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Post subject: New member presets volume question
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 4:36 am
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Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:48 am
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Hello everyone , new mustang user here , been playing tube amps for 20 years now with a band , got a good deal on used Mustang 3 V1 and thought i would give it a try just as a home toy and now i found myself tweaking presets for last 5 days arranging them for my cover band setlist :) . I have read lots of useful stuff here and understand how it all works , especially with volume difference between amps on mustang(tho i dont like it , i still think it should have been leveled out volume wise somehow , it wouldnt be much trouble and it would be more user friendly) , but i couldnt find easy solution for this.
I am setting up 15-20 presets at least for rehearsal and the volume difference between presets is big in live setting with a band ( already played one rehearsal with default presets) , so i know i can set it up one by one right at the rehearsal but its not what i want to spend half of my rehearsing time on, and i cant turn the amp too loud at home (1-2 max) so using my ears at home wont get me far , i was looking for some programs that would help me like volume meter , vu meter or whatever its called but didnt have any luck , so can anyone recomend me something that would help me to level out preset volumes at least to be reasonably close?


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Post subject: Re: New member presets volume question
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 6:05 am
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Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:37 am
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Location: England
If you can't turn the amp up loud enough to sensibly compare preset volumes, you could try using headphones. The tone won't be quite the same through 'phones, but it should let you "level out preset volumes at least to be reasonably close."

You can get sound-level apps for some mobile phones - the app will give you an indication of SPL (sound pressure level) as detected by the phone's microphone. That may (or may not) be more sensitive / accurate to the differences at low volumes than the human ear. I haven't used any of these apps myself, so can't make a specific recommendation; I presume they're easily findable / downloadable from the usual phone app stores.

Or you can buy a conventional sound level meter from about £20 upwards (in UK, presumably similarly inexpensive in other countries). This is just a hand-held digital or analogue meter with a microphone stuck on the end. Probably not super-accurate at the cheaper end of the range, but perhaps good enough for this purpose.


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Post subject: Re: New member presets volume question
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 6:55 am
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Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:48 am
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Thanks for help , sound level apps for mobile is something i didnt consider yet , will try it out , i tried headphones but the sound is too diferent for me to be able to do anything. I know i will eventually have to do it one at the time at rehearsal , but less time i spend tweaking more time for squeeking so any improvement i make before is worth it :)


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Post subject: Re: New member presets volume question
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:08 am
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Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:37 am
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Location: England
Two other options.

If you have a cassette deck (!! remember them?), they usually have VU meters for recording. You could connect the amp's headphones-out to the cassette deck input and use its meters to check the sound level.

Or connect the amp's headphone output to the line-in or mic-in on your PC, and just use the PC's audio controls to monitor the sound level.

The trouble with all these approaches is that they may be biased more towards measuring peak amplitude, which isn't necessarily a good indication of perceived volume: for a given amplitude, changes in waveform shape, not to mention frequency, can have a big effect on volume as perceived by the human ear. So testing "for real" with your ears is the only way to do this properly.


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Post subject: Re: New member presets volume question
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 8:11 am
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Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:48 am
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Thanks again , yes i thought of that too but i know it wont be really accurate using line out/headphone out , more i think of it more i realize i need a roadie or personal tech to do this stuff for me coz at the end i will probably end up using one or two presets combined with 3 positions and volume pots on les paul :D .
Anyway its nice thing to mess around with sounds it has ,really surprised me as i have tried some processor units and modelling amps before ,even had one for few months , vox tonelab , but i never could find anything more then 1-2 usable sounds. This thing has really quite a lot of usable amps , twin reverb was my first tube amp , hearing it from mustang brought back some memories :) , and JCM 800 i owned and used for 10 years , had to sell it :( , but the sound of it from mustang gave me that chills again so it must be pretty close and usable :)


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Post subject: Re: New member presets volume question
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 12:53 pm
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Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 3:21 pm
Posts: 164
If you have not downloaded the Fender Fuse program to your computer I highly recommend it. However, even if you do it all manually on the amp, it's doable if you can call up the "Sound" setup on your computer. You should be able to set up for 'internal microphone' which uses the computers built in mic. Also, you should see a bar graph or analog needle meter on the screen. And there should be a way to adjust the input level of the signal from your amp. Once you get this set up so it works for you, you should be able to go from preset #00 to 99 or however many you need, and tweak the "Volume" knob for each preset so they are very close to equal in sound pressure level...at least close enough for gigging. DON'T FORGET TO SAVE EACH PRESET AFTER YOU FINISH TWEAKING!!!


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