How To Get A Clean Tone On Fender Mustang

I came across this YouTube video and think it's worth sharing. It demonstrates a preset that shows the Mustang's ability to produce some classic Fender clean tones usable for pedal steel and chicken pickin' riffs. There's a list of the knob settings used for the preset in comments section below, (scroll down) which is also a good read. Click on the video and then YouTube at the bottom.
Here was one of his responses to someone who made a comment on this vid:

They (Mustangs) are getting free endorsements thru players like us..... I played a gig that opened for Marty Stuart recently and He and his guitarist Kenny Voughn got off the bus early and came over to my side of the stage for an hour. They said they liked my playing but loved my tone and just wanted to see what kind of amp I was playing thru because it was just beautiful to them. Folks thats saying something cause them two are real country guitar pickers!!! They were very surprised at first but after I explained that I modeled the sound after the Deluxe Reverb they understood. Kenny had never even heard of the Mustang Amps. Shame on you FENDER!! Well he has now and I made them both believers trust me.....lol The problem here is if FENDER gets off their ass and pushes the Mustang Amp like they should, they won't be $300 bucks anymore so.........enjoy the best kept secret in guitar tone for $329 while you still can cause one day when the secret is totally out they might be a expensive as the vintage stuff.

Who does this guy know that says they can't get a good clean sound out of the Mustang? Trying mine out in the store, I wheeled backwards to the base model amps in factory preset 80s and 90s and, when I hit the Fender clean tones, I knew I was buying an amp that day.
I agree with ya. Like what you did, I took the basic amp models at the end of the menu and used those as the foundation to make some presets. I have my presets set up to where I can dial them back to get a nice clean tone and that was the bottom line when I got the amp to begin with. Not everybody who's ever played through one agrees....some comment negatively without ever having played through one. : )
Here's something that impressed me from this video:
Notice a few minutes in when "Bubba" starts doing those faster country riffs. It's kind of subtle, but if you notice, he's picking those strings pretty hard and getting a nice organic sounding snap, which on some other and especially older modeling amps or solid state often makes an unpleasant and unwanted distorted / clipping sound.; This is one area where I give the Mustangs a big edge with tube quality dynamics on clean settings. The Mustang can respond really well with how hard or soft you pick, which makes many long time tube amp owners very happy.
The way the Mustang responds to picking dynamics, especially on clean to verge of breakup sounds, is definitely one of the main reasons I like it so much.
I love inexpensive 'best kept secret' amps. So far my only problem with the Mustang is that since I bought it, I've barely touched my Vox Pathfinder.

This for me, too. When I a/b it side by side against tubes, it can be so very close.
Nice clip JD, as always thanks for sharing!

Jim Dep and rburd2 like this.
Same here on both points. I sold my Vox ADVT amp after it got ignored for awhile. I've got it stuck in my mind that I'll use the VOX amp model when ready to play some early Beatles tunes or other British invasion material. It's an old stereotype.....of course people use VOX amps for a variety of styles but that hasn't registered in my head yet.
I love reading all this! Going to try them out! Here you GO!
bubba stephens >>>>>> here is a version of my '65 Deluxe setting on my Mustang III V2 go to amp selection and select '65 Twin Reverb Amp then set knobs from left to right as follows... G=7.1 V=10 T=1.4 M=3.0 B=3.7 R=1.2 (now hit amp again to bring up advanced settings or page 2) Sag=Match Bias=+45% Gate=Low Cab='57Dlx now go to Stomp and bring up Simple Comp and set on LOW now go to Delay and bring up Mono Delay and set left to right as follows... 2.5 152ms 1.0 5.5 5.5 now go to Reverb and bring up '63 Fender Spring and set left to right as follows... 1.2 3.5 3.5 3.0 7.7 now hit save once then hit the big knob once to name it, then hit save again, your done. Now I have Active pickups in my Tele so you may need to tweek the EQ to your liking but this should get you started...My tele is really bright as you can tell by the low treble knob setting..But play around with that and let me know what you think because to my ear this setting is F'ing LOUD and SUPER CLEAN and sooo many players swear this cant be done on a Mustang III so please tell me what you think....Good Luck... +bubba stephens also i forgot to mention.... I have tried several speakers in this amp including a WGS, Jensen, Texas Heat, and Swamp Thang. The stock G12T-Hot100 does everything really well and is just perfect for that amp/cab so I have gone back to the stock speaker and do NOT recommend a speaker swap in the Mustang III..Just MHO...Now in my Mustang IV I've landed on 2 Swamp Thangs and it's a total beast! I highly highly recommend them in the Mustang IV...the stock 70 eighty's in it were just total **** and went in my trash can. Back to this setting..lol..I have the BRIGHT SWITCH set to OFF on the video and you will have to hook up to your computer to do this. You might like it either way according to your ear and your guitar but I have it set to OFF....also while your hooked to your computer, I run all my f/x as STOMPS...I like the more up front/analog sound instead of the digital sounding racks...just mho
I know...I found a ton of information reading and watching other vids he had posted too. He's been around the block a few times and makes a lot of sense, IMHO.
9fingers Tele-Meister

Joined:

Nov 11, 2012

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WV

Hmm, use a Twin amp to get a Deluxe.
I use a Bassman to get Marshall, why not?