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Post subject: Bought back my V1 Mustang I
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 2:33 am
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I'm working with the Mustang I and II in a studio and practice-amp context. I had a V1 Mustang 1 and returned it to get a V2 Mustang II. The Mustang II's 12" speaker is better for some quiet bass practice, and at 40 watts it's gig-worthy for the levels I play at.

But I wanted to mention that although there seems to be some (how much is hard to judge) improvement in the responsiveness of the models, one striking thing was how much "stiffer" the V2 is. Brighter, more transistor-sounding. Since both were new, and I didn't play either a lot, it's not just one speaker not being "broken-in".

I had to reprogram some patches on the M II (things like backing off on Bias, dropping some Treble), to make them more like what I loved on the M I). My impression is that in redesigning the Mustangs, presumably to overcome some dither or noise issues (the Fizz), the apparatus as a whole became "stiffer". There was something warmer and fatter (i.e. less HiFi) with the V1. Of course comparing a II to a I may be misleading me, but to put it bluntly, for whatever reason, I was missing my V1 Mustang I.

And because, in addition, the Mustang II is just heavier enough to make it a pain (literally) to carry from room to room with an instrument in the other hand, I started looking for a used V1 Mustang I. Got it today at a very attractive price, and having both blesses me with some additional creature comforts. If I'd known the M II was going to just stay put in the studio, I might have gotten a III instead, maybe. Oh, well, all is well.

The fact that the 2.7 FUSE software does a reasonably credible job of transferring presets between V1 and V2, substituting amp models and stomps for what's missing, is great. This takes care of my worry about being unable to mix and match across the generations. I was even able to Restore a whole V1 backup onto a V2 and vice versa.

I see a review here of the V2 Mustang III that mentions the greater brightness or stiffness, so I thought I'd add my impression. I don't think it's just the speaker being new.


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Post subject: Re: Bought back my V1 Mustang I
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 6:19 am
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FernandR,here is some content from my post in the V.1 VS V.2 thread about how i feel about the mustang I and the mustang II:

I also agree with the ones who mentioned about how the V.1 mustang I sounds better then the V.1 mustang II,when my uncle bought his mustang II over a year ago he brought it over my house for me to try it out and i did not like how it sounded for the high gain metal tones,it sounded thin with a lot of midrange peak frequencies that i did not like at all,my mustang I does not sound like this but it sounds much warmer and smoother in the midrange frequencies and also more tube like compared to the mustang II,that being said the mustang II sounds pretty good for clean and overdrive tones but i can also get my mustang I to sound good after tweaking it in fuse for the clean and overdrive tones.


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Post subject: Re: Bought back my V1 Mustang I
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 6:32 am
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Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 5:09 am
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Location: Devon,UK
Hi, having recently purchased the V.2, in my case the Mustang III, the first thing I noticed was how much more brighter the "Fender twin" sounded compared to the V.1.
I needed to back off the treble response somewhat but overall I am happier with the v.2 and just need to EQ a little more. Overall the amp sounds real good and still a worthy purchase!

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Fender telecaster(Seymour duncan 54s'). Fender mustang III V.2. Fender G Dec-3 30. Crafter Lite. Cubase 5 DAW. M-Audio Oxygen 3 controller keyboard. M-Audio firewire interface. ( prev amps;Fender Twin. Super 60. Frontman twin. Deluxe 90. )


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Post subject: Re: Bought back my V1 Mustang I
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:10 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:08 am
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I never played through a M2 myself, but I have found that among all the mustangs, this is the one the most people want to swat speakers with. Apparently the Fender "special" design is not special in a good way. People complain in general about the high mids of the speaker, raspiness and such.

In the other hand I read some A/B between the V1 and V2 models and apparently the V2's have been "over-biased" with respect to the V1's, even more mids and gain.

These two facts combined may make the Mustang 2 V2 maybe too middy/trebly. Again, somebody with actual experience with M2V1 and M2V2 could provide a more informed explanation.

Maybe swapping the M2 "special" design by the same Celestion the M3 uses will correct things, but the speaker alone retail for about 80-100$ so it could be a better idea to get a M3 from the start.


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Post subject: Re: Bought back my V1 Mustang I
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:32 pm
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"I see a review here of the V2 Mustang III that mentions the greater brightness or stiffness, so I thought I'd add my impression. I don't think it's just the speaker being new."

Yeah, for sure it's not the speaker. A modeling amp emulates different already "broken-in" speakers so by definition the tone is already there, at low volumes anyway. At higher volumes, for sure a well "broken-in" sounds better.

You know, that's exactly what I feared it happens when Fender annouced that they launched a new version of their Mustang modeling amp series. Why oh why a new version I thought? Yeah, for shure, because of the dawn fizz that is, impossible to cure via a firmware update on the III and up. To address that issue once and for all, they needed to change the firmware programming and the power amp design. Result: No fizz, hopefuly, but a different sounding and unfortunalty cheaper-toy'ish looking amp. Some may like it, some may not. I don't.

My M1 is so good sounding I'll never get rid of it. I was thinking of a MIII v2 but don't want that brightner or stiffier more transistor-sounding amp you description. Some users say that tweaking things like the sag or bias via FUSE makes it sound as good as the older version but I'm really not convinced that, not at all.

Anyway, long story short, I'll look for a non-fizzy used (or new) MIII v1 actually.


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Post subject: Re: Bought back my V1 Mustang I
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:25 pm
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The M III is where I'd be careful. No idea why, but there were reports of non-fizzing M IIIs suddenly starting to fizz. Maybe people overlooked that they were just using different patches, but who knows? Since Fender couldn't cure it with a firmware update, it's got to be pretty fundamental.


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Post subject: Re: Bought back my V1 Mustang I
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:42 pm
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I'm just starting to put the two side by side to compare. That's a V1 M I vs a V2 M II. Too bad I don't have a V1 and V2 of the same model, but hey.

They're both great, just a little different, the V2 is indeed brighter, stiffer, more HiFi. It's funny that when I got it my wife immediately noticed and said "the old one sounded better". Whoa, not what I wanted to hear. But you could also call it "stronger", and attribute it to the wattage.

And you CAN tweak presets so they end up very similar. Except I found some V1MI presets that won't work on the V2MII (see my V2 broken? thread). But those who are agonizing over choices don't HAVE to get a *new improved* V2. With people dumping their V1s, it's an opportunity to get a perfectly good M I or M II cheap.

And another thing about the M I. The factory presets seem almost designed to conceal its strengths. When trying one out in the store, you would tend to opt for the higher power ones, not knowing that you can easily double the volume when you tweak using FUSE. When I brought this used M I home, it was all factory. I'd have to play it with master volume well over 4, and I was a little worried. But once I loaded it with my own patches, I'm back to playing it below 3, and grinnin'. Take it up to 4 and it's quite loud. There's reserve power, and that little 8" with the closed back somehow whips the llama's butt.


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