Mustang III Review

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 24 Oct 2013 8:56 am

I have been working with the Mustang III (V1) daily since I got it and I just wanted to share my thoughts and give a brief review. I have to say I am more and more impressed with the sounds I am getting out of this thing. I wanted a smaller footprint amp for smaller stages, as well as something easier the carry. I was hoping it would be at least passable soundwise. It has far exceeded my expectations.

The Vox and Fender amp models are just great and really capture the flavor of the originals. I love having the Twin Reverb voicing for 60s style pedal steel and a Tweed Deluxe sounds great for 50s style honky tonk on the C6 neck. Then I have blackface Deluxe and Princeton voicings for the Tele and the Mustang really shines on those small cabinet models. I was able to create a nice acoustic voicing for my mandolin, as well as a "Tiny Moore" patch. I don't really use any of the high gain models and have not encountered the dreaded "fizz".

One of my concerns was will it have enough bass, but there is plenty. The reverbs are very nice, and I only use a touch anyway. I have not yet been able to dial in a delay that I like. They are a bit too digital clean. I prefer a bucket brigade analog delay for warmth, but maybe I just need to fiddle with the parameters some more. I downloaded the Fuse software and will start trying out some of the options available. I hear changing the speaker cabinet model can expand your sound palette. I'm thinking a tweed Deluxe with a 2x12 cab might get me in the ballpark for a 50's tweed Pro.

I love to try out different speakers with my other amps, but I have no complaints about the Celestion G12T-100. It does not really impart the typical Celestion flavor or breakup and the Fender amp models sound very authentic through it.

I still love vintage amps and music and I am happy to find and use this amp as a good source for that kind of sound. I liken it to digital recording. While I love the old analog recordings, digital recording software provides an economical and efficient way to replicate those sounds, without having to invest in fragile and expensive vintage gear. Likewise, a modeling amp gives you a great array of vintage sounds in one convenient box. To all my vintage colleagues - please don't hate me!

Daniel Policarpo · Post by **Daniel Policarpo** » 26 Oct 2013 3:49 am

Tim, I've been seriously considering the Mustang amp since trying out a properly dialed-in one a couple weeks ago, and your posts aren't helping!

I think your analogy of analog and digital recordings is a good one. I have a lot of old records and I will record the ones I want to listen to in the car through my computer and interface. It sounds just like the record of course, including the old crackle and spit off the vinyl. The idea of working with biasing and SAG and various cabinet/speaker configurations actually sounds like a lot of fun, even though most of the amps I presently employ are one or two knob tubes amps. I'm just not that particular when it comes to those things, or so I thought! Actually hearing those differences right there within seconds of each setting was an eye opener.

Jon Light · Post by **Jon Light** » 26 Oct 2013 4:17 am

Good write up, Tim. Your appreciation of and experience with a variety of analog tube amps brings credibility to your work with the Mustang. I spent a lot of time with an PODxt and I gained a lot of respect for digital modeling and how much sound shaping is available to you. After a while you stop worrying about defending it to skeptics and just embrace it. Whether the sound is identical to what it is emulating is not the question----does it sound good? IS the question.
And nobody is running a blindfold test. If they are....please, take it outside the bar, dude---I'm working here.

Bill Myers · Post by **Bill Myers** » 27 Oct 2013 6:23 am

I just bought a Mustang III v2 yesterday. I am starting to build patches for the Tele. I sat at GC yesterday with several 75-100 watt modeling amps and a tele and the Mustang III was the clear winner for me. Very deep sounding and the Fender cleans were what did it for me. I started playing with the BF deluxe reverb model with just some spring reverb and it really sounds good. I think they try to layer too much on the presets and it's hard to find the basic clean tone...but it's there. I was struggling with the crunchy sounds that I like for a little bit of a bluesier sound. I really didn't like the sound until I backed off the mix (it was set to 100% stomp box. I find that backing it down to about 60% gave it a much more realistic tone. I have only used it with a Tele so far but it has a much better touch sensitive quality to it than other solid state amps I have played. I started looking at my steel and thinking with the power and bottom end this might be a useful steel guitar amp. I really like the fact that you can build complete amp models and save all the factors over into a preset. This makes it a much more likely candidate to be a dual purpose amp for guitar and steel than my Cube 80xl. The cube sounds great with steel but it's not terrible convenient to go back and forth. I still love my tube amps but my back will not allow me to haul a twin or a vibrosonic around anymore. I still have a Traynor YCV40 (think vibrolux with a 12) and a heavily modded Blues Junior...but for good sound with incredible versatility I think this Mustang might really be a great amp.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 27 Oct 2013 1:34 pm

For a nice crunchy Tele blues tone, try the 57 Champ model with all controls straight up and just touch of reverb.

David Holmes · Post by **David Holmes** » 27 Oct 2013 5:40 pm

Bill Myers wrote:...I really like the fact that you can build complete amp models and save all the factors over into a preset. This makes it a much more likely candidate to be a dual purpose amp for guitar and steel than my Cube 80xl. The cube sounds great with steel but it's not terrible convenient to go back and forth. I still love my tube amps but my back will not allow me to haul a twin or a vibrosonic around anymore...

I, too, am hoping that a new Mustang amp might work as a dual purpose amp for Telecaster/pedal steel. I have a silly question: Since there is only one input on the Mustang amp, how do people switch between two instruments using a single amp? Do you use something like the Behringer AB100 footswitch? If so, do you find that the input signal is degraded when you run it through an A/B switch, or is the A/B switchbox fairly transparent? Is there a better way to accomplish the switch?

Steven Pearce · Post by **Steven Pearce** » 27 Oct 2013 11:19 pm

These are great amps! Downloading the FUSE software really opens up the sound possibilities. I do think that Fender & the music stores could do a better job of training the salespeople about them.
I'm just sayin...

Daniel Policarpo · Post by **Daniel Policarpo** » 28 Oct 2013 2:00 am

You are correct, Steven. A knowledgeable sales guy was the difference between me being dismissive of the amp, to understanding the full spectrum and possibilities. But there was two years between there. This kind of technology doesn't exactly sell itself when there are options a few feet away, ready to go.

I am sold. I have to decide between the Mustang III with 100 watts, vs the IV's two 75 watts in stereo.

Steve Perry · Post by **Steve Perry** » 17 Mar 2014 8:26 am

What's your opinion of the amp now that you've had 5-6 months with it? Will it be able to keep up volume-wise with a Rockabilly/Honky Tonk kind of band that can get a little loud at times?

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 22 Mar 2014 4:45 pm

I have been using it for gigs steadily since I got it. I keep thinking maybe I'll break out the Twin Reverb just for a change, but the Mustang is just so convenient, versatile and good sounding for playing in bars. So far its 100 watts have been more than enough power with our 5 piece band (including drums).

I keep creating new patches and building up my custom library of sounds. I have 8 or 10 patches each for my Tele, Gretsch and Danelectro electrics and several patches for my C6 and D9 steel guitar necks. I have pretty much wiped out all of the horrible pre-sets.

Larry Lenhart · Post by **Larry Lenhart** » 22 Mar 2014 6:51 pm

David Holmes wrote:

I, too, am hoping that a new Mustang amp might work as a dual purpose amp for Telecaster/pedal steel. I have a silly question: Since there is only one input on the Mustang amp, how do people switch between two instruments using a single amp? Do you use something like the Behringer AB100 footswitch? If so, do you find that the input signal is degraded when you run it through an A/B switch, or is the A/B switchbox fairly transparent? Is there a better way to accomplish the switch?

I dont think that is a silly question at all, and would like to hear an answer, as I struggle with the same thing. currently I take a Cube80 for my steel and a cube 30 for my guitar, which both sound great imho, but...it would be nice to only take one amp.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 22 Mar 2014 7:28 pm

Many folks make a simple A-B switch... I have an Electro-Harmonix Switchblade+, which has a battery only to allow LED indiction of the state. It also does
A+B, as in A-B-Y... you can have both at once if you want. These operate using only switches... there is nothing else in the signal path, so it's as transparent as it gets. You can switch two guitars to one amp, or switch your guitar to two amps, or one amp and one tuner... really a versatile box, I've used it to simply make a longer patch cord out of two shorter ones too. And it still works if the battery dies... you just have to figger out which position it's in.

http://www.ehx.com/products/switchblade-plus

It's about $50.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 22 Mar 2014 7:32 pm

It would be nice to have two inputs, but I just back my volume pedal down, unplug from the steel and plug the same cord into my electric guitar. It literally takes 3 seconds. I use a coily cord so I can stand up to play guitar.

The Mustang's three gain stages - gain, volume and master volume, ensure that you can balance the volume of your steel patch and your 6 string patch, and still get the exact tone you want out of each. Just use the footswitch to click from your steel patch to your guitar patch and away you go.

Edited to say: I only play steel or guitar on any given song, but not both. I suppose you might be talking about switching in mid-song. For that a passive A/B switch would probably work fine, as Stephen says.