Why Are So Many Guitar Players Afraid Of This? 

"Why Are So Many Guitar Players Afraid Of This?" I thought it was Rhett explaining that guitarists can actually turn an amp down

So many isolated guitar tracks of great songs don’t always sound amazing by themselves but in the mix just perfect !

I know Jake Reed! He’s an amazing drummer and also a funny humble nice person. Awesome that he got a shoutout here.

Wow! Those pedals are rad! So cool to hear that loop in action, too. Thanks for the shoutout!

If I had to guess about the DI question, I think there's two big reasons: 1) Not every guitarist has access to a mixer/interface/etc. to get the DI sound, and when they first hear it, the reaction is often "wow, that sounds nothing like my electric running through my amp" and avoid it. 2) DI tone can be very unforgiving. Finger noise, pick scrapes, etc. all come out more than usual, and any sloppy technique seems to come forward much more than they do through a traditional amp. Your guitar signal is as exposed as it gets, warts and all. But like you said, DI can be a really interesting palette choice. I'm a big fan of double-tracking DI guitars, it creates a very unique effect.

TRUTH: “A lot of musicians forget it that it doesn’t matter how something sounds by itself…it matters how it sounds in the song”.

I appreciate the demo and behind the scenes building of the track. Sweet groove and solid playing. Like I'd expect anything less. I also love the shot of Penny being a studio dog. Thanks, y'all Be good to you

As a massive fan of Jack Antonoff, DI guitar is definitely something I've been using in more recent years. Great job man!

The Ross Distortion and an MXR phaser were my only pedals through the 80s. A Plush amp and some random high school project speaker cabinet that was actually pretty good. It nailed Missing Persons and Berlin. Guitar is why I suck at TV Trivia games. (:

i think the huge open studio ssns “control” room looks badass…im sure there are limitations not being able to separate the live from the monitor lsound, but it feels very dyi and loft-space. 👍🤷‍♂️

This is how I rate YT guitar players. I find something to watch, get bored quickly, and bring up a new tab in my browser. I leave the sound from the other tab open. Once I hear a sound I like, I switch back. Then if I stay till the end, I'll return again and again. Rhett is one of those players that I don't bring up another tab in my browser, to begin with. I always stay till the end. Rrett, thank you.

This is for me. I am a DI type. One piece of advice for everyone who is using amps and tube amps: if you don't have treated room to record it - you can forget it. Peace! 😊

Glad to see a pro using a UA Volt interface. Makes me feel good about my purchasing decision.

Gosh, I loved that. I wish more people would show how they mix pedals

Had a gig where my lead guitarist couldn’t make it, so I was doing all the guitar and singing. My amp died as we were setting up. No back line. Had to go direct into the board. At the time I was only using a boost pedal… Shitting a brick, but gig came off really well 😃

Cool that you used the Jason Isbell Tele.

At $189, the price does seem a bit steep for new players.

My favorite videos of yours are when a track develops over the course of the video. The song tells the story.

honestly, this video sold me on Jake's drum sample pack

A TON of 80’s pop and funk was recorded with the “desk tone.” Always a Strat just plugged right into the console. Usually with compression and chorus of course.

Who ISN'T using Jake Reed's loops these days? The guy rocks. Great video :)

A combined Interface and a simple 'how to record for beginners' in one vid would be amazing

There are so many times Rhett plays something and I think the sound is terrible but then he puts in a mix and it is perfect. There is something very different about how his brain works.

Well, more knobs means more options. If I'm running around on a stage I prefer a simple setup, but if I'm looking for sounds in a recording studio I prefer more options to find the right sound for the songs. I've always loved the Ross Chorus sound, it's all over the Hemispheres album by Rush. I had an old 70's Rush flanger for years, that thing was built like a tank!

My very first distortion pedal was the black ROSS distortion. I traded a Megadeth and Zeppelin cassette tape for it in 92. Still have it and use it to this day. They definitely made a good distortion pedal, never tried their other stuff.

Man! The studios looking so good and the production quality of this video is top top!

this video (framing, transitions, editing, etc.) are next level. you've always had very well-made videos but this was one of the most fun to watch in a long time

These tones sound 80’s as hell! I love it! 👏

Great video. Beautiful playing Rhett. Your guitar sound is sensational. I’m not a chorus person at all, but when you set slow and low just to give it a bit off movement, I loved it. For me, that’s how chorus should be used. Totally agree about going direct. There’s something about the clean pure simplicity of a direct guitar sound. Thank you guys for making these videos. They’re inspiring. Ps- would love to see an interface shootout

“We should do an interface-OFF” …Gentlemen. You have my subscription. Keep up the amazing and entertaining work boys.

Interface off! Good shout. You could user it to do a basic "how to get sounds into the box" lesson...

7:39 reminds me of Orions Belte. Great sound. Rhett, if you haven’t heard them yet, I know you’ll love their sound.

I thought this was going to be about sight reading and knowing music in general

When I had a little 4-track set up in my bedroom, I spent years using DI all the time. I think I mic'd up my amp twice! I had no choice. You work with what you have.

I just find it so funny how so many guitarists want a “clean platform” amp and then have an “always on” drive pedal, just buy an amp with the dirt sound you want or go direct in! 😂 I understand wanting 2 channels and actually using the clean and overdrive when it’s not a 2 channel but to me its just silly using an overdrive into amp that’s not distorting at all…but then again the point of playing guitar is to enjoy it how you want to so do just that! 😊

@rhettshull I wrote a long comment for you but I somehow screwed it up so here is shorter: a) you are probably my greatest source of inspiration and education in the music playing and producing community. b) I play the drums (e-drums) and the guitar (Les Paul, Nocaster, Strat professional 2 and maybach lester special jr p90 (which I am waiting to be delivered to me maybe on tue or on wed...I do my fun little recordings by using Moises, Ableton live lite 11, Kemper and some nice pedals and so on...I need a pair of good head phones as i use them ALL THE TIME...wheater i am recording, practising, noodeling or tone hunting...I live in an apartment with my 2 teen sons and the noise level should remain reasonable...the current head phones are Sony WH1000 xm3 with the cable and without the power on in the phones...I do not love so much the boosted or coulored sonic atmosphere when I play or record myself or when I try to mix the song. I am now ready to invest some money for the nice head phones...what do you recommend? I have been offered these for some discount from the original price: Neumann NDH20 headphones 340€ Sennheiser HD 650 studiophones 280€ or little bit more affordable: Rode NTH-100 100€ >What do you think of these and some other haedphones? ..or do you have some headphones for me to buy from you for a bro pricing?

The chorus and distortion DI sounds like a synth. Really cool.

There are over 200 chorus pedals on Sweetwater. There are over 180 compressors. There are over 600 fuzz pedals. There are almost 60 phasers. There are over 900 distortion pedals. So, really, it's not a big deal that Ross pedals have been resurrected. People may want them now that they're here, but there was no need or demand for them in the market.

Decades ago I had one of the original Ross distortion pedals. I think I got it used for about $10 and figured "how bad can it be for $10." I never used it much, and have no recollection of what it sounded like. I think I gave it to my younger brother.

My old Ross Phaser is still my favorite phaser, too bad it broke on me last year. This is exciting.

A friend of mine, from my very early days of playing, had a Ross amp he got at a radio shack. He stripped it and put it all in a 10 gallon gas can. Was awesome!

Cant forget the man himself, Les Paul, when drawing up the roster for the DI Shredsters Dream Team.

The Volt interface is the only audio interface I've sent back after testing. Was quite underwhelmed at its price point. The SSL 2 series is performing much better in terms of clean pre-amp gain and headphone preamp power. Plus it does not come or need any additional software and is cheaper iirc.

I used to enjoy recording direct with an Alembic Series One (1976 guitar).... sounded so funky!!! A guitar I should have kept... but it was vey heavy...had to sit while playing it.

Just sticking with JHS I’d say their “3 Series” is the better first pedal option at almost half the price. But if you like these, you like ‘em. Nothing wrong with them. And they have stood the test of time mostly.

Interface-off with budget options would be lovely!

I'm often surprised how good a DI to looper (RC505) can sound. Even just using the one guitar for everything and using the Vol. Tone and PUs for EQ separation. Maybe some mod for that keyboard spot in the mix. The speed of the work flow makes it feel more jam and less contrived too.

I always track in a DI line, it allows the ability to add or change things after the performance. I sometimes will aux out the recorded signal to other guitar chains and then back in, sometimes via an amp and mic. Awesomeness! Love the channel. Too bad you don’t line in Utah, I’d love to have you jam with my band. :) Cheers

What model is that Tele? I love the sunburst with double binding

The owner of the town music store was a Boss Dealer, the only Ross or MXR exposure I had was when I went to the city an hour away. But my first pedals were a '78 DS-1, '82 (?) CE-2 Still have them both, '64 Princeton Reverb '65 Strat. They were used.

I still have my first pedal. It is the Ross distortion. If you like the distortion sound on the chorus to You Aint Seen Nothing Yet by BTO then this is your pedal.

I agree about the compression pedal. 8 knobs equals who knows what each one is actually doing.

The Ross pedals sound very good. My only question is; if they are so simple, why can't they be about half the size? They would require a huge board if you wanted to have just the ones you're featuring, and have room for anything else.

The only time I can remember David Gilmour going straight in was on Another Brick pt.2 and i think I read somewhere that he wasn’t happy with the sound and had a cab mic’d up for it. That might’ve just been the solo though.

Interface-off would be much appreciated. Would be great to get your thoughts on the various interfaces out there, from entry to expensive, and see what is available for novice to pro players.

I’ve been learning King of Oklahoma with that guitar. So sick.

Oh Darn. This DI Ampless sound is the best I've ever heard. Imagine that.

Didn’t know these existed, love that you brought this series back to bring this gear to light

The dog cameo was the best. Nothing like a chill studio dog.

That dog shaped rug really brings the room together, man.

I've played acoustic for over 50 years. Put a P-90 on an acoustic (Iris OG). Now an Epiphone Sheraton as the Gibson is just a bit pricey. Thanks for the demo.

DI guitar sounds, like David Gilmore, are what inspired me to build a wet-dry guitar rig back in the day. Wah in front of everything, then splitting to a Fender Hot Rod with just the Dano Daddy-O and Fab Tone in front of it, and a Fender Reverb with a Boss OC-3, Dan Eco, Moogerfooger Phaser, and the old silver box Dunlop Univibe emulator as a "chorus" in front of it. I liked having the crunch on the main attack and modulation stay relatively clean. Combining overdrive tones with a separate delay and vibe sound, or being able to go ham on both distortion and phase with completely overwhelming the sound of the guitar itself.

I've been doing DI recording since 1980. I prefer it, since it gives me a lot of control over the texture.

this DI tele tone actually reminded me of "It's a Mistake" by Men at Work

There’s literally no excuse for not recording a DI track with no effects and I can’t imagine an engineer not setting that up because there’s this thing called multi-tracking. I’ve been sent tracks to mix and had issues like guitars being out of tune. The mic’ed amp tracks would have had to be re-recorded, whereas the DI stems can be put through Melodyne and re-amped. So yeah, engineers are doing this, even if they let you play through an amp in the room.

That double bound tele is beautiful!

For me, I don't understand how to do DI. It it so much easier for me to have an amp to just plug and play out of. For any player not doing studio work or recording and they playing at home or with friends, I don't see the need for DI. Am I afraid of it? Maybe, but I don't feel like I need it and certainly don't understand how to even start with it. I try to keep it simple - I don't like a lot of knobs and buttons. I would rather play instead of fiddle.

Actually it sounds A LOT like the guitars on new music. It reminded me a lot of songs from recent years that went in that direction for sure. I mean it's understandable because that's what we all have at hand, but when I record direct into my PC, i send it through my amp output and try to simulate the cab sound with the ones included in the DAW, and more recently with IRs and it sounds exactly to what it's on real life, a Fender guitar going through a Fender amp, even without mics.

Great clip! Hones review is great and you found some great musical textures using these pedals...all of which I'm now thinking of getting, based on yours (and Josh's) vids. I'm "that" guy who likes the simplest knob layouts and minimal tweaking, maybe because I'm old-school. :)

Hey Rhett… could you or some of your subscribers answer some questions I have about an “no amp” setup? I don’t gig anymore for starters and I just play for personal enjoyment now. I do record some of my doodling occasionally. What exactly would I need for an “no amp” setup? For instance, say I am starting out with an FM3. Do I still need power amp or an amp head? Would I need a speaker cabinet or monitors to play without headphones? I guess my question really is, exactly what hardware would I need? Too much conflicting info about this.

What's going on with your studio? Is it going to remain as is and black? Haven't heard much about it.

Eddie plugged straight into the console on Finish What Ya Started, and I think a few others

Not sure if you're into nylon guitars, but you should see if Sweetwater can send you an Ibanez TOD10N Tim Henson Signature Nylon Acoustic-electric Guitar to review. Love the channel

Tom Verlaine was big into the DI sound on the early Television sound as well. Really gets you that shimmering twang.

I love that bass tone. Sounds like Air’s Moon Safari… funny because it was retro sounding at the time, but now it’s older than what was emulating. Which means that I’m old.

oh man, so good to see the tillyburst novo, was getting worried about it! U rock Sett Rhull

I was afraid to go direct when the sound guy wanted to take a line out from my valvestate amp! Lost it when using a flextone iii and now with the Helix is perfect!

Rhett - thank you for making this review. Love your honest reviews!! These sound awesome, JHS knocked it out of the park.

I *always* run my guitars direct in. Of course, I have Helix Native in the box, but they're direct! ;)

I used to have a Tascam 4 track recorder that recorded onto cassette tapes. I plugged straight into that exclusively. It didn't sound as good as through my amp, but good enough.

Are you using Jake Reed sample pack ?? I though the drums sounded similar 😊

Hey! A Jason Isbell Tele! I'm loving mine.

Sounds like someone’s been listening to Delicate Steve, don’t worry, so have I 😂 Good stuff Rhett!✌️

Proably for the same reason so many guitar youtubers have click bait titles. :)

Yes! An interface face off would be amazing! I have been looking to maybe move forward from a Focusrite to a UA Volt.

Was Bud Ross the guy with the afro that made "happy little pedals"?

People now have boards with multiple pedals because the modern power supplies can accommodate multiple pedals like the Godlyke PowerALL Deluxe which can power up to 11 pedals. I don't like the two knob style pedals simply because not all pedals play nice with each other. And the more you have, the more likely that you'll have a pedal that you click on and the volume drops out noticeably. I've have pedals that on one board that will happen. The volume will just drop out. Then on another board, same pedal, you click it and the volume jumps. This is why pedals should have a level control absolutely. These old-style two knob pedals are OK if you're just running one or two of them. With these and other brands you may experience this. Your sound man isn't going to be happy if your patches aren't consistent level-wise. It will drive him nuts. I think a lot of guys are going discover this about these ROSS pedals. Return department get ready. I think you're going to be getting a bunch of them back.

6:08 it has an almost sterile sound. Like it’s not in a room. The phaser accentuates that alien precision. It definitely has that Gilmore quality. Or sounds like a dub reggae thing. Sounds very 70s. Surreal. I love it. Is that a Jason Isbell telecaster? That’s my favourite looking guitar. The chocolate burst with double binding and dark fretboard. So retro and classic looking. Even the 3 ply black pick guard is really tasteful with that white centre. Echoes the binding.

I just bought a 476P Volt, nice to sse you using a Volt too

I just think DI boxes look terrifying, it's nothing about the sound. I haven't gotten over that fear yet.

Rhett, who makes/where can I get the multi multi guitar stand you have at 1:16 in the video? Also, as someone with more pedals than I know what to do with, this phaser pedal is pretty great. May have to snag one. Great video.

The chorus sounds good....I love the simplicity....

I absolutely love that Tele man. Wow its beautiful. My Richie Kotzen Tele is by far my favorite guitar in my collection

Di into the console sounds like 80's pop music

I just bought that same UA Volt, so seeing you put it through its paces would be very interesting to me

Great demo and approach with the track build! Hope you are able to sell bunches of these things for Josh and JHS!

How are you liking that Jason Isbell Tele? Picked one up a couple of weeks ago and completely love it.

Dude you should link up with James Lugo. Hes got a great channel, I just can see you guys doing some cool stuff even just nerd out over gear in private.

greetings rhett while watching this video your brought back a memory of how michael schenker got his tone he used a wah wah pedal an just set at a type of position then left it there. so cool. stay safe a loyal fan . ;-)

The Studio looks great!