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Post subject: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:20 am
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There are countless posts in this forum where guys say the Mustang is not a "real" amp. That is simply not true. All modeling amps, Mustang included, are attempting to emulate the sounds of countless tube amps. That is a difficult goal. There are going to be the need for firmware updates as guys discover flaws in the sound. But that does not negate the Mustang from being a "real amp." Fender is doing it's best to correct all flaws as quickly as possible. In the meantime, instead of rushing to return your amp chill out or buy a second amp. All guitar players I know have at least two amps. Never depend on just one.


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:28 am
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tornadoclaw wrote:
There are countless posts in this forum where guys say the Mustang is not a "real" amp. That is simply not true. All modeling amps, Mustang included, are attempting to emulate the sounds of countless tube amps. That is a difficult goal. There are going to be the need for firmware updates as guys discover flaws in the sound. But that does not negate the Mustang from being a "real amp." Fender is doing it's best to correct all flaws as quickly as possible. In the meantime, instead of rushing to return your amp chill out or buy a second amp. All guitar players I know have at least two amps. Never depend on just one.


"Countless posts", yes that's true


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:33 am
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These amps speak for themselves, they don't need to be defended.


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:15 am
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True, the amps do speak for themselves. I love my Mustang IV and from the many posts I have read, it takes a while for a lot of people to tweak the presets to their liking. As someone else mentioned in another post, this is no different than a tube amp. You just can't expect to open up the box, plug in and get the most awesome tones out of any amp. It takes time to learn the nuances of the amp and how your guitar reacts with it.

That being said, I do believe a lot of the gripes on the forum are related to fuse and trying to get the amp connected to a pc. This is a whole different animal and something that I am sure is very difficult for Fender to control. Every pc is different and who knows what is loaded and/or broken on any given pc. This puts Fender in a difficult position since it introduces a whole new support role for them. Granted, Fuse is part of the total package and is marketed as a differentiating factor for the Mustang so it needs to work.

Anyway, enough rambling. The Mustang on its own is an awesome modeling amp - best I have ever used. Fortunately, the Fuse software has also worked flawlessly for me. Maybe I'm lucky, but I am having a great time with my Mustang.

Rock on!


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:26 pm
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I've been playing guitar since 1963, but didn't get my first Fender amp until I bought a used '64 Super Reverb in 1982. Since then I've bought a lot of Fender amps and I've kept almost all of them - sold the '64 in 2005 on eBay for $2,408 - worth too much to gig with, but didn't play it enough to keep it. Anyway...

Since early 2008 I have bought multiple Fender G-DEC 30s and two Fender G-DEC 3 Thirty's, my first two amps that plugged into my computers. Both have taken a fair amount of time to master as far as their computer interfacing goes. When the Mustang I and II came out, I bought a Mustang II the first day I saw it and I love it. Last month I bought a Mustang V head and 4-12 cabinet.

Now I didn't have the best of luck right away with the Fuse software - the first two discs that came with my 3 Thirty amps were both faulty, but Loren at Fender got me squared away ASAP and I've been doing fine since. I think people in general tend to want to jump right in, load the software and expect miracles at the click of a mouse. Computers vary as much as the people who use them and more than a few people aren't all that techno-savy in the first place.

Everything takes time to learn, especially amps as complicated as the Mustang series. Yes, I think they are complicated, but they are sure fun once you get the hang of all the aspects of them. Everything takes time and patience. I've got modeling amps from Peavey, Vox, Behringer and Fender and I like them all. But I love the Fenders. I'll never part with them, just keep reworking all those presets.

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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 8:05 pm
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First of I'll say that I plan to keep my Mustang I that I just got earlier this week. But secondly I'll say that it took a fair amount of tweaking to get great tones out of it. I've been playing electric guitar for about 15 years (acoustic another 15 before that), and that experience really helped me dial in the tones. If I was a newbie to guitar amps, I'm not sure how much success I'd have...but then I might not be so picky, so maybe it wouldn't matter!! :mrgreen:

As for a tube amp that you can pull out of the box and plug into and it sounds great...well, that was true of my Marshall JVM! Pretty hard to get a bad tone out of that thing...just set all controls at noon, and make adjustments as needed! But yeah, that's certainly not true of all, or even most, amps!


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:18 pm
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I'm a brand new player and it suits my needs just fine. I could be wrong, but aren't the Mustang 1 and 2 marketed as practice amps for using at home? It just seems silly to me to to spend very little money on something like a Mustang 1/2 and then come running here to complain.

If you wanted a sure thing, why not just go with a sure thing ?


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:12 pm
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I agree, the Mustang is a innovative creation in it's own right. It is composed of matter and therefore exists as an amp.


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:32 am
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I have been playing over a 15 W Frontman for years. I just bought the mustang 3 and I am very happy with the amp. Fuse is great I am still reading up on the amp and trying out my new 4 button foot switch. I did have a 25 w fender dsp 25 and it had a rattle I could not find what might have been loose. It was 5 months old I took it in to send in for repair. The store called and told me fender does not make the dsp25 anymore. And if I would accept a mustang 2 . Where can you get that kind of service. I will now have a mustang 2 and 3 and my little 15 w. Mustang amps are top of the line. regards Horton


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:57 pm
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To say that a solid state amp is not a real amp just because it is not a tube amp is the same as saying that modern cars with electronic ignition and fuel injection are not really cars, because they don't have carburetors, and no ignition points and condensors. It is all just new technology. At least solid state is a lot more trouble free and more versatile.


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:17 pm
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The Mustangs are awesome!

I've been playing since the 1960s and I've owned some classic tube amps and had some friends that did too. The thing is, these classic amps had to be tweaked to find what great sounds they made. For every 'classic' sound there's a hundred mediocre or lousy sounds. You gotta work on it and figure out what the amp does, not what you wish the amp did. Too much volume is always good!

If you think that your gonna smack an A chord and have an orgasm - it doesn't work that way. You have to listen real close while your tweaking - then plan on adjusting when your playing with a band.

Don't think that your gonna twist a treble knob and some super-model is gonna immediately fall out of the sky and sit on your face. But if you get it right, that may happen in time.

The Mustangs are great. The only problem is that they have too many amps & effects with too many parameters. It used to be one guitar, one amp, one fuzz box. Now it's five guitars, twelve emulated amps, forty effects pedals, each with 5-20 parameters. It's a huge differential equation with only 100 presets to hold an almost limitless number of possibilities.

Damn I wish it was 1971!


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:35 pm
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I've been playing for about 20 years and I've VOX amps, Fender amps! $@!&! if it made noise I've plugged into it,......I love my MustangIV It has great sounds and BALLS to spare! So stick with you tube amp that sounds (count em) 1 way clean and distorted! if you want keep through ing money at pedals ans add on! it your dough!!!!


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:54 am
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As a player for over 40 years I really love the Mustang. Much of what I do is either small group or direct record. The ability to access just about every recognizable amp sound easily is great.
Manufacturers, Fender included, want use to buy into the idea that only tube amps, and especially "classic" (read old) tube amps are needed to have authentic sound - what's authentic? Leo fender certainly didn't expect the sound that Neil Young gets out of his Princeton when Leo designed it.
Old tube amps are just that - OLD. Its like buying a classic sportscar. You have to baby them and tweek them to get it to work all the time. I see old "Silverface" heads - the ones we wouldn't be caught dead using - going for $600 just because they are old. Just like we don't use typewriters any longer, we don't need 50 year old amplifiers to have good sounds.

Like any new technology, it takes time. The various "advanced" modeling adjustments - sag, bias, etc. that the software has are very subtle and take time to work out. It would be nice to have some other base models to choose from depending on your "bias" but it is a Fender amp after all. It would be nice to have 2 of one type, but that may come with software updates.

I've had mine for 3 months and I've only really gotten 3 settings to where I have stopped fiddling with them. Now, with a different guitar - Telecaster, "real" Lawrence pickups, brighter strings - I need to rework new settings for that guitar.
Fender has moved the technology of amplifier modeling into a whole new level compared with the competition. The Line 6 amps do not have the flexibility of the effects and controls in the Mustangs, the Peavey amps are not in the same league as to build and design quality, and Vox seems the be stuck in the middle somewhere, definitely behind the curve with design.

End result, a great amp with great sounds


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:42 am
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Fizz is not a problem for these guys


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Post subject: Re: Stop slamming Mustang amps!
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:26 pm
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The Stangs are quite different than normal tube amps. A normal amp that sounds good sounds good with about any guitar in nominal settings. Not so with the Stangs.

I find it's critical to set up a bunch of presets for each axe which suits that guitar. Presets/settings that sound great with one sound awful on the next. The Stangs are very particular about which guitar you're playing.

But having said that, once you do adjust per guitar, the results are excellent.

Further, some guitars are more forgiving. My 335 clone sounds great in many presets, my bright, hot alnico HB's in my RGX A2 hates the Stangs, and I have to hunt and tweak pretty hard to get presets that sound good with it. But I have, and they do. Just takes more effort.

Never encountered an amp or even a modeling stomper or rack box that was SO particular! But the rewards are great. There are always settings that will work. You just have to hunt for em.

Frankly, I find my tube amps are just gathering dust lately. The MIII is a sonic adventure every time out. I can't get EXACTLY their tone, but why bother with that? I keep coming up with cool NEW tones I could never have imagined. And certainly, the SINGLE tone each of my tube amps create seems, like the above poster mentioned, oddly anachronistic--like an MGTD in an age of superhighways and 75mph speed limits. Charming and delightful, but so limited, clunky, and lacking in horsepower.


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