words! Glad to hear this was helpful. For sure! Totally get that, there's sooo many options. I've been using the G10V 545(3) 121(3-4) 70-30 mix and the G12 545(3) 121(3-4) 70-30 mix, and running that on the Chime setting

[@jms5587]

@@SamWittek Awesome! I'll give those a listen and go from there. Thx so much! cheers

[@danielmiller2886]

Sam, just found your channel and love it! One challenge i have is that my sounds is dialed in at home, then at church it sounds like a low quality, streamed sound sample that is nasal and fuzzy. Ive worked with the sound guys who have limited, but reasonable experience. Running through a Radial stagebug DI. I end up turning my mids way down but that is contrary to what everyone says to do. Where can i start before throwing money at it? Other guitarists sound "meh, ok" there running through a Boss ME-80. I asked for all eq and compression to be turned off so i can manage it from my board. Sorry thats long and rambling. Thanks for any advice, Daniel.

[@SamWittek]

Thanks Daniel! 🙌🏻Man good question. I feel like it could be a lot of things, my first inclination would be to have them turn off any eq/compression/etc which it sounds like you're already doing. When you say it's fuzzy is it like breaking up and overdriving? If so, it could be a gain issue at the FOH board. I know you don't want to throw money at it, but my biggest suspicion is that it might be a DI issue. If you're using an amp modeler, standard DIs drop the signal when sending it to the FOH board and that can sometimes lead to sounding thin, weak, and kind of off. I had this issue at my church until I got the DISO+ and now my tone sounds exactly the same at church as it does at home. Hope this helps!

[@musicman4christjesus]

It's extremely important to try to set your presets as close as possible at home but it will never be exact until you tweak it at the church. Try to get there a little early and definitely skip the sound folks to put everything on your channel at default, no eq, etc. Then first thing I would do, is add mids to your amp. That is the #1 tweak that got my tone to stand out in the entire mix. At home it sounds a little harsh with mids up, but believe me, once the whole band plays, you'll thank me. Then, add highs and roll off the bass anything over 100hz I believe. But that's my starting point. Then save this Setup as LIVE setup if you can. Take a pic if your settings and save it in case you move things again at home. This gas saved me countless hours of resetting my tone. Blessings!

[@danielmiller2886]

Thanks guys. Sorry for such a late reply, but I wasn't getting notifications for a while. I had previously had them turn off EQ and compression, but someone had turned it back on at some point. Without those on, it got Way better. I think a better DI would definitely help, so that's on my list to save for. To answer your question, yes, it was breaking up and over driving on my clean tone. Apparently they had cranked the compression way up. It is far better and I know I can only ask for so much from the speakers we have, but I think a better DI will help with that. With the mix, it really isn't noticable, and it sounds ok on the livestream. Thanks so much for the replies you guys!

[@danielmiller2886]

@@musicman4christjesus thanks bud!

[@musicman4christjesus]

Awesome tasty tone! Where you going out Stereo from your pedalboard?

[@SamWittek]

Thanks! I'm going stereo out of the iridium into a DISO+ underneath my board, and then I just go stereo out of the board into a focusrite 2i2 interface when recording

[@musicman4christjesus]

@SamWittek Awesome! I figured, the sound coming out was so full and luchious! I love stereo but for everyone out there, be mindful that mono will sound totally different than stereo. So make sure when you tweak your pedals for playing live, you tweak them how you're going to go to FOH. If going mono, then tweak them by going mono to FOH otherwise, you will be surprised they don't sound as open and full. Don't get me wrong, they will sound amazing still but not as big and open as stereo would. I tweak all mine mono for live use as we always have less channels available but still sound really great!

[@Celticsaint777]

The iridium is the best sounding amp modeler in my opinion.

[@SamWittek]

The Iridium is super super good. I recently moved away from it to the ToneX and I'm loving it, but the Iridium will always have a special place in my heart

[@davide4917]

Great video! What pickups do you find work great for worship tones on a Telecaster? (Single coils).

[@SamWittek]

Thanks David! I personally have been using Porter tele custom pickups for a long time and love them. I'd also definitely recommend the Lambertone Blondies, or anything from Lollar. Hope that helps!

[@PoorBoyMinorKey]

I see that you use a focusrite. When recording you are connecting your pedalboard to it? I can't seem to find a lot of info on how to do this. I'm expecting to get 4i4 in a couple weeks. My first audio interface. I assume I can utilize my strymon stereo pedals with it? Thanks for any info! Does the iridium make things easier? Instead of using plugins?

[@SamWittek]

Yeah great question! Yep, so I go straight out of my pedalboard into the focusrite, and then I typically just record everything in Garageband. The iridium definitely makes things SUPER simple, but you should be able to use plugins just fine! Are you using amp modeler plugins? I'd imagine you would just need to go 1/4 out of your pedalboard into the focusrite, and then engage your amp plugins in your DAW and you should be all set

[@bobbywaldschmidt6825]

Thank you Sam! This really helps!!

[@SamWittek]

Thanks Bobby, glad this helps!

[@kylefuqua2778]

Just wanted to say thanks for doing this series, it is just what I was looking for! I have played for a lot of years, but I'm still learning in many respects- especially with playing P&W at church. Plus I have like 6 of the same pedals as you do! Keep up the great work!

[@SamWittek]

Thanks dude! 🙌🏻 So glad to hear that it was helpful for you. And nice!! Sounds like you have good taste haha

[@joshlavender1140]

Thank you so much for these videos!!!! It helps me so muc

[@SamWittek]

Thanks for the kind words Josh! So glad to hear that these videos are helpful for you! 🙌🏻

[@tessamitan]

Hey! I just found your channel since picking up an Electric a couple months ago and your videos are super helpful! Also, is that a Reliant t-shirt?? Looks like the one I got from Reliant for Christmas!

[@SamWittek]

Hey Tessa, so glad these videos have been helpful to you! No way! It sure is, I work for Reliant!

[@bobbywillis5594]

Nice channel! Where do you purchase those big knobs that's on your El Capistan?

[@SamWittek]

Thanks Bobby! I'm actually not sure, it was already on the el cap when I bought it from my friend a few years back!

[@warwickgb]

Hi Sam, really like the video, just at the end you add reverb, but don’t mention a setting. Could you clarify that please. Also are you running your board into actual amps, if so which ones do you use. Thanks Warwick

[@SamWittek]

Thanks for checking out the video! So for that clip at the end I was using the Cloud setting on the BigSky. I have another video breaking down my approach to reverb in case that's helpful. For my amp I'm not running real amps at the moment, I'm just running into the Strymon Iridium. Hope that helps!

[@warwickgb]

@@SamWittek Hi Sam ,thanks I get it now. Keep on making the videos

[@SamWittek]

@@warwickgb More coming soon!

[@jerrymiller94]

I just got the iridium. I’m having trouble with my headphones sounding muddy coming right out of the iridium, but when plugged into PA system and in my in ear monitor mix it sounds fine. Wondering if you have had the same issue and maybe how you run your at home listening setup?

[@SamWittek]

Hey Jeremiah. That's interesting, I actually found that I had the opposite problem when I got the iridium. Plugging the headphones in directly was very clean, and playing into the PA at church was super muddy. That's actually what prompted me to get the DISO+, which has been a game changer. Running at home though, I usually will go out if the iridium into the DISO+, and out of that into a Scarlett 2i2 interface into my computer. That has worked great for me. Hope that helps!

[@emmanuelibus]

Question - Why not dial down the tone knob on your telecaster instead of dialing down your amp settings?

[@SamWittek]

Yeah good question! It's a personal preference thing, I always feel like I lose a little bit of "life" out of my tone when I dial back the tone knob on my guitar. Plus I hardly ever find myself wanting more top end, so might as well get it dialed how I like it with the amp

[@candacesmusic]

How does your at home tone convert to live? Any tweaks or pretty consistent?

[@SamWittek]

Pretty much exactly the same! For a while it was SUPER different live, which was frustrating. But getting the DISO+ has been a game changer and I don’t struggle with that anymore

[@fabpaes]

Sam do you make any tweaks in the Strymon IR manager to the volume/treble/bass?

[@SamWittek]

Hey Fabricio, nope I don't make any adjustments there!

[@fabpaes]

@@SamWittek Thanks for the quick reply Sam!! I have watched a ton of your videos looking for some tone inspiration. Thanks for putting out high quality stuff!

[@SamWittek]

@@fabpaes Of course! Thanks man! 🤘🏻

[@CTRex343]

Did you have any problems getting your Iridium to out put enough volume? We have to really max out the gain on the board at my church and I leave the level at max and adjust volume with gain. We only do mono, so trying to figure out how to get a clean tone to cut through. I leave the “headphone volume” centered because I feel it looses the body in the tone if you push that up. Thanks for any advice!

[@SamWittek]

Hey Rex! Yeah I actually had this issue at my church. Turns out the DI I was running into was not helping, which led me to buying the DISO+. Ever since picking that up as my DI, my signal has been super clean and strong. There’s plenty of other good DIs out there that I’m sure would help with the issue you’re running into, but I couldn’t recommend the DISO+ enough

[@CTRex343]

@@SamWittek ill try it!

[@CTRex343]

@@SamWittek 100% did it!!! My tone sounds so much better now thank you!

[@SamWittek]

@@CTRex343 So good to hear! Glad that helped! 🙌🏻

[@didodelima]

Where can I get a diso +?

[@Packett1364]

Awesome bro!

[@joelkratzer4065]

Do you use your compressor as an always on?

[@SamWittek]

I do!