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Post subject: Waiting for now...
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:07 pm
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I owned a Fender Mustang II, v.1. I loved it. When Version 2 came out, I traded in the Mustang II and bought a Mustang III, v. 2 and later a Mustang Floor. I still love those. Fuse was always disappointing, I thought --clunky and not implemented well enough to reach its potential -- but I didn't use it that much. Sure, some more flexibility as to the number and order of effects would have been welcome, but for my purposes these didn't bother me overly much.

When the GT came out, I figured I would trade in the Mustang III and get the GT 100. I expected the sound modeling to be improved and I liked the idea of being able to control the amp from my iPhone. There seemed to be more flexibility in applying and ordering effects. I mostly play at home and prefer to sit across the room the amp. Within the iPhone app, I expected I could tweak the sound more easily and would then do it more.

I was disappointed to see the scathing YouTube reviews regarding the sound quality (but most were on the GT 40, and the GT 100 seemed to fare better). But putting that aside, just following this forum, the impression one gets is far different from the Mustang, v1 and v2. There was a lot of user excitement about versions 1 and 2 -- about getting and using the amps, sharing pre-sets, etc. With the GT, there seem to be a lot fewer folks on the forums, and most of those - even the most ardent defenders, like oczad -- seem to still be frustrated by defects and poor implementation of even basic operating functions such as saving and accessing presets, being able to restore presets, etc.

I am perfectly willing to believe Fender will make fixes that it publicly promises -- but not at all willing to believe it will correct problems that undoubtedly exist but that it has not promised to fix. So I am sitting on the sidelines for now and standing pat with my Mustang III. To those who already hate the GT or have lost faith in Fender, I expect they would think this is the right decision. But I am curious about those who own and are happy with the GT -- am I being too hard on it (based on how it currently exists)? Any particular reason not to wait and see?


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Post subject: Re: Waiting for now...
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:42 pm
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It's 100% subjective, so i can only tell you my take which is based solely upon what is good/bad for me and how i feel about it. You may not feel remotely the same depending on your needs and desires. First thing i wanna say is tone is my #1 priority and i'm willing to give certain things up that I don't want to give up if the improvement in tone is considerable. So far it is, but theres a caveat and it may be something you don't find to be true or even if you do you may not want to go to this length. I'm talking about the speaker which i am positive is a compromise between great guitar tone and bluetooth streaming. For me it's been necassary to use a guitar "normal" speaker. The stock one is a more full range affair to aid in better sound for bluetooth. That IMO compromises the guitar tone especially at stage volume or anywhere past very low home volume. So i am of the opinion that if tone is a priority and you intend to use it in a band context you probably won't be happy with the tone to a degree that will make you want to keep it. So i have been using the speaker from my MIII in the GT and IMO it feels and sounds "right", where the stock speaker to me makes the amp sound like a digital amp at louder volumes. The speaker is 4 ohms and the one i;m using is 8 so i have a new speaker on the way in 4 ohms, and it's supposedly a killer speaker so it may be even further improvement.

So tonally right now it's in another league than the old mustang. Basically it comes down to this.....the modeling itself is great, much better then the MIII. But there are things that held it back, the speaker being one of those. With the stock speaker i still liked it better then the MIII but there were certain aspects of the MIII's tone that were close or better. Not any more. And it's tricky because with good settings and at lower volumes the stock speaker can seem very good. But in time and at louder volumes like in a band mix the weakness' eventually become apparent.

So thats me, whether you feel the same about the speaker i dunno. Then there are the switching features. The MIII beats it there because we no longer have the ability to use not only the 4 button but the 2 button like we had on the old mustang. I like to be able to switch presets AND switch certain effects on and off. I can no longer just tap a button to do one of those things because now i have to scroll thru modes to get from one to the other. So say im in preset mode and want to switch a effect one. I have to tap the mode button twice then the effect button. If i'm in effects mode and want to change presets, same fiasco. Utterly ridiculous. So the footswitching is severely crippled unless you don't mind having to taps buttons 3 or 4 times in the middle of a song often. Better have those tunes down pat to where u can play em in your sleep ! That however takes a huge backseat to tone for me, and i still have more switching ability than a typical tube amp.

Lastly, the tuner is a POS. It;s so bad i decided if they don't fix it in a upcoming update i'm getting a tuner for my board. Add the cost of that to the speaker and i will have paid 1/2 as much as the amp itself for necessities for me at least. And if you don't have the old footswitch to use with it, add another $80.

So thats MY story. I am quite happy with it regardless of all the complaints simply because i get several great tones out of one amp that i love and builtin effects all in a 22 Lb package. What more can a guy who up till 5 years ago (when i got my MIII) played single channel 60 Lb tube amps that required more outboard stuff and tube maintenance all for a single sound. See what i'm sayin? So it's all about your needs. I couldn't care less about wifi and bluetooth. IMO it's why the amp was so ill received for many reasons regarding them including the tone being compromised because of them. Hope this helps.


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Post subject: Re: Waiting for now...
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:11 pm
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Thanks for the reply! Improvements in tone are attractive, but there is no way that I would fiddle with the amp to substitute out the speaker -- way outside my comfort zone. So, if it doesn't sound a lot better with the stock speaker than the Mustang III, I won't be seeing an improvement. On the other hand, I do play the Mustang III just for home use and at low volumes, so if the GT sounds better under those conditions I would enjoy the improvement. I don't see me ever using it in a band (I do use the Mustang Floor at church through a PA, but don't see ever taking the GT there).


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Post subject: Re: Waiting for now...
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:24 pm
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Then you may just like it more then the MIII even with the stock speaker. I do play out here and there even if only occasionally these days, and it;s there where i base my needs on. But it does sound good low with either speaker, and the GT will be more alive and clear sounding. Plus I find a lot more of the models are good where the MIII i really only liked one a lot.

As to the speaker, we'll see how the WGS ET-90 i ordered works but if it is a considerable improvement, then IMO that could easily be an improvment as wide as like the difference between a $500 tube amp and a $2000 one. It already improved just with the MIII's speaker so if this is a further improvement it may well be like jumping from a $400 modeler to a $1500 one as quality of tone goes. But i get what you mean.....not everyone is willing to go there. I did because i love the modeling in this thing and it's worth it to me to allow it to fully give what i know it's capable of. You might say i'm taking it from where fender left it to the finish line. :mrgreen:

Ovangol2 wrote:
Thanks for the reply! Improvements in tone are attractive, but there is no way that I would fiddle with the amp to substitute out the speaker -- way outside my comfort zone. So, if it doesn't sound a lot better with the stock speaker than the Mustang III, I won't be seeing an improvement. On the other hand, I do play the Mustang III just for home use and at low volumes, so if the GT sounds better under those conditions I would enjoy the improvement. I don't see me ever using it in a band (I do use the Mustang Floor at church through a PA, but don't see ever taking the GT there).


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Post subject: Re: Waiting for now...
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 5:33 pm
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Hey, well I'm wishing you success with your new speaker! Looking forward to hearing how it goes!


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Post subject: Re: Waiting for now...
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 6:16 pm
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You aren't the only one waiting patiently. I was ready to "upgrade" as well, but am glad I've waited. I put the GT 100 through its paces for quite some time but gave up on it for the time being. I'm holding on to my MIII v2. and still loving it. My buddy who sold his MIIIv2 to upgrade without even trying out the GT100 first really regretted it. He held on to the GT100 for about 6 weeks (past the return window) hoping updates would make it better. He recently sold it and is looking for another MIIIv2. I can't speak to the 40 or 200, but I was not pleased at all with the GT100. A speaker swap might surely make it better, but I'm not gonna bite right now. I've got a great amp and no real *need* to update so I'm just going to wait it out until they get everything ironed out. Even if it means waiting until a GTv2. I'm sure they'll eventually get things right. There are a handful of people who seem to really love the GT line and consider it quite an upgrade over the v2. So your mileage may definitely vary. I'm in the other camp (for now) but figure Fender will eventually work things out. They kind of have to. They stopped producing and selling their best selling amps so they will have to make this GT line on par somehow or upgrade and bring the other line back. Not everyone needs a Bluetooth speaker first so hopefully they'll put their efforts into creating a great AMP first and foremost again.


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Post subject: Re: Waiting for now...
Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 6:34 pm
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That's pretty much where I am, too. I would love to upgrade to a GT, but I am going to be watching and waiting until I'm convinced that for my purposes it will be an upgrade and not a frustration. Since I am pretty happy with the Mustang III, that means it will have to be good sounding, good operating and pretty glitch free. Like you, GT V2 may be what I will end up waiting for.


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