Fender Mustang II (Initial settings for rhythm backing)

[Cruachan]

Hi,

This may seem a strange question particularly as I suspect there may not be a simple, cover-all answer.

My playing buddy plays his Strat via a Zoom G2.1Nu into his Mustang II. However, try as he might, he cannot seem to arrive at a sound that doesn't 'muddy' his chord playing. We are both seeking a sound with greater clarity and definition without too much treble but, so far, have been unsuccessful. You would think some judicious tweaking of the tone controls on the amp with appropriate Pup and pot selections on his Strat is all that's needed, but he remains unhappy and continues to fiddle.

Please, can anyone with experience using this amp suggest appropriate initial settings? Currently he finds the British 60s Preset with conservative use of Bass and Treble is closest to what we both want but, still, there persists this muddiness to the sound. Perhaps we are expecting too much. I play lead into a Fender Blues Junior and it sounds great in comparison when I turn the volume down on my American Deluxe with its Samarium Cobalt Noisless pups while helping him practice rhythm backing phrases.

Cheers!
Mike

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Mike,
I am not familiar with the Mustang amps, but has the amp been tried without the G2.1Nu in line?
Regards,
Charlie

[twang46]

Have you tried the acoustic patch on the G2 ? it sounds as though it could be what your looking for (to me that is)

Also second what Charlie says about playing straight into the Mustang....... look for the nearest to a "clean" tone you can find in the software or perhaps a Vox setting (if there is one)

Cheers

Dick.

[Cruachan]

Mar 31, 2014 14:12:26 GMT Charlie Hall said:

Hi Mike,
I am not familiar with the Mustang amps, but has the amp been tried without the G2.1Nu in line?
Regards,
Charlie

Hi Charlie,

Yes, I'm sorry, I should have confirmed that it has been tried without the G2.1Nu. Oddly enough he sounds better while playing into my old Fender Frontman 15R, which leads me to suspect that there may be an issue with the Mustang II....or maybe we are missing something obvious, which is probably the more likely explanation..lol

Frontman settings: treble 3, middle 7, bass 7, reverb 3

Regards,
Mike

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Mike,
I have heard that best results come from using the Fuse software for the Mustang amps. Has that been tried?
Regards,
Charlie

[Cruachan]

Mar 31, 2014 14:57:00 GMT twang46 said:

Have you tried the acoustic patch on the G2 ? it sounds as though it could be what your looking for (to me that is)

Also second what Charlie says about playing straight into the Mustang....... look for the nearest to a "clean" tone you can find in the software or perhaps a Vox setting (if there is one)

Cheers

Dick.

Hi Dick,

I'm afraid I was not aware that there is an acoustic patch. I have the G2.1Nu Owner's Manual on my iPad, but it doesn't list the preinstalled patches/effects. I believe my buddy has such a list. Meantime I can't find one on the Internet. We will give it a try at our next session later this week. I should perhaps say that Charlie's EFTP are installed and he tends to chose the same ones I do for each particular tune. My gut feeling is that this is probably not what he should be doing, but he loves these effects (as do I) and would be reluctant to play without. See what you've done, Charlie!

Regards,
Mike

[Cruachan]

Mar 31, 2014 15:14:58 GMT Charlie Hall said:

Hi Mike,
I have heard that best results come from using the Fuse software for the Mustang amps. Has that been tried?
Regards,
Charlie

Hi Charlie,

'Fuse software'? Now that's something I missed. I'll do some research and see what comes up.

Edit: Looked again in the manual and I see it's mentioned in the first paragraph and, indeed, elsewhere throughout the manual. Not sure how that passed us by I think we need to look into this by visiting Fender Support and d/l the FUSE manual.

Thanks.
Regards,
Mike

[twang46]

Hi Mike

Try patch H9 on the G2.1nu for an acoustic sim, there's always the benefit of being able to "tweak" it if it's not quite what your looking for !

Cheers

Dick.

[Cruachan]

Mar 31, 2014 15:56:09 GMT twang46 said:

Hi Mike

Try patch H9 on the G2.1nu for an acoustic sim, there's always the benefit of being able to "tweak" it if it's not quite what your looking for !

Cheers

Dick.

Hi Dick,

Okay, will do. Thanks very much for the advice, much appreciated.

Cheers!

Mike

[Cruachan]

Hi Charlie,

Thanks again for the heads up regarding the FUSE software. I'll d/l and install it on the 'music room' laptop in preparation for my chum's next visit with his Mustang. I suspect a steep learning curve lies ahead with this one but then nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Regards,
Mike

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Mike,
I hope it provides some good options. From what I understand the software really makes it a versatile amp.
Regards,
Charlie

[Cruachan]

Hi Charlie,

Just remembered something else. A few years back, when I first got my Fender Blues Junior, I discovered that elevating it 6" or so from the medium piled carpeted floor, by sitting it on a couple of plastic boxes, had the immediate effect of really opening out the sound which seemed somewhat deadened otherwise. Does this make sense? I mention this because we tried doing the same with the Mustang and it certainly helped, but not to the same degree as with the BJ. To this day we continue to play with this configuration.

Regards,
Mike

[Charlie Hall]

Hi Mike,
I would typically do something like that at a gig, usually on a beer crate or something of about the same height. However, I changed that when I started using ***' amp as it is quite low powered at 12 watts. I set it on a small table so it was much higher up, around 2 1/2 to 3 feet high. This made the amp much louder for me, and it was miked for the PA for everyone else. I also realised that I could, for the first time ever, hear exactly what I sounded like, or at least it seemed that way. That tactic wouldn't work for a powerful amp working hard as you wouldn't stand the volume, but it certainly was a good way to set up that amp.
The sound of combo amps changes with the distance from the back wall too. I would always leave a gap where possible. Sometimes it could pay to hang a blanket or something similar on the wall if it was a hard surface behind the amp.
Regards,
Charlie