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Post subject: ORDERED A NEW MUSTANG V (HEAD) TODAY - INITIAL OBSERVATIONS
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:37 pm
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Greetings Folks,

I'm primarily a tube amp guy, but Ive been toying around with the idea of getting one of these Mustangs now for some weeks, just to mess around with, for line level recording, etc. However, I'm knee-deep in 12" cabinets of various kinds, so I didn't want or need another combo. I also wanted to take advantage of the serial FX Loop and stereo capabilities of the latter models in the Mustang series (III/IV/V), so I waited and bought the head version (Mustang V). Should be here in a day or two. We'll see!

At a mondo 150w (75w/side stereo), its WAY more power than I'll ever need or want and you can't use an attenuator to tame a solid-state amp like this one, so it's going to be rather interesting. I've got a couple of 300w EVM-12L's sitting here, so speakers are no real problem, but my glass window panes are! Thus, managing its volume in a home/studio setting could get interesting.

Early observations/issues:

1) I don't care for the fact that Fender has made no photos available of the rear panel connections for this head. You can't find them anywhere and it makes it awfully tough to research the various features (i.e., Send/Rtn jacks, headphone jack, etc.).

2) The official Owner's Manuals are bit weak (IMHO). They're generic (i.e., they apply to all five Mustang models), and could be a lot better in terms of scope;

and perhaps most importantly . . .

3) The single headphone jack (which shunts the signal from the pre-amp stage to the power stage and effectively doubles as a stereo Line Out for use to headphones or potentially a mixing board), is an 1/8" (not 1/4") jack, which is LAME in itself! Moreover, its apparently situated off the rear panel (not the top control panel), which means that its at a right angle to the chassis. Thus, if that little hummer ever gets bumped or disconnected, and you're at full (or near full) volume, you're going to get 150-watts of streaming digital 'love' to your cab(s), post haste! So-sorry Fender, but that's a bit un-nerving.

I'm just sayin' . . . .

EDITED: Statement #3 above that the headphone jack appeared to be located off the rear panel is/was incorrect. I have since received this Mustang-V head and the headphone jack is located directly on top of the head (where it belongs) with the other controls. Schwing!

Also, concerns about whether this stereo head required a speaker load of some kind to be safely operated have been resolved in this member's opinion. The Mustang-V can safely be used with one, two or no speakers attached, regardless of their impedance, and regardless of whether the headphone jack is in use. There are simply no loading issues with this purely solid-state amp.

Lastly, for those interested in recording with the Mustang-V via a mixing board or PC/Mac, it would be my recommendation (as suggested by others elsewhere) that you use one (mono) or both (stereo) FX Send jacks rather than the headphone jack to make your connection (which will be far more solid and secure), and then use the headphone jack on the Mustang itself or on your mixer-P/Mac for monitoring.


Enjoy!


Last edited by Sockeye on Thu Jan 27, 2011 8:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: ORDERED A NEW MUSTANG V (HEAD) TODAY - INITIAL OBSERVATI
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:01 pm
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Attenuator isn't much of a problem, as these Amps can sound over-driven at low volumes anyhow..you'll see. Here's a cpl pics of a MIII back somebody posted here on the forum or sent to me.. I forget.
1. http://alinux.tv/fender/MIII/x2_4341ee1.jpg
2. http://alinux.tv/fender/MIII/x2_4341f31.jpg

I agree the 1/8 should be 1/4 but to save space or to use tiny computer headphones..well u know. Hey when you get the V Head ..can you take some pics of the back/front too? .. I know the backs shown in the PDF manual but I like checking out real images as well...and there is hardly nothing available yet. Thanks!

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J. Hendrix / S.R.V. / E. Clapton / R. Hansen / F. Marino / B.B. King (now that's a neat six-pack) :)
Eminence The Wizard vs Stock Mustang II Speaker Shootout http://arttux.com/Fender-Mustang-II-Eminence-Wizard-Speaker-Swap/


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Post subject: Re: ORDERED A NEW MUSTANG V (HEAD) TODAY - INITIAL OBSERVATI
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:18 pm
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aLinux wrote:
Attenuator isn't much of a problem, as these Amps can sound over-driven at low volumes anyhow..you'll see.

I agree the 1/8 should be 1/4 but to save space or to use tiny computer headphones..well u know. Hey when you get the V Head ..can you take some pics of the back/front too? .. I know the backs shown in the PDF manual but I like checking out real images as well...and there is hardly nothing available yet. Thanks!


aLinux . . .

Thanks for the photos and that's great news about the volume issue! I'll hope you're right on that score because I'm honestly on-edge about the power rating, and actually, the two owner's manuals that I have for the Mustang series I-V (Quick Start & Advanced) do NOT have any photos or depictions of the rear panel on a Mustang V. They simply show a drawing or illustration of the FX Send/Rtn jacks, etc., but the headphone jack and its specific location are unclear. NOTE: I'll be happy to relay copies of those two docs to anyone interested - just send me request via PM.

Also, per your request, I'll be more than happy to take a photo or two of my Mustang V and post them here, once I receive it. No worries. I'll make a paper note to myself here, but don't be afraid to remind me by posting to this thread if you don't see it by Sunday (1/23).


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Post subject: Re: ORDERED A NEW MUSTANG V (HEAD) TODAY - INITIAL OBSERVATI
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 8:35 pm
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Also, for those interested in the layout of the various controls and jacks on the Mustang-V head, I won't bother to post a photo here as promised earlier (unless specifically requested), since all such controls and jacks are fully depicted in the new Advanced Owners Manual for the Mustang-V available at the following link . . .

support.fender.com/manuals/guitar.../Mustang_1-5_Advanced_English.pdf

Cheers!


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Post subject: Re: ORDERED A NEW MUSTANG V (HEAD) TODAY - INITIAL OBSERVATI
Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 10:51 pm
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Hey, so what's ur initial observation(s) of the V head. Have you hooked it up to 2 of the 12" cabs and strummed in lush stereo yet. How it compare to the tube amps .. If you need more time..no problem ...just curious. And Cheers on that new baby!!

_________________
J. Hendrix / S.R.V. / E. Clapton / R. Hansen / F. Marino / B.B. King (now that's a neat six-pack) :)
Eminence The Wizard vs Stock Mustang II Speaker Shootout http://arttux.com/Fender-Mustang-II-Eminence-Wizard-Speaker-Swap/


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Post subject: Re: ORDERED A NEW MUSTANG V (HEAD) TODAY - INITIAL OBSERVATI
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:28 pm
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aLinux wrote:
Hey, so what's ur initial observation(s) of the V head. Have you hooked it up to 2 of the 12" cabs and strummed in lush stereo yet. How it compare to the tube amps .. If you need more time..no problem ...just curious. And Cheers on that new baby!!


Sorry for being so late in responding. I tried to post last evening but the forum was down for maintenance.

Anyway, yes, it is still a bit early for me to give a decent (thorough) review of my new Mustang-V, but I've plugged her into a pair of well-seasoned 8-ohm EVM-12Ls and sampled most everything it has to offer in the way of presets (N=100) at this point (including stereo resources) and its pretty danged tight! I own a number of vintage and current production tube amps, and I'd say the Stang-V is very much on par with some of the better tube amps out there. I've also got it connected (via the stereo Send jacks) to a Mackie Onyx 1620 mixer that reports to a pair of hefty JBL MPro-415 PA speakers, and even at volume, I don't hear any of the fizziness or other artifacts that a limited number of people have reported. In fact, its about as good as it gets for $300. I'm dying to get into some deep editing including the various on-board FX, so I'll probably do a more thorough review later, but for anyone with an extension cabinet or two laying around, I can't see why they wouldn't opt for this head straight-away over the Mustang III/IV at roughly the same price point. Its a 'no brainer' for me. And I was almost scared-off initially by the mondo power rating (150w), but that's essentially meaningless since its (solid-state based) Master Volume works better than any tube amp could ever hope for. Definitely a keeper for the money.

The other thing I should probably add is that I've briefly tested the Mustang-V with an array of different electric (no acoustic) guitars including '56 RI Strat, '62 RI Strat, R9 Les Paul, Gretsch 6120, Baja Tele, custom Anderson drop-top, and several others, and it performs just about 'as expected' with each of them (i.e., the clean presets take the Strat's single-coils better than the HB's of the R9, and the heavier/distorted presets sound best with Humbuckers), so that too is a welcome surprise.


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Post subject: Re: ORDERED A NEW MUSTANG V (HEAD) TODAY - INITIAL OBSERVATI
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 12:54 pm
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Thanks Sockeye!!! sounds awesome and nice gear btw ..good to hear Mustang rivaling up there w/ the best - so far!!!!!

_________________
J. Hendrix / S.R.V. / E. Clapton / R. Hansen / F. Marino / B.B. King (now that's a neat six-pack) :)
Eminence The Wizard vs Stock Mustang II Speaker Shootout http://arttux.com/Fender-Mustang-II-Eminence-Wizard-Speaker-Swap/


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