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Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:03 pm
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Loren Howard - Fender wrote:
Currently the only thing you can't do directly from the amp without Fender FUSE is upload your Presets to the Community. You can download Presets or Band Tracks and copy them to either the amp's memory or to an SD card with no problem.

Loren


Loren:

Not to hijack the thread but I was curious. How much internal memory is there on the G-Dec 3 and can it be modified? Not that I am going to change it, my SD card will probably never get full, but I am just curious.


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Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:09 pm
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There is about 256MB of internal memory on the G-DEC 3. It is in the form of a flash chip that cannot be modified. The internal memory ships full of Band Tracks so unless you want to erase some of the included audio, I'd definitely get an SD card. Actually, I would get an SD card anyway. Decent quality audio can fill up 256MB pretty quickly.

Loren


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Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:21 pm
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Loren Howard - Fender wrote:
There is about 256MB of internal memory on the G-DEC 3. It is in the form of a flash chip that cannot be modified. The internal memory ships full of Band Tracks so unless you want to erase some of the included audio, I'd definitely get an SD card. Actually, I would get an SD card anyway. Decent quality audio can fill up 256MB pretty quickly.

Loren


Loren:

Thanks. I was just curious. I have been using a 16 Gig card with no problems. I know it is bigger than the recommended 8 Gig max but I have it backed up to my Mac just in case there are any problems. So far so good!


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:02 am
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bclarke675 wrote:
This is the biggie no one will tell you until you get the Spider Jam. You have to convert regular mp3s into MONO 16-bit 44KHz files (not standard) for the Spider Jam to recognize them on the SD card, and that's ONLY after you format them (sometimes several times) on the Spider Jam.

PLUS, you have to upgrade to current firmware BEFORE any of this will work!


I did read that somewhere. I haven't converted any mp3s to mono, do you loose a good bit of sound quality? If so, I guess I could live with that. If it sounds bad, I can always play my stereo mp3s on my computer or home stereo.


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:10 am
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Loren Howard - Fender wrote:
Currently the only thing you can't do directly from the amp without Fender FUSE is upload your Presets to the Community. You can download Presets or Band Tracks and copy them to either the amp's memory or to an SD card with no problem.

Loren


That's good to know, it's a plus, and it will definitely be factored into my final decision. However, I love to tweak things on my computer. I like the visual interaction with the interface and the pedals, etc.


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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:35 am
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truebluefliplover wrote:
bluesdelux wrote:
Thanks! I haven't ruled it out just yet. I was just wondering, if I did go with the G DEC, would there be anything I couldn't do without having Fuse, such as adding new presets and backing tracks from the web site? Could I download them to my SD card from my computer and load them into the GDEC that way?


You most certainly can just download the presets and backing tracks on your computer. Then just insert you SD card into your reader and drag and drop. Any band tracks that you have downloaded that are in MP3 or wave format will go into the "Audio" folder. Any Midi files will go into the "Midi" folder and any .fuse preset files will go into the "Presets" Folder. Also, there is a new firmware file that you can download (version 1.03). Just stick this into the root directory of the SD card. The next time you turn the G-Dec 3 on with the card already inserted, it will ask you if you want to update the amplifier.

Is I see it, the Fuse software is just a very nice visual interface for controlling the G-Dec 3. I spend most of my time just using the amplifier without Fuse.

Take your time and try out all of the amplifiers Guitar Denter has until you find the one that meets your needs. Oh, and it is common, after buying gear to end up with buyers remorse. You know, you buy the new stratocaster you have been drolling over and then everywhere you look you see some awesome Les Pauls and you think Man I should have bought an LP or visa versa. I have been there. Now I just enjoy what I have to it's fullest. It;s more fun that way :D



Thanks for the information. It was very helpful in bringing back to reconsidering the G DEC. I briefly tried the Spider Jam over the weekend. Wasn't too impressed with the tones until I started tweaking them. The backing tracks sounded great though and fit my style of music. The 12 inch speaker really beefed things up in comparison to the GDEC's 10. I planned on really testing it out for a few hours, but didn't get very far until I got kicked off from playing it since someone was wanting to buy it and it was the only one left at Guitar Center. Argh! Anyway, that's my thoughts so far and plan on testing it more when more arrive at GC. They're lucky I'm willing to come back after that BS they pulled. I might just test it there and buy elsewhere.


I hear ya about buyers remorse! The only way to be immune from it is for me to buy both the GDEC and Spider Jam (if I had the $$$). Having fun and enjoying music is great advice and I've been taking that attitude for the last few years. You can drive yourself nuts striving to play like Via, Satch, SRV and EVH. Got to keep it in perspective.


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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:46 am
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A simple statement somewhere VISIBLE - on the web, in a manual, or on the DVD that comes with the G-Dec - stating the minimum operating requirements for FUSE on PC and Mac, would have helped me avoid the frustration of finding out for myself that my Power PC Mac is incompatible.

I'm sounding like a bent record, but BOSS seems to have been able to make the eBand work with early OS X versions, so why not Fender? I'm losing faith.


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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:24 am
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I agree. However, I asked this question a while back in another post. I've copied and pasted my question and Fender's answer:

Q: What are the Mac and PC system requirements for the Fender Fuse and Amplitube software? I didn't see any listed.

A: Fender Fuse is not an incredibly cpu taxing piece of software. Pretty much any system with USB 1.1 and XP SP3 will run it quite nicely. On the Mac side, I believe Mac OS X 10.3 or later will work fine. Stay tuned for updated info on that, though.

Q: Regarding the system requirements, I have a relatively old Mac Titanium running on an 800 mhz PowerPC G4 processor, OS 10.4, is this sufficient?

A: Your Mac will be fine. As I said before, it's not a very taxing program at all.


Here's the post link:

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... highlight=

Not sure whether Loren knew about the Power PC issue at that point or not.

Anyway, it's funny you mentioned Boss' eBand. I've been checking it out all week. Seems like it's the way to go for me. The software, so far installs and opens on my Mac Titanium. I don't have the eBand so it doesn't recognize it, but at least it installs and I can open it. I didn't get that far with Fuse. However, Boss' software is for importing and exporting songs/CDs to the eband and not for manipulating amp and effects parameters. So it's different in that regard.

In case anyone is wondering what the differences are with GDEC and eBand: eBand has 300 backing tracks (additional backing tracks can be downloaded from Boss' site), a 40 second looper, you can record and save your performance to an Sd card until you're out of memory, it has a port for a USB thumb drive as well, 40 plus amps and loads of effects. It just doesn't come in an amp configuration. It's more of an effects processor with small speakers and looks like a clock radio. You can however, connect it to an amp, PA or monitors. So, the amp component it's missing is easily solved. I have a Fender Blues Deluxe that is absolutely amazing. With the eBand connected to it, I would think both would sound even better.

Cheers!


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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:38 am
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Again, we planned to support as many versions of OS X as possible. As we got closer to launch, we realized that we had to restrict support somewhere. I apologize again for not keeping you guys updated on what was going on. Here's a system requirements article from the knowledge base.
http://fender.com/support/gdec3/article.php?kb_id=52


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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:27 am
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Loren Howard - Fender wrote:
Again, we planned to support as many versions of OS X as possible. As we got closer to launch, we realized that we had to restrict support somewhere...


Sounds like either the egg-heads at Fender made a BIG mistake, or the accountants got in on the act...

Anyway - I've moaned enough about technical issues, now I'll be positive - because I'm sure a lot of people are trying to decide whether to buy the G based on these discussions....

FWIW, my end-of-week conclusion is that G-Dec/FUSE is probably still the best solution for anyone that wants an all-in-one amp/practice station. eBand has a lot of positives, but only if you like BOSS sound and don't mind interacting with an alarm clock (to which it's been likened)... personally I don't like either, I like the G-Dec sound and I like having an amp in front of me when I play... and FUSE is a great visual tool for a Luddite like me who doesn't like hidden menus.

Credit to Fender for a great product and great support via these Forums.

PS. Eating my words... the above was posted before my headphone jack packed in - after just 2 weeks. Common problem apparently. I'll leave it to you to decide how cheesed off I am!


Last edited by VerySlowHand on Fri Jun 25, 2010 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:29 am
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Whoops... technical error on my part... how very ironic. :oops: :lol:


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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:48 am
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Loren Howard - Fender wrote:
Again, we planned to support as many versions of OS X as possible. As we got closer to launch, we realized that we had to restrict support somewhere. I apologize again for not keeping you guys updated on what was going on. Here's a system requirements article from the knowledge base.
http://fender.com/support/gdec3/article.php?kb_id=52


I appreciate it! I like the G-DEC ALOT! If I had the cash, I wouldn't hesitate in buying it and a new laptop to run Fuse, Amplitube and Ableton. I'm sure the GDEC is doing well and will continue to do so. The verdict is still out for me though. After I test run all my options, who knows, I might end up with a GDEC regardless of the incompatibility issues for me right now.


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