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Post subject: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:57 am
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I am an 'advance beginner', I can play a bit but I would not call myself yet a guitar player. I had a small cheap Harley Benton practice amp (this brand make a bunch of cheap music gear and instruments and it is popular in Europe as entry level) and I wanted something better, so in January I bought a Mustang II v2 highly recommended by friends.

I did my Internet research before buying and it looked like a magical device that would let you play different tones, everyone looked so happy in the youtube videos.

I play mainly high gain stuff and I was pretty fast disappointed with the Fender. Then the Internet told me the presets are crap and I had to install FUSE and play around with it. Then I tried downloading presets from the community and nope, not a good tone. Then the Internet told me I had to learn how to 'dial' my tone in the amp, well, I spent months and months wasting so much time on this instead of practicing more.

Last weekend I just gave up and bought a second hand Blackstar HT1. I took it out of the box and connected my guitar and it was like magic, instant nice tones out of the box. I fiddled around with the few buttons it has and I always get a nice tone.

So, maybe it is my fault, maybe this is not the amp for me. Maybe I have crap taste and/or I don't know what a good tone is. But I am really disappointed and I honestly think this is not an amp for a beginner because you do not have yet a clue what to change in order to get the sound you want. And by the time you learn how to do that you probably want a much better amp. So I am not sure what the target market for this product it.

Sorry, I do not want to sound like I am b*tching, this was just my experience. I will keep the amp because I bought it new and paid full price so maybe in the future I will learn how to get something better out of it. If it is possible at all.


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 4:37 am
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Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2014 6:22 am
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The Mustang can sound really, really good, but it takes some tweeking with Fuse. It's not for everyone. Glad you found an amp you like.


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:27 pm
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Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:37 am
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Location: England
Quote:
Blackstar HT1. I took it out of the box and connected my guitar and it was like magic, instant nice tones

If that's the sound you want, then on your Mustang I'd suggest:
- select the "British 80s" amp model
- turn off all stomp, mod and delay effects (leave reverb on if you want)
- adjust the sound with the physical amp knobs: bass, treble, gain

Don't forget to save the settings before you turn the amp off!


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 1:59 pm
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It's funny but the general thought thrown around by tube amp snobs is that modeling amps are for beginners, when nothing could be further from the truth. Nine times out of ten when someone posts about not being able to get the tone they want from the Mustang it tends to be a beginner. The reality is that the various models contained in the Mustang are based on a rather long history of existing amps and effects that beginners typically have no knowledge about. And even though it comes with a bunch of presets, the presets for the most part are fairly exotic configurations and aren't the basic, simple stuff beginners are looking for.

I think the reason you saw the people on YouTube pleased with the amp is because they've played for a while, and are knowledgeable about the differences between a Twin Reverb amp, a Bassman amp, a Champ amp, a Vox, Marshall, etc. not to mention overdrives, boosters, various reverb, delays, choruses, and phasers...so to them being able to have all that available in one amp with a simple selection is every long time guitar players dream. But it's a bit overwhelming for a beginner.

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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:14 pm
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Hi Krieg,

We are sorry to hear that things did not work out with your Fender® Mustang™ amp. But we are happy that you found an amp that you like. If we can be of any assistance in the future, please let us know.

Best Regards,

Alan

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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 5:01 pm
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No disrespect, but you admit you're close to a beginner. The mustang's strong point is it's dynamics/feel/touch sensitivity, which is something that a fairly experienced player will understand the value of and love it. In fact, the more experienced the player the more that matters. But beginners who mainly use high gain are not going to "get it". One day you likely will and then might prefer the Mustang. I've played thru the blackstar ID30 quite a bit and IMO it's not even close to the mustang as far as dynamics and touch sensitivity. Feels much closer to a solid state amp than a tube amp. Put it this way....40+ years of tubes amps from budget thru boutique and building my own and the mustang is the only amp i have ever played that is in the same league as good tune tone/feel. However, when i was a "advanced beginner" as you describe yourself, i didn't get it either. But the thing is this....when you DO get it, you realize your playing will never mature past a certain point without dynamics and touch sensitivity. It's as big a part of a great player's arsenal as anything elsein his vocabulary, probably more than anything else.


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:55 am
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Thanks for your comments, I really take no offense because as I mention myself probably the problem is lack of knowledge. In the same way I am not really trying to offend anyone.

Thanks for the tips, but I really tried everything I could do at the moment, I've started from scratch with just an amp and worked from there, but I've got no good results. Even my guitar teacher tried to help me a bit but he thought as well that it sounded always way too muffled, he said we could work more on it to try to get a better sound but I did not feel like paying him teaching hours just for that.

You've got it right, I actually thought that this amp was actually easy to use and that I could download presets and magically sound close to the intended tone. I accept all that, but in the other hand I tried briefly a Vypyr and their presets gave me much better results.

Another test I did: I have as well a cheap multi effects processor I use for practicing with earphones and I can get some OK-ish tones from it. If I connect it to the amp using a clean setup it get all muffled. Same if I connect it to the line-in.


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:59 am
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Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:37 am
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Location: England
Quote:
my guitar teacher tried to help me a bit but he thought as well that it sounded always way too muffled

Quote:
connect it to the amp using a clean setup it get all muffled

OK. To be clear, Mustang amps do not have to sound muffled. You do not need to be an expert to get a reasonable and good sound from them. I agree with previous posts that some of the amp's settings will give best results for experienced guitarists who understand the interplay with their amps. But that isn't essential just to get going.

Turning the amp on and selecting any amp model on middle-of-the-road settings, and dialling back the other effects, will sound good.

The fact that this isn't happening for you, assuming you are a sane intelligent person who knows the basics of what you're doing, is starting to suggest you have a faulty amp. That's a shame, but that's something you can easily get fixed, and I hope you can get it fixed as you've spent your hard-earned on a nice product and deserve to have it working properly.

It would be wrong to conclude from this thread that the Mustang amps are difficult to use or difficult even to get basic good sounds from. Neither is the case.


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 4:55 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:30 am
Posts: 375
Yeah, if it sounds muffled no matter what you do, I'd suggest taking it either to a Fender authorized service center, or returning it for a new one. These amps SHOULDN'T sound "muffled".

Perhaps try one in a showroom and see if it sounds different than yours.

I picked up my first guitar post age 40, and knew nothing about amps, etc. I have a Mustang III ( for the expanded control panel, fx loop, and better speaker), and am easily able to get good sounds out of it. Muffled is NOT a term I'd use to describe what this thing does, lol! Sounds like yours has an issue.

For the record, I found the best tones mainly by accident, while looking for something else! I'm mostly into bluesy/classic rock sounds, but Have gotten some pretty good metal tones out of it. I have yet to really delve into the high gain stuff, as it isn't floating my boat at the moment. Brit 70's is where I go for something different than the bassman and 65 twin stuff I usually use. REALLY like that model.

You could also try a SuperChamp x2. It's kind of the best of both worlds: you get all the V1 Mustang models plus the Jazzmaster clean on channel 2, AND you get a dedicated clean channel and an all tube power section. It's a lot less fiddly, esp for a beginner, and it sounds awesome. Just plug in, and it already sounds good! It's 15 watts, so it's not too powerful for home use- but it will get loud if you want. It's also fairly small, and very portable. I found my Mustang on craigs list for a great price, just AFTER I bought this...

One word of caution: Both of these amps are pretty transparent. Meaning that you get what you put into it. The character of your guitar shines right through- for better or worse.


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:15 am
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Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:30 am
Posts: 140
Location: USA
I encourage you to get the amp checked out. Scott UK is right, It shouldn't sound muffled nor should you be strugling so hard to get a good tone out of it even if it's not the amp for you. If the Blackstar or Vyper is the amp for you, excellent!!! Run with what you like. Enjoy them. But don't settle for a defective amp.

I am a beginner too and had no problem getting an acceptable good tone on my own as well as down loading excellent patches from Fuze. I have the MIII. The fact that you can log into and post the above articulate comment on a forum leads me to to believe you could figure out the amp.

This is meant to be encouragement to get your amp looked at..


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:37 am
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Fender Staff
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Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 1:12 pm
Posts: 4396
Hi Krieg,

I wanted to chime in and also encourage you to get the amp checked out by an authorized service center. If you are in North America, you can use the link below to locate a Fender® Authorized Service Center nearest to you. If you are outside of North America, you can use the 'Contact' link below to get in touch with your regional Fender office. And please let us know if we can assist further.

Best Regards,

Alan

http://www.fender.com/dealers/service-centers/

http://www.fender.com/contact/

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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2014 7:43 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:12 pm
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Location: Perth, Western Aus.
I had the same experience as a 2 year player when I got a Mustang. I found after too much fuddling that upping the amps volume on each preferred model was an easy way to get any of them sounding good. Then using the master to control overall loud. Don't use many fx, apart from trem, verb and maybe a stomp for gain

I use 3-4 models, clean and dirty and that's it. Just because they give you a huge toolbox you don't need to try everything out to get it working. Yes, the factory presets largely suck, but only because they throw too many toys onto them.

But, as a beginner, getting a good sound is not always easy. I have a Vox Pathfinder, a simple SS amp with EQ, trem and reverb and found its limits very easily back then, thinking the gain was always too much. It was me. Now I'm more competent at playing, so is my gear.


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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 10:59 pm
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Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:44 am
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At the end of the day, I think the control panels on the one and two models are very challenging and simply put, terrible compared to the three and four models. On the 3 & 4 models all the effects are completely separated and you can go in and adjust all the different parameters for each effect.. you can't do this with any ease on the one and two models right at the amp's own control panel. My nephew has the Mustang 2 model and although the amp has a great sound, the control panel layout is just ridiculous and I could never recommend this amp to anyone.

But I will say this of the three and four models, with the portability and the control panel easy layout and all the self-contained effects and loudness of these 2 amps, these are the best amps on the market especially for the stage and or home playing with its master volume.

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Post subject: Re: I gave up on my Mustang II for now
Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:22 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:43 pm
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musicmatty wrote:
At the end of the day, I think the control panels on the one and two models are very challenging and simply put, terrible compared to the three and four models. On the 3 & 4 models all the effects are completely separated and you can go in and adjust all the different parameters for each effect.. you can't do this with any ease on the one and two models right at the amp's own control panel. My nephew has the Mustang 2 model and although the amp has a great sound, the control panel layout is just ridiculous and I could never recommend this amp to anyone.

But I will say this of the three and four models, with the portability and the control panel easy layout and all the self-contained effects and loudness of these 2 amps, these are the best amps on the market especially for the stage and or home playing with its master volume.

I can see where you could have that POV if you are moving the amp from place to place and trying to do everything from the amp.

In my case, the controls have never been a problem as I only use my MII in my home studio and the truth is that I hardly ever touch the amp itself physically. I control it entirely from FUSE and from my posistion, it is much more advantagous to do so while recording than running back and forth between the computer/DAW and the amp.

On the more rare occassions that I do play out, I take my real 15 watt tube amp and pedals (Joyo UD > BMP > Shaky Jimi > Delay > Rev > SHO).


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