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Post subject: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:44 am
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Hello guys,

last week I bought a Fender Mustang II. I'm playing mostly metal, and when I finally hooked up the Mustang to my computer and tried out lots of presets I was very disappointed, since every single hevy metal preset I found sounds very bad, very muddy, confinded and without definition and attack (yes, I've searched Fuse as well). I've ended up connecting my old Zoom g2.1u, which seems to have much better metal sounds, to the Mustang via the aux in, but this is an unsatisfactory solution since I bought the amp specifically for its modeling capabilities and I'd really like to get my metal sound out of the amp itself. Am I doing something wrong, do any of you guys have suggestions for me to get a useful metal sound out of the amp? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

PS: The guitar I'm using is an Epiphone SG Custom Prophecy EX with EMG 81/ EMG 85. Could it be the case that the output signal from the pickups is too strong for the amp?


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:16 am
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I'm no expert on the high-gain/metal sounds from the Mustang, but wouldn't have said they were fundamentally flawed; in terms of sound definition, they seem ok to me. So I can't answer your question, but one thing to test:

Quote:
Could it be the case that the output signal from the pickups is too strong for the amp?

Very unlikely. But you can easily test this simply by turning down the guitar volume controls and see if that improves the sound quality.

Another thing to do, and you may want to connect FUSE to make this easier is:

- Start off with the amp model you want to use, turn the gain right down, and turn off all other effects etc. Leave eq etc at middling settings. Get that sounding 'good' (in terms of basic sound quality/definition) first, don't worry about it being the exact final sound you want.

- Then start turning up the gain, play around with that and eq levels, etc, moving towards the sort of sound you want to create. Don't worry about complex things like sag and bias at this stage; leave them alone until everything else is going well and you understand what effect they'll have on the sound.

- Once you're happy with the basic amp sound, then start adding effects (eg overdrive, reverb, etc), one at a time. Experiment adjusting the settings for just one thing at a time, to see how it affects the sound, and to find what setting gets you closer to the sound you want.

- Repeat until happy. Save settings frequently as you go (both in case there's a power cut or you get to the end and turn everything off having forgotten to save it!)

If at any point, things start sounding muddy, lacking attack, etc, then you've found the problem: undo that change, try other values of that setting, etc.


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:38 pm
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I have the mustang I & V and i get some pretty good metal tones from these amps but i tried out my uncles mustang II about 6 months ago and i also play metal but the mustang II sounded bad with it's high gain models and i would not use this amp if you want to get some good metal tones out of it,i think it has more to do with it's speaker then the amp modeling,from what i remember it had a honky midrange peak frequency and lacked some low end.

The mustang II sounds good for clean fender tones and also has some good overdrive tones but not good for metal tones in my opinion. I also have some other modeling amps and about a month ago i bought a used peavey vypyr 75 and this amp sounds fantastic for high gain metal tones and the clean and overdrive tones are also good but the mustang still sounds better then the vypyr for it's clean fender and some overdrive tones but the vypyr is much better for high gain metal tones.


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 6:46 am
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Ok, thanks for the answers. As for the first suggestion, I have tried that, but I really can't find a tone I like, tweak as I may. It stays muddy and way too bassy.
Concerning the second answer: I don't think that it's the speaker because it sounds really good if I plug my Digitech MEtal MAster (via the cabinet modeling output) or my Zoom g2.u into the aux in. But the disctortion of the amp proper, without extermal effects, just sounds abysmal.


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:43 am
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Joined: Tue Feb 22, 2011 11:26 am
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Where are you sitting in relation to the amp? The Mustang II is a VERY directional amp. You might try propping it back so the speaker points right at you and then listen to how different the presets sound. You get a LOT more treble bite and you hear less boominess in the bass when you do that.

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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:20 am
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OK, I think that was the problem. I propped the amp up a pit and placed it a few metres from where I was sitting. It certainly sounds much better now. Thanks for the help!


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:52 pm
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FB, did you ever have any luck with a metal tone? Personally I love the way my Boss pedals sound, very bright. I cannot find a setting anywhere that will come close and, can't bypass the effects to just use the pedals... frustrating indeed. You were right on the sound, to me it is like there is a blanket over the amp or it is covered with pillows...


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:04 pm
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Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2012 6:14 pm
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Here's a Full List of all the FUSE built in Amps and StompBoxes...
http://notelr.com/roheylivne/The-Definitive-Fender-FUSE-List


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:41 am
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Bought a 2017 Les Paul Studio plus last year and a Mustang "Sally" V Half Stack. Been chasing that ever wanted LP tone ever since. It's not the pickups.....was blaming it on the amp for longest time. Than one day my vintage 50's wiring came in for my Epi SG I got way back in '97, 57/57plus pickups we're swapped in it years ago, but the wiring failed. Enywheysssss......fixed er up, plugger er in......and OMG. THE MUD WAS GONE!!!!!. So I opened the cover on my LP to find a lil whee cuircut board and teeeensy lil chicken $@!& wires, what wires there were. Produces sum of the nicest metal sounds I've heard from the Vintage pots n stuff.....and muffled up crapp from a new $2000 LP.
So the guitar you are using it with prolly makes a huge difference.in the tone toy git too


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:29 pm
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490R/498T humbuckers: Authentic Gibson tones straight from the golden era

57 Classic Plus humbuckers: Slightly overwound for increased output

So you went from a more "classic" pickup to a "hotter" overwound pickup. Yeah that sounds about right. :D


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2018 3:42 am
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My 2c on this.

I happily use a Mustang I at home since many years now. I play a lot of Dream theater, iron maiden and old days metallica. I think this are in the ballpark of Metal tones.

Here are my suggestions:

1) Dont expect that a digital 20-30w will kick your chest like a 50w-100w valve head. It cannot happen. You need well over 100 digital/ss watts to come close to that "kick"

2) It is all about headroom. Keep your (master/phisical) volume between 4-6. Less than that the sound will be very. very boxy. Over than that your basses will start farting

3) Set the volume of your clean channel around 5. Adjust your dirty tones to stay at the same volume (not 5, listen to your ears, for some model will be 3!!!). Amp emulation is done in away that you clean channell will start compress too much and slightly become dirt. Like the real thing will do.

4) Keep tamed the input volume, American 90, metal 2K does not take very well the hottest pickups

5) Do not exagerate with the gain. There is plenty and to much gain will compress a lot the tone. Use the overdrive pedal instead. Will add a stage of gain and will help you shave bass if you want

6) Use EQ like you will do with the real thing: Keep the bass low and controlled if you are using the American 90 like you will do on a Mesa, max out everithing if you are using a Britsh 70

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You can find all my Mustang tips here:
http://ridingthemustang.blogspot.it/
An Unofficial guide to Fender Mustang Effects here:
http://ridingthemustang.blogspot.it/p/unoffcial-guide-to-fender-mustang.html

USB Footswitch Opensource Project:

https://github.com/mordor74/mustang-raider


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Post subject: Re: GOOD Metal Tone on Fender Mustang II-possible?
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2018 7:42 am
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Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:26 am
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Yup..... almost exactly what I found.....just takes lotsa time so if you don't like it at first.... don't give up so easy.
Mines the 150w head n cab. Very loud, and great sounding once u dial err in


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