Fender Mustang Amps...My oh My!

[Davis Webb]

I am continuing to just be blown away by this thing. I downloaded a ton of presets into a folder and then try them out. I got an amazing Eric Johnson overdrive sound that really is amazing, its almost the same tone he gets! The same author designed an Eric Johnson clean tone as well. Tommorow I am getting the footswitch, to jump between the Johnson clean and overdrive tones, the way he does some great drop 2 chords, then hits a fast triplet run with the overdrive...I can finally get that sound!

Then it was an hour of "Cocaine" and tons of modal Aeolian scales coming out of that...

The cleans for country are out of this world. All the stuff I just mentioned was for my Strat. When I plug in the Tele and hit the Fender cleans with a touch of compressor and reverb, goodness me! Then to dial up the gain and get a bluesy edge, and of course I found some great Roy Buchanan type settings for my Tele. There are some great patch designers out there working and its great to have those sounds instantly. The save function is so easy to use.

Eventually I can see myself moving up, but for now, just setting the volume to 3 is more than enough. I will mic this thing if I play with a drummer, into a rental PA.

What an amp! I have owned many, Jazz Chorus, Peavys, Fenders, etc..over the years but nothing matches this versatility.

[Pualee]

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

Eventually I can see myself moving up, but for now, just setting the volume to 3 is more than enough. I will mic this thing if I play with a drummer, into a rental PA.

In a small room, 3 can hurt the ears, but honestly, if you get a chance to turn it up, some of the patches become better I think the "InTheBlues" have a disclaimer that you have to turn them up to 4 or better for the bottom end to come through.

I play mine outside on occasion just for that.

[Davis Webb]

Looking forward to it. I can really see how with the drum tracks and such it blends in well.

Got the footswitch today. Couldn't figure it out at first, not intuitive. But now its done.

[Wasper]

I have one of those Mustang II's, the small one. I have a lot of fun with it, but I must say that sometimes messing with the settings is like going down the rabbit hole.... sometimes I'm having so much fun changing the sound, I'm not really practicing anything, lol.

[colchar]

Originally Posted by sweiss

I wasn't familiar with the Mustang amps, so I did a little reading up on them to see what they do. Having never tried one I obviously can't comment on how they sound, but they sure seem to have a lot of fun and useful features.

I won't be owning one, though, and here's why....too much information. I can easily see myself getting so immersed in all the bells and whistles that I'd waste valuable practice time playing with the thing. I don't mean that as a criticism of the amp...but of myself.

I am the same way and much prefer simplicity myself but I am seriously considering one of these as a secondary amp. From what friends on other forums have told me, you can avoid getting caught up in the bells and whistles simply by setting a few amp models to your liking and playing through those without bothering with all the rest of the stuff that is in these.

I was considering a Mustang II, and might grab one if I can find a used one at a good price, but my local store has a used Mustang III available for $199 that I am seriously considering. I will not ever need the 100 watts but if the volume level is easily tameable then why not grab it and save myself $50 over a new Mustang II (assuming I cannot find a used Mustang II)? I am only looking to save the cash because I have purchased both a Gibson SG Standard and a Muddy Waters Tele within the last month so my gear budget is severely depleted.

[Davis Webb]

Colchar

If you can nab a Mustang III for $199, go for it! That is an extraordinary price round these parts. They go for $600 or so taxes inc....out of my range, given all the other doodads I tend to buy.

As far as "analysis paralysis" that the modeling can bring, it is possible to slowly, over time, refine your go-to presets and put them in a single bank of 8.
It does take a lot of tweaking, but better that than tweaking with pedals for $100 a pop! A necessary evil.

Most of us need, clean, clean blues, overdrive blues, heavy rock, country, processed (think Jazz Chorus) and maybe a couple variations of each. Most of us do not need tilta-whirl phaser infinite echo madness, and if you need to put in some phaser, well, the knob just turns and there you go.

Today I refined my setup. Incorporating the looper into the amp path was a PITA so here is what I did. I got an A/B switcher, which sends my guitar either into the Korg processor-->looper--->drums machine/bass module into looper aux--->PA. Mic also goes into the PA. I set up a long loop of various chord changes synched to the drum/bass module and that goes to the PA, which happily greets the drum hits without blowing up.

Then when its lead time, and it always is, I hit the A/B switcher and voila, now I am playing the Mustang. Over my backup loop which I do on the fly.

I have start/stop and clear switches on my looper, so I can, on the fly, lay down a drum/guitar/bass track then bang over to the Mustang to solo over it. Then clear it as I play, restarting the drum/bass module with a foot switch.

I know it sounds complicated but its an ingenious solution. The Mustang amp, or any guitar amp, for that matter, does NOT like drum machines. Can shred the little speaker. Now I have a dedicated PA for backing and my vocals and the Mustang for rippin'.

I am a very happy camper. This and my new Yamaha FG700 guitar, which I swear sounds like a poor man's D28. Great guitar week.

[colchar]

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

Colchar

If you can nab a Mustang III for $199, go for it! That is an extraordinary price round these parts. They go for $600 or so taxes inc.

They are actually only $473 at Long & McQuade, taxes included. But even still, $199 was a great price. Unfortunately, when I popped into my local store yesterday it had sold earlier in the day. No worries though as I am friends with a few of the guys who work there and I can ask them to keep their eyes open for me.

As far as "analysis paralysis" that the modeling can bring, it is possible to slowly, over time, refine your go-to presets and put them in a single bank of 8.
It does take a lot of tweaking, but better that than tweaking with pedals for $100 a pop! A necessary evil.

A valid point.

Most of us do not need tilta-whirl phaser infinite echo madness, and if you need to put in some phaser, well, the knob just turns and there you go.

And yet manufacturers include them in so many of their presets. That and stupid amounts of gain.

[micahwc]

Sweetwater had two Mustang 3 v2s Wednesday that where open box floor models but still new and with warranty. I say they had two because I bought one. It will be my first "real" guitar amp. I've always played through either a cheap guitar practice amp, a bass multi-effects pedal through a home stereo system, or my Carvin MB10 bass amp with pedals.

I wanted something I could move easily for gigging and which had a line out for the sound system. I play at churches, they usually have PA systems I can use and it cuts down on what gear I have to bring. For about six months I was playing at a church every week where I didn't know if I was playing guitar or bass until after I got there, bringing two guitars, an amp, and all the pedals was getting really tiring really quick. I figure with the mustang I can cut some of that down a bit.

I'm actually thinking about trying to come up with some settings to use it with a bass; I don't think there will be any problems with the electronics. The only concern I would have is if the speaker can handle the low frequency. It has a 12 inch speaker which is larger than my bass amps single 10 inch.

[colchar]

Originally Posted by micahwc

Sweetwater had two Mustang 3 v2s Wednesday that where open box floor models but still new and with warranty. I say they had two because I bought one. It will be my first "real" guitar amp. I've always played through either a cheap guitar practice amp, a bass multi-effects pedal through a home stereo system, or my Carvin MB10 bass amp with pedals.

I wanted something I could move easily for gigging and which had a line out for the sound system. I play at churches, they usually have PA systems I can use and it cuts down on what gear I have to bring. For about six months I was playing at a church every week where I didn't know if I was playing guitar or bass until after I got there, bringing two guitars, an amp, and all the pedals was getting really tiring really quick. I figure with the mustang I can cut some of that down a bit.

I'm actually thinking about trying to come up with some settings to use it with a bass; I don't think there will be any problems with the electronics. The only concern I would have is if the speaker can handle the low frequency. It has a 12 inch speaker which is larger than my bass amps single 10 inch.

The electronics won't care but the speaker might because bass and guitar speakers are designed for different frequencies (I've often wondered how that work in amps that have guitar speaker but that play backing track or have auxiliary inputs for MP3s, etc.). That being said, so long as you play bass at low volumes it shouldn't harm the speaker at all.

[Pualee]

Originally Posted by colchar

The electronics won't care but the speaker might because bass and guitar speakers are designed for different frequencies (I've often wondered how that work in amps that have guitar speaker but that play backing track or have auxiliary inputs for MP3s, etc.). That being said, so long as you play bass at low volumes it shouldn't harm the speaker at all.

The mutang doesn't have a guitar speaker, it has a loudspeaker (if what I have read is true). The cab sim, or "guitar speaker" part makes it sound like a guitar speaker by limiting frequencies (at least that is what I have read). That is why I am always very suspect of folks swapping speakers in this amp, and I have seen many people try to swap and then end up swapping back. A guitar speaker +the patch's cab sim probably won't have the desired effect.

I have also heard it said to be OK with a bass input from Fender forums. So, with the bassman amp and cab sims, I think it should work quite well (wasn't that originally supposed to be a bass amp). The Peavey Vyper VIP seems to use a similar design - loudspeaker + software modeling to handle multiple instrument inputs. Peavey just advertises it better, and goes the extra mile to make acoustic sound acoustic. (Even the MIII's studio input doesn't sound right with an acoustic to me)

[Davis Webb]

That would be very nice if it were true. If you drive a drum machine through a guitar amp and play guitar at the same time, it gets bad, fast. The drum vibrates the speaker as you play guitar and you get really weird clipping, and this feeling of impending speaker doom.

If it is a PA speaker, that opens up a whole world. Although, to me, a small PA sounds best if it sends mid and bass to one speaker and highs to a cone. I am still nervous about driving a drum machine through the Mustang, not that I need to, but it could be useful.

The auxillary input is one sign they may be okay with it. But then again, maybe the auxillary input is designed to be used with headphone out. My 8 inch speaker is not the most robust thing around.

[kevinpaul M]

I have a Mustang II for two years now and it one of the best amps ever. I was going to get the three but the Chinese Celestion didn't get it. Fender put a 12" American Eminence in a amp costing $200 bucks. The pre set are cool and I can write my own. Good bye Vox.

[Pualee]

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

The auxillary input is one sign they may be okay with it. But then again, maybe the auxillary input is designed to be used with headphone out. My 8 inch speaker is not the most robust thing around.

I wasn't thinking of the mustang 1, but I do run music from the computer into the mustang 3's aux input some. It sounds good. One word of warning, run the aux in BEFORE you dial in your guitar/amp settings. You cannot change the volume of the aux (except via the master). You will get frustrated if you get the guitar tone first, and then add the aux. It will be too loud or too soft in comparison.

[Tahitijack]

For those that might want to check an alternative and simpler version of the Mustang line, you might try the Fender Champion line. These amps have all the essential mods you might need at a lower cost.

[kevos]

This is sample of the tone capabilities of the Mustang III.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHbtBUynfsU