Fender G-DEC 3 Thirty

So you want 100 amps at your disposal but your recording studio is a bedroom? No problem! Well no quite, but Fender built the G-Dec 30 with you in mind. The spent a ton of time in research and development before releasing the amp to the public this year. There goal was to give you 100 amp sounds that you actually love and want to use. We've all tried out that other digital amp where out of 42 presets maybe 3 of them are cool.

I saw this at a trade show. I had a few hours later to check one out. New the sticker price is $399.99.

The software used to connect the amp and your computer to create and edit loops and patches really is the easiest I've seen. In a few minutes I was tweaking knobs and building a playlist of sounds.

There are no outstanding negative features. I didn't fall in love with the sounds as I would if I had a Fender Twin Reverb and a few effects pedals, but this amp holds its own well.

It is the same Fender look you are used to just a little more hi tech. Apparently there are a few limited edition colors and this amp comes in, but mine was classic black and silver.

I was a little nervous by the lack of knobs as they were replaced by the LED screen. My only concern is if the screen goes down so does your amp.

Fender packed plenty of amp sounds into one box. It's up to you to put it all together.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

30W power
10" Special Design speaker
Teacher input on rear panel
Easy recall of guitar tones
Special effects
85 preset drum loops plus metronome
100 Performance Presets (50 factory, 50 user)
Special Composition Mode
Internal synthesizer with MIDI
MIDI song file storage
Guitar tuner
CD or MP3 device input
28-second Phrase Sampler with overdubs
Future software upgrades loaded via MIDI
Optional footswitch allows remote access to select features
Left and Right line outputs with speaker-emulation
External speaker output
19.5 lbs.
17"W x 15-3/4"H x 8-1/4"D

This basically a guitar teacher's perfect amp for teaching a student as far as I know. I wouldn't think it's really meant for anything else like good tone or a live gig etc as most of the features are not live-gig oriented.



UTILIZATION

Pretty simple to use in terms of a guitar amp. There are actually less knobs for the guitar amp part of this amp than there are other knobs that do other things.

However it's quite easy with the big display in the middle and the scroll knobs that would help you scroll through songs/tones etc.



SOUNDS

I don't think anything sounds particularly good but I don't think anything sounds particularly bad either for what it is, a practice amp or a teacher's/student's amp for learning. If you think about it that way, then yes it's quite alright. I don't think it sounds better than my 80's peavey banditt that I once had for practice but that's just from memory. However these amps almost all sound the same at this price point, there really isn't much difference aside from features, of then which also depends on the purpose of the amp.

OVERALL OPINION

The G-DEC, while intentionally marketed towards teachers/students/just learning guitar players or not, this amp is definitely built for that. There's a lot of presets and a lot of built in songs to play around with and learn with, however these aren't full songs, they're more like loops. Though you can upload your own songs I believe. Overall it's quite easy to use and it has drum sounds as well so you can get that full band feel when practicing, which is always a good thing, everybody wants a full band feel all the time don't they? I know I do!

Modelling amp - built in China
30W power
10" Special Design speaker
Teacher input on rear panel
Easy recall of guitar tones
Special effects
85 preset drum loops plus metronome
100 Performance Presets (50 factory, 50 user)
Special Composition Mode
Internal synthesizer with MIDI
MIDI song file storage
Guitar tuner
CD or MP3 device input
28-second Phrase Sampler with overdubs
Future software upgrades loaded via MIDI
Optional footswitch allows remote access to select features
Left and Right line outputs with speaker-emulation
External speaker output
19.5 lbs.
17"W x 15-3/4"H x 8-1/4"D

UTILIZATION

The G-Dec 30 can be a bit of a chore to get a good sound from. The factory preset sounds are a bit much, like most products with tons of models and effects. To find usable tones, I had to edit most of the presets, which was a somewhat intuitive process until I wanted to save the sound I had created. Then I couldn't because the "save lock" feature was on - what? Why would it come from the factory with the ability to save preset changes blocked? It was a chore to figure out how to take that feature off, and once I did, the tones were easily edited. But the initial annoyance and user-unfriendliness of it knocks the rating down significantly.

I will say the practice jam tracks and looper function are incredibly handy, but not implemented to the best way possible. The jam tracks all vary in volume from one present to the next, so some can blare at you, and some are too quiet. Also, the looper is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to use without a footswitch, as there is no count in. I got and used the footswitch later, but it stopped working correctly. Arrrgh!

SOUNDS

The built in presets are terrible, quite frankly. After editing, I created some usable tones. But there is nothing I could do in the settings that would make a good metal rhythm tone. At all. The amp has too pronounced a midrange spike and too weak of distortion settings for it to work with heavy music.

OVERALL OPINION

Despite all its short-comings, I'll call it a 7 out of 10. As a practice tool, having backing tracks to play with, as well as the ability to loop, one can advance in one's playing quite quickly.

If all the annoyances were addressed by Fender, this product could be outstanding.

I have never been a fan of amp modeling amps, but I am starting to get into the market for one for my daughter. so I have been scouting out a tone of these little units. The amp modeling has come a long way since its inception and when I was messing around with them. I have long forgotten the amp modeling since I love the feel and sound from tube saturation. That being said companies are getting better and better at recreating sounds that you would hear from multiple amps and fitting them into combo for well under $400 and going as low as $99 for some Peavey and other makers


Fender G-DEC 3 Thirty 30-watt Combination Guitar Amplifier with MP3/WAV Playback Features:

* Amp Type: Solid State
* Inputs: 1/4" Guitar input, Second input, USB, Aux input for CD/MP3 player
* Footswitch input
* Output: 30 watts
* Line Out: Stereo outputs
* Impedance: 8 ohms
* Speakers: 10" Fender Special Design with high-frequency tweeter
* Amazing onboard artist presets and loops that let you play along with the world's greatest musicians
* MP3 and Wav file storage & playback
* 30-watt Guitar amp with 10" Special Design speaker and high-frequency tweeter
* 100 factory and user presets with digital amp modeling & DSP effects
* USB connection for user programming and audio recording output
* USB cable included
* SD card slot for unlimited storage of presets and audio content
* Onboard phrase sampler with overdub and export functions
* Onboard chromatic tuner
* Stereo line outputs for performance and recording
* Covering : Black Vinyl
* Effects : Digital amp modeling & DSP effects
* Dimensions: Height: 16.8" (42.7cm) x Width: 16.9" (43.1cm) x Depth: 8.3" (21.2cm)
* Shipping weight: Weight: 26.5 lbs. (12 kg)

UTILIZATION

Details
Type Solid State
Number of Channels 1
Power 30W
Speakers 1 x 10" Special Design, Hi-frequency Tweeter
Effects Yes
Reverb Yes
EQ Yes
Amp Modeling Yes
Number of Models 100 Presets, 22 Amps
Number of Tubes 0
Preamp Tubes No Tubes
Power Tubes No Tubes
Inputs 1 x Instrument
Outputs 1 x Headphones (1/8")
Footswitch I/O Yes
Effects Loop No Effects Loop
Height 16.25"
Width 16.75"
Depth 8.25"
Weight 27.3 lbs.
Notes SD Card Slot, USB Port

SOUNDS

If your thing is blues rock or country and metal this is right up your ally. This is the standard version that can be updated with the certain sounds that you like. Kind of like an MP3 players for amps. If you want a bit heavy sounds they have a metal, country, and blues version of the same thing. Those amps would be particular to the sounds that the name describes.

It comes with Fuse software that allows you to edit your sounds via the computer. Nice visual device to update and even store on your computer for backup. What is great about it is that you can really see how you effects are going through your signal.



OVERALL OPINION

You can get kind of crazy going through all of these presets. There are 100 and 22 different amps which makes lot of options to fit into some of your playing time. You can get carried away with so much operation and tweaking that you can forget about actually playing. That is another beef with these types of amps is that there is so much to explore that you can get lost and waste time tweaking then actually playing.

At new these units come in at around $400 which is bit high comparably to amp modelers. So i would recommend a Peavey or a Vox modeler.