The Fender Mustang II guitar amplifier. Yes, a guitar amplifier. It is rated at 40 watts and houses a single 12-inch speaker. It also has a bunch of amp modeling in it including a ’59 Bassman preset.
How does it sound when that preset is used with a real bass?
Not too bad for a $200 USD street price amp, actually!
Let us know what you think of the sound by posting a comment below. Do you think it sounds any good?
Not bad at all!
It sounds pretty good, would probably sound a lot better with a 2X10 as a extension spkr.
A bit thin for my liking.
You can adjust the EQ.
As a stage amp, the open back would be a limitation – like it was on the original 4×10 Bassman. However, you can use the headphone out into an adapter and get REALLY good sounds for recording. Both the Twin and the Deluxe models sound stellar recorded this way!
I own one. It’s a closed back amp.
I actually use a Fender Mustang Floor amp modeling system when I need to run direct into a PA system, so I’m not surprised at this application. Most “bass” preamps were just to murky & muddy for me. The Fender voicing shines through nicely and when you add wattage and full range speakers you’ve got a great sound palette from which to operate.
Very thin no bottom or full sound but that’s what you usually get with a single 12.
Why do it when there are so many good bass amps out there?
Neil Young ran his guitar through a real ’59 bassman for tone. No reason why bassists can’t run a bass through a guitar amp that models a ’59. You can always run an out into a power amp and speaker for more juice.
My 1964 Bassman also sounds good at that volume; gig worthy guitar amp? Yes! Gig worthy bass amp? No!
It sounds a bit distorted and you can hear the lack of headroom which I suppose you could expect on a 40 Watt amp – on that bass it seems to help the mids somewhat , but also I agree the bottom end is dropped off, again what you can expect on this type of small amp. Overall though , not bad. Good for a home practice amp.
Fender Bronco Bass 40, same money better suited.
Not bad for low volume. How would it sound at band volume?
very nice !!!
I read that the speakers of the fender mustang amp series are not made for guitar basses.
But I do not understand why there is a bassman 59 option on the modelling, so what is the truth here?
The ’59 Bassman setting is for guitar. Many people use a ’59 Bassman for guitar for the tone. That doesn’t mean this amp is built for bass. It’s simply a tone modeling.
That would work fine for practice or real low volume gigs, which face it most are. Bar owners always asked us to turn it down back in my day, rarely played my Sunn Concert Bass 150 watt head in to the 2-15 cab over volume setting of 2. You could go into fuse, try different cab emulations, adjust the midrange, get whatever you wanted in most of the fender amp models in there. And just line out into the PA anyway. The Mustang II (great guitar amp btw) is closed back, the Mustang III is open back.
The Mustang speaker is a modelling speaker and is not the same as a true Guitar amp speaker.