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Post subject: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:26 pm
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I just picked up a Mustang Mini today. It's not a bad little amp on the cleans but the dirt sounds leave a lot to be desired. I find that if you use post gain it really warms up the sound! Sadly, I still only find the Fender Supersonic is the most useful dirt sound for rock.

What have your experiences been with the Mini?


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 4:52 am
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Location: Crete
I bought my Mini to have the possibility to play without AC, in the car, on the beach and so on. I was happy with it. But the expectation to use the presets from the big one (MII) was disappointed - the little 6" Speaker ist not able to produce similar sounds. At least in mine (a very early one) it brings over no bass at all.
I tweaked some presets for the Mini - without intention to copy f.e. the sound of a Bassman in that small box, it just doesnt work.
Than I detected that connected to an external 8" or 10" or even 12" cab the sound of the dwarf is *MUCH* better and I bought a small cab with an 8 Ω 8" Speaker like that of the Mustang 1. Should be easy diy too. Its weight is just 3 pounds more than the Mini, still very easy to carry. The Amp itself now works in a small alumium case sized 20 x 16 x 7 cm which also contains the rechargeabel batteries. It has an speaker-out and can be fixed on the cab with Velcro strips. I carry the "amp" in a day pack on my back.
Maybe thats not what you wanted to hear, but I see no other possibity to get "good" sounds comparable to the bigger Mustangs from the Mini than to use an external speaker.
Another advantage of my rebuilding is that in rehearsal I can use the little box near to me like a M(ini)-Floor, conncted via headphone-plug to a strong, clean solid-state combo for amplification.

A picture of the (wooden) prototype of the speakerless Mini on a musikstand. Not high enough to carry the batteries:
Image


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:46 am
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That looks great!

I don't think that I would buy another speaker for it just yet. It's not too bad a sound, but I do agree about the bass from it. I guess all amps with tiny speakers would suffer a similar problem?


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:50 pm
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Yes, I think so. What to expect from 6 inches? When I bought the Mini I compared it to the Roland Micro Cube. The Mini was better in every aspect, better tone, louder, longer batterie live. Thats the reason I decided for an external speaker solution. The 7 Watts are easily strong enough to drive a bigger speaker.
Its not easy to find 6" or 6.5" guitar speakers , most speakers in this size are designed for small monitor usage. But if s.b. found a fitting 6" speaker which enhances the tone of the Mini, I am very interested. Of course I kept the original case, closed the top with a piece of ply wood and added a socket for a speaker cable. With the original speaker it sounds like the original Mini.


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 1:31 pm
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The "secret" is that digital clipping and drive just don't sound that great. I've heard the same complaint about every other standard modeller out there- Valvetronix, Spyder, Vyper, etc.- it isn't just the Mustang. I might add that the tiny speaker probably doesn't help.

I just use a pedal for any filth I want. Doesn't help you keep it portable, but it does sound good.


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:27 am
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Location: Ostrava, Czech Republic
Hi Frente,
I would like to ask you ...
1. you compared battery life of MicroCube and Mini ... I have a MicroCube and b.life is approx 18-20 hours (NiMH 2800mAh). Is Mini really stronger than MC?
2. case sized 20 x 16 x 7 cm which also contains the rechargeabel batteries.
What type of rechargeable batteries are you using?

Anyway, you've done a nice job, congratulations! ;)

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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:04 pm
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I bought my Mustang Mini after selling my Mustang II (wife said I had too many "big" amps after I took home another 25W tube combo) and I figgered that the Mini would have all the sounds I spend a lot of time creating on the MII.

To my dismay, it did not sound as good. Plugged direct into my mixer, the sounds were okay just as they were on the MII, but that dinky little speaker in that little box sounded really, well, boxy. I tried leaving the back cover open and stuffing it with towels, but it still sounded awful on most of my saved presets. And the louder it got, the worse the sound was.

I was going to do what that other person did and pull the electronics out of the box, mounting it into a metal chassis, then I remembered that I had a Jensen MOD 6/15 that I was saving for an amp I plan to build from scratch. I put that in and the sound is much better! You're still not going to get much great bass from it, and the Jensen has a slightly smaller magnet, so there was a perceptible drop in volume, but all my presets sound good to great and the amp is now quite usable.

For about $26 shipped, that's awesome.


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:41 pm
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Good news about Jensen, the original speaker is 4 or 8Ohm. I'm asking because I have a "free" mod 6/15 4Ohm at home and I'm deciding to sell or keep it.

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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:34 pm
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The original speaker measures 7.2 ohms on my multimeter and the Jensen I put in was an 8 ohm


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 1:41 pm
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filo01 wrote:
Hi Frente,
I would like to ask you ...
1. you compared battery life of MicroCube and Mini ... I have a MicroCube and b.life is approx 18-20 hours (NiMH 2800mAh). Is Mini really stronger than MC?
2. case sized 20 x 16 x 7 cm which also contains the rechargeabel batteries.
What type of rechargeable batteries are you using?

Anyway, you've done a nice job, congratulations! ;)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
fwiw you can;t really use rechargeable batteries for the mini ... the 1.5 vdc of a regular alkaline battery like a Duracell or energizer which would be 1.5 vdc x 6 = 9volts...so the amp ideally wants 9 volts .
With rechargeable batteries the power runs out quicker and they only add up to 6ea size C @ 1.2 vdc = 7.2 volts , instead of the 9volts it needs... all that said you can add 2 more battery slots for a total of 8 x 1.2 = 9.6 volts , I'm pretty sure a place like radio-shack carries them .
I love my Mini ! IMO : when you take the time to tweak your presets with the Fuse interactive software it can do a LOT of amazing tones , in spite of it's very small size it really has a lot of features , I was able to get awesome Fender cleans and assigned amps like a princeton reverb and the twin as well as some great vox and Marshall to Metal i don't understand the folks that dis the tone i mean it is smaller than a toaster !


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2016 5:53 am
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Location: Jomtien Beach, Thailand
"you can;t really use rechargeable batteries for the mini ... the 1.5 vdc of a regular alkaline battery like a Duracell or energizer which would be 1.5 vdc x 6 = 9volts...so the amp ideally wants 9 volts"
Please don't mention that to my Mini.... it seems to run just fine for hours and hours on rechargeable batteries! I use mine at beach nearly every day no problem. Do wish it had more bottom... but that is okay. I use mostly Twin mods and some dirt at times. If I weren't paranoid I'd think they discontinued just to piss me off. The Passport mini is okay, but lack of tone and gain in the field a bit of a disappointment.


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Post subject: Re: The Secret To Good Sounds From Mustang Mini
Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2016 11:43 pm
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For making an extension cab, is it possible to have two speakers in a stereo arrangement, or is the power amp in the Mini all mono?


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