New home practice amp review...

[jgcable]

Picked it up dirt cheap brand new in the box with all the cables, software etc... Fender G-Dec 3 Fifteen.

If you are looking for a stupid cheap extremely useful home practice tool I really don't think you could find anything on the market that is more useful than this.

Real band samples and I mean real. Not synth versions of bands. Real bands. The amp models change automatically with the band loop samples and are spot on for the genre of the the song you choose. USB port to plug into your computer. 8 track software for recording, a really nice version of a guitar rig type product. Tons of amps, effects, cabinets, mics to choose from and save, SD card for loading in your own songs to jam with, an additional guitar in jack on the back of the amp so if a friend (or a student) comes over you can both jam to the tracks in the amp. Build quality is excellent. The Eric Johnson and Gary Howey song jam tracks are worth the price of the amp alone.

This thing would be really useful if you were thinking about diving into a different style of music. For instance.. all you metal players out there who don't have a good blues foundation to give your solo's more feel and more melodic content you could pick some straight up blues jam tracks and start learning. Same thing with jazz, country, metal, funk, pop... whatever.
Anyway... its a great practice tool.

[straycat]

I have been looking at the Yamaha THR 10 for doing the same thing.
Glad its working out for you.

[Cygnus X1]

I'm working on getting an MP3 player integrated into the Cygnus amps.
They beat me to it!


Actually sounds like a good idea for practicing...I'm tempted to check it out.

[DonP]

Cyg,

Have an iPhone 5 input for you amp and you will be cutting edge



I have the original G-Dec. What's the difference with the III, and what happened with the 2?

[emperor_black]

Wow, seems like its a killer amp John. thanks for sharing. I had met a guitarist long while back and he was raving about the first generation g-dec's. Looks like gen 3 is getting better.

[DonP]

I haven't used mine for a while, but I agree with John. And a great gift idea for the kids.

[jgcable]

Cyg,

Have an iPhone 5 input for you amp and you will be cutting edge



I have the original G-Dec. What's the difference with the III, and what happened with the 2?

USB port, the band tracks are real recordings.. double the presets and double the band tracks, SD card and a ton more upgrades.

[Axewielder]

I've got the original G-DEC 30 and I probably play it every day. I've been tempted by the G-DEC 3's but haven't pulled the trigger. I will say that when I originally demo'd my version, the 30W was not only louder but a much better sounding amp than the 15W. I'm worried that G-DEC 4 might be just around the corner so maybe I'll wait for that! These WILL make you a better player.

[jgcable]

I've got the original G-DEC 30 and I probably play it every day. I've been tempted by the G-DEC 3's but haven't pulled the trigger. I will say that when I originally demo'd my version, the 30W was not only louder but a much better sounding amp than the 15W. I'm worried that G-DEC 4 might be just around the corner so maybe I'll wait for that! These WILL make you a better player.

I didn't worry about the loudness because I just use it at home. I wanted something small and portable to drag around the house. I hooked it up to my laptop last night and its alot of fun. I was playing to some jazz band tracks I downloaded and it was really fun. If anybody ever was looking for an EXACT Eric Johnson tone they need to get one of these G-DEC 3's. His artist patches are perfect. How can you possibly beat something like this for $99.00 retail!!

[Grim]

This is how I feel about Guitar Rig. The tapedeck is the most useful practice tool I've ever come across, and it sounds great. Only thing I don't have is preloaded patches but can always dl those.

[jgcable]

Yea, this is a very useful practice tool. Fender must sell the crap out of these G-Dec's. There are Youtube video's of Eric Johnson playing both the Fifteen and the Thirty and I will tell you that the amps really do sound like that.