All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

[LazyLightning]

Hi folks,

When I purchased my 60's CV Strat I also went ahead and went with a Mustang II v2. For my purposes ( solo playing ) it's 40watts is more then enough for the task. I was very happy with the amp, though admittedly nervous at first having never owned a modeling amp. Solid state has come a long way since my old Crate G40 20 years ago.

What I found very nice was after installing the Fuse software ( do it if you have not already ) and looking through the hundreds and hundreds of user made presets. Not only can you find nearly any sound you are looking for, but you have a lot more control over the presets already on the amp ( as well as being able to create your own presets )

Just wondering what other owners thought about theirs? Overall I feel I got way more then I paid for.

All input welcome, I know not everyone likes modeling amps and or solid state. I just ask please keep it civil!

Thanks everyone!

LazyLightning

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Its gonna be my next amp, and pretty soon. Probably a Mustang 5, as I am for some reason allured to the full stereo effects loop but won't be able to pay for the 4.
Intheblues on youtube is a british guy who is an old school tube amp hot blues player and after buying a mustang he now fully respects them for real playing. He does deep dives for the amp sounds and does more good tests and recordings of the amps abilities than anyone else out there.
Get the v2 amp. Instead of the sexy carbon fiber style tolex it has regular old black tolex. If you get a 3 4 or 5, it has an Orange model on it which is awesome, as well as a 5150

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Not an owner because I am overloaded with vintage tube amps, but I love what they do and I recommend them to everyone who needs a good amp with a ton of sounds.

It would be kinda cool to have the head on the shelf next to all of my handwired behemoths...

 

[FuseG4]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

I had a mustang I for a while and sold it because a friend really needed a cheap practice amp for his daughter.
It was cool but here's what I didn't like.
Closed back, very modern looks, easy to adjust with fuse software but hard to adjust without, and eventually too many options with the fuse software.
Those were pretty minor things and so I did really like it for what it did. My computer can only record with USB or firewire and so I liked that too. The fender Champ model was righteous.

When it came time to get another practice amp I went with the Champion 20. No fuse software means I could just pick a voice and run with it instead of twiddling virtual knobs. The open back I think adds even more to the sound of the small fender combo sims. It looks like an old blackface champ and I love that look.
I miss being able to record with it but that's it.

The mustang series is solid for sure but the Champion series is more up my alley.

 

[Mr. B]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Fender's older foray into modeling with the Cybertwin was pretty cool for its time, but it was really expensive and was never updated for the next generation. Their next little run of cheap modeling amps were garbage in my opinion, so I didn't pay much attention to the Mustang when it came out either. After seeing so many people liking them, I recently bought a Mustang III V2, and I am impressed.

I think it sounds as good as the current Vox Valvetronix Pro VT150 Neo, and those things run 700 dollars new unless you catch them on sale. I think players wanting more modern high gain models might be more satisfied with the Vox, but the Mustang can get you up through the early 2000's with one true high gain model, and the Fender cleans and overdrive are great on it.

 

[JeffB]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Fender sounds are good. I thought the old Marshall , hiwatt sounds were decent for jamming along with a cd/mp3, but that's the problem, AFAIC. The amp sounds like a recording. I returned mine.

That said, great value if you just want a modeler to noodle around with.

 

[LazyLightning]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

I really enjoy mine, but I can see why it would not be ideal for certain situations. Like I said this is my first amp in 20years and solid state has come a long way ( at least to me ), but the large gap between stopping and picking guitar playing back up may play a huge role in how I interpret where the technology has progressed through the years.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

I honestly think that an handwired amp with hot little tubes and big tubes will sound better but...well, for 300 or less, a new Mustang 5 can be bought, will power 150w worth of stack in stereo and has CONVINCING sounds. Its also an interface and a crowdsourced tone wrangler. I see Carvin 4x12s for 100-200 a lot and those will handle this head.
For the around 50p I sincerely doubt im going to find 90% of an Orange, a handful of Fenders, a 5150, a vox and a few marshalls with no tubes I have to change. Im planning on piping the head right into either headphones or a mixer until I get a suitable cab as well.

 

[Drunken Bowling]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

I tried version 1 but I didn't like it. The Marshall sounds were too Fender-y, the stock speaker was really farty, and Avast flagged the entire Fuse program as a virus. I'm not very tech-savvy anyway. The sooner I can start playing after I've plugged in, the better.

 

[LazyLightning]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

I tried version 1 but I didn't like it. The Marshall sounds were too Fender-y, the stock speaker was really farty, and Avast flagged the entire Fuse program as a virus. I'm not very tech-savvy anyway. The sooner I can start playing after I've plugged in, the better.

Hmm,
Most likely a false positive, I have been running Avast for years and Fuse didn't throw up any warnings on my end.

One of the things I like ( aside from going in and creating my own custom presets ) is finding a few ready made ones from other users on the forums and trying them out. I have found a handful of keepers so far and most of them are somewhat better then the factory presets.

I guess I am just having a lot of fun which could easily make me bias. Not having a rig for 2 decades and now having one I find I get "giddy" just being able to play for a few hours after the Wife has gone to bed for the evening.

Either way, like seeing all the feedback from you guys!

LazyLightning

 

[BrianS.]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

I owned the smaller version for a short while. I thought it was cool little amp for the price. I eventually ended up flipping it because there was a couple things I didn't like about it. Not major stuff, just some little things. Well, the cab and speaker were pretty bad, but not any worse than other amps in that price range. Overall probably one of the best digital amps going in that price bracket.

solid state has come a long way

In the musical equipment world, there has always been a distinction made between analog and digital products. Analog gear is known as "solid state" and digital gear is known as...digital. I guess it is a pet peeve of mine when I see people using the term solid state when they are talking about digital gear. To drive the point home further, back when I was in school for electronics repair, we had separate classes with separate text books for each of these technologies.

 

[LazyLightning]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

In the musical equipment world, there has always been a distinction made between analog and digital products. Analog gear is known as "solid state" and digital gear is known as...digital. I guess it is a pet peeve of mine when I see people using the term solid state when they are talking about digital gear. To drive the point home further, back when I was in school for electronics repair, we had separate classes with separate text books for each of these technologies.

Not trying to start a fight or be rude, but I called it solid state because Fender classifies it as such:

 

[BrianS.]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Totally understand. I do believe that some manufacturers are trying to muddle the terms possibly because due to the negativity surrounding the term digital. So now a solid state device can be "all analog!" (sexy!) and a digital device is a solid state "modeling" (sexy!) amp. It's all marketing...

 

[dominus]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Totally understand. I do believe that some manufacturers are trying to muddle the terms possibly because due to the negativity surrounding the term digital. So now a solid state device can be "all analog!" (sexy!) and a digital device is a solid state "modeling" (sexy!) amp. It's all marketing...

Peavey has a solid state Vypyr on the way.

I've got a Mustang Floor I need to hook up one of these days. Picked it up cheap and it has the effects loop, which is a necessity for recording these days. Built in cabs on modelers are usually where the sound falls short.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

IMO the 1-2 and 3-5 are completely different creatures. The big ones have the wattage to push properly...again IMO.

I would really like that Vypyr to pop up soon and offer a toolset I like more.

 

[LazyLightning]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

I get what you are saying about marketing BrianS.

jontheartguy,
I was going to get the 3, but with no plans at all to do more then jam by myself in the den the 2 has so far been way more amp then I really need. At this point I honestly believe the 3 would have been overkill. That and with two expensive hobbies I have to pick my battles correctly.:biglaugh:

 

[Stratman]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Here is one that just does not get played at all!

Purchased it online, got it used it for about 1 hours….

That’s it! Not my cup of musical tea!

 

[Stratman]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Of course, there are other Fender Mustangs also….

Like this one! (Seymour Duncan pups of course!)

 

[LazyLightning]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Was there something specific you didn't like about it Stratman?

 

[Stratman]

Re: All Fender Mustang Owners Welcome

Was there something specific you didn't like about it Stratman?

I am just use to the rich tone that tubes produce! Not solid state (Except for Gibson L-5) amps.

I did not like the FIZZing problem…

Firmware updating with Fender FUSE software locked it up.

I purchased it for the potential of uploading music to computer…. (e.g., Fender Fuse and Amplitube) Then recognized that I already had better gear to do exactly that.

Yes, I also purchased the pedals that go with it!

It now sits on my spare shelf in US, just like a garage (I mean practice / bedroom) amp should be sitting…

You want to buy it?