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    Fender Mustang Floor - the review after several months of use... 

    by
    bdotson
    Published on 09-29-2012 09:49 AM

    [Part 1]
    AMPS
    • all seem quite responsive with the Bassman turning out to be my all purpose favorite and the American 90s an excellent (though not perfect) super crunchy tone. Re: the Bassman, I have it setup using the additional expression pedal to tweak the gain and have ONE sound for clean or dirty, all on the same patch, and use the expression to control gain. WONDERFUL especially when building dynamics as I gain roll in more gain while i'm playing. The American 90s (which is based on either a dual rec Mesa or a super hot Marshall - leaning toward an earlier Boogie) is also the core of my lead tone w/o any added stomp for gain - this thing has crunch and sustain for miles and days! However, at lower gain settings, it has a bit of a nasally cocked wah tone that i've not been able to get rid of, though I may not mind much. In the same gain neighborhood, the Bassman smokes it I think. BTW, the Bassman cleans up wonderfully (and I'm using HBs on Les Pauls so imagine a Tele or a Gretsch in the same situation would be even more sparkly)
    • I like the mic pre setting for my acoustic.

    CABS
    • Like their vintage 4x12 muy mucho. 'Nuff said.

    FX
    • compressors are good w/o too much "pumping" but providing nice control and sustain.
    • stomps - their distortion/od is simple but very effective to my use. It sounds quite a bit like a Tube Screamer in the mix. I get great classic rock solo tones using it w/the Bassman amp sim though again, my main solo spots seem driven by the American 90s amp w/o need for a stomp. The wah must be assigned in a stomp slot which is a bit disconcerting but again, gains are so broad on the sims that i've not found it to be an issue.
    • mods - are all pretty nice especially in stereo. You can tap tempo the mods speeds as long as you don't have a delay engaged (in that case the echo's delay time becomes the overriding parameter) The flanges are nice and controallable and pretty distinctive in their tone although the classic plug-n-play swoosh is a bit more work to get dialed in. By comparison, Garageband's guitar fx have one of the best flangers I've ever used - and i'm a flange-a-holic! The Mustang Floor's chorus tones are quite good and very spacious and transparent. The tremolo's shine. The rotary is quite good though I wish there was a tiny bit more top speed to be had. The phaser? Well this is just odd. It's not bad... it's just got an odd curve to the modulation - more of a plateau than a peak so it spends too long as if it's stalling at the top end of its cycle. I was covering "Atomic Punk" the other day and the sweep just hangs at the top too long to make it work - everywhere else it's cool though!


    [Part 2]
    continuing on FX


    • delays - the tape delays have a nice modulation to them - quite spacious in stereo if you have that luxury. the stereo delay tends to reduce everything to half of the tap tempo so it's tricky to tap a dotted eighth. It would have been nice to have a "multiplier" on the tap so you could set it for half note, quarter, eighth etc. However, I do find that there's a clarity and smoothness to the mustangs delays that is pleasing to me. I recently have went a more retro direction and placed the delay PREamp instead of the more common post config and have found them very organic and realistic. I used to have An EH Memory Man Deluxe back in 1982-83 and really liked it but I was caught up in the burgeoning shred scene so I didn't get it that this would one day be a highly respected and sought after sound. The Mustang Floor gets me the closest yet to the vibe of that sound although you don't have depth and rate controls to get you to the flexibility of the actual DMM. I get the whole purpose of reverse delays but prefer getting my backward kicks through looping instead. The ducking verb, just not my thing, so I'll not have much to offer on that.
    • reverbs - pretty nice but I'm not a huge reverb guy. I've found that longer decay times with a drier mix seem to do fairly well within reason. The fender spring verb sims are quite good if you're into that vibe.

    CONFIGURATION
    • switches - nice and sturdy and sure feel to them. laid out in a nice width. the tuner activation is good.
    • tuner - i like their tuner as it is quite accurate and seems more stable than the RPs from Digitech that I'd used for the past couple years. activating and deactivating is quick and painless.
    • editing on the unit - super easy though I think it isn't possible to reroute FX to a pre amp position using the inboard menus. I hope to discover I was wrong on this though.
    • editing via FUSE software - really really nice. This software is probably what Digitech hoped for but never quite got to in thenRP series. Simple, nice to see, seems quite reliable. I have even started editing via software and reached down before to tweak on the hardware (I have no idea why I did that at the time) and there were no hiccups or glitches.
    • pedal config - I did go on and add the extra optional expression pedal and use it solely dedicated to global amp gain which is something I'd recommend to all. the pedals feel very sturdy, engage easily but not too easily and i've not had to calibrate them yet.
    • global eq settings - I use the bass boost and yes, as someone else mentioned, there is a sense of a sub-low nearly rumble to it but it works for me going FRFR and adapting the main eq on the FRFR a tad.
    • the toggle between FX/PATCHES on switching is nice. Anyone recall the DIY thread for the rp500? well this is what that would have been sans DIY and nonghettofied. It works. You need to stay on top of things live though as I have toggled while singing and forgotten to toggle back leading to a few memorable moments for audiences along the way. :-)


    PROS So overall, I have found the feel and response on the Mustang Floor to be perfectly fine as my poor man's 11r - let's just make sure I never play a real one, right? Seriously though, the MF is far more responsive than the RP units in my use. I just keep grinning when I hit the first notes every time i plug in. overall good FX. sturdy build, layout and configuration, editing is very good. amp tones have some nice editable depth to them.
    CONS The less than best parts are the phaser, lack of a whammy or intelligent harmonizer (which I need once every thousand times I play maybe so no huge loss). But the lack of a delay tap multiplier is a noticeable omission.

    So even though I saw the low priced 11r on here, I couldn't justify the gear flipping for all the adjustments and relearning required. the Mustang Floor gets me closest yet of all the gear I want to that illusive and mythical perfect rig for me and at a ridiculously low price point. Other gear may get me closer to the dream sound but I'm really really happy at the moment and GAS is less an issue than I can ever recall.

    YMMV but I seriously suggest giving the Mustang Floor a real audition - this is no toy, don't let the price tag fool you. pretty impressive unit IMO.
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