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Post subject: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:19 pm
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My Mustang I was delivered yesterday afternoon, though I didn't have a chance to fire it up until later in the evening.

Tell you what...if all it did was what it came from the factory with, I would have packaged that thing back up last night and had it on it's way back to the retailer today!!

Well, the Fender models sounded pretty decent right out of the box, but NONE of the higher gain models did. It took a fair amount of tweaking in FUSE, but by the time I went to bed I had dialed in some pretty nice tones for all the models, except the Vox, Champ and Tweed, which are the models I'll use the least and didn't spend any time trying to tweak them last night.

I was surprised by how much the Sag affected the tone. I have two tube amps currently, and have owned a few others over the years, but still really only had a cereberal understanding of how sag affects the amp...I always thought it had as much or more to do with the "feel" of the amp than the tone. Anyway, I found I really needed less sag on the really high gain amps to get the kinds of tones I like.

The speaker sounds decent, though I did hook the amp up to a couple other speaker cabs I have this afternoon...one with a Weber 12F150 (basically a clone of the Jensen that came in the 65 Deluxe Reverb), which sounded very impressive, the other with a Warehouse ET-65 (clone of a Celestion Heritage G12-65), which was better than the stock speaker, but not as good as the Weber. I've got a cab with Celestion G12M greenbacks in it, too, but it was a little harder to get to, so I didn't try that one yet. Anyway, I'm thinking one of the 8" Webers may be in the amp's future.

Unfortunately, the foot switch is on back order, so I can't try that out yet. But otherwise, with a fair bit of tweaking, there are some great tones to be had out of these little amps...I think it's a keeper!! :D


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:20 pm
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Good job, Keep up the fire.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:24 pm
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Location: Shenandoah Mtns, Virginia
Congrats! I hope it works out for you. Could I ask what guitar/guitars you play? Thanks.. Have fun.
Regards,Michael


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:42 pm
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Sure. I just recently got a G&L Legacy (Leo's final version of the Strat...will Fender kick me off the forum for saying that??!! :mrgreen: ). It's actually a Legacy HB, with a JB humbucker in the bridge and then Alnico V single coils in the middle and neck. That's the guitar I've used with it so far.

Then I've got two other electrics that I need to try with the amp yet. Another G&L Legacy in an SSS configuration with a Dimarzio Area 61 in the bridge and Area 58s in the middle and neck, and then a Gibson Les Paul Studio with Dimarzio Virtual PAFs in it.

What about you?

BTW, I live just down the road from you in Harrisonburg!!


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:31 am
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COOL!!!! Man, I love those G&L gits. I've had my eye on the Bluesboy. Nice!!!
I have 2 Squier Strats. One is a Standard HSS modded w/Fralin Blues Specials and a SD Pearly Gates+ HB. The other is a Classic Vibe 50's. I also have two Hollowbody Archtops. Epiphone ES-175 modded w/US electronics, and a Dean Palomino w/3 P-90's. Can't wait to get my Mustang II. Just waiting to get paid and I'll be off to GC!! Thanks Friend!
Yea, were practically neighbors! :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:20 am
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So you like the Fralins? I've always wondered about them. I've heard good things about the Pearly Gates...sounds like a cool Strat. And I played one of those 50s Vibes in a store last year and was pretty impressed with them.

What kind of music do you play on the archtops? I've always thought it would cool to have one, I remember trying out an Epi Dot a number of years ago, but I guess there were always other things I wanted more!

And the Bluesboys are nice guitars. I don't have a tele-style guitar either, but have often thought a G&L Tribute Bluesboy would be fun to have, too!! So many guitars and so little money!!

Enjoy the Mustang...here's to getting paid sooner rather than later!!


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:44 am
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A lot of the higher gain models do take some tweaking. The key for me was the volume and guitar volume. You need to keep them low to begin with and dial in distortion/tone with the guitar volume. A lot of people are used to just leaving their guitars sitting at full volume, full tone which they shouldn't.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:26 am
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I rarely use either the volume or tone knobs on my guitars. I've owned a number of amps over the years, a few solid state, but mostly tube amps. I've always been able to get great tones with my guitar volume and tone knobs at max, just tweaking the amp's controls to get the tone I want. Occasionally I'll roll back volume or tone for a specific effect, but not often.

Since the Mustang is supposed to mimic great tube amps from the past, it should work the same way. And I'm happy to report that with enough tweaking (in FUSE) it does!

BTW, I'm not sure what your rationale is for saying that people shouldn't leave their guitar controls at max. I'd say it's personal preference....do whatever works for you. The latest issue of Guitar Player magazine has an interview with Eric Johnson, and he states that with a couple specific exceptions, he leaves his guitar controls maxed...and this coming from a man who is well known for his tonal eccentricities.

But it's all good, do whatever works for you!! :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:01 am
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Muleya wrote:
So you like the Fralins? I've always wondered about them. I've heard good things about the Pearly Gates...sounds like a cool Strat. And I played one of those 50s Vibes in a store last year and was pretty impressed with them.

What kind of music do you play on the archtops? I've always thought it would cool to have one, I remember trying out an Epi Dot a number of years ago, but I guess there were always other things I wanted more!

And the Bluesboys are nice guitars. I don't have a tele-style guitar either, but have often thought a G&L Tribute Bluesboy would be fun to have, too!! So many guitars and so little money!!

Enjoy the Mustang...here's to getting paid sooner rather than later!!

Thanks...The Fralins are awesome..I play Blues on the Archtops.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:02 am
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SOLID!


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 12:45 pm
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Muleya wrote:
BTW, I'm not sure what your rationale is for saying that people shouldn't leave their guitar controls at max. I'd say it's personal preference....do whatever works for you.


What I am saying is that the Mustang amps are VERY sensitive to the guitar volume knob. Leaving it at full volume will give you full on distortion with some amp sims and may be completely muddy. You can remedy that a bit by FUSE, but not nearly as much as using the guitar volume itself. You will just have to experiment and you will see how much guitar volume and the volume knobs on the Mustang series effect the over all clarity of distortion you get from these amps.

On all my other modelling amps, and tonelab ST I was absolutely fine with my guitar volume knob at full all the time. The Mustang is... different. You can dial in a gritty blues tone to full on doom metal sound with just the volume knob on your guitar on certain presets. You will see a LOT of messages on here and other boards wondering why the Mustangs high gain amps are so muddy and crappy, it's because people need to realise that the guitar volume *and* the amp simulator volume (Not the Master Volume) are very very very touchy. And while this might look like a pain, it provides every single metal tone you can possibly think of as a result!

The easiest way I can explain this is: Pick a high gain amp. Set your guitar volume to 5, set your Volume knob to 4, strum a few times and set your master volume. Now start slowly rolling your guitars volume from 5 through 10 and sturmming. You will see/hear what I am saying.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang I in the house
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2011 3:02 pm
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Pippers wrote:
Muleya wrote:
BTW, I'm not sure what your rationale is for saying that people shouldn't leave their guitar controls at max. I'd say it's personal preference....do whatever works for you.


What I am saying is that the Mustang amps are VERY sensitive to the guitar volume knob. Leaving it at full volume will give you full on distortion with some amp sims and may be completely muddy. You can remedy that a bit by FUSE, but not nearly as much as using the guitar volume itself. You will just have to experiment and you will see how much guitar volume and the volume knobs on the Mustang series effect the over all clarity of distortion you get from these amps.

On all my other modelling amps, and tonelab ST I was absolutely fine with my guitar volume knob at full all the time. The Mustang is... different. You can dial in a gritty blues tone to full on doom metal sound with just the volume knob on your guitar on certain presets. You will see a LOT of messages on here and other boards wondering why the Mustangs high gain amps are so muddy and crappy, it's because people need to realise that the guitar volume *and* the amp simulator volume (Not the Master Volume) are very very very touchy. And while this might look like a pain, it provides every single metal tone you can possibly think of as a result!

The easiest way I can explain this is: Pick a high gain amp. Set your guitar volume to 5, set your Volume knob to 4, strum a few times and set your master volume. Now start slowly rolling your guitars volume from 5 through 10 and sturmming. You will see/hear what I am saying.


Fair enough...I'll check into it.


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