Question: Tell me about those Fender Mustang amps.

BlackCat

BlackCat

American Greaser
I'm thinking I might have a limited use for a solid state amp. I've heard a lot of buzz about Fender Mustangs. I even notice where our sometime forum contributor Adam Lopez has started using one as his main stage amp.

Any thoughts on these?
 
Last edited:
I own two of them. I don't like them very much but they were cheap and I go through small amps like water.
 
I tried them out at Ash and went with the THR10 instead.

THR04.jpg
 
I have a Mustang 1. Decent enough practice amp. Good Fender models.
I don't care for the interface much. I prefer something simple like my Micro Terror.
I know a guy with a III and he gigs with it. Sounds fine to me.
 
I have mine, but since the usb went tit's up I don't really use it anymore due to the small speaker. I may just use it as a head though into the speaker in my other amp since I did love the clean Princeton model.
 
I have the I and the speaker sounds like bloody poop compared to a line out to a decent 1x12 cab. I replaced most of the stock patches with some downloaded from the Fuse online community and then set the sag via PC USB interface to help everything sound better.

That said, I sure wouldn't replace it with another one if it dies. For affordable solid state amps, I'd rather go with something from Orange or Roland.
http://www.sweetwater.com/c625--Gui...UiLCJSb2xhbmQiXSwiUHJpY2UgUmFuZ2UiOlsiNSJdfX0
 
Last edited:
Audio said:
I tried them out at Ash and went with the THR10 instead.

THR04.jpg
Click to expand...

I have this also. The clean amp sound is something I like much better than the Mustangs. Not as sure about the crunch sounds but I really don't use them that much on my practice amps.
 
Tig said:
I have the I and the speaker sounds like bloody poop compared to when a line out to a decent 1x12 cab. I replaced most of the stock patches with some downloaded from the Fuse online community and then set the sag via PC USB interface to help everything sound better.

That said, I sure wouldn't replace it with another one if it dies. For affordable solid state amps, I'd rather go with something from Orange or Roland.
http://www.sweetwater.com/c625--Gui...UiLCJSb2xhbmQiXSwiUHJpY2UgUmFuZ2UiOlsiNSJdfX0
Click to expand...
The stock presets are awful.
 
Mark Wein said:
I have this also. The clean amp sound is something I like much better than the Mustangs. Not as sure about the crunch sounds but I really don't use them that much on my practice amps.
Click to expand...

Yeah I hear that and agree, some of the other effects sound cool and are fun like reverb, hall and delay.

I really like the stereo sound and it can sound pretty wild Mic'd through a house PA. I still have version 1 of the software I think they since upgraded by shipping with v2 that has better cleans. You can upgrade by downloading a patch, but I read some reviews and for some of the effects I already dig on V1 I never upgraded.

I have used the desktop mac app though and that's pretty cool for keeping some preset tones.
 
I think the Mustang controls are needlessly complex for the feature set. The default tones have effects included and you have to fiddle with knobs to get rid of the defaults. I sold the one I had.
 
I guess it depends on what you want from a practice amp. If you are an actual musician then I suppose all you need is something you can plug in and play. Maybe a clean and a crunchy. I would assume practice for a gigging musician is learning songs and working out parts.

If you are a bedroom musician like me, you may want something more flexible. It adds to the fun to have a variety of tones to choose from and even to try to sound like the original recording. I'm never going to play live so this is my stage.

I bought the Mustang II because it was the most cost effective way to have something as described. That said, I really only use one setting that I customized. It's kind of crunchy. If I want it cleaner I turn the gain down. There are far better options for quality sound for someone like me but the Mustang is probably one of the cheapest and easiest. I used to have a multi-effect pdeal through speakers which probably sounded better but was more complex to mess with and could only really be used in that one spot. With the little amp I can pick it up and move to another room if I want.
I chose the II because I though it sounded better than the I but wasnt overly expensive. When I was looking, it seemed the general consensus was the Mustang was probably the best option in the price range.


No practice amp is going to really be any good compared to quality gear. It comes down to weighing budget vs. expectations.
 
I have the III and I enjoy downloading patches to get different tones.
I have mine permanently connected to my computer. So I just load a patch from the app and play. I haven't bothered trying to save them into the amp and tweak them there..
 
I think the new Fender Champion solid state amps are voiced like the Mustangs but with a more straightforward control scheme.

 
I had a Mustang 1. It could sound good but was a horrible PITA to use so I sold it. The small Mustang amps are intended to be configured with a computer and then used as a collection of presets that you cycle through. It doesn’t help that the stock presets are abominable so you have to plug the damned thing into a computer and create decent preamps with Fender’s crummy software. Given how dependent these amps are on a computer to be usable it makes more sense to just save your money and stick to free amp sims.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top