Review of Mustang GT40. (different POV)

[raysachs]

No matter what else is said, modelers are not really plug n play.

And yet some are pretty close, while others aren't even remotely close...

 

[Cliffyg62]

Go back through this thread. I had a similar issue when it first came out and still have some presets that are muffled. Update it, start from the base presets and it my just be me and my guitars but I find that the smaller cabs work better. Phil McKnight mentions the issue on presets often. The manufacturers want to wow you in a store setting and overdo them. I hated my mustang 1 v2 until I ran the fuse software. Same thing here ya gotta work the amp a little.

Also. Have the gt40 aimed at your ears. If it’s focused away, you lose a lot of highs at lower volumes. I have a cheap folding stand that I put all my smaller amps on now except the fly 3 (it’s too schmall) Use a book or playing cards if your close enough but aim for your ears. Break in those speakers too. The thing keeps sounding better...Good luck

 

[Risible]

Thanks for all the info and help guys! I'm pretty new to all this so it's super helpful. When you say Global EQ settings what exactly are you referring to? If I add an EQ stompbox to a preset should it be pre or post? Which one should I use (5, 7, para)?

 

[fender4life]

Global EQ meaning one of the 3 stompbox EQ's. I would suggest using the GE7 but if you are familiar with parametrics you'll know when to use that. Otherwise stick with the GE7. As to where, as a basic rule of thumb put the EQ after the amp, delays modulation and reverb AFTER the amp, and compressors, overdrive/distortions before the amp. A EQ before the amp can be useful to EQ the guitar, but to really EQ the amp tone you want it after.

As to that muffled sound....i have yet to figure out why that happens to some but i think it may have to do with the GT40 and 200 are stereo where my GT100 is a single mono power amp. Mine is anything BUT muffled. But like any amp It can sound as muffled as you can imagine depending on how you set it or as cutting and bright/present ad you could want or anything in between. But mine has NEVER sounded muffed. Just be sure to make your own presets, don't use the stock ones because they are for the most part ridiculous sounding. Take whichever models you tend to like and build from there. I would suggest for distortion sounds trying the bassman model and the brit 70's model and use the 412GB cab on both. Not that your tastes should be the same as mine, thats a good start for a dynamic sound that cleans up with the guitar volume and without anything thats too far in any direction. For a clan amp maybe the 6 deluxe and tweak it yourself too. But i get cleaner tones with my distortion patches by rolling the volume down on the guitar so i tend no to use clean amp settings. But in any case, don;t rely on stock sounds because you will never get the amp to sound a fraction as good as it's capable of.

 

[Risible]

Awesome, thanks Fender4Life!

 

[luckett]

I have the GT40. I love EVERYTHING about it except the sound. Maybe some of the amps are duds right out of the factory, I don't know. With the exception of very few of the presets, the sound is definitely muffled/muddy/boxy - whatever you want to call it. It is very noticeable and is present in pretty much everything.

I've tried starting with a blank preset and then messed with different amps/cabs, and it's hard to get a bright, sharp, clean sound.

The boxy/muffled sound is the fundamental tone of the new Mustang GTs. You can fight the amp and waste your time trying to dial it out with or just get an amp that has good tone out of the box.

 

[Bluesshoe]

...Don't get trapped into matching an artist's amp. For example, if you're trying for a David Gilmour sound don't assume you need to select the Hi-Watt model. Maybe the Bandmaster will be better for Gilmour's tones. You just never know...

Exactly right! This is one of the best examples!
Just do a search for at all those Gilmour patches ( https://www.fender.com/tone/search?q=Gilmour ) and you'll see that most of them use anything else than a Hi-Watt model.

I hated my mustang 1 v2 until I ran the fuse software. Same thing here ya gotta work the amp a little.

Absolutely right!
When i look back at some of the youtube-reviews, were guys are complaining about the GT-series, i wonder why they did not even use the IOS/Android app the right way! There are so many "secondary screens" where one can change extra settings, that give you so many options to get the sound you want. Even guys like "60CycleHum", "TheGuitarGeek" and "intheblues" gave some infos, that were missing the most important part. It seemed to me they were all not interested to really "work deep into the amp".

When you say Global EQ settings what exactly are you referring to?

Just click on this link and Fender themselves tell you exactly what it's all about:
https://tone-support.fender.com/hc/...How-do-I-use-the-Global-EQ-on-the-Mustang-GT-

If I add an EQ stompbox to a preset should it be pre or post? Which one should I use (5, 7, para)?

You have to know some groundwork. Here's some general info that might help you with that decision: (link removed)

Oh, and don't forget: Rules are made to be broken.

 

[raysachs]

When i look back at some of the youtube-reviews, were guys are complaining about the GT-series, i wonder why they did not even use the IOS/Android app the right way!

Pretty simple really. Because the IOS app was buggy as hell (I bought the amp in mid-July and the app worked, but with lots of bugs and weird gaps and such) and the Android app didn't work AT ALL for months after the introduction. I always assumed Fender would work out the bugs and maybe they have by now (I didn't like it enough to go through the growing pains, so returned it within a couple of weeks), but a lot of people couldn't even access the controls beyond the amp's front panel for months. So, that's probably "why they did not even use the IOS/Android app the right way". They were using it the best they could, which varied between badly and not at all...

-Ray

 

[Bluesshoe]

Because the IOS app was buggy as hell (I bought the amp in mid-July and the app worked, but with lots of bugs and weird gaps and such) and the Android app didn't work AT ALL for months after the introduction. I always assumed Fender would work out the bugs and maybe they have by now (I didn't like it enough to go through the growing pains, so returned it within a couple of weeks)...

I guess you do use a computer, right?
All of those youtube-guys i named in my last comment are also using computers.
I do work in IT tech since the late 80's. Let me remind you how many versions of the Windows OS (and i mean all of them!) were buggy for years after their release. It's the same with OSX or Linux.
So did you bring back your computer and went back to an electrical typewriter, just because the operating system was buggy as hell? I guess not.
I would really like to ask all these guys (who even took it so far to make videos about sending back their GT) the question, if they also made also videos about sending back their computers because the OS was buggy? The same can be said for smartphones or any other device that uses an advanced operating system.

I guess we both agree on one point, many devices that have an advanced operating system are released too early on the market and it's the consumer who has to do the unpaid beta testing. It sucks - that is true, but the GT-series is in fact a computer and Fender is not the only company who did a "banana-release" of a product line.

By the way, this was my "user-experience" when i got my GT40 on October, 10th, 2017:

About an hour ago I received and unboxed my Mustang GT40.
After connecting it to my WLan router, i upgraded the firmware of the GT40 and installed the Fender Tone App on my iPad & on my LG - G6. Then i connected both devices with the GT40 and downloaded a few patches and i noodled with them for a few minutes.
All of the above happened without one glitch or problem! Absolutely flawless! Something like this i've only experienced from the user experience of my Macs before.

 

[raysachs]

I guess you do use a computer, right?
All of those youtube-guys i named in my last comment are also using computers.
I do work in IT tech since the late 80's. Let me remind you how many versions of the Windows OS (and i mean all of them!) were buggy for years after their release. It's the same with OSX or Linux.
So did you bring back your computer and went back to an electrical typewriter, just because the operating system was buggy as hell? I guess not.
I would really like to ask all these guys (who even took it so far to make videos about sending back their GT) the question, if they also made also videos about sending back their computers because the OS was buggy? The same can be said for smartphones or any other device that uses an advanced operating system.

I guess we both agree on one point, many devices that have an advanced operating system are released too early on the market and it's the consumer who has to do the unpaid beta testing. It sucks - that is true, but the GT-series is in fact a computer and Fender is not the only company who did a "banana-release" of a product line.

By the way, this was my "user-experience" when i got my GT40 on October, 10th, 2017:

But that was true of damn near ALL Windows systems then. There was nowhere else to turn if you needed to live in that computing environment for what ever reason (work compatibility, specific apps that ONLY ran there, etc). The only option that worked better was Apple, which was more expensive and lacked a number of the business compatible apps in those days (and had it's own set of issues, which while very different, were equally off-putting to a lot of end users). So you dealt with it - you put up with it because you kind of had to.

With the GT series, there were plenty of other places to turn - lots of other products, both modeling and other types of amps. The only requirement was that your amp work and sound good to you and you could work it - it didn't have to be compatible with every other amp in your huge company! Hell, the previous generation Mustang was still really popular and lots of people are sticking with the Mustang III today. I ended up with a Vox modeling amp that sounded great right away and everything worked on it right away, including bluetooth apps and bluetooth streaming, etc. The Katana, which not a modeling amp per se, was out and having no problems at all - they're released firmware updates to add features, not to make it work right. I tried a number of other amps that all worked basically as advertised. There was no reason to stay with the GT amps unless you loved them enough to put up with the hassles. Many did, many didn't. I liked it despite the problems, but I liked other more.

The GT has a number of features I was really intrigued by. And I figured they'd get the bugs worked out (glad to hear they evidently have, based on your experience). I didn't bail on it primarily due to that, but I can't say it was at least a small factor. I'm sure I'd have eventually been happy enough with the GT40 if I'd kept it - there was plenty to like about it even in it's buggy initial state. But I tried other amps I liked as much or better that didn't have any of those issues. So it wasn't a tough call in my case.

Yeah, lots of electronic products are released before they should be - I've gone through it with cameras - I used to write about cameras and got loaners of tons of them to try out and there were a LOT that had serious bugs in the initial release. But the GT series amps were the ONLY amps of the several I tried that was having anything like these problems when I was amp shopping. So I didn't just have to accept that. If I'd liked it that much more than any of the other more stable alternatives, I would have - but that wasn't the case...

-Ray

 

[Cliffyg62]

So Blue, are ya loving it? I was hoping it’d work out for you.

 

[Bluesshoe]

So Blue, are ya loving it? I was hoping it’d work out for you.

Hi Cliff!
Yes i do like it a lot! After i started to dig deeper into it's software and rely more on what my own two ears say, the real fun began.
Since a few days i had to take a break with the GT40, because a few guys asked me to record a few vocal tracks for one of their projects. Live is pretty unpredictable again: First i'm absent from making music for years and then, over the course of just a few weeks, i'm into practicing and recording again...

But that was true of damn near ALL Windows systems then. There was nowhere else to turn if you needed to live in that computing environment for what ever reason (work compatibility, specific apps that ONLY ran there, etc). The only option that worked better was Apple, which was more expensive and lacked a number of the business compatible apps in those days (and had it's own set of issues, which while very different, were equally off-putting to a lot of end users). So you dealt with it - you put up with it because you kind of had to.

Exactly my point! Ok, i earned my money over more than 25 years with IT and i was able to live quite well. BUT it is still frustrating because as a IT-Guy you'll be on the receiving end of all the frustrations that the users have.
Privately i switched to using Apple long time ago because of Garageband, Logic and because of the amazing audio and video editing software that is available on the mac. Sadly in the last few years the stability and quality of the OSX operating system has gone down.

I tried a number of other amps that all worked basically as advertised. There was no reason to stay with the GT amps unless you loved them enough to put up with the hassles. Many did, many didn't. I liked it despite the problems, but I liked other more.

Ok, i can relate to that. My reasons for using macs are the same than your reasons to go with a different amp. I still run Windows of an external drive on my mac, but that is only for playing some good old RPG games.

The GT has a number of features I was really intrigued by. And I figured they'd get the bugs worked out (glad to hear they evidently have, based on your experience). I didn't bail on it primarily due to that, but I can't say it was at least a small factor. I'm sure I'd have eventually been happy enough with the GT40 if I'd kept it - there was plenty to like about it even in it's buggy initial state. But I tried other amps I liked as much or better that didn't have any of those issues. So it wasn't a tough call in my case.

If you read a few of my first postings you'll see how unsure i was about buying the GT40 at first. My main goal was, that i wanted the great clean sound of Fender Amps for specific reasons. What i've heard in some of the videos, the GT-series is able to do that. Anything else what i am discovering on a daily basis while digging into the amp, is a pure plus for me. So i may seem to have bought that amp at exactly the right time, so that most of the bugs and problems have already been taken care of.
I just wish these professional youtube guys would have taken more time to dig into these amps, or at least not to make such a "drama show" about sending back their GT amp.

My personal experience with people who make such a drama show has often been quite interesting. One time i lost it and i told a guy, that if his monitors screen would not have the non-reflecting coating, he would see exactly what is wrong with the machine...
(I hope you get the joke. I'm not a native speaker and my English is quite rusty.)

Yeah, lots of electronic products are released before they should be - I've gone through it with cameras - I used to write about cameras and got loaners of tons of them to try out and there were a LOT that had serious bugs in the initial release.

Cameras? Don't get me started!
I was one of the poor suckers who bought a Samsung NX mirrorless camera...
Yes... Cameras from a Company, who stopped making Cameras less than a year later.
Try to get a Samsung S30NB lens in Germany...

 

[DougM]

The global EQ are separate from the stompbox EQs. Push the menu button and scroll until you get to the global EQ and then push the button on the main dial and then you can scroll through several different global EQ settings using the main dial. When you find the one you like, then push the main button again to save that one, then push the menu button again to get back to your regular settings.

 

[fender4life]

The global EQ are separate from the stompbox EQs. Push the menu button and scroll until you get to the global EQ and then push the button on the main dial and then you can scroll through several different global EQ settings using the main dial. When you find the one you like, then push the main button again to save that one, then push the menu button again to get back to your regular settings.

Thanks for the correction ! I spaced when i posted about it because while i was fully aware of the global EQ's i don't even think about them anymore after the 3 new assignable ones came out in the last update. The global ones are just presets of whatever fender deemed good but i have found them rather useless because they never seem to cut or boost ranges at the exact frequencies i'd hope for. The assignable graphics and parametric are worlds better even if they are per preset. I'd rather they put a single graphic in the global section rather than those presets, as that would allow accurate corrections at stage level where the presets are never quite right.

 

[raysachs]

Exactly my point! Ok, i earned my money over more than 25 years with IT and i was able to live quite well. BUT it is still frustrating because as a IT-Guy you'll be on the receiving end of all the frustrations that the users have.
Privately i switched to using Apple long time ago because of Garageband, Logic and because of the amazing audio and video editing software that is available on the mac. Sadly in the last few years the stability and quality of the OSX operating system has gone down.

I started out with Apple (II and the original Mac) in my college days, then used various iterations of DOS and Windows professionally as long as I had to - even on my own as a consultant there were things I had to run that kept me in the Windows world. Then as soon as I retired, I was back on a Mac. And as imperfect as they are, they're relatively impervious to the virus and malware problems I ALWAYS seemed to have with Windows. And I'm not that much of a power user these days, - no tinkering with what makes 'em work anymore at all - so I'm finding the Mac and general Apple environment more than satisfactory.

Ok, i can relate to that. My reasons for using macs are the same than your reasons to go with a different amp. I still run Windows of an external drive on my mac, but that is only for playing some good old RPG games.

If you read a few of my first postings you'll see how unsure i was about buying the GT40 at first. My main goal was, that i wanted the great clean sound of Fender Amps for specific reasons. What i've heard in some of the videos, the GT-series is able to do that. Anything else what i am discovering on a daily basis while digging into the amp, is a pure plus for me. So i may seem to have bought that amp at exactly the right time, so that most of the bugs and problems have already been taken care of. I just wish these professional youtube guys would have taken more time to dig into these amps, or at least not to make such a "drama show" about sending back their GT amp.

My personal experience with people who make such a drama show has often been quite interesting. One time i lost it and i told a guy, that if his monitors screen would not have the non-reflecting coating, he would see exactly what is wrong with the machine...
(I hope you get the joke. I'm not a native speaker and my English is quite rusty.)

Professional YouTube guys make their living on clicks and not being dramatic doesn't get you clicks, so I get it and just try to disregard the drama - whether pro or con. I would never buy or not buy something based mostly on YouTube reviews, but I can often glean some useful information from them. I got some useful information on the GT amps on YouTube, but I think I got more, both pro and con, in threads here than I did there.

And, yes, your English is more than good enough to get across the point about looking in the mirror!

Cameras? Don't get me started!
I was one of the poor suckers who bought a Samsung NX mirrorless camera...
Yes... Cameras from a Company, who stopped making Cameras less than a year later.
Try to get a Samsung S30NB lens in Germany...

And the NX mirrorless cameras were good to start and just on the verge of being REALLY good when they pulled the plug on 'em. That's the problem with being an early adopter, but it's worse with an ILC because you probably bought a number of proprietary lenses to use with that camera too. Not so much of that to worry about with amps, unless you're into buying tone capsules for the Roland Blues Cubes...

My favorite camera disaster was probably the original version of the Fuji X100, a thoroughly charming camera, but it was a technical DISASTER. I loved to figure out workarounds to really screwy problems (king of like Fender for Life on this forum) and I found ways to use the X100 really effectively and kind of loved it despite it's "quirks". But I could have just about written a book with all of the technical workarounds you needed to make that thing work for you. And I essentially DID write a book with all of the online advice I ended up offering on that camera. And now they're on about their 4th or 5th generation of that same basic camera and it's infinitely better and, for it's type, as good a camera as there is. But it had growing pains that would put the GT amps to shame...

Hopefully this story ends as well or better...

-Ray

 

[Risible]

The global EQ are separate from the stompbox EQs. Push the menu button and scroll until you get to the global EQ and then push the button on the main dial and then you can scroll through several different global EQ settings using the main dial. When you find the one you like, then push the main button again to save that one, then push the menu button again to get back to your regular settings.

First of all thanks to everyone for all the help and useful links!

Is there a way to access the global EQ via the app, or is it only accessible via the amp?

EDIT: answering my own question, yes you can, found it under settings. Makes a HUGE difference. Thanks guys!

 

[fender4life]

The global EQ are separate from the stompbox EQs. Push the menu button and scroll until you get to the global EQ and then push the button on the main dial and then you can scroll through several different global EQ settings using the main dial. When you find the one you like, then push the main button again to save that one, then push the menu button again to get back to your regular settings.

Even MORE thanks.....after i replied to you above it hit me....i been adjusting presets like the one i posted without realizing the last time i used the amp before the update i had the low cut on, probably just experimenting since i really don't like using it. But i forgot and it was still on ! No wonder i was adding all sorts of low end with the new EQ's ! And overall tone is now better. Thats another thing i don't like about that global EQ.....you never know where you left it. Thats happened before but this time it's been on low cut since oct 9 when i updated, making me even more glad you mentioned it !

 

[Cliffyg62]

Even MORE thanks.....after i replied to you above it hit me....i been adjusting presets like the one i posted without realizing the last time i used the amp before the update i had the low cut on, probably just experimenting since i really don't like using it. But i forgot and it was still on ! No wonder i was adding all sorts of low end with the new EQ's ! And overall tone is now better. Thats another thing i don't like about that global EQ.....you never know where you left it. Thats happened before but this time it's been on low cut since oct 9 when i updated, making me even more glad you mentioned it !

So I’m not the only one, whew. I’m trying to reset any global settings before I switch off...

 

[Bluesshoe]

...Then as soon as I retired, I was back on a Mac. And as imperfect as they are, they're relatively impervious to the virus and malware problems I ALWAYS seemed to have with Windows. And I'm not that much of a power user these days, - no tinkering with what makes 'em work anymore at all - so I'm finding the Mac and general Apple environment more than satisfactory.

These are exactly a few of my other reasons for having switched to a mac. If i have to work on Windows based PC's for up to 60 hours a week, i don't feel any need to continue that in my private life.
I never had a malware problem in the last 12 or 13 years, without having to pay for expensive protection each year. When i upgraded to the top-grade build-to-order 27" iMac early 2013, it was so easy to move to the new system thanks to the automated time-machine backup.

...the NX mirrorless cameras were good to start and just on the verge of being REALLY good when they pulled the plug on 'em. That's the problem with being an early adopter, but it's worse with an ILC because you probably bought a number of proprietary lenses to use with that camera too.

The quality of the NX images totally surprised me, specially thinking about how much the camera cost at that time. But when i decided that i wanted a Samsung W16NB Wide lens and a Samsung S30NB Pancake i got the shock of a lifetime. Because Samsung stopped making cameras, these lenses became highly searched units. Suddenly one of these lenses cost as much, as what I've paid for the complete camera include the 18-55 mm OIS Kit lens.

.....after i replied to you above it hit me....i been adjusting presets like the one i posted without realizing the last time i used the amp before the update i had the low cut on, probably just experimenting since i really don't like using it. But i forgot and it was still on ! No wonder i was adding all sorts of low end with the new EQ's ! And overall tone is now better. Thats another thing i don't like about that global EQ.....you never know where you left it.

So I’m not the only one, whew. I’m trying to reset any global settings before I switch off...

I guess the global EQ is a thing that you use, if the guitar in itself has an unsatifactory character. I mean for example, that if you have a humbucker equipped guitar with too much low ends, or if your signal needs more presence, you use the global EQ. That way you can suit the guitar to the amp.
But to be honest, i was surprised myself when i used the global EQ the first time. This would be way better if you could save multiple settings that you can switch more easily. What a strange design concept...

 

[burntfrijoles]

i been adjusting presets like the one i posted without realizing the last time i used the amp before the update i had the low cut on, probably just experimenting since i really don't like using it. But i forgot and it was still on ! No wonder i was adding all sorts of low end with the new EQ's ! And overall tone is now better. Thats another thing i don't like about that global EQ.....you never know where you left it.

I guess the global EQ is a thing that you use, if the guitar in itself has an unsatifactory character. I mean for example, that if you have a humbucker equipped guitar with too much low ends, or if your signal needs more presence, you use the global EQ. That way you can suit the guitar to the amp.
But to be honest, i was surprised myself when i used the global EQ the first time. This would be way better if you could save multiple settings that you can switch more easily. What a strange design concept...

So I’m not the only one, whew. I’m trying to reset any global settings before I switch off...

I guess I am going to the be the only one who disagrees with all of the above. The Global EQ is designed to help tailor the overall response you get from things like the room characteristics etc. It's a set it and forget it kind of thing. The Helix has global EQ. I found the Helix to sound dark so I adjusted the Global settings. In fact, I would say that most Helix owners do this basic setup. Plus, everyone has a different ideas on what is dark vs warm or shrill vs sparkle. Psychoacoustics vary by individual and are a *****.
Global EQ is not meant to be used per patch. I found it useful in the GT and it is indispensable in the Helix. Again, different strokes for different folks. Just like I always liked the iOS Mustang App even with it's glitches.