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Post subject: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 11:53 am
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I posted this on the FUSE Forum too but I thought I'd post it here as well.

I have a Mustang I v1 and it works just fine for me. I've been learning for about a year interested mostly in blues and a little Beatles (I'm almost 60). My focus to this point has been learning enough to where I can play with backing tracks I mostly get off youtube. To that end, I'm doing pretty well.

Having dinner with a friend who has played all his life and is quite good, he asked me if I had been experimenting with pedals. The answer was no. So I immediately started looking into buying effect pedals especially the multi ones which lead me to the Mustang Floor.

Then it hit me, I have all the effects already available to me via fuse. Waaaay more than a fledgling ham fisted wanker like myself could use. So I thought I'll just get a switch and be done with it. Then I learned the MI only supports a single switch (bummer).

I found here that I may be able to connect a Mustang Floor to the MI by using the AUX vs. Pedal outlet. That would be OK, But what (I think) I'd really like to have is something with drum tracks (although I think I've seen them on FUSE) a looper and to be able to play backing tracks and record myself to monitor my progress (or lack there off). Oh, and I have no intention of gigging anytime soon if ever,

So the two questions I have; what would you suggest I should be looking at buying pedal/accessory wise and would it be worthwhile upgrading to a M III?

Thanks in advance.


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 2:07 pm
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Upgrading to an MIII is worth it.
You are able to access all the stomps, Modulation, Verbs etc... right from the amp itself.
The added benefit is also the sound quality... the MI's are very awesome for a practice amp... but... they are limited and tone wise... even though pretty darn good... are nowhere in the ballpark that the III's are in.
Try one out at your local music store and you'll hear the difference.
Another benefit having the MIII... find some folks to Jam with and you have an awesome amp that will be powerful enough to hang with drums, bass, keys etc... :D
Rock On 8)

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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 3:40 pm
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Thanks for the reply. Do you think an M III is too much amp for playing at low volumes?


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 4:29 pm
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Not really.... I use mine for gigging... and I also use at home at living room low volumes... Nice thing about these... being solid state amps... they sound great turned low as well as loud. granted... the louder you go... the better they sound but you don't need to open them up like a tube amp to get serious tone out of them... nice! 8)

The other option would be a MII... but then you're stuck having to use fuse to add anything in the signal chain like you need to with the MI.

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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 6:07 pm
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Would adding a Mustang Floor to a MI give me the same (or almost) capabilities as the MIII?


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 7:30 pm
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You'd have all the Mustang options, but you'd be limited to running them all into the front of the amp, as the MI doesn't have an fx loop. To use your looper example ( no clue if the Floor has one or not), you COULD put one in front of the amp, but then any fx, modelling, or drive you're currently using would also be added to your looped tracks. That's an example of an effect that really needs to come AFTER everything else, if you want to get the most out of it. ( if, for example, you want to use 2 totally different sounds, like a clean rythym tone looped with a dirty crunch or lead played over it. Into the front of the Mustang, your lead tone would be applied to that clean sound, too.)

To answer an earlier question, The MIII does very well at bedroom levels. I have a v1, and am also a ham-fisted learner limited to playing in my apartment. It's frankly astonishing the tones I can get out of this amp at low, low volumes. I like the classic rock, blues etc sounds- like not quite clean anymore- and this amp does that rather well.

There are some things you just wouldn't get putting this multi-fx processor into your MI:

MIII's foot switch options. You can use both the 2 and the 4 button simultaneously- AND add the expression pedal. There are jacks for both on the back.

V2 options. The M-Floor is still on version 1, so you wouldn't get the extra 5 amps, or the extra fx that come with the MIII. I do not know if the floor has an xlr or not.

The chromatic tuner. The LCD screen makes this feature great- it's like having a good pedal tuner hooked up at all times. Easy to see graphic, and it works with any tuning and with any number of strings.

The 12" Celestion G12-T100 speaker and open backed cabinet. Makes a world of difference in your sound. I think the open back is key to why it gets such good sounds at low levels- it disperses the sound better, so you're not as tempted to turn it up if you aren't directly in front of it. ( my neighbors really appreciate that!) Plus it has a much better speaker than the smaller Mustangs.

And of course, an effects loop. Most Floor users hook theirs up to both the main input, AND the fx loop to get the best of it. This also allows you to add your own pedals, like that looper.

It IS a fair bit larger than the MI you have now, but not excessively so. Not particularly heavy either, so it's very portable. As others said, if you want to play with others or out as you improve in skill- the MIII is a better choice. It DOES bedroom, and it also does REALLY loud if you need it to. The feature set is also geared towards making your life much easier in those situations.

Anyhow, good luck whichever path you choose. I think you'll be happy with what you can do with these amps!


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 9:03 pm
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WOW! Thank you. Very good info.


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:58 am
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Further thoughts:

As you say, the Mustang 1 has all the same effects ("pedals") built-in to it as the larger Mustangs. What it lacks is full ability to control all settings directly on the amp.

To control all settings on your Mustang 1, you need to hookup a PC running Fender FUSE. Then you can use whatever "pedals" built-in to your amp you want. So you can experiment with all sorts of effects and settings with the amp you already have. Note you also get a licence for a full-featured audio recording program, Ableton, with your Mustang. So you do have something for recording yourself too. As for playing backing tracks, you can use FUSE for this, or any audio player of your choice - or even plug an MP3 player into the AUX socket on your amp.

My point being - you don't need to necessarily spend any money, to achieve most of what you want to do. The one thing you can't get with a Mustang-1 setup is much footswitch control (to be pedantic, it's only really essential if you need to change presets mid-song and there's no pause in your playing to be able to take your hand off the strings to turn the amp knob; anything else is convenience rather than absolute necessity). But you can still do quite a bit with the single footswitch on the Mustang 1. For example, you can set it up to switch between two presets, which is perfect if you only use two different presets in one song. Then in between songs, you can (easily, in a couple of seconds) change the footswitch to control two different presets appropriate for the next song.

If you do want/need more footswitch control, and/or you want to be able to do more directly on the amp without needing to hook-up a PC, and/or you want to use a looper pedal in an amp's fx-loop for recording rather than sending the sound to a PC, then I'd agree entirely with previous posts that to upgrade, a Mustang-3 is probably your best-cost and simplest option. Note this comes with a two-button footswitch that lets you select (with multiple taps!) any preset; you can buy a further 4-button footswitch and expression pedal to give more footswitch options. Note: these must be the Fender MS-4 and EXP-1, no others will correctly control the Mustang.

For looper pedal, something like a Digitech Jamman XT Solo sounds like it would cover what you want to do, placed in the Mustang 3's effects loop. You could pre-record your drum patterns and backing tracks to it, then play over the top, optionally recording your playing too. That keeps your rig simple, again you don't need a PC or other separate devices for recording/playback. But note if you want to record (multiple) guitar tracks and keep them separate to the backing track (eg so you can erase and re-record different parts separately later), you'll need a more advanced recorder than the above Digitech. But as above, you do already have Ableton for free.

If you want to use separate conventional guitar pedals (stomp boxes etc), you can of course use those with your Mustang. But it will end up more expensive and seems to defeat the point of having a Mustang that already provides all these. Plus to fully use and understand pedals, you'd still need an amp with an fx-loop so you can put the various pedals at the right places in the signal chain. I think additional pedals make most sense with a Mustang in two situations: first, there's a particular effect you really, really must have, and there's nothing even remotely close built-in to the Mustang - then you'd have to buy that particular pedal; second, you want a volume/swell pedal or wah-pedal, etc and either already have one (so no need to buy an EXP-1), or you can buy one cheaper than an EXP-1 (it is a bit pricey for what it is), or you do have an EXP-1 but are using it to control some other setting on the amp and need a second pedal for volume, wah, etc (you can only have one EXP-1 connected to an amp).

The Mustang Floor is a great unit; I wouldn't worry too much about it not having the additional amp models and effects that are in the latest Mustang combos, it still has more than enough to keep you busy for years. But if you need/want a combo amp for sound reproduction, you may as well stick with a Mustang combo that provides everything in one box. I think the Mustang Floor makes most sense if you're going direct to a PA or recording system (so don't have a dedicated guitar amp at all), or for someone who already has a conventional amp and wants to add some effects to it, rather than replacing their whole amp. It doesn't sound as though either of those applies to you.

One other point: re-reading the OP, I wonder if there's a misperception about the role of footswitches with the Mustang, that they are needed in order to use the built-in effects. To clarify, they are not. You access, use, configure, select, save, etc all the settings for all the built-in effects and settings, either directly on the amp, or using FUSE. You do not need any footswitches to do any of this. The footswitches do not enable any extra features that you don't already have*. What the footswitches do is provide a convenient way for you to select and use previously-configured and saved settings within the amp. As above, that's useful if you're playing live and need to make changes mid-song. For home playing, everything you can do with the footswitches you can also do directly on the amp.

*For absolute accuracy, there is one (and only one, that I'm aware of) exception to this: the EXP-1's "volume mode" provides an additional volume control in the signal chain that you can only access with the EXP-1.


Last edited by scott-uk on Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:37 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 3:24 am
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If FUSE had MIDI support you could use a cheap MIDI foot controller like the Behringer FCB1010. That would be great.


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 6:44 am
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The main problem with running a Mustang Floor into a Mustang amp is that there is no non-modeling clean on a Mustang. You end up emulating one amp on top of another.

As for effect pedals, some of the appeal is that you so easily can turn them on and off without affecting anything else. With a Mustang, you need to create presets ahead of time, which I find very limiting. When using a Mustang, I use real pedals, because it gives me more freedom to make choices when I'm playing. I also know that if I hit the button on the big red fuzz pedal I get fuzz, and don't have to remember that that is saved on amber preset #4, unless I also use reverb, in which case it's green #2.

I recommend checking what kind of music you play, and borrow/buy a couple of real pedals that fits with that. Note that because you use a solid state amp, you do not want a boost/overdrive pedal, because there are no vacuum tubes to overdrive, and a stronger signal won't break up in a harmonic way, but rather the opposite.


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:24 pm
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Double wow!

Such great answers. I have been using FUSE on my PC but as arth 1 mentioned, I was looking for a way to switch or make changes without remembering which effect is where.

Bottom line, it sounds as though my current rig has more than enough to keep me busy for a loooong time. I may add the single foot switch just to make things a little easier.

I think if I am going to buy something, something like the Jam Man or Line 6 JM4 would be good. Although I did see a MIII at GC with a FS for $250. I might give that a shot if I can't relieve this itch to buy gear.

I really appreciate the thoughtful replies.


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 9:21 pm
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hamfisted wrote:
Double wow!


I think if I am going to buy something, something like the Jam Man or Line 6 JM4 would be good. Although I did see a MIII at GC with a FS for $250. I might give that a shot if I can't relieve this itch to buy gear.

I really appreciate the thoughtful replies.


Good luck resisting GAS.

I was so successful, I ended up with 9 guitars, three amps, a ton of pedals, and other accessories... This is not counting my bass gear.


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 4:13 pm
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pyroman wrote:
hamfisted wrote:
Double wow!


I think if I am going to buy something, something like the Jam Man or Line 6 JM4 would be good. Although I did see a MIII at GC with a FS for $250. I might give that a shot if I can't relieve this itch to buy gear.

I really appreciate the thoughtful replies.


Good luck resisting GAS.

I was so successful, I ended up with 9 guitars, three amps, a ton of pedals, and other accessories... This is not counting my bass gear.

I've already acquired 12 guitars and three amps. :oops: I need to start selling some of those off and buy a good amp rig.


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Post subject: Re: Need some advise re: Mustang I
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:19 pm
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Here's an update. I posted this in an new thread as I forgot I had this one. Long story short, I bought a used Mustang III at GC yesterday. I've been pretty happy with my M I but the bigger, better speaker and not having to mess with my computer to change tones made it seem worth it to me. I pick it up an 3 weeks. I'm sure I'll h e questions.

Thanks again for all the good info.


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