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Post subject: For My Varied Styles, Can You Recommend The M3?
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 12:02 pm
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I play a variety of music; blues, Hendrix, SRV, 70's-80's rock, and metal (Ozzy - Metallica). Currently, I use either an X3 through studio monitors or I use a Line 6 Spider 4. Seems to suit me, but at times the L6 stuff tends to sound a little digital to me.

I am looking to get a bedroom/practice amp that offers flexibility. At first I thought about the M4, but that just seems to be overkill for my needs. Hence, I am looking hard at the M3 - which would give me the option of gigging out if need be. I have some questions and hopefully you guys can help answer them for me.

1) Have you been able to successfully use a volume pedal or wah pedal in front of your M3 without it altering the sound/tone?
2) Is Fender or the Fender Community diligent when it comes to updates for the M3? (I know the Line6 Community and Line6 themselves are very active in adding downloadable features to all their products).
3) I haven't been able to get a good look at the back of the amp; is there an option to connect to an additional cab?
4) For you M4 owners, is the added stereo effects loop and the extra speaker worth the extra $200 in your view? And, can the M4 be played at a bedroom/latenight volume?

Thanks....I am very, very interested in purchasing one of these units....but, if they are basically the same as my current Line6 Spider then I may just hold off for a while. Thanks!

Johnathon


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Post subject: Re: For My Varied Styles, Can You Recommend The M3?
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 6:35 am
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Johnathonb wrote:
I play a variety of music; blues, Hendrix, SRV, 70's-80's rock, and metal (Ozzy - Metallica). Currently, I use either an X3 through studio monitors or I use a Line 6 Spider 4. Seems to suit me, but at times the L6 stuff tends to sound a little digital to me.

Line 6 is far too digital. The Mustang III is in a different class and is IMHO currently the best of the modeling amps currently out there.

I am looking to get a bedroom/practice amp that offers flexibility.

The Mustang is very, very flexible. See my threads on first impressions & first impressions part II.

At first I thought about the M4, but that just seems to be overkill for my needs. Hence, I am looking hard at the M3 - which would give me the option of gigging out if need be. I have some questions and hopefully you guys can help answer them for me.

1) Have you been able to successfully use a volume pedal or wah pedal in front of your M3 without it altering the sound/tone?

Any decent volume pedal or wah in front of the amp should be fine. Just like with ANY amp, colouration depends on the quality of your pedal. A pure wah is different to a wah with treble-booster - the latter may add noise. The III has an FX loop so you have the option of utilising this too.

2) Is Fender or the Fender Community diligent when it comes to updates for the M3? (I know the Line6 Community and Line6 themselves are very active in adding downloadable features to all their products).

From what I've seen, yes - & they seem very customer focussed.

3) I haven't been able to get a good look at the back of the amp; is there an option to connect to an additional cab?

Unfortunately no, not on the III. I think this is a key oversight that I have brought to Fenders attention and is one of the key reasons I didn't keep it & I'm sticking with my Vox AD120VTX rig. Even my new little Laney Cub 12R has 8/16 Ohm extn cab out options.

4) For you M4 owners, is the added stereo effects loop and the extra speaker worth the extra $200 in your view? And, can the M4 be played at a bedroom/latenight volume?

Like my AD120VTX, the 2x12" gives a much bigger sound, but it means a bigger, heavier amp. But the speakers are too close together for any proper noticeable separation. If you want that, the Mustang V plus two 2x12 cabs is the way to go - but for your needs that's overkill as is the 150w power - the 100w MIII is plenty loud enough! The Mustang IV is a very good amp but again sounds overkill for your needs.

Thanks....I am very, very interested in purchasing one of these units....but, if they are basically the same as my current Line6 Spider then I may just hold off for a while. Thanks!

Different class as I said - tonally, the Mustang III will kill your Spider! If you're going to gig, you will need the optional 4-button pedal (standard with the IV & V) as the included 2-pedal (whilst you can set it for different modes) isn't flexible enough.

Johnathon

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"I started out with nothing ...and I've still got most of it left!" (Seasick Steve)


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Post subject: Re: For My Varied Styles, Can You Recommend The M3?
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 8:16 am
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Rockcat covered your questions really good and is much more knowledgeable than me, but I would like to mention one thing. If you use a volume pedal in the FX loop with the III, IV or V you need a low impedance pedal. I use one with my IV and I love it. I tried one of my high impedance pedals and it didn't work right. It didn't harm the amp, but it didn't work right. I got the Boss FV-500L Stereo Volume Pedal, built like a tank. (I use swells a lot when I play.) I really don't use it stereo, because as Rockcat as said, with the speakers so close together, the stereo effect really is nonexistent, unless you use headphones.

The only other thing I would add to my IV would be a Wah, and if I did, I would run it through the front of the amp and not in the FX loop.


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Post subject: Re: For My Varied Styles, Can You Recommend The M3?
Posted: Tue May 24, 2011 4:51 am
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Joined: Sun Feb 13, 2011 6:50 pm
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also, Fuse is no substitute for learning to tweak the pre-sets in a LIVE situation...you can sound like Van Halen at home on 3 on the master volume .but go live and turn it up to 6 and the sound is completely different... I always tweak my setting at stage volume...
then there are no surprizes...this fact has been mentioned in other posts by guys smarter than me....I go with the masters when working for a live sound...


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