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Post subject: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 3:27 pm
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I use an mp3 (Walkman and Lossless player) plugged into my mustang 3 v2 to play along/practice with songs. I understand that the "best" way to go if I want to hear my guitar sound accurately is to use monitor headphone with a flat frequency response, but If I 'm playing along to music would this will also be flat and "lifeless"? So my dilemma is do I get regular headphones and get a brighter enhanced sound from the music but a less accurate guitar sound or monitor headphones and get a flat response all around which might make playing along with the songs less enjoyable. Is there a headphone that is the best of both worlds? Finally, I'm not a pro or a gigging guitarist and I do realize that it's matter of personal taste but I would still like to hear some suggestions.


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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:19 am
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Let your ears guide you! Go with whichever brand and model of headphones you find sound good with your Walkman and suit your budget.

The Mustang's Aux In to Headphone out signal chain does not degrade the sound of your playback tracks.

I use Sony MDR-V6 Headsets with my Mustangs and with far higher priced gear. The Sony MDR-V6 (and the nearly identical slightly higher priced MDR-7506) have been reknown in the Recording, Broadcast, TV and Film Industries for decades. Both of these are reasonably priced. I bought my last pair of MDR-V6 last year when they were on sale from Amazon for about $50. They are typically available for under $100.

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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:16 am
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I have Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones and, while they are great for listening to pre-recorded music I am not that impressed with them when used to monitor my Mustang III V2 . The sound in the headphones does not sound as good as tht coming from the speaker.


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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:16 pm
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Keep in mind that the headphone amp in the Mustangs is quite low-powered and cannot drive many of the bigger cans. Not only can volume be a problem, but you get distortion because the amp can't control the elements.

Go with a pair of headphones that are easily driven, like ones that can be used with phones without a headphone amp. Open or semi-open ones may give you the best quality in the low-ohm segment.


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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:12 pm
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The Mustang uses a different version of the selected cab sim for when the signal is routed to the 12" Celestion speaker in the MIII v.2 cabinet than when the guiar is routed to the headphone jack! Thus the guitar can sound very different as soon as you connect a pair of earbuds, IEMs or headphones.

It can be very interesting to hear the difference by changing the Advanced Amp (Press Amp 2x Button) Cab Sim for a preset. You can even create and save two presets. One using a different cab sim selection, and intended solely for use with headphones.

Also bare in mind that the Looper Mode Menu (Press Menu button 8x) when changed to Looper Mode (Normal is the default) will move the FX Loop to after the cab sims are applied. This different signal insertion point can be interesting to hear if you connect your guitar via a pedal (or directly in) to the MIII's FX Return. Also see Mustang Support webiste document PDF block diagram regarding the Looper FX block positions.

Sensitivity (dB/mW) is an indication of how loud earbuds, IEMs, or headphones will be when connected to a given source. Their impedence value can also dramatically affect how they sound with any particular heaphone amp source. In my experience low (~30 Ohm) to medium (~60 Ohm) impedance earbuds, IEMs, and headphones work well with the Mustangs.

Use what sounds good to your ears and suits your budget.

The Mustang III v.2 Aux In to Headphones Out does not noticably affect, degrade, nor color your MP3 or other source playback. The Celestion Spkr however, will cause any AuxIn audio to be dramatically attenuated starting at above 4kHz. If your playback AuxIn conent is guitar it will sound normal through the Celestion 12". On the other hand, if the prerecorded material is full range it will sound --- well, you know --- very limited and box like.

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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:22 pm
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If you are considering IEMs, you should absolutely check out Fender's new line of IEMs! I had the chance to demo them at NAMM and they do sound very good! I did not connect them to a Mustang III.

My Post from another thread here on the Forums:
Quote:
Also had a good long talk with the designer and owner of the company that Fender bought out who designed Fender's IEMs. These are really nice! They cover a broad range of sound profiles and price spectrum. There are two hybrid units, one with a slightly boosted upper mids for those who prefer that sound characteristic, or who's hearing may have degraded a bit and need the extra clarity around 3.5kHz to 4k. The top of the line unit was my absolute favorite! Even in a subsequent random listening test. They are magnificently flat, reference grade IEMs, with 6 transducers, and an absolute joy to listen through. None had unnaturally boosted bottom end response, yet could accurately reproduce very prominent lower end frequencies if contained in the source. Not every model in the line had the same sensitivity nor impendence.

I currently have Shure SE530s and like them very much. Should they fail, I would seriously consider the Fender IEMs.

The ear tips are also comfortable and provide very good audio isolation. They are quick and easy to insert and are not of the foam type. Thus if you need to pop them out to have a conversation they are fast to reinsert. They do form to you ear canal in a couple of minutes. The ear tips come in three sizes, one of which (I believe, the small) are also offered with an additional nipple tip.

The units are also offered in a variety of colors.

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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 6:43 am
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MusicLaw wrote:
The Mustang uses a different version of the selected cab sim for when the signal is routed to the 12" Celestion speaker in the MIII v.2 cabinet than when the guiar is routed to the headphone jack! Thus the guitar can sound very different as soon as you connect a pair of earbuds, IEMs or headphones.

It can be very interesting to hear the difference by changing the Advanced Amp (Press Amp 2x Button) Cab Sim for a preset. You can even create and save two presets. One using a different cab sim selection, and intended solely for use with headphones.

Also bare in mind that the Looper Mode Menu (Press Menu button 8x) when changed to Looper Mode (Normal is the default) will move the FX Loop to after the cab sims are applied. This different signal insertion point can be interesting to hear if you connect your guitar via a pedal (or directly in) to the MIII's FX Return. Also see Mustang Support webiste document PDF block diagram regarding the Looper FX block positions.

Sensitivity (dB/mW) is an indication of how loud earbuds, IEMs, or headphones will be when connected to a given source. Their impedence value can also dramatically affect how they sound with any particular heaphone amp source. In my experience low (~30 Ohm) to medium (~60 Ohm) impedance earbuds, IEMs, and headphones work well with the Mustangs.

Use what sounds good to your ears and suits your budget.

The Mustang III v.2 Aux In to Headphones Out does not noticably affect, degrade, nor color your MP3 or other source playback. The Celestion Spkr however, will cause any AuxIn audio to be dramatically attenuated starting at above 4kHz. If your playback AuxIn conent is guitar it will sound normal through the Celestion 12". On the other hand, if the prerecorded material is full range it will sound --- well, you know --- very limited and box like.


Thanks for this information.


Last edited by pcollenyt on Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 7:23 am
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pcollenyt wrote:
I have Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones and, while they are great for listening to pre-recorded music I am not that impressed with them when used to monitor my Mustang III V2 . The sound in the headphones does not sound as good as tht coming from the speaker.

You are comparing apples and oranges: A single 12" Celestion speaker that is optimized for guitar vs. stereo headphones which are designed to sound best when listing to music. They will never sound the same, no matter what brand of headphones.

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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:19 am
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strings10927 wrote:
pcollenyt wrote:
I have Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones and, while they are great for listening to pre-recorded music I am not that impressed with them when used to monitor my Mustang III V2 . The sound in the headphones does not sound as good as tht coming from the speaker.

You are comparing apples and oranges: A single 12" Celestion speaker that is optimized for guitar vs. stereo headphones which are designed to sound best when listing to music. They will never sound the same, no matter what brand of headphones.


Yes, I guess I am. But it proves that you can't set up your models, or try to match tones you hear on pre-recorded music, using headphones. It will NEVER sound the same when played though the amps speaker. So, for me, headphones are useless..might just as well turn the amp down to a whisper. It won't make it sound any worse.


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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 8:33 am
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agreed. IMO, the only good use for headphones with a Mustang amp is bedroom jamming that won't wake the sleeping family.

One thought about that ... since you have 99 available slots for presets. Create a separate set of presets that are optimized for headphones so if you do want to have a little quiet jam session, it won't sound as funny.

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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:52 am
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This all makes sense. So I'm wondering would the sound be more "accurate" and in stereo if coming out of two speakers like the mustang 4?


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Post subject: Re: Headphone dilemma
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 12:13 pm
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Godfather_777 wrote:
This all makes sense. So I'm wondering would the sound be more "accurate" and in stereo if coming out of two speakers like the mustang 4?
What you will hear from the Celestion 12" Speakers will be significantly attenuated above 4kHz due to the nature of the way those speakers reproduce sound. They are not Full Range nor Flat Response (FRFR) Monitor speakers. They are designed to reproduce Electric Guitars. Thus, for an Electric Guitar, they sound quite good and accurate given the electronics deck of the Mustang. The Mustang's Speaker Cab Simulations (in Advanced Amp: Press Amp Button 2x) will also affect the resultant response of the Speaker(s) in the Mustang's cab.

Any material you patch in via the AuxIn, is not otherwise significantly affected by the Mustang's electronic's. However, if you allow that AuxIn signal to play through the Mustangs' Speakers, it will ve subjected to the same dramatic frequency attenuation above 4kHz -- due to the speaker itself. Plug in a pair of earbuds, IEMs, or headphones and that AuxIn signal will sound just about the same as if you connected your earbuds, IEMs, or headphones directly to the playback device (ipod, mp3 player, computer sound card, etc.)

When using any sort of headphones, IEMs, buds, with the Mustang, it will not replicate the sound of your guitar connected to the amp. The best you can do is adjust the Preset as best as you can and this may perhaps involve changing the Cab Sim for headset use.

The Stereo features of the Mustang III/IV/V are for the Ambient Effects (Delay, Reverb) that are offered in Stereo. These remain stereo as the signal is routed to the MIV's and MV's speakers. In the MIII the Stereo FXs can be accessed via the L&R XLR Line Outs.

In addition, any stereo AuxIn material remains as a Stereo signal passing through the Mustang III/IV/V's electronics deck. In the Mustang III, the signal is summed to Mono before being routed to the Speaker's Power Amp. In the Mustang IV and V it remains Stereo when fed to the speakers' Power Amps.

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