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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:37 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Isn't part of Fender's point that Apple is no longer supporting the Power PC Macs either?


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:18 am
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bclarke675 wrote:
Isn't part of Fender's point that Apple is no longer supporting the Power PC Macs either?


Ahem... think I'm tasting humble pie! Actually I hope so. I thought all Macs were Power PC (I use them... just don't ask me anything technical about them).

Anyway, this doesn't explain why on my wife's new laptop, using OS X 10.6.4 (and presumably not a Power PC Mac), the Fuse window just hangs there, dark and dead.

I'll speak to my techies.



(Toned down my rant in the previous post, to take into account possible incompetence on my part!)


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:24 am
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There's a sticky stating that FUSE doesn't work right now with the latest version of OS X, and that you should stick with 10.6.3 until they make FUSE compatible.


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:56 am
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I honestly don't have any real problems with the amp, it is basically with the lack of useful documentation on how to accomplish what Fender promises in its marketing hype.

I'm a journalist and an experienced consumer. If this had been my product and I were stating all that it would do, you can bet I would have some useful tutorials on how to accomplish it. There is practically none, and Fender doesn't seem to really care much about this. Fortunately, there are a few people on this forum with a lot of experience with previous iterations of the G-DEC and they are willing to share it.

I do have not and will not carry on with any online jousting here, it is silly. The 3-30 works fine within its limitations. Like everyone else, I could have returned it, but I chose to keep it. It does work good playing backing tracks, the presets are not to my taste, so I'll use my BJ as my guitar amp and use the 3-30 for backing and as an interface for recording and hope the Fender folks decide to put the needed documentation out there while fixing several annoying software and firmware issues.

Thank you and I will now get off my soapbox.


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 9:13 am
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Clifford, I agree with you about the lack of good manuals & tutorials. I did find tech support helpful, friendly and thorough. My guess is that through the many phone calls that I'm sure they're receiving, they will figure out what information is most needed by the G-DEC 3 community, and hopefully deliver it.

Initially, I didn't think I would want to try gigging the G-DEC 3, but have found that by playing with it a little, it isn't as hard as it seemed at first to dial in sounds that are more pleasing than most of the presets. What I think the presets do best is display the diversity of sounds you can get with this wonderful amp!

BTW, if I had your Blues, Jr., I can't say I'd want to gig with anything else either.

Have fun!
Bob


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:37 am
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bclarke675 wrote:
There's a sticky stating that FUSE doesn't work right now with the latest version of OS X, and that you should stick with 10.6.3 until they make FUSE compatible.


Fender stated in April that a 'public beta' version of Fuse is available and that a Mac OS X version of Fuse will be 'available soon'... it's June... am I just be impatient?

I agree with a lot of what you say Clifford... I've gone from great enthusiasm to the point where I'm disillusioned, all within 24 hours. That said, if I imagine Fuse does not exist, then the G-Dec still does everything I want it to do as a practice amp... especially when the only 'do-it-all' alternatives are the Spider Jam (don't like Line 6 stuff, although the M13/9 look good) and the BOSS JS-8 (not sure whether using this with monitor speakers will sound as good as the G-Dec).

In summary, I'm calming down about the Mac issues... hoping (trusting even!) that Fender sorts them out.


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:57 am
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VerySlowHand wrote:
bclarke675 wrote:
There's a sticky stating that FUSE doesn't work right now with the latest version of OS X, and that you should stick with 10.6.3 until they make FUSE compatible.


Fender stated in April that a 'public beta' version of Fuse is available and that a Mac OS X version of Fuse will be 'available soon'... it's June... am I just be impatient?

I agree with a lot of what you say Clifford... I've gone from great enthusiasm to the point where I'm disillusioned, all within 24 hours. That said, if I imagine Fuse does not exist, then the G-Dec still does everything I want it to do as a practice amp... especially when the only 'do-it-all' alternatives are the Spider Jam (don't like Line 6 stuff, although the M13/9 look good) and the BOSS JS-8 (not sure whether using this with monitor speakers will sound as good as the G-Dec).

In summary, I'm calming down about the Mac issues... hoping (trusting even!) that Fender sorts them out.


VerySlowHand:

I think that the Fuse software you are looking for is available at this link (http://support.fender.com/downloads/fuse/FUSEInstaller.dmg). As far as I know it will work with any intel based Mac. There is a small problem where the dropdown menu will not let you select anything though if you are running the 10.6.4 version of OSX which is the most recent version of the Mac operating system. It is not too big of a problem though because right below the dropdown menu are buttons to do the functions. I am sure that the menu glitch will be fixed soon. Probably just need to recompile under the most recent Xtools.

I hope that helps...


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 11:04 am
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truebluefliplover wrote:

VerySlowHand:

I think that the Fuse software you are looking for is available at this link (http://support.fender.com/downloads/fuse/FUSEInstaller.dmg). As far as I know it will work with any intel based Mac.

I hope that helps...


Thanks trueblue...

That's the one I downloaded last night. It downloads okay, but just hangs once the FUSE window opens. So near and yet so far!

Been trawling the Forum and it seems the problems might not have been resolved yet.

Anyway - I feel like I'm taking up too much space on the thread. If anyone else replies to my specific problem, I'll say thanks, but not respond here. Thanks.


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 9:36 pm
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Location: Marysville, WA
I am the original guy who started this thread, and I did end up picking up the 15 watt version.

I am not a gigging musician, and know that this would not be my choice for a gigging amp anyway. I just want to get better at guitar.

I have tried other comparable Amps and here is my review and my thoughts

Comparing it to the LINE 6 SPIDER JAM
First of all, is it just me or are the distortions and overdrives from Line 6 all awful? They do great with Delays and Compression type effects. But their distortions and overdrives have NO character at all.

Spider Jam does have some interesting loops to play along with, but I feel like their market is metal heads and the vintage effects just sound too cheap and cheesy to me.


Comparing it to the VOX JAMVOX
The JamVox is a great unit. It is plug and play and the software and online stuff was all really intuitive and easy. But Vox just didn't have enough classic tones, blues tones or rock tones to satisfy me. The ability to slow down mp3's and play along with them on a loop is extremely valuable. The mic input and hardware make the JamVox the best choice for recording too. Super simple.

The big downside to the jamvox is that it doesn't work without your computer. With the Spider Jam or the G-DEC I can bring it into another room easily. With the jamvox, if you want to go somewhere else, you have to bring your computer with you.

THE G-DEC 3 15
First of all, the presets are pretty good. I love some of the blues presets. #13 is super cool and I could play through that all day long.

As far as the Hardware goes, I think the buttons are not super intuitive and it is kind of a clunky way to get around the changing of effects. I don't know that I have a better suggestion, but I do feel like I will edit the sounds on my computer and then load them onto the amp, rather than messing around with them on the Amp.

The controls also don't feel super high quality either, but at this price point, I am not too sure that I should expect a lot more.

Software
Editing the Sounds is easy and pretty straight forward. It works similarly enough to the JamVox sound editor.
The Fuse software is pretty glitchy and not extremely intuitive for loading band tracks and saving and sharing presets. I think that this could have been integrated a lot better with the online community and the online database.

In my opinion THAT is the greatest disappointment. But once I get through the learning curve, I think it might still serve me very well.

Without a doubt the G-DEC 3 is far superior in every way to the Spider Jam. The JamVox is more userfriendly but can't be used away from a computer.

They all have flaws and drawbacks. But overall, I think I will be happy with the G-DEC 3.


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Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:29 am
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Update:

Loren at the Knowledgebase has helped me to get FUSE loaded. The problem I had was that I did not have my Mac connected to the amp during download and installation. Now, where on the web, or in any manual, it says to do that, is a mystery to me, but after trial and error I got there in the end.

On first impressions FUSE seems great - I like the dashboard graphics and the fact that the amp and all the effects become virtual representations of real objects, whose knobs can be turned with the cursor, as if by hand.

OP: great comparisons - have you any experience with the BOSS JS-8? Apart from getting my head around using monitor speakers with it (I like amps), I think it looks a better thought-out thing, and easier to use, than the G-Dec - especially as it supports all versions of Mac OS X.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone thinks the sound from it is equal to, better, or worse than the G-Dec. I'm wary of BOSS sound, having owned an ME-70 for 10 minutes (says it all).


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Post subject: G-DEC 3 vs Boss JS-8 eBand
Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:51 pm
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VerySlowHand wrote:
Update:

OP: great comparisons - have you any experience with the BOSS JS-8? Apart from getting my head around using monitor speakers with it (I like amps), I think it looks a better thought-out thing, and easier to use, than the G-Dec - especially as it supports all versions of Mac OS X.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone thinks the sound from it is equal to, better, or worse than the G-Dec. I'm wary of BOSS sound, having owned an ME-70 for 10 minutes (says it all).

I am currently trying out both the G-DEC 3 and the Boss JS-8 eBand. I still need to spend more time with both, but here are a few of my initial impressions.

Presets: While both have some really good tones, the eBand has more good and completely usable tones out of the box. The G-DEC has way to many why? tones.

NOISE: Some of the presets on the G-DEC 3 are incredibly/annoyingly noisy. It seems the more effects a preset has the more noise it creates. My question to Fender, can this be addressed in a firmware update? Seems like bad programming to me.

Speakers: The speakers in the eBand are barely adequate at best. If I return the eBand it will be because of the pathetic, very low volume speakers. The eBand really needs to be played through headphones or plugged into a stereo, PA or studio monitors to sound great. The G-DEC 3 sounds pretty good through its speakers.

Effects: The quality of the effects on the eBand are head and shoulders above the G-DEC 3 IMHO. Again I am wondering if Fender could fix this in a firmware update?

Home Recording Studio Usage: The eBand is the big winner here. The eBand has a number of USB connection options including sending a completely clean/RAW signal to your computer recording software while playing you your favorite preset for inspiration. You can then reamp the recorded RAW sound with the eBand or use something like Amplitube to reamp the sound. Also works with microphones. Really nice and functional features for a cheap home recording studio.

User Interface: eBand also wins here. The eBand is overall just easier to get around and understand. Little things like having presets organized by styles (Jazz, Rock, 70's Hard Rock, etc.) and having a button for A-B looping tracks are really beneficial and easy to use.

User Community: G-DEC wins big here. The eBand has no community for sharing ideas or presets.

Future Proof: Fender has Fuse and has released a few firmware updates. The big question I have for Fender is if they will address some of these issues with a firmware update?

As of now I am undecided on what to keep.


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Post subject: Re: G-DEC 3 vs Boss JS-8 eBand
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:25 am
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dh131 wrote:
Speakers: .... The eBand really needs to be played through headphones or plugged into a stereo, PA or studio monitors to sound great. The G-DEC 3 sounds pretty good through its speakers.


So the eBand wins in all but 2 categories. Community and speakers.

Not having done any studio work, speakers are my biggest concern. Are you saying that the eBand DOES sound great through monitors? (I have some decent Behringer ones.) I think it's just my limited perception - that you can't beat a guitar amp for guitar... but do you think the eBand plus monitors would sound as good as the G-Dec?

I was coming around to the G-Dec, but I might do like you - buy the eBand too and sell the one I least like.


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Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 5:57 am
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I have the 15, and it is perfect for what I want. "Real" guitar sounds at low volumes. I live in an apartment and appreciate that I am able to do this. Love to tweak sounds. Fairly intuitive. Would unquestionable recommend this as a practice amp. I amp very pleased....................


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Post subject: Re: G-DEC 3 vs Boss JS-8 eBand
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:15 am
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VerySlowHand wrote:
So the eBand wins in all but 2 categories. Community and speakers.

Not having done any studio work, speakers are my biggest concern. Are you saying that the eBand DOES sound great through monitors? (I have some decent Behringer ones.) I think it's just my limited perception - that you can't beat a guitar amp for guitar... but do you think the eBand plus monitors would sound as good as the G-Dec?

I was coming around to the G-Dec, but I might do like you - buy the eBand too and sell the one I least like.

I have only played the eBand through my home stereo and it does sound great, but it is hard for me to say if it sounds as good as a guitar amp. I do not have studio monitors to test, but I assume it would sound great if the monitors are good, but that is at least another $200-$300 to hopefully equal or better the G-DEC in amplified sound quality. If the eBand was packaged as a small amp like the G-DEC it would be the hands down winner in my opinion. Sadly, Boss/Roland dropped the ball big time here.

A few other things to consider;

Backing Tracks: Both are good in this regard.

Build Quality: the eBand is about the size and build quality of your average alarm clock. Should be fine if left on your desk, but not very road friendly. Conversely the G-DEC feels pretty sturdy, although the interface and buttons feel slightly cheaper than the eBand.

MIDI: The G-DEC can play MIDI files if wanted.


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Post subject: Re: G-DEC 3 vs Boss JS-8 eBand
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:40 am
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dh131 wrote:
I have only played the eBand through my home stereo and it does sound great, but it is hard for me to say if it sounds as good as a guitar amp. I do not have studio monitors to test, but I assume it would sound great if the monitors are good, but that is at least another $200-$300 to hopefully equal or better the G-DEC in amplified sound quality. If the eBand was packaged as a small amp like the G-DEC it would be the hands down winner in my opinion. Sadly, Boss/Roland dropped the ball big time here.

A few other things to consider;

Backing Tracks: Both are good in this regard.

Build Quality: the eBand is about the size and build quality of your average alarm clock. Should be fine if left on your desk, but not very road friendly. Conversely the G-DEC feels pretty sturdy, although the interface and buttons feel slightly cheaper than the eBand.

MIDI: The G-DEC can play MIDI files if wanted.


Thanks for the review of the eBand. I had never heard of it. After your review, I looked at some Youtube videos. A VERY interesting piece of equipment. With the padded case for transport, it looks like it would be great when I travel and stay in hotels.

I just bought the full version of Amplitube for the iPhone/iPad. The software acts much like the Mac version which I like very much Unfortunately the iRig adapter won't ship for another two weeks or so. Can't wait! Thanks again for the detailed review.


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