I have a Mustang IV a Digitech RP255 and a Digitech Jimi Hendrix Experience Pedal. i could sit for days trying to get my rig less bright but if i get it less bright its not bright enough. HELP!

Whats it like without the pedals? What guitar are you using?

im using a highway one strat and withought the pedals its the same thing and if i kick on distortion it gest really bad

Hi BRB. Can you tell us how you came across this guitar? Have you sounded it through another amp? Any idea on whether the pickups are stock, or signs of tampering? Maybe you can have someone over with another Fender to plug to the same amp. Someone already wisely told you to keep the effects out of the equation for now. You say too bright and then after trying to adjust it is not bright enough? Tell us where your knobs are at. Tone controls are selective amplifiers.
If you go for the neck pickup, with its tone potentiometer at around 7, and the amp tone knobs half-way open, describe what you hear.
Would this be your first Strat?
What other guitars have you played on before?

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FIGHT!

I have a Highway One too. When the pickups are too close to the strings, it sounds too bright. Depressing the string at the 22nd fret, I've set the E string at 3 mm and the e string 2.5 mm -- purrrfect.

Fender Locking F tuners rounded out the tone too.

Also, what type of strings are you using? Some strings sound way bright on this specimen.

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Try a parametric EQ, there are many good ones out there these days.

Another option is a BBE sonic maximizer. I haven't used their stompbox
versions, but the rack mount ones work great!

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I'm curious as to why you would want to use any pedals with the Mustang IV....it has some very nice effects on it's own and you can squeeze out some VERY Hendrix-y tones thru it with a little tweaking on your part (as well as be able to turn on and off certain effects on the fly with the supplied footswitch...and the filter effects almost eliminate the need for a wah wah, if you are real tricky with em). Have you used the Fender FUSE software? If you haven't then you are only using half the amp you paid for...the standard presets on the IV frankly suck and I think it has as much to do with the fact that the programmers are trying to just get you started and prod you into going in there and doing some deep tweaking on your own. There are also some AWESOME presets available from users made available at the FUSE website...Try em out and get in there and tweak em a little more yourself! Don't be afraid! If you get familiar with it enough, you will get some sounds out of that amp that will blow you and your friend's minds!

thanks guys for all the help. I think it maybe the compression setting on my RP255. I'm messing with it and it seems to be working a lot better. And the reason i use pedals with the Mustang is because i prefer the distortion on the RP255 and i can make some pretty kewl sounds and what using both at the same time. And yes i have checked out fender fuse but sadly i have to carry the amp to the computer room every time i want to use it lol. so i don't use it often. I use fender super bullets 0.9. should i switch?

Ive had some success! i lower the pickup height and it seems to be working. thanks guys!

If you really want to keep using your RP255, try this trick. Rather than using the standard input on the front of your amp take the output of the 255 and go into the "power amp input"...or effects loop in of the MIII...you bypass the MIII's preamp and are simply using the MIII as a power amp. Your RP 255's models will sound better too. Keep in mind that when you do this you will be controlling the volume with the RP 255 NOT the volume knob on the MIII so turn down the RP255's power down to 0 before doing this and gradually turn it off or you may deafen yourself (and your neigbors too!). It's a neat trick and I promise you it'll sound better overall if you try it!