Cool New Toy....

[Stan Malinowski]

I can already hear the bashing begin..... :D

Last week I picked up a new Fender G-DEC system! For the pricepoint ($259) it really is quite a nice toy. For those unfamilar wikth the G-DEC it is a small 15W DSP based amp with a 8" speaker in a sealed back cabinet. It has 17 amp simulations, a s***load of effects, built in drum/bass machine, tuner and phrase sampler. There are 50 presets and another 50 slots reserved for user configuartions. All aspects of the amps, effects and drum machine are programmable. You can even change the key of the bass track. RCA inputs are supplied on the back to provide input for your own drum machine, cd player or jam station. Midi inputs in the front can be used to upload your configurations, control the internal MIDI or download upgrades to the system software or presets as they become available.

I bought the G-DEC primarily to eliminate running my drum machine, jam station ,etc thru self powered external speakers. While the amp or effect simulations are not up to Line6 POD quality they are pretty useable. If I really wanted to my PODxt could be run into the aux input. Drum/bass tracks are passable for self-jamming around the house. Presets range from Blues to Metal to Raggae to Country. The unit is light (about 15lbs) and easily portable. Fender has really packed a lot into this unit for a pretty low price.

There are actually some pretty cools video and audio clips on the Fender website. No chance of the G-DEC replacing my BF Princeton Reverb, Carr Mercury & Rambler or Allen Old Flame, but it certainly has its place as a practice/bedroom amp.

OK......please don't bash on me too much!!!! :D

[tom]

how can you bash all that stuff for the bucks? it's a toy and it sounds like a fun one if you have the time.

[fractal]

No bashing...

Guitar Player has a full review on it in their newest issue. It looks interesting enough to try. I would like something really small and portable, but I don't think it can run off of battery power, can it?

-Garrett

[Stan Malinowski]

I don't think it can run off of battery power, can it?

No, only off AC power, although with some ingenuity a person could rig up a power inverter to get the necessary ac power from a car battery or the like.

[jimmieb]

I saw it at the show, and to me it was one of Fender's best products, next to the Eric Johnson Strat. It's a great amp for warm up or practice and it sounds quite good, for an 8" speaker non-tube thing. It's going to go out the roof for during Christmas. A Mex Strat and a G-Dec, perfect beginners set up.

[Son of Anderson]

what a great idea, and what a great price for all of the utilities.

[ddemusic]

Stan,

Could you use this for a cocktail gig - like in a hotel lobby? In otherwords how clean & loud is it? Louder than a crate Taxi? I've got some backing tracks on my ipod that I'd like to incorperate into the usual chordal melody stuff and wondering if this is the box for me.

ps - Thanks for the Anderson Cap - Lots of folks commented on it last week at the New Orleans Jazzfest.

[Stan Malinowski]

Sounds like the G-DEC would be what your looking for. I previously owned a Crate Taxi and they are roughly in the same power/loudness range. Where the G-DEC has a MAJOR advantage is wih its line level inputs. The LL inputs bypass any of the amp/effects stages so you don't effect your backing tracks. You can tunnel down in the Aux Input Menus and do so basic EQ and volume settings. The amp iteslf has a volume and tone knob for tweaking.

I have used the following thru the Aux Input of the G-DEC with great results: CD Player, JS-5 Jam Station, PODxT and an IPOD.