Opinions on Fender Mustang V for Steel?

Bill Bassett · From: Papamoa New Zealand

I'm frustrated with the various amps I have and wonder how one of these would work. I can get the head for a mere 149.00 and use a cab I already have. I have not ventured into digital modeling amps so...well I don't know. Any experience with these?
Thanks, B.

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

It would help to know what you've already tried, and why it doesn't satisfy you. My personal opinion of "modeling" amps is that they're pretty useless for steel, since 99% of the models are geared towards straight guitar players, who prefer crunch, overdrive, and distorted sounds.

Mike Bowles · From: Princeton, West Virginia, USA

im with donny i have a cube80xl not happy with it i like my 75 twin or my nv1000 i have been turning up the mids and they seem to sound better i really like my twin havent had it long but i sure like it with my lexicon dual 100 with my 1000 and bb i like my profex better.
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Mike Bowles

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

I think that when we are talking about a "Clean" tone for pedal steel , we see that in reality , there is much more behind this type of tone , and the natural harmonics and structure of the tone is more complex than an effected signal ....These newer type modeling amps , can process signals that are effected very well ...It's very easy to add a bunch of effects on top of a clean tone , and come out sounding like you're playing a gig at MSG .... It's much harder to engineer a convincing clean signal .... Your higher end modeling amps can do nice cleans as they are more advanced than your typical $150 modeling amp .... As the old addage goes .." You get what you pay for " ......Jim

BTW....You have to remember too that these amps are made to handle electric guitars that have pickups that are less powerful than what we have in our pedal steels ....We are overdriving the front end of just about every amp on the market with our pedal steels ..... I'm somewhat surprised that more manufacturers don't add a volume pot or something to tame the output of the steel to better suit the input of the amps we use .....??????......Jim

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

I have begun using a Mustang III instead of my custom built Twin Reverb and my rebuilt Standel Artist, for almost all of the shows I play. I have found the Mustang tones to be very satisfactory and it has plenty of power. I'm not saying it is as good as, or better than, more expensive amps, but it is a great alternative and sounds very good. Certainly good enough for bars and other small venues. I recently used it on a large stage and it's 100 watts held up just fine there, too.

The trick is to ignore the extremely horrible pre-sets that Fender has programmed into the Mustangs. They are for the 14 year old kids that hang out at Guitar Center. The basic Twin, Deluxe, Princeton and Champ models sound great with just a little reverb and/or delay. You can set them clean or add whatever degree of grind you wish, and then use the master volume to match the amp volume to the venue. I like to use a Princeton model to get my old timey C6 tone and a 65 Twin model to get my 60s pedal steel tone. I have also created tones I can dial up when I switch to the Telecaster. I find the versatility of the Mustang to be very useful and a lot of fun.

For $150 I'd say it's worth a try. I bought my Mustang III for $175, thinking I could sell it if it was crap, which frankly is what what I expected. It has turned out to be my go to amp for playing in bars and my other amps are now retired to the studio. That being said, Jim Q brought up a good question about the high output of a modern steel guitar that I can't really answer, because I play a Fender 1000 which runs at about only 11k ohms. I would expect the Mustang gain staging can handle the high output, as it has gain, volume and master volume controls.

Bill Bassett · From: Papamoa New Zealand

Well I dropped into the only music store around here today to check a Mustang out. I just sat for about a half hour with a guitar in hand noodling through 100 presets. Well, even the 'clean' settings were pretty dirty. I might have wasted a half hour but I didn't waste $150 bucks.

Vincent Lenci · From: Sussex, New Jersey

I picked up a Used Must IV for $100 beautiful shape..they are a bit tricky ...make adjustments thru the Fuse software. You only need to adjust maybe 5.presets
..the amp will sound different in a band environment 2 12's make a big difference
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Williams D10 8&8 1988 maple burl
Vox VTX 150 Pro ,AD 120 valvetronix
asst Peaveys 500,Renown, MX vtx

Daniel Policarpo · Posted 27 Dec 2013 1:03 pm

The Mustang line really depends on how the user sets up the models. My first experience was pretty much thinking this is a heavy metal amp. A little over a year later, the sales guy urged me to try it again. I had a really good,loud and clean Twin Reverb sound going. I am a believer.

Bob Watson · From: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.

I haven't gigged on one but I've played through them a few times and they sound pretty good to me. They have 100 presets and if you go back to preset 88 or 89 they have presets called "basic Champ, or basic Twin Reverb. When you try these presets out, turn one of the tone knobs like bass or treble and the LCD becomes a "virtual" amp that is easy to understand. You'll know what I'm talking about the second you turn the knob. The only weird thing is that they all have a gain knob even if the amp didn't come with a gain knob on it. I've been meaning to try one on a gig, I think they would probably do fine. I have been playing through a Roland Cube 60 for quite sometime using the "Black Panel" setting which is a Twin reverb model. I like it a lot but the Mustang's seem to have more to them and the extra power (100 watts) sounds like a good feature.

Vincent Lenci · From: Sussex, New Jersey

That 150 watts is overrated on clean settings
_________________
Williams D10 8&8 1988 maple burl
Vox VTX 150 Pro ,AD 120 valvetronix
asst Peaveys 500,Renown, MX vtx

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