Review Mustang LT25 from Fender

So i decided to write a post with some consideration on the new Fender Mustang LT25 from the point of view of a long time Mustang I user.

Why?

Because i think that this new model will take the spot of the Mustang I, so i guess someone is considering to "upgrade", many are choosing between the old and the new and are very temped to the new one. Well, it's new!

This is not a comparision between the tones of the two. We will not find out witch one does the better modeling thing.

They are the cheaper modeling amp of the line, they are supposed to be good , not perfect. And i think you can get great tones from both.

But what about features, twakability and other factors?

Let's get deep into it.

The LT25 is infact a cut down version of the new iteration of the Fender modeling, the GT line.

We got a 25w single speaker guitar amp. My personal opinion is that the closest the speaker is to the classic 12 inch the better. In that sense i  like better the single 8' from the LT25 than the two 6,5 of the GT40. The LT25 sound slightly better than the GT40 to me.

The old Mustang I was 20W, dont expect to be much difference, if there is difference it must be more in the efficence of the amp and the build of the cabinet. To hear some real difference you should get at least double the power.

As you may already have heard a 25w solid state amp has an headroom similar to a 5w to 10w real valve amp.

To my taste, it is already load for home usage.

The LT25 knobs layout is similar to the Mustang I: we still missing the mid knob. If you are an hold style dude you would have preferred a mid knob. The midrange twaking is doable via the menu on the panel, anyway.

About the menu on the panel. On the old MI the effect selection was done on the panel with a very limited 2 knob system. I will not go in deep on the old system but it was very limited and i think the on board effect where really usable only with the computer connected. There was no way to tweak the really useful Overdrive from the panel! Now there is a display and you can do ANYTHING from the amp panel. This is a real step ahead. If you dont like to have your amp connected to the computer the LT25 is seriously a better option than the MI.

On the other side consider that tweaking with the computer is faster, and once you have nailed your preset the time you spent tweaking will drop drammatically.

The thing i did not like on the MI is already there on the LT25: 1 footswitch with 2 channel selection.

To be clear, with both amp, during a song, your amp is a 2 channel amp. This is ok if your amp is only an amp. But this is also a multieffect and 2 channel becomes really limiting. this is the reason why i mainly use my MI as a pedal platform today. And i am really happy with it. I think that we really need a small and cheap amp with a 3 channel selection (at least we can have clean, dirt and lead) and the ability to change the combination with a fast menu selection, like banks.

That would have been cool. The GT40 has a better channel/patch selection, but i dont need the extra power and i am not fully convinced by that stereo speaker, as i've said before.

Modeling selection: the LT25 has some more model than the MI, but to be honest i dont think it really matter that much. You have a good selection of basis that you can tweak to go where you want.

Effect selection. Here we have a slightly better selection. Now we have the tube screamer, the klon and the RAT clones, plus the classic fender overdrive.  I like what we have, but i think that a good metal distortion and maybe a crunch box clone would have made things perfect.

I noticed that the selection of delays and reverbs has decreased, so if you are a fan of this category of effect just skip the LT25 or consider the opportunity to put a nice Zoom Multistomp in front of it like i do.

A big lack is the Pitch shifter. I made an heavy usage of the PS to double my guitar tone. Especially on dirt really made an huge difference. Since you now have to use the delay for it this is really limiting.

The final thing you need to pay attention is this: the effect chain is now locked

Presets number and quality

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